Had the kids yesterday morning and couldnt do the normal Saturday morning ride so instead took my son to Gamestop for a DS game and hit Harrels to get a new tire. I havent had the Excavators but a couple months and love them for the downhill sections but definately can feel them on the rooty climbs and wanted to try something a little less knobby. Could only swing getting one tire this week and thought I'd see if getting just the rear would make any difference. After going back and forth and asking Toby and Dan all kinds of questions I ended up getting the Bontrager Jones XR . This 2.2 is narrower than the kendas 2.1 but thought Joe had mentioned once it worked pretty good for a rear tire. I was also wanting to see what the Maxxis Crossmark looked like too but they didnt have any of them.
After Tonya came home I was able to swap the tire and head out for an afternoon ride around 2:30. It was a welcome sight to see our trails are finally showing some sings of moisture but they must of also gotten some winds out there as there was one tree down on Lost Creek and 2 on spider woman.
Started out with the intent of trying to ride aggressive to see how the tire would do but barely a mile in my ribs were hurting with every root impact or when my heart would get racing. Think I may get this checked if it doesnt get any better next week but that darn right rib from the catawba wreck is still bad and now my left upper side around my heart has been bothering me and cant tell if its just a sprained muscle or I'm just being overly nervous but in either case it has been making for unpleasant riding when you start getting jared around over the roots and such. Ended up just taking an easy ride to try and get some miles in. I do think I noticed a difference in the tire too, it did seem to roll easier but my confidence in leaning into it will have to wait till I get more of a feel for it, I had finally gotten used to the excavators and didnt attempt to push any high speed turns as I would with it yet. The Jones did seem to make climbing easier and had no problems with straight line grip whatsoever. Next I want swap the front for something that matches up to the same type/condition tire but not sure if I should go with the Bontrager version of the front for this rear or try somehting different. Anybody have any suggestions on something that would go good with this and still be fairly grippy for the turns but also a little less rolling resistance than a full knobby.
Im trying to decide between the Conti Mountain King, Speed King, or the Jones XR matching front.
Stats:
Distance: 24.2
Time: 2:24
Avg: 10.0 (slooow ride)
Avg HR: 153
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
FATS Ride
Plan on Heading down to FATS tomorrow morning for some Brown Wave surfing if anyone feels like the same. My friend Jay is moving to Germany at the end of the month and he has been aching to try out FATS before he leaves. Says in Germany its mostly climbing and fireroads and will long for the sweet single track we have here in the US. The last time we road together was at the stumpjump race so looking forward to the ride. One of his other riding buddies Tim will be joining us and we plan on meeting up around 7:30 AM at the gas station at I20 and US 1 if anyone else would like to come. Hope to be at the trailhead around 8:30.
UPDATE:
Good ride , and got away with only one crash today. Running just a tad behind we didnt start our ride till around 9:00 AM. Hooked up with an out of towner from Virginia that wanted to fall in so there was 4 of us that started the ride together. Did all 4 trails starting with Deep Step. Tried it counter clockwise today and was feeling good and swooshing right along that sweet roller coaster. Got a little carried away and on one of the jumps came down right in time to nail another tree, this time it was just a little sappling a few inches wide and I was able to avoid a body shot. It did stop the bike and I went tumbling a bit but aside from getting hit somehow on the ankle and gouging the tree it was nothing.
After Deep Step headed to Brown Wave for some surfing then back tracked the other half of big skinny and great wall. After Brown Wave (counter clockwise) Tim was getting tired and headed back to the truck.
That section of big skinny heading to Brown Wave is pretty impressive too and you can get some good flow going all most as good as on the wave.
Dont get me wrong, I undeniably know my place in the pecking order when running with the big dogs, but I could definately notice a big difference coming off such rides and I was tearing up some single track with these fellas. I know I wouldnt of been able to pull any of it off if it hadnt been for our fast paced group rides and struggling to keep up with the speedsters, Thanks Fellas. Today I actually had oportunities to rest while waiting for the pack to catch up and that sure does make for a nice breather compared to rolling up later only to take right off again.
This place rocks, wish it was a little close so we could hit this one more often.
Stats:
Distance: 26.7
Time : 2:20
Avg Speed: 11.3
Max Speed: 24.1
Avg HR: 150
UPDATE:
Good ride , and got away with only one crash today. Running just a tad behind we didnt start our ride till around 9:00 AM. Hooked up with an out of towner from Virginia that wanted to fall in so there was 4 of us that started the ride together. Did all 4 trails starting with Deep Step. Tried it counter clockwise today and was feeling good and swooshing right along that sweet roller coaster. Got a little carried away and on one of the jumps came down right in time to nail another tree, this time it was just a little sappling a few inches wide and I was able to avoid a body shot. It did stop the bike and I went tumbling a bit but aside from getting hit somehow on the ankle and gouging the tree it was nothing.
After Deep Step headed to Brown Wave for some surfing then back tracked the other half of big skinny and great wall. After Brown Wave (counter clockwise) Tim was getting tired and headed back to the truck.
That section of big skinny heading to Brown Wave is pretty impressive too and you can get some good flow going all most as good as on the wave.
Dont get me wrong, I undeniably know my place in the pecking order when running with the big dogs, but I could definately notice a big difference coming off such rides and I was tearing up some single track with these fellas. I know I wouldnt of been able to pull any of it off if it hadnt been for our fast paced group rides and struggling to keep up with the speedsters, Thanks Fellas. Today I actually had oportunities to rest while waiting for the pack to catch up and that sure does make for a nice breather compared to rolling up later only to take right off again.
This place rocks, wish it was a little close so we could hit this one more often.
Stats:
Distance: 26.7
Time : 2:20
Avg Speed: 11.3
Max Speed: 24.1
Avg HR: 150
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Wednesday Ride & New Toy
Didnt see any of the usuals I'm used to riding with out there tonight but fortunately recognized a couple Harrels Jerseys in the lot and after going up and introducing myself found it was Joe and Barry (sorry if the spelling is wrong) . I had been on one ride with Joe before but didnt recognize him until he was putting on his helmet and last time he pretty much stayed in the front of the pack and didnt really get a chance to talk with him. After talking a bit found Barry was relativly new to mountain biking too and has just been doing it a couple years and shared the same experience of strugling trying to keep the 'A' team in sight when they decide to bring on the hammer and they welecomed me along for the ride. That was good cuz if they were gonna be tearing it up I would of let them ride and left it at a good meeting them not wanting to slow them down or anything.
My kids got me a new HR Monitor (PC-9) for fathers day and was anxious to try this thing out today.
Joe led the way tonight and mixed it up real good for us. It was a good steady pace tonight and we even got an inner spider woman loop in, although I had to climb in granny :( . We hit all the main trails out there tonight along with some good fireroad climbs ( 3x on that fireroad back by stewardship to keep looping back to other trails). On the last fireroad climb Joe called for an "attack" and had to try to bring out some hammer although mine was more along the lines of a tack hammer tonight but still made for a pushed climb. Also got the chance to hit a new fireroad I hadnt been on that took us over to Lost Creek. Joe had to pull double duty bike mechanic as barry kept having rear derailer problems and Joe finally did a complete re-adjustment mid stewardship for him.
I really like this new HR monitor and now I have something else to get into logging some stats. Although I'm not yet sure how to make best use of it, its like a new toy and maybe as I start getting some historical data I hope to atleast start seeing some patterns of my rides. Lookout Jason, I'll probably bombard you with questions for awhile :) . The first being the zones, do you need to worry if your running in the Power Zone to much or is this just a guideline. I mean I dont want to have a coronary out on the trails or anything. The watch default set my max rate at 186 which is higher than if I use the formula to figure but Im mainly wandering if the goal is to be able to ride hard without pushing your max HR as best you can. Tonights ride showed I was in the Power Zone 75% of the time for 1:39, and I dont want to be stressing the ticker to any unsafe levels or anything. Just currious.
Overall Stats:
Distance: 22.45
Time: 2:09
Avg Speed: 10.4
Max Speed: 25.8
Avg HR : 155
My kids got me a new HR Monitor (PC-9) for fathers day and was anxious to try this thing out today.
Joe led the way tonight and mixed it up real good for us. It was a good steady pace tonight and we even got an inner spider woman loop in, although I had to climb in granny :( . We hit all the main trails out there tonight along with some good fireroad climbs ( 3x on that fireroad back by stewardship to keep looping back to other trails). On the last fireroad climb Joe called for an "attack" and had to try to bring out some hammer although mine was more along the lines of a tack hammer tonight but still made for a pushed climb. Also got the chance to hit a new fireroad I hadnt been on that took us over to Lost Creek. Joe had to pull double duty bike mechanic as barry kept having rear derailer problems and Joe finally did a complete re-adjustment mid stewardship for him.
I really like this new HR monitor and now I have something else to get into logging some stats. Although I'm not yet sure how to make best use of it, its like a new toy and maybe as I start getting some historical data I hope to atleast start seeing some patterns of my rides. Lookout Jason, I'll probably bombard you with questions for awhile :) . The first being the zones, do you need to worry if your running in the Power Zone to much or is this just a guideline. I mean I dont want to have a coronary out on the trails or anything. The watch default set my max rate at 186 which is higher than if I use the formula to figure but Im mainly wandering if the goal is to be able to ride hard without pushing your max HR as best you can. Tonights ride showed I was in the Power Zone 75% of the time for 1:39, and I dont want to be stressing the ticker to any unsafe levels or anything. Just currious.
Overall Stats:
Distance: 22.45
Time: 2:09
Avg Speed: 10.4
Max Speed: 25.8
Avg HR : 155
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Eject Button Found
Good Saturday ride this morning with Jason at HSF. Jason had us a good route mapped out and we decided to do the expert RTTR course (of course at way slower pace), but it was a good route and put us thru spiderwoman twice which was just what I needed. Wasnt sure if it was the first or second lap but one of the loops I hit my fastest time shooting down the shoot to the creek bed right before crossing the dirt road and climbing back towards the gazeebo area. I recorded a 28.6 max speed today and was cook'n thru them sections the fastest of anywhere today. Its such a sweet feeling when your bikes suspension is soaking up the bumps and you can still feel your suspension remaining active and delivering your pedal strokes with efficiency all the while pushing you to the edge of your speed comfort zone :), awe.. Anyway, it was a nice downhill burst for me.
Our second lap thru spider woman the area where you have that long kinda steep climb (not inner loop though) there was a large woman walking right in the middle of the trail. about 15 feet back I started making noise, saying rider up and everything else and she wasnt flinching. Ok, better hit granny or I'm gonna have to fall or mow this fool down. Well, closed to within 2 feet and still nothing out of this lady and she was still smack dab center of the trail. Now this isnt like a straight away and I gotta make a move or cant keep enough momementum for the climb. Im less than a foot from this woman yelling, mam, exuse me mam, and finally something snapped and she jumped from being startled and let me by. Whew, glad this wasnt a time trial.
On the back side of midlands thru a choppy descent Jason was ahead and cooking thru this section and had to put some hammer down if I was gonna catch up. Well, couldnt hold her today and started to drift to much with a pretty descent oak tree approaching fast. All I could think of was if I hit this sucker with my shoulder head on its gonna break some bones or best case knock it out of socket and with some luck and twisting atleast was able to pull my shoulder in and take the hit where it wasnt just bone. This tree didnt budge a lick and I imediatley was snatched off the bike dead in my tracks with a thud only to watch the Trance crash riderless ahead of me. I dont know if it was because it was still a downward slope or what but when I hit I had to keep running about 20 feet and used another tree to grab and wip around to stop myself. I was ok, just shaken up and this also jarred my still healing sore rib from my catwaba reck and had to walk this one off for about 5 minutes before we could get going again. Shoulder is pretty sore where it took the hit but definatley feel lucky that I was able to do the last minute twist and didnt have to take it directly to the shoulder blade.
Wanting to get a 27+ mile ride in and one more climb I split off from Jason and took the crooked pine path back to get one last firebreak climb by the gazeebo. My climbing may be getting a little better but it is still my achilies heel.
Overall, good steady ride
Distance: 28.76
Avg: 10.2
Max: 28.6
Time: 2:47
Our second lap thru spider woman the area where you have that long kinda steep climb (not inner loop though) there was a large woman walking right in the middle of the trail. about 15 feet back I started making noise, saying rider up and everything else and she wasnt flinching. Ok, better hit granny or I'm gonna have to fall or mow this fool down. Well, closed to within 2 feet and still nothing out of this lady and she was still smack dab center of the trail. Now this isnt like a straight away and I gotta make a move or cant keep enough momementum for the climb. Im less than a foot from this woman yelling, mam, exuse me mam, and finally something snapped and she jumped from being startled and let me by. Whew, glad this wasnt a time trial.
On the back side of midlands thru a choppy descent Jason was ahead and cooking thru this section and had to put some hammer down if I was gonna catch up. Well, couldnt hold her today and started to drift to much with a pretty descent oak tree approaching fast. All I could think of was if I hit this sucker with my shoulder head on its gonna break some bones or best case knock it out of socket and with some luck and twisting atleast was able to pull my shoulder in and take the hit where it wasnt just bone. This tree didnt budge a lick and I imediatley was snatched off the bike dead in my tracks with a thud only to watch the Trance crash riderless ahead of me. I dont know if it was because it was still a downward slope or what but when I hit I had to keep running about 20 feet and used another tree to grab and wip around to stop myself. I was ok, just shaken up and this also jarred my still healing sore rib from my catwaba reck and had to walk this one off for about 5 minutes before we could get going again. Shoulder is pretty sore where it took the hit but definatley feel lucky that I was able to do the last minute twist and didnt have to take it directly to the shoulder blade.
Wanting to get a 27+ mile ride in and one more climb I split off from Jason and took the crooked pine path back to get one last firebreak climb by the gazeebo. My climbing may be getting a little better but it is still my achilies heel.
Overall, good steady ride
Distance: 28.76
Avg: 10.2
Max: 28.6
Time: 2:47
Friday, June 13, 2008
Kiddie Pool & Ice Somebody
Just saw this news and thought Id post. I'm thinking we need this setup right before and after Spider Woman.
"Researchers at Edith Cowan University in Australia
showed that you can recover faster and compete at a higher level
by soaking your legs in cold water (14 degrees C) for five minutes
during rest periods between events (British Journal of Sports
Medicine, June 2008). The cooling session dropped body
temperature a half degree centigrade and the athletes were able
to cycle faster with greater power output. "
"Researchers at Edith Cowan University in Australia
showed that you can recover faster and compete at a higher level
by soaking your legs in cold water (14 degrees C) for five minutes
during rest periods between events (British Journal of Sports
Medicine, June 2008). The cooling session dropped body
temperature a half degree centigrade and the athletes were able
to cycle faster with greater power output. "
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Long Week
Here it is thursday and I havent been able to hit the trail all week and going nuts. Hitting the other blogs trying to feed of just reading about riding I was able to get a little info and sounds like I missed a good Wednesday ride. Was good to atleast hear about a ride, although this is really driving me nuts now and hoping the wife can get home early today and give me a little trail time.
Been quite the week, think Monty's posting of car troubles were an omen for me as I had to drop off the truck on Tues for a check engine light/surging that started on my way back from catawba that I figured I would try to squeeze in and get back in time before Wednesday group ride. Also had a coupon for an $17.95 oil change and tire rotation I figured I'd let them change it since they had it anyway. Well, that ended up being a costly mistake, I usually run Mobil 1 Full Synthetic oil and buy this stuff at walmart in 5 quart jugs at around $23 bucks so I figured letting them upgrade the coupon to use this oil would be around $30 more (takes 7 quarts). Heck Id spend it anyway so didnt question a cost on it and left it at that. Well, today when I finally was able to pick up my truck, that oil change cost me $89 bucks. WTH, I was like I can get this for less than 4 bucks a quart at walmart and they charged me $10 per quart. Anyway, live and learn but definately wont be using anymore of them coupons again. The surging/light was the EGR valve and hopefully that is atleast fixed. With my deductable and taxes I guess I got off lighter than Monty and my total was $203. Kids are sick "again" this week and had to stay with both of them on tuesday and again today with just my daughter. Daughter has another ear infection and were now waiting to hear back from the ear doctor on scheduling her in for tubes. She gets these ear infections everytime she gets sick and we kept thinking she would be better off with tubes so she doesnt have to suffer so much, but now that we actually have to do it were a little nervous about them having to put her to sleep for the surgery, but keep telling ourselves its probably for the best. One more thing that kept us going this week were both my Father-in-law and Sister-in-law had surgery at the hospital to add to an already hectic week and I'm more than ready to hit the trails and unwind alittle.
UPDATE
Yahoo! Was able to get out and hit the trails around 6:30 this afternoon and get some ever needed trail time. Man, those trails need some moisture, its getting mighty dry and dusty out there. Feeling a little to upright in the cockpit lately I figured I'd try adjusting my bars down/out a tad to see if that would stretch me out any and see how the Trance would ride. I rode lost creek first shooting for a 30 minute or less ride but just couldnt pull it off. Ended up with my Exact same time of 32+ seconds, I just cant seem to beat this yet. Made my way around the outer loop and that sweet downhill section on stewardship I was cruising pretty good and at the bottom were a couple of young guys right in the middle of the trail standing next to there bikes chatting. I had plenty of time to react and all, it was just one of those things that had to slow way down and crank back up any momentum. By the time I got up the midlands switchbacks the winds were starting to blow and there was some rumbling above so I picked a clearing to get a better view of the clouds before deciding to ride spider woman or not. Well, I proved to be a slacker without the group ride and talked myself right out of doing spider woman and thought I'd just continue the outerloop. It never did rain a drop and the clouds looked like they were moving away I just took the easy way out tonight...
Wasnt sure if it was just the unfamiliar feel of the handlebar adjustment I made or what but it seemed there was a feel I was pushing the wheel out in the turns that I didnt like so while I debated the clounds and spiderwoman I tweaked the bars back to the original position. After the return adjustment I can definately say I like that original position better as I put her to test thru that new curvy section on the back of midlands just after spider woman. I only changed it like an 1/8 of an inch or so but something made it feel like it was handling different in the turns and in standing position. From there just continued the outer loop to crooked pine back to the gazeebo area and headed out the same way I came in.
Felt good to get out.
Stats:
Distance: 18.31
Time: 1:39
Avg: 10.9 (I gotta do something here, so close to breaking my 10.x syndrom
Max: 22.7
Been quite the week, think Monty's posting of car troubles were an omen for me as I had to drop off the truck on Tues for a check engine light/surging that started on my way back from catawba that I figured I would try to squeeze in and get back in time before Wednesday group ride. Also had a coupon for an $17.95 oil change and tire rotation I figured I'd let them change it since they had it anyway. Well, that ended up being a costly mistake, I usually run Mobil 1 Full Synthetic oil and buy this stuff at walmart in 5 quart jugs at around $23 bucks so I figured letting them upgrade the coupon to use this oil would be around $30 more (takes 7 quarts). Heck Id spend it anyway so didnt question a cost on it and left it at that. Well, today when I finally was able to pick up my truck, that oil change cost me $89 bucks. WTH, I was like I can get this for less than 4 bucks a quart at walmart and they charged me $10 per quart. Anyway, live and learn but definately wont be using anymore of them coupons again. The surging/light was the EGR valve and hopefully that is atleast fixed. With my deductable and taxes I guess I got off lighter than Monty and my total was $203. Kids are sick "again" this week and had to stay with both of them on tuesday and again today with just my daughter. Daughter has another ear infection and were now waiting to hear back from the ear doctor on scheduling her in for tubes. She gets these ear infections everytime she gets sick and we kept thinking she would be better off with tubes so she doesnt have to suffer so much, but now that we actually have to do it were a little nervous about them having to put her to sleep for the surgery, but keep telling ourselves its probably for the best. One more thing that kept us going this week were both my Father-in-law and Sister-in-law had surgery at the hospital to add to an already hectic week and I'm more than ready to hit the trails and unwind alittle.
UPDATE
Yahoo! Was able to get out and hit the trails around 6:30 this afternoon and get some ever needed trail time. Man, those trails need some moisture, its getting mighty dry and dusty out there. Feeling a little to upright in the cockpit lately I figured I'd try adjusting my bars down/out a tad to see if that would stretch me out any and see how the Trance would ride. I rode lost creek first shooting for a 30 minute or less ride but just couldnt pull it off. Ended up with my Exact same time of 32+ seconds, I just cant seem to beat this yet. Made my way around the outer loop and that sweet downhill section on stewardship I was cruising pretty good and at the bottom were a couple of young guys right in the middle of the trail standing next to there bikes chatting. I had plenty of time to react and all, it was just one of those things that had to slow way down and crank back up any momentum. By the time I got up the midlands switchbacks the winds were starting to blow and there was some rumbling above so I picked a clearing to get a better view of the clouds before deciding to ride spider woman or not. Well, I proved to be a slacker without the group ride and talked myself right out of doing spider woman and thought I'd just continue the outerloop. It never did rain a drop and the clouds looked like they were moving away I just took the easy way out tonight...
Wasnt sure if it was just the unfamiliar feel of the handlebar adjustment I made or what but it seemed there was a feel I was pushing the wheel out in the turns that I didnt like so while I debated the clounds and spiderwoman I tweaked the bars back to the original position. After the return adjustment I can definately say I like that original position better as I put her to test thru that new curvy section on the back of midlands just after spider woman. I only changed it like an 1/8 of an inch or so but something made it feel like it was handling different in the turns and in standing position. From there just continued the outer loop to crooked pine back to the gazeebo area and headed out the same way I came in.
Felt good to get out.
Stats:
Distance: 18.31
Time: 1:39
Avg: 10.9 (I gotta do something here, so close to breaking my 10.x syndrom
Max: 22.7
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Saturday Ride
Hit HSF this morning around 7:20 for a planed ride with Jason and anyone else that was up for Jasons posted morning ride but must of just missed him and after what I thought was around 7:45 figured I might have missed a followup posting and they must of delayed the ride a little and figured I would just run into them on the trails and headed off. Later heard Jason was running a tad behind and showed getting to the trail at 7:40 so even with our times a tad off we must of just missed eachother and didnt run into any of the crew the rest of the day.
Wore a regular watch so I could do some resets on my timer without resetting the main one and headed off Clockwise hoping I may have a chance of running into Jason on his route around spider woman. Did Lost Creek first (Clockwise) for a 32:12 time and felt good about it as I was trying to use some tips I got from Monty and ride somewhere between a controlled ride and agressive and found it was easier on me and still had full reserves when done.
Cut across the connector over to Spider woman and ran spider woman clockwise including inner loop for a 23:40 time but in there I did a clumsy fall over the roots hooking into the inner loop and think I may have landed in some poison ivy, will have to see what turns up there and then wasnt able to pull off the rock garden today and had to do a little hobling over the rocks.
After that rode the rest of the outer loop back around thru crooked pine and over to Lost Creek for a Counter Clockwise ride at 33:45 . After the second lost creek run I still had plenty of hydration (filled that sucker full this morning) so headed off for one more outer loop (clockwise) but ended up bypassing spider woman and just did the full outerloop.
Luckily I didnt run into any of them snakes, but I did see that huge turtle Jason was talking about, I was thinking to myself what is this dam sea turtle doing hear this far inland, the thing was big for sure. That one was definately bigger than the ones just a few weeks ago I thought were big at FATS I had to keep avoiding on Big Step, thank goodness.
Entire ride ended up being solo today but still was pretty good and even though I didnt beat any of my previous times think I may be making headway on my endurance/control and felt I was able to keep it going without feeling exhausted at the end. It was definately a good idea Jason had to start early in the day.
Stats
Distance: 31.14
Time: 2:46
Avg: 10.5
Max: 22.6
Wore a regular watch so I could do some resets on my timer without resetting the main one and headed off Clockwise hoping I may have a chance of running into Jason on his route around spider woman. Did Lost Creek first (Clockwise) for a 32:12 time and felt good about it as I was trying to use some tips I got from Monty and ride somewhere between a controlled ride and agressive and found it was easier on me and still had full reserves when done.
Cut across the connector over to Spider woman and ran spider woman clockwise including inner loop for a 23:40 time but in there I did a clumsy fall over the roots hooking into the inner loop and think I may have landed in some poison ivy, will have to see what turns up there and then wasnt able to pull off the rock garden today and had to do a little hobling over the rocks.
After that rode the rest of the outer loop back around thru crooked pine and over to Lost Creek for a Counter Clockwise ride at 33:45 . After the second lost creek run I still had plenty of hydration (filled that sucker full this morning) so headed off for one more outer loop (clockwise) but ended up bypassing spider woman and just did the full outerloop.
Luckily I didnt run into any of them snakes, but I did see that huge turtle Jason was talking about, I was thinking to myself what is this dam sea turtle doing hear this far inland, the thing was big for sure. That one was definately bigger than the ones just a few weeks ago I thought were big at FATS I had to keep avoiding on Big Step, thank goodness.
Entire ride ended up being solo today but still was pretty good and even though I didnt beat any of my previous times think I may be making headway on my endurance/control and felt I was able to keep it going without feeling exhausted at the end. It was definately a good idea Jason had to start early in the day.
Stats
Distance: 31.14
Time: 2:46
Avg: 10.5
Max: 22.6
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Wednesday Ride
Met up with Jason and Tim in the front lot around six and headed out for Lost Creek. We started out at a good pace and when we stopped before crossing the road we all were already sweating pretty good and I had to start hitting the hydration pack. It was gonna be a hot one. We headed down Lost Creek Clockwise and after the first descent climb we all stopped a few minutes for more hydration and realized we were feeling the heat pretty good and had to motivate ourselves to get moving or we were gonna end up wanting to walk out if we kept still. We road at a controlled pace and ran into Adam somewhere in the middle going the opposite direction, awe nice, another exuse to stop. So after shooting the breeze a minute or so all took off. Told Adam we were the JV squad and with the heat if he was ready to hammer he might want to take lead but luckily he must not of been in hammer mood either and we just continued at a steady pace.
After Lost Creek Adam and I took the outer loop around and was going to meet up with Jason who took an alternate route for a spider woman run but guess we were to late coming around and never ran back into Jason. On our outer loop I had a good downhill run thru the stewardship downhill section and into harder, wasnt checking any stats at the time but it was just one of those runs you feel when you nail it.
Right before the midlands switchbacks I got called from work (I'm oncall for the next two weeks) and had to stop and call work back, never fails these oncall support calls come at the worst possible time and messed up our pace, Adam graciously decided to wait for me while I took the call and we were able to get going after about 5 minutes. Sorry Jason, this may have been the cause of us missing you too. Anyway, we road thru spider woman (no innner loop) and then headed back to the lot thru the rest of the outer loop. Passed Toby P on the trails but he wasnt wearing the normal Jersey and it was more a after thought when we passed that I thought man, I think that was Toby.
Ariving back at the lot Jason and Toby were heading out. Was talking to Toby about the Catawba race course and heard he did a 12 hour ride there. Man, I gotta quote Jason here and say "All Hail Toby". Dont know how he did it, thats one tough course and it wipped me after my measly two laps which was 2 hours at my slow speed which is a fraction of what he runs, Go Toby!
Todays Stats
Dist: 17.86 miles
Avg: 10.4
Max: 22.1
Time: 1:42
After Lost Creek Adam and I took the outer loop around and was going to meet up with Jason who took an alternate route for a spider woman run but guess we were to late coming around and never ran back into Jason. On our outer loop I had a good downhill run thru the stewardship downhill section and into harder, wasnt checking any stats at the time but it was just one of those runs you feel when you nail it.
Right before the midlands switchbacks I got called from work (I'm oncall for the next two weeks) and had to stop and call work back, never fails these oncall support calls come at the worst possible time and messed up our pace, Adam graciously decided to wait for me while I took the call and we were able to get going after about 5 minutes. Sorry Jason, this may have been the cause of us missing you too. Anyway, we road thru spider woman (no innner loop) and then headed back to the lot thru the rest of the outer loop. Passed Toby P on the trails but he wasnt wearing the normal Jersey and it was more a after thought when we passed that I thought man, I think that was Toby.
Ariving back at the lot Jason and Toby were heading out. Was talking to Toby about the Catawba race course and heard he did a 12 hour ride there. Man, I gotta quote Jason here and say "All Hail Toby". Dont know how he did it, thats one tough course and it wipped me after my measly two laps which was 2 hours at my slow speed which is a fraction of what he runs, Go Toby!
Todays Stats
Dist: 17.86 miles
Avg: 10.4
Max: 22.1
Time: 1:42
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Catawba Riverfront Classic Race
Whew, tough riding today, wanted to get this posted while still on the mind then ready to call it a night. Gave the Catawba Riverfront Classic a go today and coming off a 27 mile Stumpjump race and a sweet 27 mile FATS ride figured it was as good as its gonna get going into this posted 18 mile ride (actually was two 9.5 mile loops). Ariving at the trailhead ran into Cycle Center Harry who was finished with his 50+ race (came in 2nd) and some guy named Brad that won the Harbison Sport 30-39 race. Not sure if there were any Harrels guys from earlier races as my race wasn't until 1:00 and I got there around 12:20.
No exuses whatsoever, just didnt work out like I was hoping. I went in with goals of finishing middle of the pack but ended up in the bottom, AGAIN. I left the trailhead before the protest window was over but current standings had me finishing 15th out of 18 with the last two guys DNF. I'm hoping the DNF's might have been from exhaustion rather than mechanical :). I'm getting a good initiation into this racing stuff and really starting to respect those who make this look easy.
Perspectivly speaking I thought the course was alot like Spider Woman with an xtra innter loop and reverse climbs out. This course beat me to death and I was grannying all over on 4 or 5 climbs atleast just to make sure I didnt blow up. It had a number of twisty, rooty, choppy descents only to force you to climb your way back up the same type terrain. Like mentioned coming off my last few long rides I figured I'd pack lighter this go round but after a couple of them tough climbs I was thinking, man I may run out of the goo and hydration on this race.
I was ever so relieved to find sections of the course that smoothed out more inline with a stewardship type trail and even routed us up a couple power line sections.
My first lap went good, I hit the woods around middle of the pack, passed a couple riders on some early climbs and didnt start to get passed till around 4-5 miles in. But boy, when I did start getting passed by a couple they were coming on strong and I just couldnt keep pace and with each climb they pulled away further and further. The first lap went good, there were no crashes or dismounts and aside from the normal drain of riding hard I was still in my ride. The second lap was when things changed in a bad way. About a mile in on the second loop I was getting a little maverick trying to get some distance between me and another rider who had been about 20 or so feet behind me for the last 10 minutes and on a right downhill section my front wheel washed out causing my bars to all the way right and I went down hard on my ribs righ on the bar end that was up. That one took the breath right out of me and just when I could manage to suck a lung full of air here comes that guy that was twenty feet back and lays it down right into me and my bike knocking me down again. Whew, ok, after a couple back and forths "you alright" we both got up and he came out ok and was off. Me on the other hand had my chain come off and get stuck between the frame and inner ring so after hobling off this turn had to flip the bike over and get it unstuck. Hated this, there was a couple other riders that passed me while Im fumbling with my chain, I had to get going.
Again, no exuses, I was able to push it harder and catch up to this last pack that passed until they just outdid me on the climbs which by now I am fully accepting this is my big weakness. The last three miles of the race was a good finish (which now in hindsight I realize must of been riders in another class) but there were 3 of us all within site of eachother and we kept giving and taking ground from eachother to within a couple bikes lengths. Alright, this is when I might have got a little cocky to myself, the guy ahead was rolling good but I knew I could take him in this single track I kept closing right behind him till he would pull away on a climb, thats ok, we still have a couple miles. Now, the guy behind me, I dube him Steroid boy, this guy is riding with no shirt as to show off his muscles or something but he keeps letting out these gorilla like roars. Im thinking is this guy trying to syche us out or does he just need a shot of the juice. Well, after about 3 or 4 of these Im convinced I aint let'n steriod boy pass me dammit and Im gonna give him reason to change his roaring to moans. Funny the things you find for motivation on your last leg of energy but that did it, I turned it up a notch and was able to pull far away from this jungle boy that I knew he was no longer gonna catch me. Then within the last mile I was able to overtake the guy ahead of me to.. We were both spent, and when I did pass he asked me what class I was in and when I replied 30-39 he said whew, "Im in 40-50, was just seeing if were gonna have to start racing", I gotta say I chuckled and just replied, na, no need buddy. It was a good finish and I still pushed it thru the single track to keep a distance, but darn if that sucker didnt take me on the final climb up the gravel road to finish ahead no matter how small a distance.
All in all I gotta say I had a good tough race today and even though Im at the bottom end I feel good that I put in my race effort. With three races I now have a good baseline for my rookie year.
Still waiting for official results to be posted online, hopefully will be on the results link from site http://www.charlottemtnbike.com/
My cycle computer Stats from today :
Distance: 20.38
Time : 2:05
Avg: 9.7
Max: 22.1
No exuses whatsoever, just didnt work out like I was hoping. I went in with goals of finishing middle of the pack but ended up in the bottom, AGAIN. I left the trailhead before the protest window was over but current standings had me finishing 15th out of 18 with the last two guys DNF. I'm hoping the DNF's might have been from exhaustion rather than mechanical :). I'm getting a good initiation into this racing stuff and really starting to respect those who make this look easy.
Perspectivly speaking I thought the course was alot like Spider Woman with an xtra innter loop and reverse climbs out. This course beat me to death and I was grannying all over on 4 or 5 climbs atleast just to make sure I didnt blow up. It had a number of twisty, rooty, choppy descents only to force you to climb your way back up the same type terrain. Like mentioned coming off my last few long rides I figured I'd pack lighter this go round but after a couple of them tough climbs I was thinking, man I may run out of the goo and hydration on this race.
I was ever so relieved to find sections of the course that smoothed out more inline with a stewardship type trail and even routed us up a couple power line sections.
My first lap went good, I hit the woods around middle of the pack, passed a couple riders on some early climbs and didnt start to get passed till around 4-5 miles in. But boy, when I did start getting passed by a couple they were coming on strong and I just couldnt keep pace and with each climb they pulled away further and further. The first lap went good, there were no crashes or dismounts and aside from the normal drain of riding hard I was still in my ride. The second lap was when things changed in a bad way. About a mile in on the second loop I was getting a little maverick trying to get some distance between me and another rider who had been about 20 or so feet behind me for the last 10 minutes and on a right downhill section my front wheel washed out causing my bars to all the way right and I went down hard on my ribs righ on the bar end that was up. That one took the breath right out of me and just when I could manage to suck a lung full of air here comes that guy that was twenty feet back and lays it down right into me and my bike knocking me down again. Whew, ok, after a couple back and forths "you alright" we both got up and he came out ok and was off. Me on the other hand had my chain come off and get stuck between the frame and inner ring so after hobling off this turn had to flip the bike over and get it unstuck. Hated this, there was a couple other riders that passed me while Im fumbling with my chain, I had to get going.
Again, no exuses, I was able to push it harder and catch up to this last pack that passed until they just outdid me on the climbs which by now I am fully accepting this is my big weakness. The last three miles of the race was a good finish (which now in hindsight I realize must of been riders in another class) but there were 3 of us all within site of eachother and we kept giving and taking ground from eachother to within a couple bikes lengths. Alright, this is when I might have got a little cocky to myself, the guy ahead was rolling good but I knew I could take him in this single track I kept closing right behind him till he would pull away on a climb, thats ok, we still have a couple miles. Now, the guy behind me, I dube him Steroid boy, this guy is riding with no shirt as to show off his muscles or something but he keeps letting out these gorilla like roars. Im thinking is this guy trying to syche us out or does he just need a shot of the juice. Well, after about 3 or 4 of these Im convinced I aint let'n steriod boy pass me dammit and Im gonna give him reason to change his roaring to moans. Funny the things you find for motivation on your last leg of energy but that did it, I turned it up a notch and was able to pull far away from this jungle boy that I knew he was no longer gonna catch me. Then within the last mile I was able to overtake the guy ahead of me to.. We were both spent, and when I did pass he asked me what class I was in and when I replied 30-39 he said whew, "Im in 40-50, was just seeing if were gonna have to start racing", I gotta say I chuckled and just replied, na, no need buddy. It was a good finish and I still pushed it thru the single track to keep a distance, but darn if that sucker didnt take me on the final climb up the gravel road to finish ahead no matter how small a distance.
All in all I gotta say I had a good tough race today and even though Im at the bottom end I feel good that I put in my race effort. With three races I now have a good baseline for my rookie year.
Still waiting for official results to be posted online, hopefully will be on the results link from site http://www.charlottemtnbike.com/
My cycle computer Stats from today :
Distance: 20.38
Time : 2:05
Avg: 9.7
Max: 22.1
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