Riding, Planning, Burnin

Did some riding over the weekend. Saturday was 40 miles 4 hours of all Castlewood singletrack. I haven't ridden there much this year so it stayed fun the whole time. Sunday was 12 miles of fun with Jess and the dog. Once again I was impressed with her riding. I think she's really enjoying it.


Big Skies


With a Smile



Obligatory


Old School





Planning on this for this coming Saturday.



And BURNIN'!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Cue beer discussion.

Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series - IV

The fourth and final race in the Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series was last night. The format was changed from 4 laps (16 miles) to 3 laps (12 miles), to allow for awards and enough daylight riding. I had mixed feelings about this, because I liked tracking my progress each week. But, I also knew that I could ride a little faster; without worrying about running out of steam. I also knew that a lot of other riders would be thinking the same thing and the pace was going to be a bit quicker.

Strangely enough, this week there were nearly double the amount of riders from the last couple of weeks. As a result, the line up and start was really clustered. I ended up somehow getting in the back of the middle group at the beginning. There were just so many riders, there wasn't much I could do. On top of this, I found out that more Pro level riders had showed up.

We start off and right away I could tell that there were some riders who had bit off more than they could chew and lined up too close to the front. At the very beginning there were a lot of riders trying to get around each other and being a little ridiculous about it. I even saw two guys right in front of me literally elbowing and yelling at each other trying to get in front.

Something I feel that I've learned doing these races is that regardless of where I end up in the line up, I eventually will get around the slower or weaker riders. And, those better than me will end up getting past me at some point.

During this first lap I was extremely patient when I was behind a slower rider and just waited for them to mess up on a technical feature or slow down too much going uphill. I would then just crank it out and pass them.

I ended up getting around the two guys elbowing each other really quickly when they both messed up on a technical feature. I passed a few other people at other points and then it was open terrain. I caught up with the 3 guys that I've been chasing all series long, and one other rider. Sure enough we all ended up together, tailing one another and pushing really hard. I knew this week that I really needed to make it a goal to stay with them. I ended up in the back of this pack and we all held a really quick pace into the first lap at 24 minutes.

Going in to the second lap, the two guys at the front started to gain some distance. This is where I normally start to mess up or slow down. Sure enough, I slipped on a skinny plank and flipped over my bars (getting completely covered in mud). I jumped up, got back on the bike and worked really hard to catch up to the guys in the second lap. I ended up making up the distance and by the end of that second lap, I passed one of the guys. It was me and one other guy left who was definitely at my pace and level of riding. We stayed with each other the entire third lap, riding really hard until the end.

I ended up finishing one second behind him, in 12th for the night. After I rolled in, the guys that I was riding close to and myself, stood around and talked about how much fun it was. It was a great feeling and a great, fun ride.

My time was 1:16 for the 12 miles, which is a personal best for me. In the overall series standings (results here) I finished tied for 9th place. I'm pretty happy about this, considering my mechanical in the first race and that my goal going into this series was to place in the top ten. After looking at the results and talking to some other folks, the first 6 guys are all Pro. Which means out of the 26 total riders, 2o were Sport class. And I was probably in the upper-middle (3rd or 4th) for the Sport class. Good stuff. No pics.

Cedar Lake and Michaux

Thought I'd throw up a post from recent rides. Rode Cedar Lake Illinois while stopped at my folks on the way up to PA. Great trails (although in need of a little more upkeep due to storm damage) and kicked my butt.

Also got in a couple rides in Carlisle local. Michaux State Forest actually. I'm stoked about these trails.

Open invite to come up and ride 'em with me.

Unseasonably

The weather was amazing this past weekend. Got out for some riding and hiking and all of the usual. Jess finally let me ride behind her for a while and all that I can say is, "Wow". She has really picked up some skills. I followed her as she picked her way through some rock gardens on the rigid, I'm very impressed. Relaxed and flowing.

Vortex.....

Someone please build one of these immediately.

Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series - III

The third race in the Schenectady Series was the best it has been yet. Jeremy came barreling through town to represent MTB United after a marathon 18 hour drive from Jackson, Missouri. With just enough time to get in a pre-race lap and some bike prep, we were ready for battle. It was unseasonably warm, for Albany weather. The high was 94, with considerable humidity.

I felt really good going into this race and it started out pretty normal for me. However, I did have my best first lap time yet- 24 minutes on the 4 mile loop. Throughout the first 2 laps, I was contending with one of the guys I was with last week and one other guy. It was a great time again, as I felt we were really pushing each other. I rode better for a longer amount this time, but just couldn't seem to hold on to that pace. One of the guys passed me and the two of them took off. This time, I worked really hard to get back on track with them and ended up passing one of them on the third lap.

Towards the end of the last lap, a storm came rolling through. It got really windy and then all of a sudden, it got super dark. I almost couldn't see the trail, it was so dark. I could only imagine Jeremy, not knowing the course very well, out there trying to find his way back. I finished up my last lap and immediately turned around to go back to look for him. Right then, it started pouring down rain. Luckily, he found his way out just fine by himself.

In the end, I finished with my fastest time yet at 1:48, shaving off one minute from last week. I ended up placing 9th for the evening and moved up in the overall rankings to 9th. I'm just hoping I can hold on to that or move up this next and final week.

Jeremy finished at 1:59, in 12th place- a very respectable time, especially for driving 18 hours and not knowing the trails.

Post-race Yeungling Lagers and Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

Thanks for going to such great lengths to make it up this way Jeremy. As always, it was great seeing you and great riding with you.

This week, I was persuasive enough to have the amazing Mindi get some pics.

Prep time. I'm either really pissed about something or struggling to get my helmet on.

Sizing up the competition.

Getting ready.

Off to the races.

Jeremy starting out.

Battling it out with fellow contenders.

Jeremy getting after it.

Me, coming around after the first lap.

Jeremy, coming around after first lap.

MR 340

I’m not really sure where to begin with this. Starting from the top and drawing out every detail, as much as it would suck for you readers, would likely bore you and therefore give you an idea of how we felt many times during the race. I think I’ll probably just recap my personal highlights.

Day 1 – Kaw Point, KS to Miami, MO

Distance: 105 miles

Time: 9:30 a.m. to 2:51 a.m.

Driving to Kaw Point Tuesday morning and getting prepped in a torrential downpour was our first challenge. Nothing like getting soaked to the bone to really get you excited to be in a boat for 4 days.

Needless to say we loaded the boat and set off on the river anyway. A line of Civil War reinactors fired black powder rifles over the river to start the race, and we were off.

This went pretty smooth, aside from being bumped by some zig zaggers who needed a physics lesson. Hit the first CP after a long 50 mile haul in the heat, and then pushed on to the second, Waverly. This CP was a balancing act between keeping the boat on the rocky shore, getting our lights set up, checking in, DEETING, and a couple other tasks. While using the nature bathroom I spat, and remembered immediately after that that I had already put on my mosquito head net, so that was nice. We got the heck out of there and headed into the black unknown. This was our first time on the river at night and it was pretty amazing. Full moon, clear sky, just followed the nav lights of boats in front of us while keeping an eye out for the black shadows of a buoy.

A couple hours into this we hit some really thick fog and could only see about 20 feet around the boat, but like Carol Ann we just continued to follow the light. There was a really windy stretch that seemed to last forever, and eventually, around 3 a.m. we spotted the checkpoint flare. The boat was too heavy for 3 men to get up the ramp, so they allowed us to stash it in some mud just next to the ramp. Set up camp, slept for a few hours.

Day 2 – Miami to Cooper’s Landing, Columbia, MO

Distance: 92 miles

Time: 7:18 a.m. to 12:57 a.m.

Woke up, saw Keeven’s grinning mug first thing, they headed out a few minutes after that. Checked my phone, got a few text messages that reminded me that it was my birthday, 24. Got some pancakes, packed up and headed out. Got to Glasgow, pushed on to Franklin’s Island, which was a few miles before passing under the I-70 bridge.

Heading into Cooper’s Landing was probably one of the toughest stretches for us. After it got dark the sleep deprivation caught up with us, we almost dumped the boat when John made an instinctive lunge for a dropped paddle. Ran into a couple of sandbars, not a lot of things in the river more discouraging than a sand bar bringing a nice pace to a grinding halt. Shadows and reflections looked like whatever your mind tricked you into seeing. After yelling “BUOY BUOY BUOY” at John and paddling like a maniac to avoid it, I realized it was just the reflection on the water from a red light on a radio tower far in the distance. The lights from Cooper’s were really deceiving, and could be seen from over a mile away. At one point it seemed that we weren’t moving at all. Finally pulled into the boat ramp, unloaded our heavy stuff and then were able to get the boat up the ramp. Ate some delicious Thai food from a dingy looking trailer cooked by a little Thai woman that was hopped up on coffee after being up much later than her bedtime. Thanks Chim. Set up camp and listened to some drunks stagger around outside our tent.

Day 3 – Cooper’s to Hermann

Distance: 74

Time: 7:15 a.m. to 10:02 p.m.

Woke up in the morning to a symphony of farts coming from the tent next to us. I was torn between laughter, early morning crabbiness, and the urge to join in. Headed downriver to Jeff City. Pulling into that CP I saw a handwritten sign on the shore with our team name and number on it…we had a fan. An old friend from my internship a couple years back was on a project in Jeff City, and turns out that they had timed our progress to coincide with their lunch break. It was lifting to see a familiar face, plus we ate some delicious hotdogs with homemade relish, followed by some free apple pie.

Moving on we were both a little more full than usual, hoping none of that food was planning a return trip. Paddled and paddled, this being our shortest day we pulled into Hermann just after 10 p.m. Things got weird again that evening because the Hermann bridge can be seen for over an hour before you’re actually under it. We pulled our boat up that ramp and were greeted by a good friend that decided to come by and see us on his way to the Lake of the Ozarks.

Hung out and ate for an hour or so, called the parents to let them know we were alive. I found out that my mother, who was at one point strongly opposed to me doing this race, had now made her entire school aware of our journey and was giving them updates as often as we updated her. Slept next to a train that night. It couldn’t really be avoided...and we didn’t really sleep well.

Day 4 – Hermann to St. Charles

Distance: 69

Time: 4:00 a.m. to 4:32 p.m.

We got up and out by 4 a.m. sharp, and were on the way home. The last CP before the finish was at the familiar Klondike Park. We pulled in there, took a bathroom break and then ran into Chris, who then followed us down the river via the Katy Trail until we made it to St. Charles.

I only know one person that would sit down and create a spreadsheet with our speed and approximate locations, as well as his own speed and approximate location on bicycle, the locations where he can pull off the trail to catch a glimpse of us and at what time that should happen. Big thanks to him; if he were not the extremely prepared man that he always is we probably wouldn’t have seen our families at the finish. Once we passed under I-64 it was on, the finish was relatively close. Eventually we passed under the Hwy 364 bridge to see my screaming family above, and within an hour we were on the beach and finished, with a party of 15 or so waiting to congratulate us.

We walked up the street to a nearby brewery/restaurant. This was one of the happiest moments in recent history for me, being surrounded by loved ones, food, and beer after accomplishing something like that. Looking back on the experience I will say that some day I want to do it again, but not next summer, and maybe not for a few more years. It was different than any other challenge I’ve been a part of, not a lot of adrenaline involved but very mentally stressful. As far as recovery, I was surprised that delayed muscular soreness was minimal, and my back, which I’ve had trouble with in the past, was not in bad shape at all. There were extreme highs and lows of emotion. Times when I could sit up, grin big and really dig the paddle in, and times where I slouched back, paddle in a manner that probably slowed us down, and was a real dick to John. I was pretty lucky to have a teammate that has been my friend since grade school. The conversation was always pretty entertaining, especially after heat exhaustion and sleep deprivation kicked in and singing and stupid ramblings began. At one point we sang the Fresh Prince of Bel-air theme song to a random cutie that had been paddling with us for a little while. And that was the first day, to give you an idea of how that behavior may have progressed. At night we froze in our tent, no sleeping bags were packed, and you could always expect a cool breeze off the river. The emergency blanket that I started using the second night (after sleeping in the fetal position the first night) was loud enough to keep your average camper awake all night; luckily I was surrounded by zombies. If boats were sumo wrestlers, ours was Yokozuna, the heaviest of them all. We had enough peanut butter and honey sandwiches to feed two families, but somehow didn’t make a huge dent in the stack. We started with 52ish liters of water between the two of us, and even though I had wanted to take in a liter every hour on the water, we never refilled and I dumped out over a quarter of my water at the finish. Still managed to keep the urinal (Gatorade bottle) full somehow. Between my teammate and I, we had well under 50 miles of paddling experience, and the 8 miles I contribute to that number happened the Sunday before race week. If its something you want to do, get a boat and do it. Prepare for a year out or just deal with things as they hit you, regardless you will have a great experience to look back on.

It's Chubb

Haven't been there at all this year (RIDICULOUS), finally made it out there on Sunday. I maintain this is the most fun trail in town, without a doubt. We rode it like we hadn't missed a beat. What stairs? Having so much fun only got one pic. Who is that guy?



We noticed a lot of new cheater lines. Are those rogue or land manager sanctioned? I hope that folks continue to ride the difficult lines so they don't get phased out. Also saw some flagging near the top and heard a RUMOR that they may be rerouting the trail away from the two steepish climbs to the picnic bench. Can we not have a difficult trail?

Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series Video

Found this video on YouTube, I am prominently featured 57 seconds in (not so fancy footwork), at minute 1:57 (solo riding) and 2:58 (in between two other racers, hauling it). I'm also at the very beginning, but am a total blur (probably because I was going so fast, not because of camerawork)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4NQxm5i7b4

That's funny.

Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series - II

"It never gets easier, you just go faster" - Greg LeMond

I thought that quote was perfect for this post. The race last night was much better than last week. Overall, I placed 10th last night with a final time of 1:48. Total of 4 laps, about 4 miles per lap. This is nothing incredibly impressive, but a personal best for me. On top of it, I've trimmed down 13 minutes on my time for the same amount of laps, since the race in April. Quite an accomplishment for me.

The race started out the same as last one. No Le Mans style start, just sitting on bikes in a cluster and then start. I was in back of the middle pack and jumped up a few spots at the very beginning. Immediately going into the singletrack, some girl wiped out hard and took up all of the space to get into the trails. It all came to a stop and people started walking bikes up the first hill. I downshifted and just sat on my bike, sort of track-standing, not wanting to disengage. Once it started moving again, I started pumping hard to pass those walking up. I passed about 3 or 4 people and shot through the singletrack. The pace was really fast and I was feeling good. I got stuck behind a slow rider, he messed up on a technical feature and I shot by him. I passed maybe one or two other riders after that.

At this point, it was about 1/3 through the first lap and I caught up with 2 other riders who were clipping along at a really good pace. I ended up in the middle of these two riders and we kept our pace with one another for about another lap after that. It was a lot of fun, as I felt we were working to push each other. The riding was a really fast pace for me, but I felt good. About half-way through the second lap, I clipped a tree with my handlebars and hit another tree next to it with my shoulder. The two riders took off without me and I was left alone for the next 2 1/2 laps, until the finish. I lost my pace pretty bad from there on out. I saw no one else for the rest of the race.

In hindsight, I should have pushed harder to pick those two riders up more quickly. However, I did feel good about my time and my start was really strong. I just need to keep it up in those last two laps next time.

More next week. No pics again, but someone was taking some last night. I'll see if I can get a hold of them.

Recent Activities

Have a few pics on the camera that need a place so here they are.




Congratulations to David and John on their successful completion of the MR340. They made very good time and completed the race unsupported. Quite the feat. I imagine there will be a post sooner or later. Probably takes a while to wrap your head around and sort out what you just did.

I was lucky enough to get to watch them complete the very last leg of the race. I parked at the finish line in St. Charles and hopped on the SS to ride down to the Klondike Park boat ramp (approx 313 miles done, 27 miles to the finish) where their last checkpoint was. Took a few pics along the way.



I pulled in to the boat ramp around noon and found their boat but not them. Wandered around for a few minutes and finally they appeared. They were both in good spirits and didn't seem to be in any real pain or discomfort. I was suprised and impressed. They weren't staying long, just a bathroom break. The timing couldn't have worked out better. Another ten minutes and I would've missed them.



They shoved off.



I stopped off at various spots along the way to watch them go by, take some pics, and give them some last minute encouragement. They're in there, you'll have to look closely.





Around 4:30PM Friday, after 79 hours, they pulled in to the finish.



Dave was interviewed by a Columbia Missourian reporter.



Great job guys, very impressive!



With some route additions that I made due to the difference in speed between boat and bike, I ended up with about 60 miles for the day. I enjoyed watching those guys finishing up the challenge.

The combo of singlespeed and Katy Trail made for some constant spinning that really helped me work on my spin, so I went at it again on Sunday. This time parked in Defiance and rode with Anna and Jess for 10 miles before they turned around. I continued on.

Finally saw a decent size Copperhead. He was laying across the trail just west of Marthasville when I approached. When I got to close he slowly made his way to the side of the trail. If you grabbed both ends and tugged he would be close to three feet long. The chesnut color is interesting, makes the snake look soft and smooth, no shine.




Made it to Treloar and turned around. Finished up with 52 miles.



Yep. I crossed the line.





Jess and I did a bit of hiking.




Along with our crazy dog.