Saturday, December 29, 2007

Lurleen




I wanted to ride somewhere besides Oak mountain today and asked Tommy if he wanted to go to Lake Lurleen instead. He agreed so I picked him up and we headed down to Tuscaloosa. We got to the park and hit the trail heading clockwise as that was the way I went last time. The first part was down near the lake and the roots were angled toward the water. I think Tommy almost went in the water on this section. We stopped at the dam to adjust the bikes and get Tommy's helmet cam aimed correctly. Continuing on we we both fighting poorly shifting rear deraillers. I finally got frustrated, stopped, flipped the bike over and adjusted it. I could not seem t get it adjusted while riding. We stopped shortly after and did the same to Tommy's and he started enjoying the ride much more. We took our time and enjoyed the day. There were a few nice downhills that I was able to get a little air, but it seemed like the opposite direction would be better for downhills. Next time we will have to go counterclockwise. Finally after finishing the trail, we were heading back on the road and stopped to play on the camp sites.

They had little walls that we could jump off the side. I started on the one that was about a 1.5 foot drop and got comfortable. The goal was one that was a 1.5 foot drop and very quickly sloped down from there. My first attempt I was going pretty slow and ended up nosing over and landed a few feet from the wall. After going over the first time, I was feeling better. Getting up the nerve to do it the first time is always the hardest. I slowly got faster and faster untill I was landing on the flat section at the bottom. I must have jumped off the wall about 10 times. I was very pleased as the bike performed beautifully and landed very solidly and more gently than I thought. I walked down and stood where I was landing and it was almost shoulder high. I was extremely happy and finally feel like I am using the suspension. Once I get a little more comfortable maybe I can add more style to my jumps.

Please Hold: I will add pictures and possibly movies in the next day or so.
Took me a little longer than I thought but pictures are finally up.
Remainder of Pictures:

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Legs failing on me

Rode Oak again today. Met BUMP at 10:00 and we did a lap CCW. It was a fun ride and I played around a bit riding the logs and practicing jumping things. I got to lead from Chimney rock down through the "Northern Shire" I was cruising through this singletrack at a good pace. However near the end I lost my line and ended up having to brush a tree with my shoulder. I think Monty was following my line exactly because he hit the tree pretty good. We paused at the BMX track road and waited for everyone and that is when I found out he hit it. He said he saw me bump it and next thing he knew he was bouncing off multiple trees. Finished on up and I hit my chainring pretty good as I completely missed the large log with my front tire as I tried to hop it. Got back to the parking lot and Gavin wanted to do a second lap. I wanted to do a second lap also so I got ready and we headed out again.

We went Clockwise and were moving at a pretty good pace. I had heard Gavin could ride, but I didn't know what to expect. I was actually feeling pretty but my thighs were burning on the climbs a bit. I thought it was just me getting into the faster pace. We made it to the North Trailhead and headed up the Jeep climb. It began misting on us at this point, but was not bad, so we kept going. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I was struggling on the really steep climbs. I actually had to downshift to Granny in the front. I hardly ever use this gear and my heartrate was still low, so I don't know what the problem was but I couldn't keep up. Rarely do my legs fail before I get out of breath so it may have been nutritional. Anyway, we cruised on up and finished out the lap. Hitting the downhill after Blood rock, the ground was nice an tacky from the light mist and I was able to navigate this quite easly and had to keep on the brakes to stay back from catching Gavin. The rocky downhills were the only place where I may have had a slight advantage (or he was was waiting on me to make sure he would know if I crashed :-) ). We still finished up in about 1:36 of riding, we stopped for a few minutes to check bikes twice, but I was really hoping to get in the 1:20's on this lap.

I really enjoyed today as the weather was really nice. I had to wear long sleves and my leggings, but I stayed comfortable the whole day without getting to sweaty or cold. Traded numbers with Gavin as I think by riding with him more often I might can get my lap time down to where I want it to be.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Rain, Rain, Go away

Met at Swayback for the nedurance training ride. After missing a turn on the way there I ended up getting there about 10 minutes late. Instead of holding everyone up, I agreed to just meet them at a point near the parking lot after they had ridden about 3 miles. I quickly got ready and rode over to the power line road. They were not there yet, so I rode around on the trails trying to warm up. It was not particularly cold, but was a bit chilly and I did not want to overdress because I knew I would get hot once riding.
After meeting everyone we went a couple of miles and one of the guys got a flat. I hung back with him while he fixed the flat and we started back. About a mile later he broke his chain and decided to head back to the parking lot. I picked the pace up a bit and managed to finally catch the group. We made it back to the parking lot and I refilled my water and ate a bit and we headed back out.
This lap it started raining on us. It stoppped shortly after, but we could all tell this was only the beginning. It made it just a little slick so I had to be a bit more careful which made it a bit more challenging and fun. After finishing this lap a good number of people decided to bail. About 5 of us (originally closer to 10) headed back out for another lap.
This lap it started and stopped raining a few times during the ride. The roots were pretty slick which slowed us down a little, but we were all pretty drenched by this point. We kept at it and finished the lap. Right as we were getting back to the parking lot, it started raining (not just sprinkling. We stood around and then moved under the small cover of the map structure. It started pouring pretty hard and showed no sign of stopping so we decided to call it. I went back to my truck packed up my bike and started changing and it slacked off to a light mist (which was nice so i could dry off a bit before getting in the truck.

On the drive back once I got into Clanton it started clearing up and was sunny by the time I got home. I was a little mad as we could have gotten in the miles we wanted anywhere but swayback, but it was too late.

That is all I rode this weekend as I couldn't convince anyone to ride on Sunday. I did get to meet Xray Ed on this trip and he worked on convincing me to try an endurance race. I think I may try one this next year.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Soft Hands

Well I started the weekend with a Saturday ride with Tommy. We did a lap of Oak Mountain clockwise but the more interesting thing is that Tommy bought him a helmet cam. It is a Tony Hawk cam that was very inexpensive, so I was not expecting much. We ate at McAlisters after our ride and watched the video he recorded. The camera only came with a 32meg card so I think it would only record 2 minutes of footage but we got a few videos. Hopefully Tommy will get them up on his blog (see to the right under links).





Sunday I met Bump for the first time for trail work. I knew they intended to re-plank one of the bridges and I figured I would also rake some leaves. Well, we had to dolly in all the wood (which was probably the most difficult part) and about 3 of us stayed and worked on the bridge while the others headed elsewhere to work since there was only so many people that could help. I was nailing the new planks on and my sad self ended up with some pretty good blisters. I had no idea I had gotten so soft by sitting at my computer all day. We then went over to remove a bridge and replcae with rocks. By the time we got there the bridge was already removed and we were searching for suitable rocks. I found one that weighed close to 100 pounds so I had to get the dolly and wheel it about 1/8 mile to the place it was to go. After hauling this and many other rocks (the later ones we found were not as far) I was huffing and puffing. I helped place a few rocks then started raking the tail since they didn't need my help there. I only got a couple hundred yards done before it was time for lunch.



It helped me respect how much work goes into little things on the trail. I am glad I joined BUMP and am really looking forward to the expansion of the Oak Mountain trail.



After lunch we rode a lap and really enjoyed the sections of the trail that were improved. I ended up pretty tired after the day, but just being in the woods away from cell phones and work made it a great day.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Stairs Suck!

Headed to Oak Mountain again to try to practice for the Day at Sway on the 15th. I had intended to try to get three laps in this weekend. Mal from BUMP wanted to do two laps starting at 9:00. Tommy and Moran were going to start at 10-10:30 and try for their second lap when I was starting my third. We hit the trail heading clockwise. The BUMP guys seem to only like riding clockwise, I don't quite understand. Anyway, I just rode with Mal and really didn't try anything on this lap but just rode. We got back and managed a 1:35 lap time (not counting the time we stopped to wait for stragglers a few miles in. I got back to the parking lot and ate a sandwich, energy bar, and refilled my water bottle.
A few more people had arrived to join us for our second lap so we headed out (Clockwise again). Gavin (I hope this is his name) joined us and I enjoyed tring to follow him as he was hitting all the log jumps and log rides as we rode. He actually cleared the large log before camp road so I decided to try it. I cleared it with my back tire, but landed on my front. It was definately not pretty, but I made it over. We rode for a while and Monty was having shifting problems and basically had to use the large chainring only. Shortly after he ran over a needle (like you air up a ball with and how this got on the trail I will never know) and had to chage his tire. He was having terrible luck. I stuck around to make sure he got it repaired (I would feel terrible if he had to walk out). We rode on to the North trail head and he decided to head back. I couldn't figure out why he didn't want to climb the hill in the large chainring only on the second lap :-). At this point I was 5-10 minutes behind everyone else so I decided to see if I could catch them. I tried to not kill myself but pushed pretty hard up the hill. I actually saw 201bpm on my heartrate monitor. According to the built in charts for my age that is about 107% of my max. Just call me an overachiever. I finally caught half the group at the top of the BUMP trail. I headed on down tring to catch the leaders. I finally caught a glimpse of them across the valley of Johnson's mountain. I was still a minute or two behind but kept pressing on. Finally I was getting close near the end of Mr. Toads, but could not do it. I got back to the cars about 5 seconds behind them. I looked at me time and was extremely supprised to see a 1:31. I did however stop for about 15 minutes for the shifting and tire change that would have bumped the time to what I thought I would have ridden.

I was not hungry, but I tried to force down a little food and refilled my camelback once again. I was able to talk Tommy and Moran into heading CCW as I needed a change for the last lap. Even though they rode this diection for their first lap, they graciously agreed. Gavin joined us as he wanted to also get 2 laps in even though he had gone road riding tat moring. We headed out and rode at a welcome slower pace. I was regretting pushing so hard on the second lap as I figured I would have to walk some of the hils according to how I felt on my last climb of the jeep trail. Supprisingly I made it to blood rock okay. I decided to once again try to ride up (even though I had already admitted defeat because I was so tired) and did better than I thought. I had to take a few steps at the tree as I was spinnign my tire and dabbed a few more time, but actually did better than usual. We continued on around and stopped at ditch #3 to take pictures of Tommy's jumping skills. Tommy tried to take the road back once we got to the North Tailhead, btu we conviced him that he was so close to getting two laps he had better not give up now. We stopped at the top of the first climb (everthing seemed like a climb at this point). Tomm wanted to rest, so me and Moran traded bikes (we swapped pedals) as Gavin headed on back due to time constraints. I rode the Stumpy the rest of the way and decided I HATE Specialized seats. I was doing fine till this and now my butt was killing me. I should have done something, but I just sucked it up and dealt with it. I am probably going to regret this decision tomorrow. We finished it out in 2:05 riding time and 55 minutes of resting. After a beer in the parking lot we headed home to get ready to go to Texas Roadhouse. I had a tasty New york strip and felt much better.

I just found out Charles and Charlie are going to Swayback tomorrow to ride. I think I could work the soreness out of my legs, but I am really saddle sore. I will have to see if I can even sit on the seat tomorrow morning. If I can, I may go join them. After all, I only get to ride on the weekends, it would be terible to waste a day.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Oak Mtn 2007_11_26

I read on the BUMP forums that they were having a ride today at 12:00. Tommy said he wanted to ride this weekend, but he hadn't retuned my call so I decided to go ride with them. I got there a little early and got ready. Monty, Mickey and I think it was Monty's cousin Ron showed up. They warned me they were going to go slow, but they were actually were moving at a pretty nice pace. I was feeling to pevious day's ride a little as my legs were a bit sore. I cleaned the log again (I think three times is the charm, so mabe I have it figured out now) right before we stopped to regoup at camp road. Riding on up, I jumped ahead right before the downhill to get a picture of Monty jumping the log at the bottom. I was getting off my bike about the time they were all coming down and I finally got my camera out and managed to snap one of Ron. I later found out they thought I was talking about a different spot. I got a little ahead after the BMX track and had to try about 3 times before making it over the log. Mickey passed me while I was going back to try for the trird time. I headed on up and got ahead again so I could take some pictues of them coming down the trail. When I caught back up Monty told me to hammer it to the North trailhead and he was going to "try" to keep up. It didn't seem like he was having any trouble as every time I looked back he was right there. Also every time we got moving we met bikers going in the opposite direction and ended up stopping.
At the north trailhead Monty and Ron headed back on the singletrack and me and Mickey headed up the jeep trail. She set a good pace and I was supprised as she climbed this much faster than she led me to believe she would. We headed on down and I was going to get a picture of her riding down blood rock, but she said she was not going to do it. She skipped Johnson's mountain and I pushed myself pretty hard through the rest of the trail. My legs were burning pretty good and I looked down and my heartrate was only 120. It was then that I realized the monitor was not making good contact. I don't know how long it was not reading correctly, but I wanted a good reading of me pushing it so I can figure out heatrate vs. how hard I am exerting mself. I didn't want to stop to readjust it, so I guess I will have to figure it out later. I got back to the parking lot and relaxed in the back of the truck and had a beer. It was vey lightly sprinkling so I bid everyone else goodbye and thaked them for the ride. I then met Steph at McAlisters for lunch even though it was about 15:00. It was a good day for a ride as the weather was warmer than yesterday and I was very comfortable.

A couple of things I have noticed and need to fix before next weekend. The first is that since I have the tube in the rear tire, I can tell that it is there. I have been running 40PSI in the tube as opposed to the 30psi I usually run with the tubeless. I can feel the tube dragging in the wheel a little a it feels like I am very lightly applying the brakes at times. I want to get the wheel patched as there is a lot of tread left on it, but I may just put the new one on till I can get a patch kit. Also my front brake lever is not returning when I let off of it. It is not failing to release clamping on the rotor, but it is slightly annoying. I need to research that also and get it fixed before the next ride.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Turkey Burn

I decided to meet BUMP for their annual turkey burn ride at Oak Mountain at 10:00 this morning. It usually takes me a little while to get ready, so I got there at about 9:40 so I would be ready to go. I later found out that the ride usually doesn't start till later. I think we finally hit the trail at about 10:45-11:00. I must have left the power to the bike computer on as it died right as we were getting started so unfortunately I have no record of this trip. We went clockwise and I fell in near the end of the group. As we got going I slowly made my way to the front as people would stop to rest or get stuck climbing a hill.
One good thing to note, I finally cleanly cleared the large log right before camp trail. I usually will unclip or hit my back wheel on the log even though I make it over, but this time I correctly landed the rear tire right on the top. Near the BMX track I saw a couple of the riders head toward the track. I usually do not ride the BMX track as Iam not very good at it, but I headed up and watched them start around. I rode a lap, with absolutely no grace and no speed and then jumped back on the trail. I next stopped to ride the log at the base of the Chimney rock climb. I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I could not ride the stupid log. It took me about 7 tries before I finally did it. I finally caught back up with eveyone at the north trailhead. We climbed the jeep trail and at the top of the climb we stopped and I snapped a few pictures (I didn't take many this ride). I did manage to ride the log on the jeep downhill and played on the short log at the top of the bump while we waited on everyone. I was the last down the bump trail to blood rock and got behind a few people who were walking down. I waited at the top for them to clear and rode down. They were going down the rcky downhill very cautiously so I gave them a few minutes head start so I wouldn't be on top of them. I headed down and think I scared them as I jumped the rocks right before where they were stopped to rest. I finished on up and we got back to the parking lot. I called my brother and he said we would be there in about 40 minutes. I decided to just eat another energy bar instead of getting lunch and stood around with everone for a little while till he showed up.

It took a little while to get ready as I let him have the cleats off my old shoes as they were in decent condition and he bought some shoes to use with the old Time ATACS I had before the curent pair. I also checked the tire air pressure as well as the shock pressure for him while he was getting ready. We finally headed out and Matthew wanted to go Counter Clockwise so we could ride down the jeep trail and we took off. He was doing petty well as he was moving pretty good through the first section. I kept telling him to slow down and pace himself (the thing I am worst at) but I think he was trying to set a good lap time. We got to the Johnson's Mtn climb and he had to put a foot down but rode up all except the large rocks at the top. He seemed to be having no problem with the clipless at all. We rode on up and made it to the blood rock climb. He had to kick the chain into 1st as the bike would not shift (something I need to fix), but rode up with no problem. I was actually struggling more than him because he was just slowly climbing and I kept hitting rocks and having to put a foot down. I need to practice my grannny gear climbing more as my balance seems to suffer the slower I go. At blood rock I tried to ride up it and got stuck at the first part. It was extremely wet and I kept spinning the tire. I tried three times and the third put it in a higher gear. This helped tremendously as it kept me from spinning as much, but my tires were completely soaked and the front was sliding on me, so I just walked it up to the point where it crosses the stream. I got back on the bike and rode from here and was doing well till I met another biker coming down. He was not slowing down, so I moved off the trail and grabbed a tree. I rode the rest of the wa up after the second biker went by.
At the top matthew really wanted to ride the log. I tried to warn him that this one was a little dangerous as it was higher than the rest and had some branches that would catch your font tire if you fall off the wrong side but he was determined. He finally rode up one of the small branches and of the end. I was pretty impressed as he did this easily. We rode on up and on the way he saw the second log, he rode right across first try. I was amazed, but somehow managed to make it mself first try. Finally we made it to the top and headed down the downhill. I let him go first and gave him a little time before I headed down. He was moving pretty good because I didn't catch him till the bridge. I followed him down and watched him jump all the whoopties. he was definately having a good time. We headed on back and I could tell he was getting a little tired on some of the climbs, but he is pretty stubborn and wouldn't admit it and kept going. Not much else to mention other than I cleared the log after camp trail again and we finished right before dark. We had a beer at the truck while we packed everything up. It was a good day as I pretty much spent the whole day riding. Lastly, Matthew was talking about getting a bacon wrapped filet for dinner, so after I got home me and Stephanie went to Longhorn and I got a Steak for dinner. The steaks there are always excellent adn we managed to finish off our meals as well as the appetizer we ordered. I didn't realize I was so hungry.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

First Trip to Lake Lurleen

I wanted to get a ride in today, and I noticed BUMP was having their monthly trail ride at Lake Lurleen in Tuscaloosa. I met them at McDonalds this morning and we headed down to the trail. Once there we got ready and hit the trail. I believe we went Clockwise and the trail started off pretty flat. After a run in with a jogger that would not get out of the way we finally all regrouped at the dam. Heading on we went down a hill and had a decent climb back up the other side. I was led to believe this trail was pretty flat, but I was pleasently impressed. It is definately easier than Oak Mtn, but it had some uphills and downhills that made it a fun ride. Me and Doug (the guy who writes the bike column in the paper) rode ahead and took the long trail at the wye. This section had really good flow and we were scooting through it pretty good (for a trail neither of us had ridden before). We made it back to where the trail joins together. After waiting for about 5 minutes we decided to circle back and ride this short (2.5) mile loop again. We figured it would put us in the back and we could try to catch everone else. We looped around again, this time attacking the trail a bit more agressively than last time. After this the trail had a couple interesting bridges and really good flowing sections. There were a couple whoopties that you could easlily hop and get a bit of air. There were a few small down and ups that reminded me of Swayback as well as a good down and up about 10 feet deep that led into a fun fast downhill. The trail came out on the road for the last bit and we met everone back at the vehicles. We sat around for a few minutes and had a beer as well as some Sushi that Mickey brought. I also tried a wasabi peanut and I am not really sure I liked it. I enjoyed the ride with these guys (and Girl) and will probably join them in the future for more rides.

Moran had been mentioning joining BUMP for a while, but with my busy schedule I kept putting it off. There are some things I would like to see at Oak Mountain to make it a bit more difficult and the best way to offer these suggestions is if I am helping with the changes. I am probably going to join shortly.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Oak Mountain 2007_11_17

Met with Tommy and Moran for a lap of Oak Mtn. We met about 10:15 and rode Clockwise. The autum leaves were still looked awsome and luckily they have not completely covered the trail yet. I am without a camera for the weekend as Stephanie loaned it to her parents since they went to the Alabama game and they wanted to take some pictures. The first part of the trail was at a casual pace and I really enjoyed just being on the bike after another week of work. Everything was going well untill we were riding up the Jeep trail and were almost at the top. Tommy heard a loud pop and realized his front derailler did not work anymore. At first we thought it had just slipped on the frame but we couldn't seem to get it fixed. We got it where it would shift so he could finish up but shortly after it got stuck in third. After we "Adjusted" it one last time it halfway worked. We rode down the bump and Moran tried to get me to jump all the rocks going down to the Bump trail but I pussed out. There is a small rock at the top that should be a good launching point if you hit it just right. It would be a huge jump for me and I don't think I am quite ready for it yet. Maybe after I can climb Blood rock, that will be my next goal.

I have really started liking the jump after the descent from blood rock. The line of rocks across the trail has one rock I can jump off of very well. We hassled Tommy a bit about wanting to take the road back and he decided to take the trail the rest of the way. We rode on out and finished in record time (well not quite). Tommy and Moran had to head back, so I headed to McAlisters to get something to eat. It was a good day for riding.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Raccoon Mountain Day #2

I was extremely excited to get back out to Raccoon and ride some more. After a nice ham, egg, and cheese from Hardees I was ready to start. We started from the visitor’s center again (mainly because we were warned that many cars were getting broken into and we figured it was the safest of the parking lots with people coming and going). Tommy and Moran were with me at the beginning and we headed back onto the trail this time heading clockwise. There was a nice technical descent to get started and some short climbs. We were passed by a bunch of people I see pretty regularly at Oak Mountain. They were moving pretty good, so I didn’t get to chat with them, but did snap a few pictures as they were descending a rocky section at the same time I was taking pictures of Tommy and Moran. Setting a leisurely pace we were enjoying this ride tremendously. The weather couldn’t have been better and the trees were fully changed and had just started dropping leaves (the trail was still clean of leaves).

We came upon the part of the trail Tommy dubbed the Shire, so we had to get a picture of him riding through. I believe every trail we have ridden has had a Shire except for Trussville. Usually this is a section where there are many trees grown close to the trail. Tommy keeps threatening to one day buy a bunch of garden gnomes and set them out in the woods at Oak Mountain. I think it would be a great addition, but don’t know if it will ever happen.



Brian (Ansel Adams) Moran took control of the camera at this point and shortly after wrecked twice. I also noticed that almost every picture he took is blurry. I think he was mad because my camera did not have a sport mode.

We came back to the dam and this time the camera battery was not dead. There were a few whoopties in one section before the trail went back into the woods for a while before the trail crossed a rock bridge over the bottom section of dam. Unfortunately we met a huge group of riders at this point and me and Tommy had to wait for them to all cross before we could go across. I was actually a little supprised at how rude some of the riders were at the park. There were a few times when we should have had the right of way they basically pushed us off the trail. I am not complaining as most were nice, but I don’t usually experience this at Oak Mtn (Of course I could be considered the rude one there and we were just out for a comfortable lap today so it didn’t really matter). I had managed to burp my tire on a landing I had jumping off a small ledge and landing leaned over because there was an immediate turn afterwards. I quickly refilled my tire with CO2 not knowing I had greater damage.

We got another few miles in before Tommy and Moran had to head back. Tommy had prior engagements later that day so they had to cut the ride short. At this point I kept going and began to explore a bit. I noticed my rear tire was rolling on me around turns and I stopped at the overlook parking lot to examine the damage. I first saw there was a small hole in the tire and I kept trying to get the Bonty juice I had in there to seal it, but it would not seal. I was a little frustrated as this was a small hole and it should have worked. At this point I also saw that air was leaking from the rim bead. I figured I had gotten some dirt or something in the bead which was keeping it from sealing. I borrowed a floor pump from some bikers in the parking lot and I let the air out, tried to clean the bead and re-aired it up. It still was leaking, so I just gave up and threw my spare tube in it. I aired it up and thanked them for the pump.


I rode backwards through the black diamond part (I really need to look up the names of the sections) and not only jumped the rock but there was a banked section of rock one could ride up on and go around a tree, however there was a gap that had to be hopped in the center. I was not really expecting it and just rode it. I realize that with no picture you have no idea what I am talking about, but imagine the gap was 3’ instead of the 1’ it actually was.




I decided to ride back to the cutoff just so I could have a record of all the trails on my GPS. I found some more singletrack that bypassed this section and it had a pretty easy log ride on it. I actually rode right by it and only saw it looking back through the woods on one of the switchbacks. I rode back and rode across a few times. I arrived where the trail branched off and noticed a trail going into the woods. This trail consisted of lots of loops that I kept exploring. There were quite a few boulder fields that were VERY fun to ride. This stuff was pretty challenging and I played back on this stuff for 30 minutes to an hour just exploring. I found a 7’ drop that appeared people had been jumping off of. It took me a minute or so to get the nerve to just ride down it. Most of the rocks I could just ride up by getting a good bit of speed and then just peddling up. The rocks were amazingly sticky (I didn’t have a problem with traction). There were also many drops off the rocks as well as a decent through a pile of rocks that put a huge smile on my face when I made it to the bottom even though I had to peddle back up the hill to get back out. I really do not know if these trails were supposed to be ridden as I saw no other riders back there, and I will not post the GPS maps in case this is off limits, but they were all marked with ribbons around the trees and small flags on the ground. I would kill to have something like this locally as this type of riding was the most fun I have had in a while.

I saw a few deer on the last part of the ride as I rode the fast curvy single track through the woods. I also ran across more female riders. I was also really surprised how many female rides were out on the trails. These were not the normal girls just riding through the woods, but women who looked like serious riders (they were wearing costumes and you could tell they had been riding for a while). I had to get a picture of the steed before I left as it treated me right this whole trip. I haven’t reiterated it in a while, but this bike kicks ass. I was heading out and the sun was just starting to set so I snapped a picture of the lake also.
All the pictures can be seen here:

Saturday, November 10, 2007

First Visit to Raccoon Mountain

We headed up to Tennessee to check out Raccoon Mountain as it was supposed to be a pretty nice trail. We decided to start from the visitor center as we heard they had maps of the trail. We were not really worried about getting lost as we knew it was just a loop around the lake. The leaves were all changing and it was beautiful. It was slightly chilly so I wore a long sleeve shirt under my jersey. We took off and headed counter-clockwise. The trail started out with nice flowing singletrack. It was a nice warm-up for us. We ventured on and the trail continued to be pretty fast and fun. We stumbled on a fallen tree across the trail. It happened to be on a slight downhill so we stopped and piled up some dead trees and branches as transition on the uphill side as they wanted me to jump the log. This was only about 12” so I cautiously approached it the first time and nose dove while jumping it. We worked on the transition a bit more and I got where I could jump it decently. Tommy and Moran jumped it also before we headed on. A nice picture of Moran showing us how the kewl kids land it can be seen here.


We pretty much always turned left at every intersection as we knew that would keep us on the longest trail around the lake. Next we came upon an overlook and the view was incedible. There was a steep down and up that Moran and I rode down. Tommy managed to snap a picture as we rode down.









The next part of the trail we later learned was expert level, but it was very technical with some sections of the tail on the edge of a decent ledge. It was extremely fun. At the beginning of this section we found a rock that was a good 2.5-3’ drop. It had a good transition close to the rock, so we all practiced our jumping. Tommy was the hucking king. The video of him is below.






The next section had a couple of great views but at this point my camera battery was dead. This section was decently rocky and Moran was ahead of us and went over the handle bars. I just heard him crash and looked up and he was piled up with his bike. I tried to take his picture, but the battery was gone. Tommy had to help untangle him from his bike before he could get up. The final section had a few climbs and we finished up with a climb back out to the parking lot.










We got cleaned up and ate dinner at Big River Bar and Brewery. We had to wait an hour for a table, so we went to the bar (the whole restaurant was NON SMOKING!!, I decided I really like Chatanooga) I had their Pumpkin beer while we watched the Auburn/GA game. We all split an appetizer, I had a steak and ate a piece of cheesecake. It was an excellent meal to finish shuch a good day.


The Rest of the pictures can be seen here:


http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/RaccoonMountain2007_11_10


Added a map of the ride:



Sunday, November 4, 2007

First Ride in a while for my Brother


Went to Oak Mountain today for an easy ride to let Matthew ride a lap. He has been wanting to get back out there as it has been about 9 months since he has ridden. He is as stubborn as I am about not giving up so I knew he was going to ride the whole thing no matter how long it took. He borrowed my GF Sugar and I quickly guessed at his weight for the shock settings. He also decided to try clipless pedals for the first time. I had my old Time ATACs and old shoes that never quite fit me right. I know they did not fit him very well, but he wanted to try them so he made do. He clipped in and out in the parking lot a few times and we hit the trail. Going counter clockwise everything was going well untill we got past johnson's mountain. Then going up the rocky sections on the way up to the blood rock climb the clipless got him. He fell over a few times trying to negotiate the rocks. To my knowledge both him and Tommy rode all the way up to blood rock.

Once there I tried to climb it again about 5 times. I made it to the turn by the tree a couple of times, but seemed to always get stuck there. My tires were getting more and more wet and sandy with each attempt so I eventually called it and headed on up. I seem to do better by gearing high at the beginning to keep from spinning and downshifting once I get over the first section. Some day I will ride up this thing.
I tried to get Matthew and Tommy to ride the log at the BUMP/Jeep junction as well as the one on the way up the Jeep trail, but I couldn't get them to. Going down the Jeep I stopped at the third ditch to catch Tommy and Matthew jumping since this is the best place to get some air. Tommy went first and flew. I snapped the picture a little early, so he is just launching, but I was thoroughly impressed. He was 3-4 feet in the air and landed about 12 feet down the trail. I tried to get him to do it again but I think it scared him a little. Matthew crouched like he was going to jump, then just coasted out. I am sure the borrowed bike as well as the clipless pedals helped him decide to not be stupid (at least this time out).

Continuing on down the trail we came to the last of the log rides. We all stopped and I got Tommy and Matthew to try and ride it. There were no crashes, so everything was good.
The next item of amusement was at the BMX road crossing. There is a small ditch that I usually bunny hop. Matthew went down to fill up his water bottle and I was playing with hopping the ditch. I was goofing around and was going to pop a wheelie over then hop over to my front wheel. Well I managed to land the front wheel on the edge of the far side and the wheel rolled back down to the bottom. I was precariously balanced on the front wheel for about a second. The camera actually slid out of my back jersey pocket and hit the ground before I got unclipped and got my feet on the ground. Tommy witnessed the whole thing so maybe he will give a better account, but this is the closest I have come to crashing the new bike. I know it is coming and me acting stupid doesn't help, but I have not flipped the bike yet.

I ran into Eddie Jones on the last section of trail. I had been wanting to meet him, so we stopped and chatted for a few minutes. He also has a motolite also and we talked bikes for a few minutes and went on our way.

Back at the truck we sat in the back and had a beer. During this time about 10 cars of boy scouts pulled up all around us. I don't know the policy on drinking so we finishe up and headed on out. However during this time there was a wreck in the parking lot. Some lady in a huge SUV backed into a pickup truck on the road. I have no idea why she kept backing up. The guy in the truck started honking as soon as she started backing up but she just kept going till she hit him. I am pretty sure I saw her on the phone when this happened.




All in all it was a fun ride. The weather was awsome and with all the stops for pictures and playing on obstacles it took about 3:15 for the lap. As is my standard after ride tradition we went to McAlisters afterwards. We hung out there for a while and laughed at the pictures and videos I took on this ride.


In one of the videos I was trying to take pictures over my shoulder, but I accidently had it on movie mode.

Pictures and Videos:

Day at Sway


Had a great day yesterday! I met up with Charlie (cartecs3) and Charles (K2Biker) for a ride of Swayback yesterday. I really never know what to expect when I ride with other riders for the first time. For some reason I always think I am going to be struggling to keep up the whole time. Anyway, Charles was running a few minutes late, so me and Charlie decided to ride the quick two mile loop to warm up. I have a terrible time trying to set a pace and think I was going a little fast (as I was in the lead), but it felt really good to be on the bike.

Charles was in the parking lot when we got back and shortly thereafter we hit the trails. I know it may be hard to believe, but I think Charles was even more excited about riding than I was. How can anyone not get a huge high from peddling through the woods on such a beautiful day. The weather was almost perfect with the trees starting to change colors. I even love the smell of Fall.




Anyway, I carried the Edge with me for the first time, but I forgot the heart rate monitor. I probably would have taken it off mid ride anyway as we were just playing an having a good time. I did however manage to figure out how to get a map of the ride graphed which you can see. I had to turn off the auto-pause because it kept beeping at me whenever we would pause for a second or whenever I would try to hit an obstacle a few times.




We rode for a lap and managed to pick up a couple of single speed guys that Charlie knew from the Dauset Race. They rode with us for a while and then headed on back. We continued on around the black loop and then headed back to the cars. After a snack and refilling my camelback, I decided to carry my camera. We headed back out in no particular direction and just wandered around playing. I have all the pictures on my other computer, so I am going to try to get on there and get them added to this.










Friday, November 2, 2007

Maybe all for the better

Last Thursday I carried my bike to work and played during lunch. I swapped out my clipless for some platforms and we headed out. Me and Jimmy found a nearby lot and stacked some boards up to practice riding skinnies. After a while we took off looking for more fun. We rode to a nearby park and rode around a little. I realized how much I depend on the clipless as I kept pulling my feet off the pedals. I mainly switched to platfiorms to help with bunnyhopping correctly. I tend to cheat when in clipless and am trying to train myself to do it correctly. We eventually found a long curb and attempted to ride it for a while. I was trying to hop up and of course spun the pedal into my shin. One more scar to remember my biking! Jimmy finally got a slow leak so we headed back to the office quickly before it went completely flat.

I was origionally going to go to Raccoon Mountain this weekend with some friends to ride up there, but it ended up falling apart as one of the group had some "female" problems (He had to spend the weekend with a female :-) ). He asked if we could push it a weekend, so I guess we are going next weekend.

This freed up this weekend up for some local riding. I found out Charlie and another endurance rider were going to swayback to ride 3-4 of laps. I have been wanting to put some miles on the bike so I am plannig on meeting them tomorrow and see how long I can hang with them.

Sunday I am going to try to get out to Oak Mountain to meet the BUMP guys for a lap. I think my little brother and Tommy are probably going to join me also on this one.

Monday, October 29, 2007

New Toy


I just received my new toy yesterday. I was talked into getting one of the Garmen 305 cycle computers to help my rides. Brian had been using a heart rate meter for some time and he has definately improved in his riding. I figured I would give it a try as I seem to ride faster laps when I start off slowly and pace myself instead of trying to ride fast. I will not lie, I also like that I can dump the data onto a map to graph what I just rode as well as being able to see the elevation changes.



I am going to try to ride during lunch one day this week to try it out before our trip to Raccoon mountain this wekend. I still need to get it installed on my bicycle. I am debating about putting the cadence/speed sensor on as I mainly got it for this winter so I can ride on the rollers and log my distance while indoors. However I still need to buy a spare front wheel so I can swap out easily to slicks.

Oak Mountain 2007_10_28

Pretty uneventful ride. I tried to arrange a group to go on Saturday and Sunday, but everyone backed out. Did I mention I really do not like riding by myself very often? Stephanie had the day off, so she went with me and sat in the sun and studied while I rode a lap. The Trek demo was just cleaning up as I arrived. I didn't know they were going to be there, or I probably would have test rode a bike just because.

I went clockwise with the intention of riding about a 1:30 lap. My battery on the transciever of the bike computer went dead so I did not have speed, only time. I was feeling off also as I was riding sloppy and sluggish. I finished in 1:31:12 and saw 2 nice TH (1 running and 1 biking).

Still debating going to Raccoon Mtn next weekend. Everyone has backed out the last two weekends, so I am a little hesitant to plan anything.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Scared to Ride with me?

Once again I went to Oak Mountain. Moran was supposed to meet me there at 9:00 and about 9:15 I called him to see how long before I could expect him. Apparantly I woke him up and he said he wasn't going to ride. I should have known as quite a few beers were drank last night. Anyway, I finished getting ready quickly and left as I was supposed to meet Eddie at 11 for a second lap. I had forgotten the camera as I was trying to always bring it on the weekends to get a few pictures, but ran off without it this morning. Turns out it didn't really matter.

I decided to head out Clockwise as it seems like I rode CCW the last few times. Heading down the road to get to the lake entrance I was actually a littel chilly. I am glad I did not let Moran talk me into riding any earlier. I was trying to pace myself to ride a 1:45 lap and thought I was doing well as I was taking it pretty easy and got to the North Trailhead at about 38 minutes. Continuing up the jeep trail I realized I had made up a lot of time. Somehow I was going much faster over this section and made it to the top, right before the downhill at a little over an hour. I continued on and got to blood rock and I fell apart. Somehow I could not hold a line. The bike was amazingly forgiving as I was hitting all kinds of roots and rocks and should have gone over the handlebars multiple times but somehow the bike saved me. I rode on out trying to take it easy and not look at the clock, but I just have so much trouble not riding slow when I am alone. I finished and looked at the clock, to my amazement I had finished in 1:31. I have a lot more in me and may try for a good time one day after work or next weekend. I really feel like I have a very low 1:20's going this direction.

I decided to relax for a while as it was just 11:00, so I sat in the back of the truck and ate an energy bar and drank the remainder of the gatoraid I had carried with me as I didn't really drink very much while I was riding. I hung out till about 11:45 and decided to head on back out. I had a free sample of Hammer gel, so I took that and drank a little purple before I left. I decided to go CCW this time as I wanted to try to climb Blood Rock. Started off and rode up to BR, there were a lot more people on the trail than in the morning. I finally got there and attempted to ride up it. My back tire started spinning in the wet part right before the turn by the tree and I put a foot down. I coasted back down and tried again this time trying to get more speed but had the same result. Back to bottom and tried again. This time I geared down and tried to pedal up instead of hitting it with speed. I started spinning almost immediately and decided that I was once again defeated for the day. I headed on up thinking about it and I think I was in too low of a gear. I will try to gear up next time and I think it will help with traction as I shouldnt be able to spin it so easily.

At the junction of the Bump and the jeep there is a new log that someone cut ramps to ride. It is a short (6-8 ft) log but about 18 high at one end and 2' at the other. It has a slight left hand turn you have to make and it has a Y facing towards the lower end (that I was riding up onto it). This created a trap so if you dropped a tire off that side it would get caught in the Y and you were definately going over the handlebars. I tried this twice both times dropping a tire about the turn and managing to get the brakes on and a foot down before wrecking. On the third try I finally rode over it and dropped the tire off the tall side. I teetered precariously on the front wheel before it decided to go on ahead and I finally did it. I was pretty happy and looked up and an older woman on a bike was riding up looking at me like I was a fool. I bid her a good day and headed on my way.

I cruised on up and then down the Jeep enjoying the bike and the suspension. I had decreased the rebound on the front shock a little and I think it helped. I then came to the other log ride. I hit it sloppily and had to bail off the side. I decided to ride the bike back and do it till I got it right. The second time I had not trouble. I was having a great time through this section and even jumped the tree in the Southern Shire (Named by Tommy) This is the section after the BMX track road crossing up to the climb before Camp road. I was feeeling pretty good so I decided to try to cross the big tree right after camp road. It is around 18" tall and I have been a little scared to try it with the new bike. I aproached it hesitantly (I know this was a mistake) hopped the front tire up on it and jumped the bike. On my old bike I could hop the back wheel up to where the front is and ride off, but I was going a bit to slow and was scared. I slightly caught the chainring but made it ok. My foot popped off the pedal and I landed pretty sloppily, but I did not wreck. I have not wrecked this bike yet, and I am waiting because I know it will happen. I try stuff I should not be doing, but so far so good. Finally got back to the truck in 1:41. It was about 2:00 so I went ahead and packed up and headed to McAlisters. I stepped out of the truck and my right hamstring cramped up pretty bad. I crumpled against the truck and stod back up stretching it for a minute or two. I am sure this looked pretty strange to anyone watching, but I did not see anyone. I sat in the sun and ate all while keeping my leg stretched out. It felt like it was going to cramp on me again but never did.

Eddie sent me an apology e-mail when I was eating saying he got stuck doing work at home and couldn't make it. No worries, I had a good time. Today was a beautiful fall day with temps between 65-75. I enjoyed spending the day outside and woudl have been mad if I had wasted this day inside.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Epic Ride

I was wondering how I would feel today after the fast ride yesterday, but I actually felt pretty good. My inner thighes are pretty tight, but I decided to do them at the gym Thursday so I am not really supprised. I was supposed to meet with Charlie to try for 3 laps of Oak mountain. He sent me a message last night informing me he was feeling sick so he probably would not make it. Moran has been sick lately and Tommy was putting hardwoods down in his house today so no one was going to ride. I am a terrible procrastinator when riding by myself and here it is almost 3:30 and I am probably not going to ride today. I really don't like riding by myself very much, mainly because I cannot pace myself very well. When riding somewhere familliar I always end up pushing myself instead of just relaxing and enjoying the ride.

I had planned on going into the office tomorrow, but since I wasted most of this beautiful day inside, I will probably go to Oak Mtn tomorrow morning. I will hate myself If I do not ride at all this weekend. I had thought about Attack on Swayback and I could probably do decent (not finish last) but I think I am going to pass as I don't know anyone else racing.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Oak Mountain 2007_10_19

I had planned to slip out early to get a ride in today, but things got pretty bad at about 2:30 when i had planned on leaving at 3. I finally got everything back under control at about 3:30 so I was running a little late. I got to the park at about 4:10 and Tommy had already left. He left me a note saying he had gone Counter-clockwise, so I quickly got ready and left at about 4:20-4:25. I started out without warming up and my quads quickly started burning. I decided to slow down a bit and figured I would catch Tommy somewhere around the top of the mountain (assuming I started about 20 minutes after him). I got quite a surprise coming down Johnson's mountain when a tree was laying across the trail. I had both brakes almost locked up and stopped a few inches from the log. I never would have stopped in time with my old v-brakes. Continuing on up to blood rock I finally started warming up and I started feeling pretty good. I reached it at right at 30 minutes. This is a few minutes slower than I have ridden it before, but still decent for me. I once again attempted to ride up it, this time I took the rocks to the left of the normal path as it looks like it would line me up better for the turn at the tree, but I barely made it up the first few rocks before my wheel started spinning and I just didn't have it in me to fight any more. I pushed the bike over the majority and jumped back on to continue up to the jeep trail. I reached the jeep trail right at 32 minutes. I knew I should be able to get below an hour an a half so I took off up the hill. I crested the top and headed down and reached the bottom, this time not meeting any other bikers on the downhill sections. I think I keep getting a little more brave each time on this downhill. I reeached the North trailhead and there was still no sign of Tommy. I was starting to wonder at this point , but figured I would catch him eventually. I glanced at the clock and it read 51:30 so I knew I was still doing OK. I did run into a couple of hikers in the next section with the only TH of the trip (see Tommy's blog for TH definition). There was a guy sitting on the side of the trail resting and the girl tried to pull him out of the way when she saw me comming, but he just fell over backwards covering the whole trail. I briefly considered trying to bunny hop him, but thought better of it and slid to a stop. He was huffing and puffing like he just ran a few miles and slowly moved over to the side of the trail. I could tell the girl was a little frustrated and I thought how terrible it would be to get where it was all I could do to hike a half-mile or so before having to quit. The kid was not visually out of shape either. Anyway I continued on to chimney and half heartedly tried to ride the log at the bottom, but had to jump off the side as I was off balance from the beginning. I continued on and had no problems till camp trail. I was coming out of the woods onto the dirt road and there was a portly boy scout walking down the road. He turned and saw me and I swear could not decide what to do. It reminded me of a squirrel as he darted one way, changed his mind and went the other, and then decided he wanted to go the origional direction after all. All this while running down the road. I laughed and went on my way. The boy scouts must have just arrived because I met a van parked right in the middle of the road with doors open on both sides. I don't know why they don't pull off to one side, but there was someone in the van, so I locked up my brakes to let them know I wasn't real happy about having to stop. they just looked at me like I was an idiot, so I got off the road and went around. I had decided at this point that if I caught Tommy I was probably just going to go ahead and finish as I wanted to know my time. Finishing up I got back to the truck at 1:26:23. This is my best time to date with my previous best being about a 1:28. I was very happy with this time as I am sure I can take a few minutes off of it. Just to fill everyone in. Tommy decided to take the road back from the north trailhead. I believe he could have gotten his best time ever also, but he was afraid they would lock the gates at 6 and he would be stuck in the park all night. If you know Tommy you will know I am serious. I tried to reassure him I had bee there long after dark a few times and they never had locked the gates, but I don't know if he is convinced. I think he is ready to break the two hour mark now that the weather is nice.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Oak Mountain 2007_10_16

Once again we planned an afternoon trip to Oak Mountain. I met Brian there at about 4:00 and we hit the trail shortly afterwards going Counter-Clockwise from the southern trailhead. We had discussed climbing up to blood rock, riding down, then taking the road up and riding back down blood rock to ride something different. This sounded good to me as it should be about 17 miles and I was up for trying something a bit different.
We started out warming up slowly and after we finished Johnson's mountain and started the climb to Blood rock I could tell Brian was struggling. He almost didn't ride because he had been sick but decided to go anyway. Another rider caught us about halfway up and chatted as we climbed the remainder of the way. His goal for the day was to find a good line and ride up blood rock. I told him I had never seen this done but had heard it was possible. Unfortunately I have never been able to do it, but it is not for lack of trying. I attempted to ride it yet again and didn't make it very far. We wished him luck and headed on our way. When we made it to the Jeep trail/BUMP connector Brian said he didn't think he could continue. I decided to just ride out the rest of the loop instead of the different route we discussed earlier because I really wanted to scoot through the trail on this bike. At this point we were about 5.4 miles in and it had taken about 49 minutes.

I decided to let loose on the bike and see if I could finish in my normal 1 hour from that point (I usually take right at 30-32 minutes to get there when moving at a good pace putting me around a 1:30 lap. I took off (being more rested than usual helped) but climbed the rest of the way to the top without too much trouble. This bike made me feel as if I was going the same speed as usual, but I was using larger gears than usual and my speed was up a little. At the top of the hill I made the normal quick check of the bike before the downhill and started on my way. This time instead of just coasting, I was actually pedaling down. The bike just feels so great I was in greater control at more speed. Right after I crossed the bridge (about 1/2 way down) I went around a corner and unfortunately there was another biker peddling up. I got to test my brakes as I tried to stop from I am guessing 22-25 mph. I was trying to get out of his way and he was trying to get out of mine. I ended sliding off the trail trying to take the worse line so he could climb easier, but he was acting like he was trying to block me. All I ended up doing is getting so far off the trail he would know I was not goingt to collide with him. After apologizing profusely (I am sure he was cursing me but I did everything I could to give him the right of way) I was back on my way. When reaching the bottom I looked at my time and was supprised as I was a little ahead of schedule. I rode the rest of the way out enjoying the singletrack slolom through the trees at a good pace. The climbs seemed slightly easier for such a good pace, but I partially attribute that to the comfortable start at the beginning of the ride. I passed a few other riders wandering through the trails and finally got back to the road. I locked the suspension out for the 3/4 mile or so on the road back to the parking lot and it made a difference in the amount of energy exerted climbing the small hills. At the truck I looked at the clock and couldn't believe I ended up with an 1:39. I managed to take over 10 minutes off my normal riding time for this part of the trail. I will have to attribute it to the bike as I felt as if I was going about the same pace.

I can't express it enough, but I am extremely happy with this bike. I feel I finally have the suspension almost perfect for me now and the bike feels extremely solid beneath be.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Oak Mountain 2007_10_14

Decided to go to Oak Mountain instead of Swayback since I have stuff to do this afternoon. I picked up Tommy and headed out to the park. After a pit stop to pick up some new tires at moran's bike parts warehouse (his garage) we made it to the park. We swapped tires and we did a clockwise lap. Once again I decided to take my camera in hopes of getting a few shots of our trip. None of them ended up great, but here are a few:








Finally, shot a quick video of me riding a tree that was beside the trail. Not very spectacular, but fun.

Swayback 10/13/2007

The bike shop got my handlebar in so I went and got the loaner bar changed out before our ride today. I weighed the bike on the shop scale and it said 28.85. I was a little dissapointed as this is a pound heavier than the bike should have been. I went home and weighed it on the bathroom scale multiple times and it kept coming out to be 27.6 lbs. This is what I was expecting, so I wonder which was accurate.


Me and Moran drove down to Swayback in Wetumpka for an afternoon ride. On the way I ran across this and had to stop an take a few pictures.






We ended up leaving later than desired so we didn't have as much time as we hoped but still managed to ride a lazy first lap (11.6 miles) and hammered out a short (4 mile) lap before sunset. I thought it might be fun to carry my camera since there is a very slim chance of me crashing here. Me and Moran kept swapping the camera whenever we took a picture so I actually have a few pictures of our trip (which helped it take a little longer). Here are a few:






Lastly, A video: