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:

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Weekend in Review

As I was running around all weekend trying to fit everything into my schedule, I have not been keeping up as I should.

Starting Wednesday (10/10/2007)
Rode the MotoLite for the first time. I rode one loop of Oak Mountain (Clockwise) after work with Moran. I had spent some time dialing in the rear shock before the ride, but in my haste just aired the front shock up to the specified amount and made sure I couldn't bottom it out (140+/140-). I also did not take my pump with me as we started at 4:40 and it gets dark about 6:30 so I knew we wouldn't be stopping much. I felt a little uncomfortable on the bike at first and dialed the front shock down to about 125mm. after I could not get it to stay on the ground. I will just go ahead and say the front shock was HARSH. I felt as if I was riding a rigid fork and really could not appreciate the bike on this trip. I finally realized what was happening and extended the shock all the way in hopes of getting a bit of dampening, but could not. We still rode a comfortable slow pace, but the rocky downhills were a challange as the front of the bike was hopping around everywhere.

Friday (10/12/2007)
Before this ride I played with the front shock and finally ended up with (75+/75-). I also moved some of the spacers under the stem above it as I felt the handlebars were too high. I rode one lap of Oak Mountain (Counter-Clockwise) with Tommy and Moran. The bike was completely different this time allowing me to more ride much more comfortably. The bike is extremely rigid laterally but with the suspension open it absorbed the bumps much more effectively than my old Gary fischer ever did (I know 2 more inches of travel should do this). After the climb up Past Blood rock I stoped and lowered the pressure a bit more (70+/70-) as I was still not using all of the shock. I was able to ride up the climbs on the Jeep much easier than I ever had. This bike just tracks the ground incredibly.
The decent down the jeep trail was beautiful. The bike made me feel so comfortable I found myself going faster than I had desired to go. I was going to take it easy since this is a new ride, but I was just coasting and even the rocky turns felt more comfortable at speed. The brakes are also a huge upgrade and allowed me to slow down much faster and in control. I could tell my speed was higher by the airtime I was getting coming out of the ditches and over the bumps. This bike exibits beter control while in the air (I always felt a little uncomfortable on the fischer when in the air for any amount of time) and the bike was so gentle on the landings no extra time was required to recover after hitting the ground. I finished out this ride with a huge smile on my face ready to go again tomorrow.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Trussville and New Bike

Yesterday me and Tommy went to Trussville. I had halfway thought of trying to race in the Dead Dog race next weekend and wanted to at least try to ride the trail before racing. We spent a while trying to find the trail and eventually ran into Frank (I think that was his name). He graciously showed us what he thought was the race course. After finishing the first correct lap I decided to ride a couple more to see if I could find a decent line. For some reason I was struggling much more than usual. I think it was because I tried to eat a few power bars I got at the gas station on the way since I skipped breakfast and we started riding about lunch. Anyway I couldn't seem to pace myself correctly and was just riding sloppy. My first lap was about 26 minutes and my second was about 25. I was once again struggling with a lot of back pain and I will get to the solution to that shortly. I am pretty sure I am going to puss out of this race as it is a pretty tight course with very few places to pass. I think I would be a bigger hinderance to the other riders than anything.


On to the good news. I went by and picked up my new bicycle yesterday afternoon. It is a Titus MotoLite Exogrid size large. I searched for about 4 months and after a wait of about 3 months after ordering it finally arrived. I have not had time to do anything but take a few pictures of it. And the fiancee would not let it sleep in the bed with me so I am looking forward to getting my first ride in sometime this week. I am most excited about having a bike that actually fits me correctly. I will not know what to do when I can ride for more than 2 hours without back, shoulder and palm pain.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

First Post and New Bike

Well, after reading everyone elses blogs, I am starting to desire to have one of my own just to help me remember (in my old age) what and where I rode a few weeks after I actually ride.

I am just coming off two weekends of riding new places. September 21st I went to Helen, Ga for Octoberfest. In addition to the numerous German beers I tried, We (Brian Moran and Tommy Watkins) rode from our rental house to the Unocoi Trail. We rode a lap of the trail and then back. The trail was in pretty good shape and a lot of fun. It is a pretty smooth trail but has a lot of elevation changes. It was a fun ride as we also decided to ride across the chatahoochie river as it was only about a foot deep at that point. I will try to post a link to the pictures later.

Last weekend I attended the Fat Tire Festival in Huntsville at Monte Sano State Park. Once again I went with Moran and Tommy and we drove up the night before and stayed in a hotel. Saturday I rode the Epic ride and it was a little more than I was expecting. Monte Sano is quite rocky and has some incredible downhills. I ended up almost finishing off my brake pads on this trip. The pace and not knowing the trails made this a pretty difficult ride. I ended up going over the handlebars twice (once I was just going too fast and hit a sharp rocky turn and the second I chose a bad line through the rocks and tried to keep riding when I should have just put a foot down). I also wrecked another time or two but nothing serious the first day. Back to the ride: I was doing ok untill we came to the last hill we had to hike up. I had been fighting off cramps in my thighs for a few miles and no one told me there was about a mile of hiking the bike up the hill (I am not used to hills that cannot be ridden). By the time I got to the top I was almost done. I did manage to finish strong on the family trail and I was happy as only about a third of the origonal group finshed with us.
The second day when they called for the Epic riders, only about 6 people joined so I wimped out and decided on the Super Sampler. I figured I would get to see some different trails also so I was not too worried about it. We actually ended up taking nearly the same route but the pace was much slower. I had my worst "wreck" of the trip even though I never hit the ground. My chain came off on the steep downhill with all the switchbacks and when I tried to pedal, my ankle met the front chainring and the chainring won. I didn't even realize how bad it was till much later in the ride when I looked down because I felt it burning and my sock was red. It is just now healing, but I think I am going to have a tatoo to remember this by. Near the end Moran got a flat and we waited on him. Most of the group went back on the road but we convinced AL29er (our guide) to take us back on the trails (we took mountian mist) so we could see more of what Monte Sano had to offer. I had a great weekend with an estimated 35 miles riden.
I also got to meet BlackAgness, SSinga, and AL29er from the MTBR board while there. I will definately be going back for another ride. That has been the most technical riding I have done.

Lastly,
I found out that my new bike is finished today. I am really excited as it is quite an upgrade from my current bike. I am hoping to pick it up tomorrow. Stay Tuned.