Got back to Raccoon

We finally got back to Raccoon Mountain. I rode up with Tommy and Moran after we decided to put one of my trays on the roof of Moran's car so we could all ride together. It was so cold this took much longer than it should have, but we still managed to stop by Chick-Fil-A and make it to Raccoon before everyone else. We tried to warn everyone that we were going to be doing a lot of playing, and I don't think they believed us, and decided to ride with us. We went clockwise from the visitor center lot as I like this direction better. The trail was so covered with dry leaves it made it really slick. I had to quickly learn to stay off the brakes in the turns or the wheels would wash out. We had a nice casual lap stopping to play in a few places and got some decent pictures. Tommy said he was going to jump off the rock.

This One: (it is not as high as it looks)
















But decided this was not the day. Mark decided to have a go at it and made me look like a wrecking ball. I am not the most graceful and he definately landed with much more style than me.
We ended up splitting up with those of us who wanted to go ride the tree and those ready to head on. We went to the tree and rode across quite a few times. last time I was here, the tree was slick and I slid off a few times, this time I had a much easier time. On around to a nice jump in the trail for a few more pictures and then we headed back around the loop.

I wanted to explore some of the new trails they had opened, but Moran started having bike problems and I think everyone was getting ready to head back. We rode on and near the end I starteed cramping pretty badly. I realized I had not been drinking enough water and at this point it was too late. I tried to use some hammer gel and jelly bellys, but nothing would make them go away. Fighting throught the pain I climbed the final hill out and going up the last dirt section my legs said no. I tried to step off the bike and that was a huge mistake. My leg cramped and I crumpled to the ground. I had to sit and recover a bit before going the last 50 yards to the end. It looked like I had been in a wreck because I was all dirty. It was a fun ride and I will definately pay better attention to staying hydrated.

All the Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/RaccoonMtn2008_11_22#

No Riding but took a big step

Well, it seems I am slowly moving farther and farther from Mountain bike riding in my posts (moving to the road bike and now this) but I think I will be back on track shortly. I have not been posting lately and wanted to offer a brief explanation.

I got married on November 8. It was incredible how much stress this put on me. I realize I was probably pretty snappy for a few weeks leading up to this and apologize to everyone. I just got back from the Honeymoon on Sunday and am feeling much better. I was not planning on taking a honeymoon immediately but some friends offered us a condo in Rosemary Beach for the week and we jumped on it. I really needed the week to just relax and I think this really helped me get my sanity back and I believe things will be getting back to normal soon.

I missed quite a few rides lately (including a night ride they had at Oak Mountain) and now am really wanting to get back into it. I think I am going to build me a small "skills" park with a few skinnies, a see-saw, and a few other items to help me with my technical riding here at the office. I just need to keep my bike here so I can play at lunch or whenever I need a break from staring at the computer.

Red Lizard at Monte Sano

A couple of us packed up to go to Monte Sano. A couple of us had ridden there last year after the 24 hours of Conyers race and we got slightly lost and ended up on the Red Lizard Trail. Jay had heard about the trail that was "unridable" and had been talking about going up there ever since. Lately I seem to enjoy the challenge of a technical trail than just riding a smooth flat trail as quickly as possible.
We met up at Cracker Barrell (I forgot about the time change, so I got there in time to have a nice big breakfast) and we headed up. We played on the rock wall in the parking lot to warm up before hitting the trail. We cruised down the family trail an went down Warpath to get to the desired trail. Warpath was a fun littel section also and I have some movies of Lee and Joe riding down one of the rocky sections. We ended up on Red Lizard and spent a good bit of time trying to clean each obstacle. There were some that only 1 or two people cleared and only about 2 that nobody was able to make. Both me and Jay ended up with jacked up derailleurs. I just bent mine bad and was able to bend it back enough to keep riding. Jay broke his hanger completely off (along with a piece of his bike), but he had a spare hanger and we were able to continue.
The rest of the trail was just the flatrock trail that was much more smooth (still makes Oak mountain look like a road bike would be more at home). We ended up cutting up through a powerline trail due to time and rode back on mountain mist just to avoid the road. It was a really good time and I was supprised at how much we were able to ride. It is unique to see how different riding styles allowed some people to clear certain obstacles while others could not do it.

I keep saying it, but I relly need to practice my hopping/trials skills as they would have been really helpful on a few of these things.

Pictures (Yes I finally got the pictures up!) at http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/MonteSano2008_11_2

Helen Octoberfest Trip

Went to Helen GA for Oktoberfest/Biking weekend. We drove up Friday and settled in by trying a few of the German brews. We went out and had a few drinks before retiring back to bed (I think we were home by 10, such party people!).

The next morning we headed up to the Unocoi Lodge to eat breakfast. It was a breakfast buffet, so we all got our fill. I even resisted the urge to eat a biscuit, however I could not say no to the french toast. We got back to the townhouse and got ready to ride.
We had scoped out the trail head from town so we would not have to ride around and on the road this time. We took the Helen-Unocoi trail and got on the Unocoi Mountain bike trail. We rode this around and eventually got over to the field (the real start of the trail). We played in that area a bit as there was a small drop by one of the bridges that we jumped off of a few times. We rode around the bridges and tried to ride the railroad ties before heading back onto the trail. Finishing up there were some nice downhills and some short, but steep climbs. It was a decent short course. We headed back into town and stopped at Big Daddy's bar and sat out on the porch and had some Hopdevil while the sun started to set. There was a woman a few tables over with the most tattoos I have ever seen. She was wearing a tank top and had angel wings on her shoulders and a HUGE tramp stamp. She was there with her baby (at a bar!) so yes... Anyway, it started getting cold when we were in the shade so we headed back to the townhouse to go out for the evening. I sat in the hot tub for a few minutes and it felt great as it was a bit chilly outside. I was a bit tired so we decided to rest and go to the fest hall at about 9. I fell asleep and woke up about time to go. Moran decided to skip this time so he dropped us off and we went inside. This was definitely the place to be as it was packed. We got a couple of pitchers of Erdinger Octoberfest and enjoyed the music/dancing/people watching. Tommy actually got on stage and did the chicken dance with everyone. The fest hall closed and Tommy decided we needed to go to Huddle House. Of course this was the most packed place in town and we finally got to eat. While we we eating I got up to go to the restroom and I missed a fight right by our table. They said that the Huddle house ladies broke it up and threw the guys outside (don't mess with the hh ladies!). We walked home and went to bed.

The next day we tried to eat at Hoffers, but they made us wait 45 minutes for a table (when there were a couple of empty tables) and then said it was too late to order breakfast. I was a bit mad, but Grumpy Grund was not going to make an appearance this weekend so I just ordered lunch. Tommy was not feeling well and Murf was a little sore, so me and Moran decided to ride the Unocoi again as we couldn't really find anything else close. We rode a quick lap and called Tommy and Murf and they were riding around town. We met them and rode around some of the back streets and explored a little before heading back. We went back out, ate dinner (Tommy actually tried some German food and liked it!) and then looked for a place to hang out for a while. Pretty much every place in town was smoky and after last night at the fest hall I had all the cigarette smoke I could handle so we just went back to the townhouse and hung out.

The next morning we got up and packed to go home. Murf was trying to make it back to work a half day and I think Tommy was missing his Baby so me and Moran tried to find somewhere nice to eat. We ended up not waiting as all the local places we looked were covered up and hit the road. On the way, Tommy called and told us there was a place in Gainsville. As a last minute decision we looked it up on Moran's phone and somehow with the phone and 2 GPSs made it there. It was called Chicopee and we changed and got ready to ride.
We were looking at a map and started talking to one of the locals (Randy) and he offered to let us tag along. He was a pretty good rider and helped us tie the trails together to ride most of them. These trails were AWESOME! The place was a SORBA/IMBA trail and all the trails were just a lot of fun. I am definitely going to make it back there again. We headed on home afterwards and it was definitely a great weekend.

I will try to update the pictures as soon as I get them uploaded.

My First Century

I decided to ride in the BBC Century just to see if I could do it. I had a couple of 90 mile weeks when I was biking to and from work as well as mountain biking on the weekends but had never hit the magic 100mile number. Last weekend I had met at Cahaba desiring to get in a 50 mile ride to see how I felt. I got there at 7 and only 1 other person showed up he only showed up last minute and I was going to be a little upset if I had gotten up early and no one else showed up. He was sick and not feeling well so we just did a slow 20 mile loop through oak mountain. We got back and I was told the ride time had moved to 9:00 so I hung around and figured I would hang with the beginner group and do another 30 or so. Unfortunately there was only about 7 people riding so it was decided that there would be one group. There was talk of a 50 mile ride and some of these guys looked pretty serious. I asked what the pace would be and I was assured no one would be dropped. They said they were riding to Vandover and I had no idea where that was so we headed out. I was feeling pretty good after my warmup and managed to stay with them while they had their "slow" pace. Vandover ended up being about 29 miles away and I got dropped a bit before we got there. Brian? (hope that is correct) from Cahaba, hung with me and the other rider till we got there. After a short rest we headed back and I was not ready to hang with them this time, so us slower ones and Brian (decided to keep us company) rode back. It was a good ride and I had ridden over 77 miles. I actually fely pretty good so I was determined to do the century the following weekend.

I had to get up early to be in Springville by 7, but registered to do the "easy" (bypassed a few of the bigger climbs) century. I ran into Lee and Joe C. and they said they were doing the mountain goat century and I should join them. I was not keen on this Idea at first, as I still don't really know what a steep hill is on a road bike but they assured me they were going to ride at a casual pace so I joined them. It started off really nice as it was pretty flat and we had a nice pace going, until the first big hill (walker's gap). I started off good, but as the hill kept going I started falling behind. As I was pushed closer and closer to my limits, my only goal was not to put a foot down. Lee and Joe pulled away, but I kept chugging along mostly having to stand during all the steeper sections. As I crested the top I managed to push it a bit and catch back up to them (It helped that they were waiting on me). This climb had a nice long descent down the other side and I played a bit drafting Lee and letting the wind slow me back down. I have only gone this fast on the Mtn Bike once (40mph) and I felt really uncomfortable then. The road bike however was much more stable feeling and I quickly felt comfortable going so fast.
Almost immediately we started the second climb (horse pens 40). As once again I began to struggle I had plenty of time to contemplate a few things such as: Why do I have to stand up? Why is he peddling so much faster than me? WTF, his front chainring has a much smaller gear than mine does! Why did I not research this? I will not put a foot down!.. Wait a minute, wasn't there supposed to be a rest stop between these hills..... We took a wrong turn! Is it getting steeper? I WILL NOT put a foot down! Is that the top? Thank the lord! What is wrong with my vision? After I recovered I caught up with them (as they peddled slowly waiting on me). And mentioned we missed the rest stop. This second hill had a better descent (it had a few slight turns and was not just one long downhill, but had sections. We continued on and finally after more than 50 miles we reached the rest stop. I still had a bit if drink left which I knew was bad. I was not drinking enough water so I knew I would have to start drinking more or I was going to have problems later. I think I was pushing a bit too hard through some sections and forgot to hydrate. The next section was pretty flat and we had a nice ride to the covered Bridge rest stop. A really nice lady there gave me a ziplock bag for my camera as I was starting to get it sweaty. The weather was just incredible. it was cool and overcast which kept the sun off us and I am sure helped my ride. I filled up my bottles and ate a snack and we once again set off. This part had the climb everyone had to do, but it was in sections of a bit of climb and then flat and then climb again. I handlesd this much better as I could power my way up the short hills and then recover on the flats for the next one. I must have gotten my second wind around here because I was really feeling great on this section.
At the very top was the last rest stop. It was at a small church and I decide to eat something. I am not usually a big fan of tomatoes (i will eat them but don't usually ask for them on my food) I ate a tomato sandwhich (tomatoes, salt, and bread) and it was perfect, just what I needed. I think we hung out here a bit too long as I was a bit slow feeling when getting back on the bike (or it could be that I had ridden about 90 miles). We were told it was mostly downhill to the end and I seem to remember that not really feeling true. I finally started to cramp a bit with about 5 miles to go. As long as I kept spinning I could keep them at bay. After a bit they started to pass. I got back to the end and my computer only said 98.5. Since we missed a bit on the rest stop I decided to get my 100 in so I continued up the road and went to the intersection of the first turn of the route. I figured this would be far enough and turned around. Somehow the small hill at the beginning had turned into a mountain. I rode back up it starting to feel the cramps again, but managed to make it to the top. Finally heading back in, I had right under 101 miles on the odometer. I was pleased and grabbed a beer to celebrate. There was a bluegrass band and I sat and listened to them while eating a Chick-Fil-A sandwhich or two.

I had a great time and am glad they talked me into the harder route. I don't think I would have been as chalanged on the easier one. I headed home with a smile on my face (probably from deleria) and knew I would sleep well.

BBC Century

For now: Could those calories be correct???? All data (Age, Sex, Weight, Max HR) is correct.

I think I may have lost 1mm of backfat!

First Time at Tsali

We headed to Tsali and found the Left and Right loop was open so we planned a route which included a loop around the outside of the penensula starting with the left loop, senic overlook and then back on the right loop. This was to be about a 20 mile ride so I assumed it would take a while.
The trail was relatively flat and flowed pretty well. It skirted around the edge overlooking the lake. The water was down a good bit, but it was still a nice view of the water. The left loop was a fun trail. We headed up to the overlook. There was a small bit of climbing, but still just a smooth fun ride. We stopped at the top to grab a snack and enjoy the view. We cruised back down and got to the Right trail.

I think I liked this part best as it was cool in the trees and the trail had a really fun flow to it. We found a spot with a side trail and a jump and of course had to stop and play for a minute or two. We headed on and I think this was the part with some nice climbs and some really nice downhills. We finished up the trail and stopped by the Nantahala center on the way back. I really wanted to get into the water, but it was quite chilly when i put my hand in. I decided I must come back and canoe/kayak this river as it looked really fun.

We headed back to the cabin and I got some good pictures of the view off the back porch. Karl and Mark wanted to hike over to the nearby hill, so we headed down the road to see if we could get there. This road was a bit more than I was expecting and pretty steep, but we eventually got to the crest of the hill. I tried to take a picture of the cabin from the hill, but they didn't come out too great because of the trees. We hiked back and got back right as the sun was setting. I got a few shots of this and you really had to be there to appreciate how incredible it looked.

We played a few games of pool and then headed to bed.

Pictures Here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/MontySTripDay29192008#

Jackrabbit

I ended up staying up prettylate trying to wash clothes and get ready for the trip. I had a broken spoke and didn't have time to get it fixed, so I tried to cary it by Cahaba Cycle at Trussville on my way. I knew this would make me a bit late, but I didn't know what we were going to be riding and I didn't want to mess up my wheel. I got to Cahaba about 9:30 and luckily Parker got there early. He said they didn't have any spokes but he offered to look at it and saw the nipple was broken and the spoke was still ok. He managed to fix it for me (even though he had to rob a nipple off another wheel). I cannot say enough good stuff about Cahaba.

I headed on my way and finally got there about 3:00. The cabin Monty had choosen had a better view off the back deck than most senic overlooks I have seen. We headed out quickly and went to Jackrabbit to ride. This was a relatively new little trail system that was mostly level and very flowy. It was covered by lots of small berms that made this trail trememdously fun to ride. It kept begging to be ridden just a bit faster than I could go. The trail allowed one to carry so much speed, but was curvy enough to really be fun. There was one trail (I think Orange) that went up and over the hill. This was a bit technical and had a small rockly climb and even a relatively narrow bridge at the top to ride over. This was followed by a quick descent back down to meet the Blue trail.

We ran into Robert (A local) and he joined us as I think he was happy to have someone to ride with. We rode out to the beach area and this trail was much more winding and we had to go a little slower through the trees but it was built up on a raised path so it was interesting to ride. We got back as thsi was an out and back and Robert wanted to ride the new section of trail. I don't think everyone was up to it, so me and Robert took off. I mentioned we could just hammer through it before we started and he took this literally. I managed to keep up for a bit but he started pulling away from me. I actually just couldn't get through the trees fast enough. We kept going with him having to slow perodically to let me catch back up. Eventaully we came to the small hill at the end and this got me. I was huffing and puffing when we came back out and I stopped to rest a minute or two before riding the Yellow loop. We cruised around this and back to the parking lot. We stopped on the way home and picked up a pizza, and got back in time to catch the sunset. I was exhausted and went to bed early.

Pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/MontySTripDay19182008#

A Few Rides

Once again I am getting behind. It seems like all I have time for these days is one ride a week.

Sunday September 7
Met Tommy and Brian at Oak Mountain for a lap. We went clockwise and enjoyed the nice weather. Tommy had a bit of trouble relating to his recent clipping. He decided to turn around because he was in a lot of pain. Once again at the bottom of the Jeep trail I put the bike in 2-5 to try to ride up. For some reason it really seems like I use less energy doing this. I think Oak's hill is nice because it has a few steep sections followed by flat areas that we can rest. Gives me time to recover after the steep areas. We rode on around and finshed up. I am pretty sure I went to McAllisters for a sweet tea and something to eat afterwards.

Saturday September 13
I had to be home to take care of some wedding stuff today so I met Randall of the Montevallo riders for a road ride from Montevallo. We rode a loop out towards Maylene circled around and went out to the airport exit before heading back. It was about 30 miles and really felt good due to the nice weather and just sitting on the bike and peddaling. Afterwards we went to Eclipse and I got me a smoothie and enjoyed sitting on the porch for a few minutes and relaxing before heading home. The rest of the weekend I got caught up on a lot of the wedding stuff and went into work for a bit to try to catch up on stuff I was behind on. I was looking forward to riding to work a few days the following week.

Well, I carried clothes to work and my bike monday in hopes of riding home. The week got really busy at work and I did at least get to look at my bike in my office. Wednesday I had had enough and called Monty and asked if there was still room to join him for the weekend. I decided that night to leave the next day. Saturday is my Birthday and I needed to get away, so I am going .

Last Day at Dupont

We got up relatively early so we could eat then be at the tailhead by 9 to meet Woody. We made it right on time (which was a small miracle for us). Jay had a route planned out and Woody took that and added a bit onto it. We started out and headed out and towards the power lines. Unfortunately I was at the rear of the group and someone must have run over a yellow jacket because I got stung a couple of times. Of course I quickly moved to the front of the pack so it wouldn't happen again. We cruised up the power line trail and it had a few steep climbs that I could not ride up. We came out and rode up cedar rock and stopped at the top to enjoy the view. We then headed down the steeper side which was a lot of fun. There were a few nice drops in the trail that really make it interesting. We took Shole river trail (this may be right) and made a loop out so we could ride burnt mountian. This trail was incredible! It flowed incredibly well and had some perfectly spaced hills that you could jump. Woody told us a bit about the changes they had made when redoing the trail and it really opened my eyes to the a few of the subtlties of the trail. There was a climb up an old road that had been turned into singletrack. It was amazing how well it was routed to shead water, but still flow well enough to allow a fast pace but nowhere near a straight line. Jay had said how much he liked the downhill of this trail, so I was pretty excited when we reached the top. We started down the trail after a warning to be careful (I actually like hearing a warning because I know I am going to enjoy myself). The downhill was excellent with a lot of rock armoring and a few nice drops. it kept getting progressivly more difficult untill we got to the bottom.
At the base Joe said he had no brakes. Since he had a spare set of pads he changed them and we headed on our way. We rode back around to Cedar rock to climb back up the steep way. I started up and made it to the technical rocky section. Joe was in front and he hit a big step up and almost lost it. Soemhow he hopped the bike around and got up it. I tried to go a different route and it did not work out for me. I had to put a foot down. I remembered the rest of the climb being pretty tough, so I just continued on up the hill. However this time the climb seemed much easier adn I had no trouble making it the rest of the way. I kindof regretted not going back down to see if I could clear the whole climb. Once again we rested at the top and when we were about to take off Joel realized he had a flat. He quickly changed it and we took Big rock back down to the parking area.
We headed back to camp, packed everything up and showered before heading home. Once again it was a great trip and I am already lookng forward to coming back.

Pictures Here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/DupontNC2008_9_1#

Dupont Day 1

The second day of our trip we hit Grammys on our way to Dupont. We made a loop around Reasonover Creek Trail around to Lake Juliard. I remembered to snap a picture of the lodge this time as I thought it was pretty cool. We headed on up to the old runway on top of the hill so we could take airstrip trail down. This section had recently been redone as it was very soft soil down near the bottom. At the base there were a couple of logs that we tried to ride. I don't think I made it without dabbing a foot when trying to switch logs.
We then rode down the trail to the base of the waterfall. We parked the bikes and walked out on the rocks at the base of the falls. We caught site of a snake and I almost jumped on a wasp so I took a few pictures. There was a short log ride on the trail back up from the falls that was neatly integrated with the rock. We then rode up to the stream via Shoals trail and stopped to check it out. A couple of riders waded over from the other side while we were there. We headed back up and took Laurel Ridge to Mine Mountain. At this intersection there is a log up of the ground about 4-5 feet. Jay got up on it and contemplated riding it. I am still not that confident with my balance and since we still had a whole day of riding I did not ride it for fear of falling off and not getting to enjoy the rest of the trip. We rode mine mountain and rode back to the parking lot. We really wanted to get a few more miles in so headed up mine mountain backwards with the intention of looping back around the lake. When we got to the other side we decided to go back over mine mountain again instead of riding the road out. This last time it was much easier and I even got to stop and snap this picture of a turtle crossing the trail. As there were some horses coming Joel helped it off the trail. We got back to the parking lot and ran into Woody Keen. He runs the company in charge of the Dupont trails and I believe is one of the most knowledgeable trail builders around. We talked to him for a while and he offered to be our guide for our ride tomorrow. We agreed to meet him tomorrow morning and headed back to camp to get cleaned up. We ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. It was very interesting as they could not serve alcohol because it was a dry county, but they allowed you to bring in your own "drink" for a dollar and even mix it with a virgin margarita. Something was wrong in the kitchen because we were wondering if we were going to get any food, but it finally came out after we ate about 10 baskets of chips. We headed back and had a few drinks before turnng in for the night.

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/DupontNC2008_8_31#

Squirrel Gap at Pisgah

Joined Jay for a trip up to NC for a weekend of riding. We drove up yesterday night and decided to hit Pisgah today as this was to be our most difficult ride. We started with a breakfast at Grammy's and I got the Big Cedar Mtn Breakfast. It had a bit of everyhting and was just what I needed to get me through the ride. We started at the parking area by the creek and rode up the road, down 476 and into the trails. We were following the book, but due to the poor markings on the trails, we ended up taking a wrong trail. It was very overgrown but ended up having a nice little descent down to the creek that was a lot of fun. Somehow we managed to get back to where we should have been, but didn't realize it and ended up backtracking the trail (South mills river) we should have come down. about 50-100 yards from where we origionally took the wrong turn we realized our mistake and turned around. This actually worked out well as the part we went the wrong direction was all uphill so we got to take the nicely flowing trail back down to the swinging bridge. This section had a few nicely bermed turns and had great flow. It was a lot of fun, but Jay had derailleur problems and we stopped briefly to get it fixed before heading on.

After crossing the bridge, we finally came to the whole reason for the ride... Squirrel Gap. This section was rated one of the more difficult rides so that certainly got Jays attention. This trail was really nice. It had a few water crossings (one of which I stopped to refill my water bladder (Thanks to Ted for allowing me to bring his water pump so I did not have to carry 2 bladders of water). I generally only last about 2.5-3 hours max on my 70oz bladder so I knew it was going to be a problem since this was to be a 5-6 hour ride. The pump weighed much less than an extra bladder so it worked out well. Squirrel gap also had a few sections that were rocky and rooty right on the edge of the mountain. It definately had me concentrating on my line.

Our next trail was Pounding Hill. It was not nearly as punishing as the name implied. However this started our series of encounters with the local wildlife. We came to a huge tree across the trail and had to hand the bikes over as it was about shoulder high. It took a bit to crawl over it and not slid down off the side of the hill. Everyone had climbed across except for Joel, and as he was crawling across he got stung by yellowjackets. Ted was holding his bike and got stung also. We all started running and I had mine and Ted's bike and Ted was running with Joel's untill he got frustrated with me for struggling with the 2 bike and dropped Joels and grabbed his so we could run. Somehow only Ted and Joel got stung and Joel had to make a detour up through the woods to get around them. We headed on our way.

We decided to take a shortcut from the suggested trail in the book and take Bradley creek instead of the fireroads. It looked a bit shorter and more importantly was singletrack which I prefer. We started to realize why this was not suggested in the book as there were probably close to 10 creek crossings that could only be done by wading through. Most of them were not any deeper than the knee, but riding with wet shoes was a bit awkward. Also, on one of the crossings as I was heading down the bank toward the water I got stung. As I was realizing what was happening I got hit again. I started running through the creek and gotr stung one more time. I was yelling at Joel so he would not get into them and waited as he had to go around that area of trail and meet back up. As we finally got back to the road by the car, everyone (well at least me) was pretty exhausted. We got back and had riden just over 25 miles in right at 6 hours. I was filthy and were going to stop on the way back, so I headed a little ways upstream and stripped down and sat in the creek to wash off. It was cool, but not cold and felt great. We had a beer and headed to a Bar in town so Joe could watch the Alabama game. We hung out for a bit and headed back to camp. I was so tired I went to bed before the game was even over.

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/PisgahSquirrelGap2008_8_30#

Bad Blogging: Time to play catchup

Well I am going to try to play a little catchup. Work has been pretty bad and just getting time to ride has been a struggle.

Started out on Friday the 8th when the weather was so nice I just decided to head to Oak after work. I got there a bit late to do a whole lap but met Mitch and Corb in the parking lot. We rode up to Blood rock CCW and back to the South Trailhead. The weather was so incredible that this ride really made me want to get on the bike more.

Saturday the 9th I went to Trussville for the workday and after a good day of working on the big mountain section we decided to test out our work. We rode 1 lap doing an out and back on the new section before riding a lap clockwise. I have not ridden Trussville since right before the Dead Dog last year and really liked Trussville. It is a really fun trail when just out for a casual ride. Jay showed us a tree near the camping area (I don't know how else to describe this spot) It gets high enough off the ground to not be able to drop a tire. I tried many times to ride it, but was unsuccessful. Jay made it across after just a couple tries. We also stopped at the parking area by the baseball fields and we rode the poles that were laying on the ground as well as down and up (yes up) the stairs. Finally there was a rock on the edge of the pavement that we jumped off of a few times. The landing was very soft on the grass and was a fun place to play. Finally we finished up with the difficult new sections. I was able to clear them on the first try with only a bit of trouble on one of the rocky turns, but was able to hop the bike back into motion. I was a bit dissapointed as I was expecting to have to study the triail and learn how to ride it before doing so succesfully. This is a difficult section, but another trail may have to be built to really give people something they have to work hard to be able to successfully clear.

Sunday the 11th I found a few people going to Ladiga. I had been wanting to plan a trip and mentioned it to a few people and they said they were going tomorrow. I was excited about going and we met at Joe's house and carpooled there. We headed out and the road bike is a completely different experience on this trail. Last time I rode it, it was not paved all the way so I had to ride the Mtn bike (the GF Sugar). I got some practice pacelining and we scooted down the trail at a pretty good pace. We stopped at the visitor center. It was not open last time and it is a pretty nice little place. Continuing on we actaully went a littel way past the line as I don't think everyone was ready to turn around immediately. On the ride back we once again stopped at the visitor center for a rest. This time the guy that rant he place was there wnd we chatted with him a bit. We rode on back and I really didn't have as many aches and pains as last time. The only thing i remember is a bit of hand numbness near the end. I was pretty pleased as I was also nto as tired as before. On the mnt bike I was so sore I walked funny for a few days but I really got nothing on the road bike. I had been considering buying a better seat (as it has a really cheap one), but I was pleased and now I am not in so much of a rush.

On Sat 8/16 I met Bump for the 3rd Sat club ride. We rode a lap CW of Oak mountain and I played around a bit and practiced riding the logs more than usual. This was a nice casual ride and felt nice after the week at work.

Tuesday 8/19 James told me to bring my bike to work so we could ride afterwards. There was some drama that kept me at work late, but we decided to go anyway. We got there around 6 and headed off CW. We were expecting to turn around as James had not ben in so long, but he just kept going. We realized the darkness was going to be a problem during the climb up the Jeep. It started getting dark as we got to the descent down to the BUMP trail. by the time we got to blood rock I had to take off my glasses to see. It was actually really fun as I could barely see down quary road down to the road. We got off on the road and it was almost completely dark. Other than almost getting hit by a car on this road (the car came off the road after me) this part was awsome. The lightning bugs were all in the trees and down the road adn we could just make out the gravel to stay on the road. I was expeccting to get repremanded at our vehicles for being out late, but no one was there so we took off quickly.

Thanks to the weather there was no riding the weekend of the 23rd. But I am soon going to NC for some serious riding. I am really looking forward to this and hop my lack of riding is not going to hurt me too much.

Four laps of Oak. OK maybe just 2

I carried my bike to the bike shop yesterday evening to schedule getting the rear hub fixed. They scheduled me for Monday, so I took my bike with me so I could ride for the weekend. I will have to get it back to them Sunday before they close, but I did manage to get a ride in today. At the bike shop I ran into Brendan and he said a few people were meeting Sun morning at 7:00 to ride. This is one reason I took the bike back. I was actually planning on meeting the Montevallo riders for a road ride as I though I would be without the Motolite. I am glad I kept it as I was wanting to ride at Oak.

I was a few minutes late but met Brendan, Lee, Jay and Ted. Lee was talking crazy talk about doing 4 laps, and I thought I might be good for 3 so I said I would try to hang with him for as many as I could do. We rode a lap Clockwise and moved at a pretty good pace. We stopped to ride on or over just about every fallen tree near the trail. As we didn't start till almost 7:30, Brendan had to take off when we hit the Jeep trail to make it to work at 9. (I don't think he could have made it iin time unless he was flying. I wonder if he bailed out on the road or was late.) There was a fallen tree across the road near the green trail intersection on the top of the ridge. Lee was trying to cross it at a pretty high point and got caught in his pedals. He gouged his palm and I am sure was in pain the remainder of the ride. Ted showed me the hip jump coming down from bump where you can jump up on the wall to set you up for the turn. I attempted this and managed to get on the wall a bit. Definately something I can look forward to practicing going this direction. Ted had also set up a new log ride in foreplay that we tried to ride. I was only able to ride it successfully in one direction, so I will have to try again next time. At the parking lot, Lee's bike was not shifting well and we were unable to fix it, so he ran it by the bike shop.

Me and Ted decided to do another lap as I was feeling pretty good at this point. We headed Counter-clockwise for this lap and he set set a good pace at the start. I started to lag behind climbing up quary road but pushed myself a bit harder than I should. I had to rest at the base of Blood rock but luckilly Mark came by and we chatted with him for a few minutes. This gave me a chance to rest and we headed on . I was feeling a bit better for a while and enjoyed the ride down the jeep trail. Ted picked up the pace and I started struggling a bit to keep up. He kept up the pace and I tried to keep up as best as could, but I could tell I was holding him back. I really started struggling on the Garret's Gulch climb but kept going and finally made it back to the parking lot. I really don't like being the slow one, but appreciated the ride and the motivation to push myself to ride faster. I definately need to do this more often and hopefuly I can get a it faster.

I went to McAlisters after the ride as usual and met Steph for lunch. My legs (Hams) tried to cramp a few times while I was siting there so I had to keep my legs stretched out. I drank 3 glasses of tea trying to rehydrate. I got home and took a cool shower and feel much better now. I think three laps would have killed me, and am happy I quit at 2.

Also: I put links to the pictures of the rides for the past few (that I had forgotten). All my public galleries can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm

Ocoee Brush Creek Trail

We woke up this morning and headed to the Ocoee Campground area so we could ride the Brush creek trail. This time I remembered to pack some energy bars and we headed out. We took the trail beside the river up the Rafting center. Then we took the old copper trail which also paralleled the river. There were a lot of people rafting and kayaking as it was a beautiful day. This part of the tail was nice and cool as the wind was cooled as it blew across the water. The next section was a short but steep climb. This part of the trail was a bit overgrown and I got my arms slightly torn up as some of the briers were crossing the trail and got me as I was leading the way. The top was a nice view and we stopped to catch out breath for a few minutes. The next part was a roller coaster of a trail. It was about 7 miles of rolling, twisting fun. The tail finally ended up near a bridge crossing brush creek. There were some blackberries at the trail head and we enjoyed a few as we sat in the shade and relaxed for a few minutes. I figured that we had a climb ahead of us as it seemed like we had been going downhill for most of the time. I took the lead and was cruising through the woods pretty good. I kept expecting a hill, but somehow it never came. I actually think the trail flowed a bit better this direction than the other. There was a small climb at the end, but this is definitely a trail I would recommend to others. We scooted down the section we had to climb earlier and rode back to the Whitewater Center. Mitch and Monty went in the gift shop and I payed around on some of the stairs and rocks. I found a short section of 4 sets of stairs that I was able to ride up which I haven't tried to do since college. Made me feel good that I could still do it. The ride back to the campground was nice and I got to watch some of the rafters going down the river as was riding beside it.

When we got back Monty told us there was a shower and I decided I would make use of it instead of riding the 3 hours home in wet bike shorts. The shower was actually pretty cool as there was two shower heads. One was normal height and the other was waist high. Perverted thoughts aside, it worked great as I was able to get the dirt and grime off my legs much easier. I would really like to have a shower in my house with multiple shower heads. Maybe someday I can afford such luxuries. The drive home ended with a stop at McAlisters where I met Stephanie for dinner.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/BrushCreekTrail2008_7_27

Racoon in the Rain

Went up to Raccoon for Mitch's weekend trip. We met at Cracker Barrel in Trussville and it was raining pretty hard on the way there. I was pretty worried it would rain out our ride, but when we got to Chattanooga it did not look too bad. We starter riding and went counter-clockwise from the visitor's center. It stated sprinkling on us, but only stayed a sprinkle the whole time we rode. I carried my camera, but it as so wet out I was afraid to get it out of the zip-lock bag. I had a pretty good ride as I didn't have any wrecks this trip and successfully dropped off the 3' rock on the one way section. I landed the slightest bit sideways and burped the air out of my tire. I was running pretty low pressure so I decided to put a bit more in it for the rest of the ride. I was shaking as I did this and it made me realize how I am still not completely comfortable jumping off stuff yet. I guess I will have to keep it up till it doesn't bother me anymore. We took a nice slow lap and stopped to play on a lot of stuff. We did swing by the log ride and rode across a few times, I rode across successfully and then started getting sloppy and had to jump off. I don't know what was wrong with me, but when I was trying to stop on the log and start back up again and locked the back tire and slid off and landed on my butt. I guess it was a little too wet to try that.

We then moved on the lower chunky section. This section was more difficult and being wet only made it more fun. I stopped to jump off one of the rocks a few times, but could not convince anyone else to try it. I thought for sure Jay would at least try it. We finished up this section and decided to lap the intestine section in the opposite direction we were going. This direction seemed to be much faster and have a better flow. I was scooting through pretty fast just trying to keep up with Jay and at one point came to a small drop with a stream going through it. I just jumped without thinking about it and cleared the water and almost cleared the whole dip. This is definitely something to look for next time I am there. Finally we finished out the loop with the climb up and then coasted down to the parking lot.

We headed to the hotel and after checking in and taking a nice cool shower we headed out to get dinner. We decided on Big River Brewery and sampled a few of their beers while waiting for our food. I ended up getting a steak and it was quite tasty after a long day of riding. We headed out, but stopped at Sticky Fingers for another beer before heading back to the hotel. I tried a Sweetwater Blue (it was a Blueberry beer) and thought it was pretty good.

Unfortunately, these are all the pictures I took.

Hot at Hurricane

We met at hurricane creek at 1:00 to check out the new stuff that they had built. It was only me, Tommy, Lee, and Monty. We started into the trail and I heard a terrible sound behind me. I knew someone had crashed and immediately turned around and went back. Monty was about 30 feet down the hill. I sat in shock as he got up and said he though the was ok. It appeared he only had some minor scratches. After a little time to recover we headed on and went to the mountain bike race course. We rode up around and found the new 5' drop that he had built. I was not feeling it this early into the ride and decided I might come back to it later. A short ride later we found the new structure right next to the wooden berm. It was pretty interesting to ride as it was pretty high even though it was plenty wide. We started off slow and finally after Lee rode the skinny I decided to try it. It is about 3' off the ground and is 12" wide. It is really intimidating just because of the height. I managed to make it even though I was really shakey. Another thing that made it difficult is that it is at a right angle off the wide part so you couldn't get lined up before going across. The second time I hit my helmet on the wood above it as I didn't duck enough. I still managed to make it without falling. I decided to ride around some and found a 3' drop on the course right up the trail. It had a ramp up and a short level section before ending. I jumped off the first time and came down on the front wheel a bit more than I wanted. It scared me a bit, but I didn't crash. I went back as there was a short gap jump that I really wanted to do. I looked at it quite a while before deciding to try it. I was told to be careful and not pull up to hard because the bike could kick out due to the angle of the ramp. I gathered my nerves and headed down the ramp. I didn't pull up at all and was not really going as fast as I should have been. Anyway my back tire came down right on the edge of the landing ramp. If I had come up a inch or two shorter it would have been bad, but I did land it and stay on the bike. I checked to see if John (the guy who runs the place) had gotten a good picture and he said he was waiting to get a picture of me crashing. I somehow felt insulted, but didn't mind that I had let him down. We finally headed on around the rest of the race course. I jumped off the 3' drop again and this time landed correctly. We circled on around and headed out to the top of the Gauntlet run. I went second as me and Lee wanted to ride the whole thing without dabbing. I made it all the way to the start of the woden section. I made it around the rock , but was going a bit fast and tried to hit the wood instead of hanging to the right. My front wheel dropped off the outside of the wood pathway and I had to put a foot down. I hiked back up to take pictures of everyone else coming down. We tried to stop at the dirt jump section. but it was soft dirt and we couldn't really play on it. We rode across the skinny bridge and hiked the bikes up to the short loop on the other side of the valley. I ran out of water at this point, so I knew I wasn't going to last for much longer. We rode a lap and headed back down the mountain. I passed the rock as I decided I was doing to well and didn't want to wreck now. I rode back across the bridge again. I actually made it both directions over this bridge. I was unable to make it last time I came. I think having Lee there to set the bar helped encourage me. I had to try after I saw him make it. Lastly we rode across the normal bridge (about 18-24" wide) and rested at the picnic area before trying the hill. We finally headed to the hill and I locked out my shocks as well as dialing my front down to 110. I went ahead and put it in a low gear and followed Lee up the hill. He made it about 3/4 of the way before wheelieing off the side of the trail. Somehow I made it to where he was and was so tired I was about to quit, but he was yelling encouragement and I managed to make it all the way to the top. It took me about 10m minutes to recover afterwards, but I actually made it. Lee went back down to the bottom to try again and I couldn't believe he had the energy to even try. He rode all the way to the top this time. I definately owe him a beer as I promised anyone who could ride it a beer. We went on back to the entrance and watched some helmet cam videos that some of the other riders took while we cooled off. After a nice beverage in the parking lot we headed back home. I don't know if I want to ride there again till it cools down a bit. Most of the time my clothes were so wet it looked like I had just gotten out of a pool. my clothes were so saturated they were dripping. I weighed when I got back home and I had lost over 5 pounds. Me and Steph decided to go to Longhorn and get a steak to help me recover.

Check out Tommy's blog as I know he has some video's up of a few things. I am going to have to see if he got any other videos. I wil have to get picture up later as this is the first chance I have even got to Blog about it.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/HurricaneCreek2008_7_20

Like a kid again

The day started out nice as I was able to get up early enough to meet some of the other BUMP folks at Oak mountain. I got there only a few minutes after 7 and they waited on me to get started. We rode a lap clockwise and I was feeling pretty good. We got back to the parking lot a little late and missed the group that was meeting at 9. I talked them into going the reverse direction for the second lap (counter-clockwise). We headed up johnson's mountain and I could feel the heat getting to me a little. I actually noticed a bit of difference as I came to the rocky section leading up to Blood rock. I climbed this in a bigger gear than I have in a while. I don't know if this was just due to not riding Oak in a while, or the road biking making a slight difference. Once again I tried to climb blood rock. I am going to try Joe's method some day of getting enough speed to carry you up the first section, but today I just tried to use technique to climb it. I almost got to the tree, but once again I got stuck. We got to the top of the mountain and met up with the 9:00 riders. After a short rest we headed down the hill and finished out the lap. I was slightly debating doing a third as I was feeling ok. I didn't really want to ride by myself so I sat and had a tasty beverage out of a plastic cup in the parking lot. Joe pulled up and was going to ride a lap, but I knew I would just slow him down so I headed to McAlisters to get some food. I sat outside as I was pretty sweaty so as not to disgust any of their other customers.

I talked to Joel and decided to meet him at his house to head to Bottle Tree. I had never been to his house before and he lives on the mountain beside downtown Bham. He collects old bicycles and I spent a good bit of time just looking at all the bikes he had. He also gave me some of the beer he made and it was really good. The only other person I know who made beer was in college and it was not the best. We waited for one of his friends and headed down to the bar. I took the IndyFab and I have to say I was not very comfortable. They would haul ass down the hills and through the intersection and I was so busy trying to pick a line to avoid the bad road I kept falling behind. I was still a little uncomfortable on the road bike. We got there and had a beer and ate. I was really impressed by how good the food was. they had Cajun sweet potato fries that were really good. I will probably go back just for those. We hung around for a few give aways (they were giving away shirts, and bike stuff) before deciding to head out. It was pretty late(for me that is past 10) and we put the lights on the bikes. I wanted to ride around some and everyone else wanted to also. We followed Joel around downtown and just had fun. He took us on a tour of some of the art as well as riding up a ramp and through a parking deck. I started feeling much more comfortable on the bike and started hopping on and off the curb (this sounds crazy as 3' drops don't bother me on the mountain bike). We finally headed up 20th street to Vulcan. This was a pretty steep hill and I used granny gear on my bike for the first time. We rode down Vulcan trail that is on the edge of the mountain overlooking the city. It was awesome and the moon was near full, so I turned my light out and rode for a short time by moonlight. We headed back to Joel's house and I headed home. I really enjoyed this ride and would definitely do it again.

Never going to be fast

After a few really rough weeks at work I finally was able to start commuting again. Today I only had to work an 11 hour day, so I got to ride to and was "forced" to leave early enough si I wouldn't be in the dark on the way home. I was feeling pretty rough after the ride in, but after riding home I am feeling much better. It has been about 2 weeks since I have been on the bike. I think I am just going to have to give up on ever getting faster. I just can't seem to get on the bike enough to improve.

On a sidenote: We went to Charleston SC the weekend of the 4th to visit some of Stephanie's friends. I have been there before, but I have not really noticed how much bikes are respected there. As you drive down the streets, almost every porch has a bike on it as well as every bar, grocery store, or pretty much any store has a bike rack, an if not there were a few bikes chained to a nearby fence or pole. I watched and motorists seemed to actually not completely despise the cyclists and gave them equal use of the road. I thought it was pretty cool.

I am going to try to get in a few more rides this week while the weather is nice.

Slow Lap

Went to Oak Mountain with Moran and ran a lap. I just did not feel great today. Moran had a hard time keeping his heart rate down and we stopped to rest a few times which was fine with me. I don't think I successfully rode any of the log rides but we did make the whole loop without any flats (lately my biggest problem). I recently put some Panracer Fire UST tires on (I just wanted to try something different than the Nevegals) and have been relatively pleased. I rode with them at Lurleen last weekend and now at Oak Mountain. I am not sure they are better, especially in the sand, but they seem to do well everywhere else. I just need to try them in the wet to see how they do, but they are less expensive and I was going through the old ones too fast.

Also, Tommy had mentioned the Gnomes had been multiplying. I managed to snap a picture of them and will try to get it up soon.

After our ride we went to McAlisters. It has been a little while since I have gone since being introduced to Chipotle. It was nice sitting outside in the shade and drinking the sweet tea. I really like people watching there, but not many people came to eat that day. My only complaint is that the little blond that looks like Elisha Cuthbert (I have no idea how to spell her name) was not working that day.

I looked back and only made about 93 miles this week. I had about 95 last week, so I am very close, but unfortunately my hundred mile week will have to be later. I am hoping all this road riding is going to help my mountain biking, but currently it is just making me too tired to ride hard.

First case of road rage (unfortunately not me)

Rode to and from work today and it was very enjoyable except for a lady in a white SUV laid on the horn as she passed me (as well as not moving over). Of course she was speeding as the speed limit is only 30 and 45 on these roads. I can only imagine it is such a nusiance to have to wait a maximum of 30 seconds to find a break in the cars to go around me. I ride on or over the line when a car is coming so most people only have to touch the far line with their wheel to give me a couple feet clearance. I know I have seen this car around Montevallo and next time I find a "I heart bikers" sticker or something similar I am going to buy it. I am pretty sure I will recognize the car and next time I see it, they are getting a sticker on their rear window.



The ride home was a bit of a gamble as Stephanie took the truck home at 4 and I knew I would have to work late. It started raining around 5, but cleared up a bit by the time I was ready to leave. I was afraid I would get caught in the rain, but other than getting a few sprinkles while in downtown Montevallo, the rain held off. It was nice and cool and smelled like rain (I hope everyone knows what I mean as I love that smell). This was probably one of the most enjoyable rides yet.

Good Start, but can I follow through?

I started this week pretty well by commuting both Monday and Tuesday to and from work. Yesterday before the ride home, I was thinking that I could get in a 100 mile week. Looking back, I don't think I have ever ridden that much in a single week before. However; after I got home last night my legs were aching a bit, but I assumed it would be better by the morning. (I don't know if I have mentioned, but the ride is 12.25 miles and for some reason is much easier to ride to work than riding back home from the office.) I was planning on going to Oak Mountain this afternoon, however Wednesdays are leg day at the gym and I was struggling there (even though I have dropped weight and do sets of 20 reps). I got back to the office and realized that if I rode; it would not be pretty. I was supposed to meet someone there and I felt bad cancelling, but I think I am going to have to work my way up to riding so much. I am going to see how I feel tomorrow and try to ride again. But by skipping today, I am going to have to ride two laps of Oak this weekend to make the 100 mark if I can make the ride to and from tomorrow.

On a good note (for me): it is thundering and cloudy outside. I need a better excuse than me being lazy.

Quite an adventure

Today Stephanie and her dad went with me to Oak Mountain to ride. I really didn't know what to expect as far as skill level since her dad informed me he had not been on a bike in over 30 years. Moran was kind enough to let me borrow his bike (The green regions machine) since I only have one spare. We met at the Waffle House so he could follow us in since he had also not been to the park in over 25 years.

We parked in the back parking lot near the South Trailhed and I tried to get my bike set up for him first so he could ride around and get a feel for it. I got it close and he took off while I swapped pedals on Moran's for Stephanie to ride. Once I had finished airing up all the tires and checking over everything he seemed pretty comfortable riding around. We quickly realized the Moran's seat would not go low enough for Steph so I was able to get my seat lower than previous attempts (I don't know why it finally lowered, I hope I didn't force it past the bottom stop).

Since Steph could not reach the pedals on Brian's I had to swap them and I put her on my old one and her dad on Brian's. They seemed to be comfortable so we worked our way up into the field above the parking lot. They both had no problems whatsoever riding around up there so I decided it was time to hit the trail. One thing as we were leaving the field, they both seemed hesitant to ride through the opening in the gate (about 4' wide). I knew they would get over this fear very quickly on the trail.

We rode up the road to peavine to the top of Mr. Toads. I was hoping that a slightly downhill ride would be a bit easier. I might should have chosen the family trail as I think it is a bit wider and has fewer roots. It is interesting how you do not realize things that could be potential problems. The first little section is quite thin and has a few roots that are not perpendicular to the trail. This was probably not the best place to start for the first time, but they did fine. Steph like going slower and her dad seemed to want to go a bit faster. When they swapped and he started leading, things went more smoothly. However I was a bit worried he would get going to fast around a blind turn, but he did fine.

There was also a bridge on this section that I had not even thought about. Steph's dad went over it fine and I shouted congratulations to him right as Steph was heading for it. Unfortunately, I think I made her nervous about crossing it because she locked up the brakes and slid off the bank to the side of the bridge. Unfortunately I could not get my camera out quick enough as she quickly jumped up and scurried across the bridge in hopes I wouldn't catch her. We rode the rest of the way out and they were both doing pretty good near the end. We stopped back at the trucks for a rest. After getting some water we did a few more laps around the parking lot before packing up.

They both did well for their first trip and I think there will be another in the future. We will wait till tomorrow when the saddle soreness kicks in to know for sure.

Edit: I finally got the pictures added.

All the pictures are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/OakMountain2008_6_22

Joined the Club at Lurleen

Yesterday evening in anticipation of today's ride I went by and picked me up some stuff to make Spaghetti. I was too lazy to make my own meatballs so I picked up some frozen ones also. I try to pasta before longer rides as I always seem to feel better during the ride if I do. (This could be all mental, but I really just wanted some spaghetti and meatballs so it was a good excuse).

I woke up and got ready. Moran was going to meet me at my house and ride with me. I was running a bit behind, so we didn't leave until close to 7. He decided to drive separately as he was on call and I don't think he was wanting to spend the whole day there. I was originally going to have to leave by 3 to get back home for dinner with friends, but that was postponed till next weekend, so I was given the go ahead to stay as long as I wanted. On the way I realized that I had forgotten the camera. I hate I was not going to be able to get any pictures of the event.

We arrived at about 8:30 and probably hit the trail close to 9. We went counter-clockwise as was suggested by some of the other riders showing up the same time we did (however these riders ended up riding clockwise). We definitely were going the opposite direction of everyone else, but I thought it was a really nice ride. I have only gone this direction once before and it seemed to be the easier way to go. We passed most of the BUMP folks and they told me where they were parked. We finished up and swung by their campsite. I couldn't talk Chris S. into riding another lap immediately, but found Mitch lounging in the AC and he decided to try to get another lap in before lunch with me.

Moran decided to sit this one out and I though the might stick around and do a second after lunch as he was hanging out at the car when we left. I ate a snack and refilled my camelback before heading back out. Mitch wanted to go Counter Clockwise so we headed off. He set a perfect pace on this lap that kept me moving a bit faster that I would have gone by myself, but I was relatively comfortable and recovering quickly after the climbs. This lap was a bit more hot and humid than the first. The first one was perfect weather and I stayed pretty comfortable. The trail definitely seems easier this way as there is a lot of downhill on the second half. We finished somewhere after 1:15. I swung by my truck and noticed that Moran had headed back home. We went up to the pavilion to get lunch.

They had BBQ (I forget where they said they got it) that was quite good. and Mitch had brought some watermelon. I didn't want to gorge myself because I was still debating on the number of laps I was going to try and ride. After we ate and relaxed a few minutes (quite a few minutes to let the food settle) we went to try to find everyone else. It appeared they had already left, so I refilled the camelback and we decided to head Clockwise for the next one (because I had not been that way yet). I have to say that Clockwise is definitely harder, but much more fun. There were a few jumps over water pipes going this way at the beginning and I was able to clear all the trees going across the trail as well as some off to the sides. There was one tree that I believe was slightly larger than the one near the base of Camp road at Oak that I made it over (this is the first lap I tried). I would ballpark the height at 16-18". I had tightened my pedals but I still hopped out of one of them trying to hop the back wheel up, but I managed to still stay on the bike and somewhat ungracefully clear it. There were a few more log piles that I rode. one was about 5 smaller logs piled up loosely that was not too difficult (someone had laid these out pretty nice). There was also 2 roughly 12" logs that almost got me. I got my front wheel over, but right as my front was coming down, the back tire was in between them and it brought me to a stop. I had to do a small hop to get the back moving and thought I was going to go over the handlebars, but somehow recovered. The last thing I found was at the top right on the ridge right before heading back down. There was a short skinny that was propped on a log so there was a small drop off the other end before heading down. I had not noticed this before as going the other direction I just never saw it. I was a bit nervous as the drop was just enough that I needed to keep the front wheel up but it was quite fun. Somewhere around the midpoint I started feeling the hills. I knew this was not a good sign as I knew a fourth lap would be quite a struggle. We finished it out and there were a few climbs at the end. I was not cramping at all, but was just running out of energy.

Right as we were getting back to the parking lot, there was another rider stopped in the road. Mitch was ahead and I heard the other rider say snake. Mitch must have just seen it because he locked up the back tire and slid sideways to a stop. Of course that got a comment from Monty who was standing not too far away at the campsite. He came down to look and it was a rattlesnake (probably 2.5' long). We watched it slither across the road and went up to the campsite. Everyone was sitting around and we joined them. Jim had some cantaloupe and honeydew and I ate quite a bit. This got me feeling better and I was considering riding another lap but no one else really wanted to. I was at a good point and one more lap probably left me struggling with stairs the next day. This was all I needed to talk me out of doing another one. It was already after 4:00 so we hung out at the pavilion for a while and then headed home.

BUMP had a great showing at this event with 9 riders (Me, Mitch, Moran, Strayner, Allen, Monty, Linda, DeShazo, and Jim). I had a good time and think we should do something similar at Oak Mountain. It would be nice to have some sort of 48 club (or whatever 3 laps is) that will give people a goal to reach. I would probably never had ridden Lake Lurleen more than twice without someone setting the goal to reach. However, I think LL now has quite a few with 4 and even 5 laps under their belt in a day. I was hoping for a commemorative pint glass to honor the occasion, but I may have to settle for the self satisfaction of doing it.

First True Commute

Today I truly commuted to work on the bike. The previous trips were a ride home after driving in and then riding in and driving home. Today I actually rode in and rode home. I wanted to take Friday off to rest up a bit for the Saturday ride (hopefully I will get 3 laps in of Lake Lurleen in before I have to get home). It is getting much easier and really helps me relax after a rough day at the office.

I got a return authorization for the Garmin, so I am once again going to be without it for a week or two. I think I am going to hang onto it for Lurleen and just send it back Monday.

I am also taking Stephanie's dad biking for the first time on Sunday. He has lost over 60 lbs so far for the wedding and he said he was going to ride with me when he hit the 50 lb mark. I think Stephanie may go also, so this could be quite an adventure.

Commuting but at least I am on the bike.

I finally gave up on trying to make it to any organized rides during the week. And after not riding this weekend I was getting desperate. Things are starting to slow down a bit here at work, but I still seem to get caught having to get a quote out or something on the days I want to leave early (or on-time, I forget what that is).

Monday I rode the bike home from the office after driving in that morning. I ended up leaving about 6 so traffic was not too bad. I also took 17-15 home instead of 119 which I feel a lot more safe. There are very few large trucks and the rode is more hilly and winding so the drivers are forced to pay a bit better better attention. It was a pleasent ride, but I am out of shape or something. I ended up with roughly 12.3 miles in 45 minutes. This is faster than I ever rode it on the mtn bike, but I still felt like I was going pretty slow.

Tuesday I decided to just ride in that morning also as I was able to wake up early enough to have time. I duplicated my ride with just under 46 minutes, so I assume both directions are about the same (climbing wise). I though tmy legs would be killing me, but I felt pretty good throughout the day.

I do have a grump. My Garmin has once again stopped working properly. This time it is turning off whenever I hit a bump. It seems to be only sudden shocks that do it as it has been only happening randomly when I am on the Mtn Bike (I think the shock dampens most of the trail chatter). But on the road bike it turns off very often. I got mad and just took it off the bar mount and threw it in my jersey. It stayed on when I did this, but I can not see my speed or heartrate or anything that would probably make me ride harder. (Maybe this is not such a bad thing). I have contacted Garmin, but I am guessing I am going to be witout it again for a couple of weeks while they repair it. I haven't had a lot of luck with this thing.

Road Ride from Helena

First off I finally got a new keyboard. Part of my poor spelling was due to a number of keys on the keyboard not working very well. Now I have no excuse.

I found that the Montevallo riders were riding from Joe Tucker Park in Helena to 280 and back on Highway 11. I was a bit scared as I knew that there is a moderate hill starting on 52 up to cross the highway. One of my biggest problems is warming up quickly so hitting this hill at the beginning was worrying me a bit.

I met the guys and everyone was nice and welcomed me on the ride. One thing that bothered me a bit is that as we were leaving everyone was checking to make sure they had ID. I asked if this was in case they were pulled over, but I was informed it was so they could quickly identify the body. After this nice bit of information I grabbed my license and we headed out.

Luckily they chose to ride to Alabaster to hit the end of 11. This road was pretty level and I was feeling OK as I fell in line at the second to back. I quickly realized that I was pretty bad at keeping in line properly. We got to the 31-119-11 intersection and headed across. My heart rate was staying low but my legs were burning a bit.

One thing that was annoying is that my Garmin appears to be damaged again. Every time I hit a bump (especially when crossing the railroad tracks) it would switch off. I kept having to turn it back on and restart it which is hard to do and keep in line.

We got to 280 and stopped to rest at the gas station. I ate the nutrigrain bar I brought and stood in the shade. I stretched a bit and by the time we were ready to head back, my legs were feeling better. We headed off and I decided to bring up the rear of the pack. I noticed that I felt better coasting down the hills (in which I would fall back a bit) but when climbing the hills I would catch back up with everyone. I seemed to be able to climb easier, but they never stopped pedaling whereas I enjoyed the rest while coasting down the hills.

The only problem we had with cars is a truck that displayed his displeasure of having to go around us by flooring the gas and only clearing us by a foot (he only missed the leader by few inches). I have terrible luck with riding on the road, but other than that it was a great experience. We got back to the park and they invited me to the Depot to relax after the ride, but I had a wedding to go to that afternoon, so I packed up and headed on home.

I will definitely try to ride with these guys again as I had a good time. I ended up riding about 36 miles and for the rest of the day my legs were burning. I really struggled with stairs and sitting for the better part of the day. Hopefully I can start riding a day or so a week on the road and see if it gets easier.

What did I beak now?

I checked my bike over before the raccoon ride and found the source of the rattling. It seems my rear cassette had come loose. This is where the rattling was coming from. I decided to take it off to clean it and had a bit of difficulty getting the third gear off. I found the following when I got it off:

I put it back on and tightened it up and assumed it would be OK. Well, at the end of the ride at Raccoon it stated rattling again. Apparently it is going to keep coming loose, so I called up Cahaba and asked them to order me a new hub outer shell. I may need to get a new cassette also just to be on the safe side.

Since the BUMP n Grind race is this weeked, I am probably not going to get much riding in. I am going to try and make a short road ride tomorow morning (since i have plans for most of the day Satuday and Sunday is pretty much out also) so I can at least get a few miles in this weekend.

Raccoon with BUMP

I made a few calls last night in hopes I could find a ride to go on today. I was thinking I would be heading to Chief Ladaga to ride today. I was pleased to find out a few people were going to Raccoon Mountain. Mitch had expressed interest in riding today, so I called him last night and he was going to meet me to ride up there. We headed up and met Joe and Joel on the way. After a quick stop to get an early lunch at Wendys we met with everyone at the visitor’s center about 11:00. After we got ready we hit the trail and headed Counter Clockwise. This direction had us immediately go down a steep slope and climb back out. I was struggling at this point as I was not warmed up yet. Once we made it back up to the level section of the trail I started feeling much better.
We continued on and had some nice downhill down to the bottom of the dam. We stopped temporarily to jump off one of the dirt mounds there. There were a few sections that looked like they had been improved and the trail was in great shape. We came to the little one-way section and Monty managed to get a flat tire. While he fixed it, Joe jumped off of a nearby log. I goofed up the camera and all my pictures of this came out blurry. They had removed the gap jump, however that had a bridge that was half-built. Jay successfully rode the 4x4 skinny halfway across before riding over the bridge. I now had wished I had gone back and tried to do it again, or at least taken a picture of him riding it. There was a drop shortly after of about 2.5-3’ I decided I was going to ride it this time (As this is where I wrecked last time I was here). I once again somehow went over the handlebars after I landed. I managed to catch myself before going all the way over, but I got a little tangled in the bike. I got up and decided to try it again. I think I was heading too far to the right and getting in the soft dirt so this time I swerved far right and came back to the left. I managed to land it successfully this time, so we headed on. I should have given my camera to someone and you could be looking at great crash pictures instead of just reading about it, but I didn’t.
We rode on around and came to the Lower Chunky section. I didn’t want to miss either section so I suggested we ride around and come back up Chunky and then backtrack to we could get the best direction on both trails. We stopped to play on the log ride for a few seconds as we went around and then rode up through Chunky. It was pretty challenging and a LOT of fun. Joe and Joel decided to take the road back as he was worried about getting back in time to pick up his wife. We headed back through and I stopped briefly to jump off one of the rocks. I gave Jay my camera this time so we could have a picture. We rode on out and rode lower intestine in the reverse direction. Jay said it flowed better in this direction and I would have to agree. We scooted through here pretty quickly and at the overlook we rode down the rocks. It is relatively steep but not too difficult. Everyone rode down it and I got a few pictures. We rode the rest of the trail on out and after a bit of a climb, enjoyed the nice downhill back to the parking lot.
We headed back and stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I got the Fajita Steak Nachos and they were really good. Today was a great ride and I made it out with only a slight rash from something on my arms, legs, and neck. I think hitting all the foliage did something my skin didn’t like. Jay gave me some Benedryl and it seemed to clear it up, so I will assume it was nothing.