Masters of the Mountains 2

It was such a beutiful day to race, and the course was a lot of fun. I left the house earlier than I thought I needed to, and was glad I did because the major road into Hunter was closed. I arrive at 9:00, registered and had time to preride. I didn't want to preride too hard, but didn't want to race cold either.
Anyway, first lap was great. I started off nervous and couldn't get a breath, but calmed down before the first sttep climb. I climbed just about everything, but was surprised by the rocky technical section in the middle. Then there was the section at the top. I had dreaded this, and had bad memories of it from the year before. No sweat this year. In the end I climbed it all 3 times, the 2nd time in the middle ring. I think the last two years I expended so much energy to get to the top I didn't have anything left.
The descent is largely open, but has two section with some very exciting rocky sections. The first if filled with banked turns, and gets really rocky at the end. The second one starts off rocky and gets worse. Both have big drops, and you have to pick your line carefully. I flew through these parts. It was my best part of the race. One spectator yelled "Yeah, work that suspension!" Too which I replied "Hardtail!!"
It was a great race. I placed 11th, and finished in under 2 hours (1:58:04). I beat 6-7 guys, with no DNFs in our group. The leader came in at around 1:30, so all I need to do is figure out how to take off 10 minutes per lap and I'll be competitive :-)

Not liking CT Mountain Biking

After hitting so many unridable sections on Wednesday night, I thought I would try a new park for Mountain biking. According to the director of the workshops, there was another state park "just up the road." 40 minutes of driving later, I arrived annoyed but ready to go. This park, Mt. Tom State Park, was small, and the climbing was similarly impassable. I ended up finding a 1 mile section that was pretty much ridable going up, and a good challenge going down. I went up and down that section 4-5 times, and was feeling good when it was time to go. Another 40 minute drive and I was back, too late for dinner...
That's probably my last ride before the race on Sunday. I'm not totally confident, but I'm hoping to do better than last year.

The importance of sleep

Wow, what a difference a week makes. I rode 4 times last week in 4 days. My goal was to ride 12 out of 14. I took Thursday off so that I could finish up my week of running workshops and didn't get back on the bike for a week.

Anyway, I am in desparate need of sleep, struggling through the workshop I am offering, and feel stressed because Masters of the Mountains 2 is 4 days away. Yikes. The workshop ended at 2:00, so I figured I had better get the mountain bike out and go. I went to the state park where last year I broke my freewheel 1 week before the Masters of the Mountains race. It's a good park, with ridiculously steep climbs. I rode to the top of the hill twice, then raced around the lower section for a bit, and hit the wall. My legs felt good, but I had that feeling again of being about to fall asleep at the wheel. I turned around, headed home and now I'm sitting here sweating in the air conditioning. So, a good night's sleep a few days in a row seem to be in order. I hope to ride on Saturday morning, then the race is on Sunday.
The map looks like the exact course as last year. My goals for this race are:

1. Finish
2. At the top of the mountain, there is a section where you come out on a ski trail and face an easy, gentle climb along the smooth, grass trail. Last year when I did this race, I had so little left at the top of the first climb I ended up walking this easy section. My goal is to ride it at least once this year.

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Yeah!

Today's ride left me tired but fired up! I want to scream like Howard Dean!!

So the day at Taft ended early and I was able to leave at 2:30 looking up at a beautiful blue clear sky, and with the perfect temperature. My riding partner since Sunday was game, so we headed out to duplicate the ride that we took yesterday. We got wicked lost trying to find a loop without using a map, were made to feel totally insignificant by the ostentatious homes on "Tranquility road," and ended up riding 19.1 miles in 1:31.
I wanted to ride for about 3 hours today, so I had planned a route through Litchfield that would take 2 hours. I stubbornly didn't want to give up on the route I had chosen, so off I went on my chosen route. After stopping for water, I headed out for a 2 mile steady-but-not-steep climb, followed by a very refreshing 3.5 mile 35MPH+ descent down to Black Rock state park in Thomaston. Left turn at 109, hook up with Litchfield road and on into Litchfield.
Heading out of Litchfield I caught up to an incumbent rider who showed me some better roads than the major roads I had chosen. We were probably together for 15 minutes, and it was great to have a riding partner for a short time. After leaving him and heading for the little town of Bethlehem (sorry, couldn't help it) I really started to feel the hills, the heat and the distance. I stopped for more sustenance, but even with a quick sugar boost and some cold gatorade, I was definitely hurting with 7 miles to go. I'm so psyched that I pushed through it. I cramped up later that night, which was painful and annoying, but ended up with a great ride that has me wanting more.
With a riding partner:
19.1 miles in 1:31:31
Without:
34.37 miles in 2:16:53

97 degrees

The temperature kept rising and rising until I finally headed out at 5:15 to a balmy 97 degrees with 66% humidity and the threat of sever thunderstorms. I once again had a riding partner, and having learned about a local rail-trail, we headed out to explore some new roads. After an initial steep climb, we rode quite a bit flatter than we have been, finally finding the rail-trail 5 miles from the start. Rode the rail-trail for a bit, then headed back the same way we came. I'm eager to check that out some more, but have a different route in mind for tomorrow.
Tomorrow we get out at 2:00, so I'm heading out for a longer ride. My riding partner will come out for the first hour, then I'll head out on the smooth winding roads out around the state park. I'm hoping to get a little more than 3 hours in. What kind of mileage I'll cover who knows, but I'll be out there. I hope you're all riding, too!

Slow ride then hammer time

The only word for the weather here is sweltering. I think it's 95 and very humid. It's not really effecting me all that much, though, and riding feels like a great way to beat the heat rather than get beat up by it. I went out with my riding partner from yesterday. She was dogged from the heat and the previous day so we cut the route shorter to 11 miles, which we covered in about 45 minutes. One memorable descent featured big frost heaves that made the drop feel like a roller coaster. I was glad to have my mountain biking skills for that one.
I dropped off my partner with a little bit of time to spare so went out on my own. At the traffic light the driver gave me a friendly "You're nuts for riding in this weather" and then I was off. I started off with a mile of steady climbing, then headed for more of the rollers. I really wanted to get a lot out of this ride, so I pushed it hard. A steep climb up a dirt road slowed me up a bit, but then it was flat or downhill from there. I ended up doing a little under 5 (4.87?) in 15 minutes flat.
Tomorrow I'm meeting my partner again, but Wednesday she's busy and we get out early and I have a 3 hour solo ride planned. Nice.

Two weeks in Connectict

So I am in Watertown, CT for two weeks teaching some AP Computer Science workshops. It can be a grind, but the people this year are stellar which is helping my attitude a bit. My goal for these workshops is 12 rides in 14 days. I usually get about two hours in the early afternoon, but I was hoping today I would have more. Not the case.
I spotted a workshop attendee driving in the gate with her bike on the car and chased her down. She was excited as I was to hit the road, so we agreed on 5:15. Ended up doing 13 hilly miles at a pretty slow pace, which was okay given the amount of riding I did yesterday. I haven't found a killer ride yet, but what we rode was fun. Nothing flat, but no super climbs either. A couple of memorable (and scary) descents. It's not hard to hit 35 MPH for an extended period. Maybe I'll try the same route backwards.
It's funny, I usually get to these things and drink a little too much, sleep too little and stay fairly blue all week. With the goal of riding more it's easier to manage all that. Maybe it's nothing to do with riding at all, but whatever it is I'll take it.

Grafton Rocks!

So today was the Grafton Rocks! Mountain Bike Festival. What a great time. The weather was incredible, and every trail seemed to be in absolutely outstanding shape. I was blown away by the number of new faces and the great spirits everyone was in. I led a 9:00 AM ride with 4 novice riders. Three were roadies, and one was a young fellow who is just getting started. I checked out a sweet Jamis XC bike and took it for a spin. Other than a flat near the end it was a dream. I then got my own bike and went out with the intermediates for a quick spin up water tower before picking up my son and taking him out on the 11:00 kids' ride. He did such a great job.

I hung out with the family, got some sustenance and then led a 1:30 ride of novices. Only 1 roadie this time, and this time I got a full 5" travel suspension Jamis to test ride. Great bike, but a little soft for me. We hauled up Mill Pond road, then up fire tower to Little Johnny's/Chet Bell. The intermediate ride blasted past us halfway down a long descent, then we regrouped with them at the bottom and never saw them again. Finishing off on Johhny Cake was a bit much for these beginners, but we had fun anyway.

So, I rode about an hour at my own pace when I could and about 3 hours with the beginners. Not a bad day.

Pictures from Jen Harvey

Busted

So at 4:20 I dutifully changed my clothes, got some water ready and grabbed my mountain bike.  I Walked out of the garage to the car, picked up the bike and placed it gently on the roof rack and ... *snap*!  One of my drop-outs snapped right in half!  Aaaargh!!!

 

So now I am learning more than I thought I would ever have to about suspension forks and their measurements.  I doubt that a  4 year old fork will still be covered by any kind of warrenty, but given how strange this break was, I'm going to give it a try.

 

I did hop on my road bike and go out for an hour and half.  I figured I would try the Pinnacle climb I have been warned about, and the warnings were all well founded.  In order to get to Pinnacle I had to climb Beaver Dam Road, which was remarkably steep.  Then Pinnacle starts off with a 165' climb in .26 miles, flattens out, and then climbs again.  There were a few times when I thought I'd be walking, but I did manage to climb it all. 

 

24.38 miles

1:33

 

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Good Saturday morning ride

Joe and I headed out for what has become highly enjoyable Saturday morning routine. Today I thought I was feeling pretty good, but was afraid that I might have had too big of a breakfast. Joe and I headed out on the route that he took me on the first time we rode together. Big hills, a couple of steep spots and amply rewarding downhills. This time the hills didn't seem quite so bad, and I didn't feel quite as bad for Joe as he waited at the top of the hills. We descended and climbed again pretty quickly and I started feeling stronger. By the time we hit downtown Rotterdam and started heading back east on 5S, I was very pleased with the groove that I was in. We covered a fair amount of rolling hills on 5S in short order, and then headed up the same climb I did with the group ride last Thursday. That was enough for me, and I'm sure I'll feel this ride tomorrow. The final climbs were hard fought, and standing up for 2 and a half minutes for one steep climb really didn't feel very good; I couldn't really stand out of the saddle for more than a few seconds after that.

Rock on, I'm riding again tomorrow!

49.01 miles 2:52:45

Thatcher Park Ride

Hoping for better mountain biking results than I had on Monday, I headed out to Thatcher park for a group ride. I failed to meet the group, but spent 2 hours exploring the trails south of the Paint Mine parking lot. It's a decent climb to Beaver Dam Road, but it's short. From what I can estimate on Google Earth, it's about 250' of climbing in 1 mile. Terrain varies between ATV trail and jeep road. There are no logs to hop, but there are some reasonably technical rocky spots and a lot of good, steep, short, climbs with roots & rocks.
While riding I discovered where the group I came for had parked, so I kept swinging by there and eventually ran into them as they were coming back to their cars. Jason from EMS was the ride leader, and he said he was canceling Sunday's ride because he's out of town. I was going anyway, so I told him not to cancel and that I would lead it.
So, anyone want to ride? 5:00 PM on Sunday. Park on Beaver Dam road. From Albany take route 85 to Thatcher Park Road (route 157). The second left is Beaver Dam. 2.3 miles from the intersection you will see a fence on the left, and a small parking area on the right. Park on the right.
We will hash around on the trails near Beaver Dam to get warmed up, then head down to the Paint Mine trails. We will probably drop down to Hop Field, climb back up, and then go to Paint Mine. From there we'll head west until we run into Beaver Dam. We'll ride along the road a bit until we hit Long Trail. I reckon it's a 6-8 mile loop that we'll try to do twice. There are at least 4 bailout points if your legs get tired. Hope to see you there.

Ah, that's better

I was definitely dreading this morning's ride, but ended up feeling great and having one of my better road rides. Maybe I just needed sleep. Or maybe I've been riding the Felt too much and the Fisher not enough.
We met up at SCCC and headed West on 5. Right turn on some road I didn't get the name of and 800' of climbing. Not bad. Two very steep spots, and all of it was definitely uphill with pretty much no break, but I felt good. I did the whole climb in about 15 minutes. I would guess it was 3-4 miles. Then it was decision time, head back or go back down and climb another 800' to the same ridge on a different road. I went for it and it paid off.
We dropped back down to Route 5 and headed back up Washout road. Joe and I had done this climb before, and I had a rough time with it. It was much less steep than the previous climb, and I ended up pleased with my effort. We passed the spot where I had dehydrated the last time we climbed it, and it was pretty much gravy all the way home.
We caught another rider, Scott, who is trying to get back into riding. Nice guy, hopefully we'll see him again.
39.76 miles
2:16:45
1980' climbing

Back, but hardly in action

So we're back from vacation. It was nice. I ended up running every day instead of biking. There's a long story behind that, but I'll spare you. So, yeah, I thought I'd head out to Gibb's farm and give that a try. It was a little wet in the beginning section, but I was feeling okay. I made it through the downhill switchbacks and then felt pretty good coming back up. I did an end-o over some roots, and right after that fell at high speed because of the overgrowth. It's my own fault for not attending the Gibb's farm cleanup day :-(. The high speed fall was worse because I fell right on the same elbow as I did on the end-0, so I was hurtin'.
I approached the powerline feeling like I should push myself, so I pushed up the ATV trail and hit the powerline climb with little left in the tank. I made it about halfway up and just couldn't get the pedals to go around. I almost cried. I can't remember ever not being able to get up that hill. The rest of the ride was horrible, I had no push left, no energy, and everything seemed harder than it should have. I arrived hoping to do two laps and then hoping to run into someone else to do a slower lap with, and ended up taking an hour to do one lap and going home.
After the lap I laid down and actually fell asleep for a couple of minutes. I guess staying up late during vacation plus working outside all day today caught up with me and I was just tired. I'm supposed to ride with Joe tomorrow, and will go to bed tonight hoping that it will rain.