Blue Knob Trip 2010

So I'm sitting here watching British TV and trying to forget the pain in my legs. I've been in a training block with 12 rides in 12 days, (I did have one day of rest but I did a double day.) Tomorrow I get a rest day and then it restarts again.

The highlight has to be CAMBA's annual campout at Blue Knob State park in Pennsylvania. If you haven't gone, I can't recommend it enough. The beauty of this is it's free. That's right you get yourself there and then after that it's all taking care of (besides food, which if you sign up for the Saturday dinner plan is $5). What you get is rustic cabins, beautiful scenery, and great riding. It's really the weekend I look forward to each year.

But before I take you to Blue Knob using my wonderful prose, I must make a side trip, to my side trip to the Allegripis Trail system. It's located outside of Altoona and is about an hour away from Blue Knob, so if you can get off work the Friday before the camp out I would put this on the list. These trails have gotten a lot of bad press from some riders, the two most popular complaints is the tread is to wide and the trails are monotonous. Well the complaint about the tread being to wide, is now a non-issue, with a year of use under it's belt, the tread is coming in nicely. Now about being boring, well I guess that's is personal preference. My riding partner Mike and I had perma-grin's the entire time. We left at about 8 on Friday and arrived at the trail at noon. We started the trail by climbing up to the lake side of the trail. Once we got to the top we started the downhill, and most importantly the whoops and dips. A skilled rider can pump the whoops like a pump track and fly through the downhills and it's set up that you can pump the uphills and hardly have to pedal. I was instantly in love with this trail and was flying down the downhills and jumping some of the whoops. We ended up doing 19+ miles in under 2 hour. Could have gone further but we got smart and cut out before we killed ourselves. Highlights where the Hydro loop, which was a fast flowy 2 mile trail where you didn't hit the brakes once, nor did you really have to pedal. Then my highlight was the switchback climb. For some reason when I hit a switchback I just feel the urge to attack, so I really opened up my legs on that. After we got back we showered and headed over to Blue Knob State Park.

Friday night was chill, and we greeted everyone coming in, and went to bed pretty early. Woke up Saturday early got a quick breakfast gathered our gear and headed up for the ride. I would be in charge of the fast intermediate ride (AKA A ride). It would follow about the same route as last year, so I had a good clue where we'd go. The day started with a scorching downhill that shot you out right into a rock garden. Once you got to the bottom, you had to climb back out. That climb was a killer, in the wet condition almost everyone had to walk this climb, including me, even though I had my granny gear this year. Though this year I held down my breakfast unlike last year. Once at the top, we stopped at a road and while waiting for the stragglers we saw a big black bear cross the road about 100 meters from us. we looped back around to the campsite and started climbing clickity clack which is one of the favorite trails of all the riders. It follows a ridge line up the side of the mountain and is lined with flat rocks the when you ride over make a rhythmic clacking sound. From there we climbed 500 vertical feet to the top of the ski resort which is over 3000 feet above sea level. We were greeted at the top by some of the hardest rock gardens I've ever ridden and the picturesque overlook that you will see from so many pictures taken on the trip. From there we took a new trail to me, down the side of the mountain which included some tight and steep switchbacks. Then it was the race back to camp, which I came in second behind Brian Lowe after I overcooked the last turn. As soon as we got back, it started raining and Mike and I sat on the porch of our cabin and relaxed after a great day of riding.

Saturday night was all about socializing. Everyone cooked dinner and then we mingled around the mess hall, eating smores and telling stories. It was great seeing everyone again and making new friends...and I didn't wake up with any lingering effects from the "festivities."

Sunday Mike and I choose to do the short easy paced ride. We road the road up to ski resort and dropped into the resort side trails. On this ride thre wasn't a local to lead us, and I vaguely remembered the trails so I took over finding the trails. Only one misadventure down the ski slope and we had found the trails. Truthfully, we only missed the trail by 100 feet. We did about about 9 miles on the last day and headed back, flying down the infamous roller coaster trail, where all you can do is grab the brakes, and ride it out. We headed down clickity clack and about half a mile the skies opened up and down-poured on us. Overall, looking at the weather report coming into the weekend, half a mile of rain isn't to shabby.

Overall it was a great weekend, did about 50 miles in three days on some fast flowing to rocky and super-technical single track. Over the weekend we climbed 4,000 feet. Even though the trails were awesome the highlight definitely was the people. CAMBA has some of the nicest, most welcoming and most fun people to hang out with and to share a ride with. I can't praise these people enough and I'm happy to be a part of it. If you haven't done so yet, I can't recommend enough going on a group ride, outing, trail day, or camp out. There has yet to be a day with the CAMBA folk I haven't enjoyed.

See you at the next event.

Kicking the Bucket...uhh list? Colorado Ride!

I got to finally check off one of my goals in my bicycling bucket list. I when I say bucket list, I have not idea what I'm actually talking about, because I never really wanted to watch two old men courting in a movie. One of the things that I have been dreaming about for the longest time is to get onto a climb of epic proportions. The valley has some good climbs, but they always seem to make up for being so short that they go straight up. I wanted to climb a grade that seemed to go on forever.

Well on a recent trip to Colorado I finally got to mark that off the list. I flew out there for Valentines Day to see Sara and before our valentines dinner we did what only a cycling couple could enjoy and decided to go for a bike ride. She had her bike there, with all her new presents from me, and I rented a Trek 1.2 from University Cycles in Boulder. Our route was a simple one, mainly two roads, the start of the ride was beautiful, 40 degrees and sunny, but with a heavy headwind. I pulled from the start and allowed Sara to save same energy. The climb started immediately but at first is was quite shallow. We climbed about three miles until we hit Sugerloaf road and that's where the fun began, it steepened up to stretches of 10% grade and a ton of switchbacks. After about half a mile it leveled out and Sara I climbed another 12 miles to above the tree line where it was cold and snowy. In all we climbed 3500+ feet over 15 miles. I gotta say I felt good and was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure how I would handle altitude and not riding outside on a bike for a month before this but I felt really good.

The descent on the other hand was not as fun. The bike I was riding had a horrible speed wobble where anytime when I got up to speed the bike shook beneath me. Add that to the fact that I was not properly dressed for the descent, which made me freeze enough to stop every two miles or so to warm up. Luckily, towards the bottom the road straightened out and I warmed up enough to really open up and get some good speeds going. With a straight road, slight downhill and a tailwind, Sara and I were cruising along at about 30 mph. We ended up back at University Cycles, turned in my bike and then grab a sub. Really happy with the ride and the weekend. I'm so lucky to have had this opportunity and Sara in my life.

Back to Basics

Base miles have always been a favorite part of the season for me. It seems like a grueling concept, after not doing anything all winter you go out while it's still cold and ride your bike for as long as you can. For me it gives me a chance to try new roads and to see new scenery. During the season I have already found my routes and go on certain routes that tailor what I need work on. Base miles, however, are also my time to venture out and find new routes to ride.

Today, Sara and I ventured out on a adventure to find new roads. I had replaced the cross tires on my cyclocross bike with a road tire to see how it would work over the winter. It's a set up I had thought about when I bought the bike and I think it will prove fruitful over the winter. I also decided to retire my road bike for the season and use it's wheelset for my back up cross wheels, and after Christmas I'll spring for an upgrade of Easton EA90's for my road bike. For now I'll make the second set my pit wheels and when the season ends I'll put some road tires back on. That way I'll have the road tires for the winter but when the snow's out I can swap out the wheels and run cross tires in the snow.

So back to the ride. Sara and I decided to do a ride today, since we haven't done a long ride for quite some time, and I had always wanted to show her my favorite crappy roads of portage county ride. We hit some favorites Lynn Road, and Sunnybrook road. But added a little double track around Mogadore Reservoir which led to us finding some singletrack, which I did on 700c x23 tires pumped to 100 PSI with no problem. We spend some time admiring the reservoir and taking some photos. It was one of the rides that allured me to get into road biking. No destination, and just enjoying the ride. The pace was brisk but not pushing it. I smiled the entire time. Afterwards, we came back, ate an entire pizza and large antipasto salad and then chilled. I still can't belive how lucky I am to find some like Sara, who enjoys doing stuff like this. I'm sure it would have been an an enjoyable ride solo, but this ride was made even more special by her.

This is going to be a quick one as I have to leave for work soon, but I have been running a lot more often now. To all my cycling friends don't worry, I won't be hanging up the bike for good or switching over to running. For me it's going to be a nice compliment to my biking. I doubt it will make me a faster rider, but it will give me something to do to break up being on the bike and still being active. That way I can end the season and not be as burnt out as I was this year.

Last week end I did my first practice 5k, ended up with a around and 8:30 pace and completed it in 28 minutes. Not to shabby for my first attempt and not even pushing that hard. Sara was impressed by this, which made me more confident. So yesterday I had planned to ride the Kent cyclocross course which I had missed because of work last week. After work I'm driving home about to get my gear and head over when I get a text from Sara asking if I wanted to ride the course with her. Perfect! I'm throwing on my gear and she calls and asks if afterward I wanted to do a trail run, I say to myself why not and throw my shoes into a bag and I head off.

We are on a time constraint because we have to be in Hudson by 4:30 for the trail run and I left my house at 3:20 to bike over to Kent. I do my best time trial effort with a headwind and a large bag to bike the 7 miles as quick I can. I show up and we do two quick rides around the course, which after the Cross my Heart course was a blast. I will definitely be at this one next year. The two run ups were a blast and the spiral was fun and tricky. After riding back to here car I did 9.5 miles. We load our bikes to the back and we head towards the valley.

After meeting up with some of her Grunt Girl Teammates we make it to Pine Hill trail head at about 5. We run a good paced three miles until we get to the badly rooted part of the trail. It's well past sunset now and our lights aren't bright enough so we turn around and run as far as we can until our lights don't give us enough light to see the routes and decided to walk back out to the cars instead of hurting ourselves. We probably did 3.5 miles of demanding trails running.

Back at the cars, her teammate Andrea asks me if I plan to do the 5k that Sara is entering this weekend. She said my pace was fine and that I'm ready. After some badgering we leave and me and Sara decide I should do it this weekend. So now I'm doing a 5k Saturday and then the Kirtland Park CX race on Sunday. Should be a fun interesting weekend. Check back monday for a recap of my races.

Best Weekend ever

So this week end was insanely crazy for me. Friday I worked 9-4 at the shop and immediately then headed up to Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Park. Each year CAMBA puts on a preview night where you can get into Rays a day before it actually opens and ride the park for free. If you haven't checked out Ray's you must if are a mountain biker. A lot of new features this year. The cross country loop has been given new lines to take, though it hasn't been lengthened. This should make the indoor time trials more interesting. I got to talk to Ray a little bit and he confirmed that there was going to be an indoor tt series.

The rhythm room looked amazing and the pump tracks addition to make it a complete loop was nice. The sport and expert sections stayed about the same, and the beginner rooms flow has been improved so it's a little safer when the XC loop dumps into the room. Overall, I love the changes and it was nice to be back there and see a lot of my riding friends.

Saturday I woke up early and Sara and I headed up to the "Cross your heart and hope to die" cyclocross race. Trust, me each lap as I enter the "Spiral of Death" I was hoping to do. I was worrying about the sled hill climb "Todd Hill" but it was the baseball field spiral that killed your legs and your spirit. Overall, the bike performed perfectly and my Hutchison Bulldog tired shed mud and gripped great. my one regret was the 42t chainring. I took Johnny P's advice on the size. But I forgot that my strengths and tendencies means a smaller chainring that I can spin up works better for me. My road bike uses a compact crank and my mountain uses a 40t big ring instead of the usual 44. It's just the nature of my small size. Most of the course I was wishing for a lower gear. Luckily I had an extra 39t ring laying around. So that's all ready to go.

Sunday I worked open to close at work and decided to "help" our sales for the day I picked up a new Sram Rival drive train. When I got home I cleaned and tuned Sara's cyclocross bike so I could return it to her in time for her commute to class today. Cleaned and tuned my Cyclocross bike then installed the new drivetrain on my road bike. I haven't gotten to do a true test ride yet, but I can say it was an easy install and was easily tuned. The shifting system seems ingenious and something that I could get used to and like better than Shimano shifters. Look for me to have all my bikes converted to Sram next year. Test ride tomorrow morning.

West Branch, and CX practice

So I admit I have been really bad at updating this. Settling into the new job and the new schedule has been a little difficult. I'm slowly weaning myself off the late night routine. But you don't care about that so onto the important bit.

Last Sunday was the OMBC West Branch race. It was a nice change of place having a race less then 15 minutes from my house. I enjoyed sleeping in and lazily making my way to the race. It was also a nice to see so many familiar faces. I get to see most of the racers at each race but it's nice to see the locals. It seemed everyone was there. I was happy to meet Dave Ruller, the city manager of Kent. Someone I have been talking to in trying to get a trail built in Kent.

The day before it rained pretty hard all day, and I was looking forward to another muddy ride. I was let down to see the trail holding up well, (from a race standpoint, but I gotta give credit to CAMBA's trail crew who have put in a lot of work to make this trail sustainable.) However, the roots and rocks were slick as ice. As always I got the hole-shot onto the single track. I had built up a decent lead and was feeling good until I noticed my front quick release was loose. I had to stop and fix it and let second place pass, while 2nd and 3rd fell in behind me. We stayed together in a pack until second place slipped on a uphill and I took the lead again.

It seemed like a yo-yo was attached to me at the point. As one of the other 3 riders would catch me and I would either be able to pull away or I would here them go down behind me. This played out for most of the race. Near the end I slipped on an uphill and the second place rider bridged the gap. I was now sitting behind a rider from another class. I knew if I could stay in front of him I could hopefully hold him off till the end. I followed the other rider until the last hill, where I said "Passing on your left" and started sprinting up the hill. I had used the rider as a block and him having to find a place to pass gave me enough time to reopen the gap and get the win.

The other big news was I got to get in some cyclocross practice today with Johhny P and Robert Sroka. I took their collective knowledge and learned as much as I could. Thanks guys for helping me out. It was last minute for me so I showed up a little late and opted to go in instead of warming up first, since daylight was slipping. This was a mistake. We did a couple sprint starts, dismounts/remounts and cornering. I now have a couple drills to work on when I practice so I should be ready for my first race. Which I'm really looking forward to.

A perfect bike?

Today I headed out to my favorite trail, Medina's Reagan Park, with my good friend Mike. We both pulled into the parking lot at the same time and saw a sea of cars. Apparently Reagan Park was holding a huge soccer tournament. We somehow found parking next to each other and got ready. After suiting up we headed over to check out a certain manufacture demo tent. They were at West Branch yesterday and were at Reagan today. We had planned this ahead of time, and planned on doing two laps and then demoing some bikes. When we approached the tent we learned that they had arrived earlier today at the prescribe location at Reagan Park couldn't find the trail head and no one was around so they decided to set up over at Huffman Park. Since it was already packed because of the tournament they were asked to move back to where they were giving permission to set up their tents. The representative was a little salty and was packing up things and generally complaining. I was put off by this attitude, since they had decided to set up in a spot they were not giving permission to do so. They decided to pack up and head home, instead of letting potential customers demo their bikes. I was also off put by the position they put me in, since I was in my CAMBA uniform. I was stopped and asked multiple times where the specialized demo was. It made us look bad because a demo was posted at one of our trails and was cut short. Generally, this situation left me feeling uneasy about the brand.

It also made me realize how great a representative we have with Bob Myers from Trek/Gary Fisher. Bob Myers is very professional, and nice. His demos are well planned and go off without a hitch. If you ever talk to Bob, you'll quickly see that it isn't about anything other than a true love of cycling.

OK now onto the ride. I decided to bring two bikes out today. I planned to start on my new Nashbar 29er and if my legs didn't feel good I brought along my Gary Fisher Piranha hard tail to switch to on the second lap. Two factors made me make this decision. First was I was unsure of the gearing on the single speed. I'm running 32x18 with heavy wheels, second was this was the 8th day straight of a hard training week.

The first lap was a medium paced ride. Immediately from the start the heavy tires showed their weakness, add on wide risers and the cornering could only be described as cumbersome. Every change in direction happened slowly. I would turn the handlebars and it would take a second for the bike to change directions. Climbing was also labored as it was hard to get the heavy tires to spin up. The wet conditions and v-brakes meant braking wasn't crisp.It wasn't a horrible ride but it was missing something. The only excitement came when on a steep muddy downhill my front tire lost traction and I went over the bars.

We went back to the car and I switched to my Piranha. I immediately felt a difference in the two bikes. The Piranha was light and stiff. The feeling I got can only be described as being on a bike but not having a bike under you. It almost felt like I was running and not on a bike. With this I became more aware of what I love about this bike. First was it's handling. Turn the handlebars and the bike whips to your input. There were times where I swear just thinking about turning made the bike turn. When I pedaled there wasn't resistance from the pedals or wheels. Getting the wheels spun up to speed was effortless. Climbing was easy, easily staying in the big cog up all the climbs. The brakes would slow you down with the slightest pull and the fork soaked up the bumps without letting you know it was working. Gear shifts were smooth and seamless even uphill out of the saddle without even a hesitation. This got me thinking, what makes this bike so enjoyable to ride? It took me a while but I think I finally figured it out. I love this bike because I don't notice it. It's not about the bike when I'm on this bike, it's about the rider. It's the rider not the bike that makes you fast or slow.

That whole second lap I was smiling and thoroughly enjoying myself. Can't wait to get back there tomorrow.

CAMBA Blue Knob Camp Out

This last Friday I left for Blue Knob State Park with some hesitation. I was heading towards CAMBA's Summer camp out. It was first camp out on a new trail system. I made the long drive out there and I was rewarded with a weekend of fun.

Friday night we checked in and got settled in to our respective cabins. The camp provided ample sleeping quarters with cabins of all sizes. Some larger cabins with electricity that slept 8 or so, down to two person primitive cabins. After dropping off our gear we convened in the dining hall and sat around the fireplace, caught up with old friends and heard of adventures on the trail this year. It was a great bonding experience sitting down and talking to all the people I've met over the past year I've been with CAMBA, people I've ridden with, but haven't really gotten to meet, and people I've never met before, because our paths never crossed.



We all returned to bed early to get ready for the next day. I woke up early to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains of Blue Knob state park. I took a second out on my porch and took in the beautiful scenery. Visited another cabin and watched a baby bird take flight for the first time. What an amazing area. Helped cook the opt-in breakfast, and went and got ready for the ride.



We all assembled outside the Dining Hall and had a short meeting describing the ride. The local club ,LHORBA, came out and planned our rides and led us. They planned for every skill level and had a ride for everyone, from riders who've only been out on the trail a couple times, kids, intermediate riders who want to practice their skills and the seasoned racer. There was apprehension to go into the Expert and soon the intermediate advance group was formed with the expert group. I won't go into much detail of the actual ride, since each was different. The trail was fun to say the least, we a lot of descending and even more climbing. The paths took us up to a beautiful outlook over the entire valley and to the top of the ski hill. There were plentiful rock gardens to test your skills. Even hills that made you lose your lunch, and I'm not talking about downhills. I guess I should explain. The first climb of the day took us up a grueling hill climb. I really pushed myself hard up that hill and half way up had to stop and lost part of my breakfast.


We came back around 5ish and took a shower and ate our dinner. We all sat around for a while and old of tales of our rides. Later a roaring campfire was built and we sat around and made smores. We all slowly made our ways back to our cabins and I fell hard and slept like a log. I had done around 16 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing.


The next morning we woke up ate breakfast, which I went a little easier on, and headed out for another ride. The next day we broke into smaller groups as some riders had to head home early. My group consisted of Brett Z, Mike Farley, Neil M and our rider leader. It was a good matching as we all proceeded about the same pace. We completed a loop of the "race course" which is one of the most extremely rocky courses I've have ever encountered. It was a day of friendly trash talking, pushing each other to push harder. We ended out day with another grueling hill climb. Mike F started climbing fast up the hill, and I soon caught up, wanting to relive Tour De France history he gave me "the look" I let him roll for this for a little bit keeping him right in my sights until the climb started to get steeper and I Knew we were near the top. This is where I attacked, closed the gap and crested the climb first. We rode back up to the look out, and rode down a stair step rock garden which was a blast. We ended the day with a blazingly fast downhill that topped 27mph back into camp. Showered, finished packing, said our goodbyes and headed home.


Overall, it was a great weekend, I made many new friends and had a great time. Bill Braum did an amazing job at putting this together and it's truly appreciated. Big thanks to Brian Jay for putting together the menu and cooking and finally a thanks to LHORBA who did an awesome job of leading us around the mountain. Make sure you mark your calendars because it's a week end you don't want to miss.

Back to the Wilderness

First off I want to give a shout out to Roger who has just started his own blog Dirt and Gears make sure to check it out. Secondly, I gotta start remembering to take pictures. It's just hard to remember to take pictures on a training ride. It's just so hard to break the flow to stage a photo.

Friday, I woke up late and my plans to hit Reagan park were foiled right off the back. I wanted to get something in so I jumped on my road bike with my trusty garmin in hand and set off to do a quick interval set. If you haven't used a garmin or haven't found this feature yet, the programmable interval work outs are a nice feature to have. It comes with a bunch that are more tailored for running but with some simple tweaks, like changing some of the intervals and lengthen some. Most are usable right out of the box. All you have to do is pick the one you want to do and little pop up windows pop up to tell you what to do. Anyway, Friday I decided to try out a new one I had programmed in, the Dirty Thirty. There's many variations but the idea is max effort for short periods of time and short recoveries, back to back. I choose to do 10 second max effort, 10 rest, 15 second max, 15 rest, 30 second max then 30 seconds rest, with a couple 2 minute recoveries thrown in. I did this set six times. The 10 and 15 second efforts I did as full on sprints in a hard gear, while the 30 second one I sprinted for the first 10-15 seconds and then kept up the effort seated. The idea is to simulate mountain bike race pace with hard efforts with little time to recover. It should help my racing pace if I keep doing it.

Saturday I met my friend Mike (Bionic Knee) for a ride at Vultures Knob. I felt in good form and my new fork and rear Derailleur finally made my Full suspension Pro-caliber not feel like a sluggish off. The new fork took at least two pounds off the bike which made a huge difference in it's corner. This and my good form made for a good ride for me, hitting all the technical sections with ease. It wasn't a horribly fast session but it was still a blast. It was also a big step for me since Mike was the rider I chased all last season, barely hanging onto his wheel and this year I was leading with ease and pulling away at times.

Sunday I met my friend Roger (mentioned above, have you checked his blog yet? No? Well go check it out and then finish reading mine!) met up at Mohican Wilderness. We did two whole laps with 2500 feet of pure off road climbing and my legs are begging for mercy. Bike worked perfectly again, but I remember it being a lot smoother the last time around. My hard tail gave me a beating on some of the fast descents. Roger is a strong rider and put me through my paces today. It was a good ride, I completed all the climbs and all the rock gardens. Thanks Rays indoor mountain bike park for the that!

This week is still up in the air. Either Monday or Tuesday will be a recovery day (depending on which day it's going to rain) and Wednesday hopefully the weather will hold out for another CAMBA group ride. Thursday will be a day off then it's off the Blue Knob State Park for the CAMBA summer campout, three days of riding. I'll be in heaven. I'll promise to take pictures on that one.

Group ride and other things.

Sorry for no pictures.

This week marked the opening of West Branch and Medina and also the start of the summer group ride schedule. So it's been a pretty busy week for me on the bike. Before I worked the dinner shift at work on Monday I went through and overhauled my drivetrain. Got xt derailleurs (front and rear) and shifter and all new cables. It was a longer task than I expected mainly because while everything was off the bike I figured it was the perfect time to give the bike a thorough cleaning. Monday was the official opening of West Branch so I had to go out there Tuesday.

I have very mixed feelings about West Branch. It's the closest longer trail to my house and it's a decent trail, but for some reason I don't get excited about it. It has roots and rocks and hills and descents and some tricky technical stuff but I never come away excited about the ride like I do at other trails. I also tend to hurt myself on that trail. So I went out there Tuesday to give it another go, maybe with my endurance and skills progressing over the winter I might enjoy it more.

I get out there and within a half mile I misjudge a descent and end up in a tree. This gives me an incredible Charley horse on the inside of my thigh. I finish lakeside and I'm feeling good so I head over to Rock Gorge. I'm doing well and clearing stuff I didn't clear last year, still can't get up the hill after the river crossing but still feeling good about it. I'm cruising along a flat section and clip a tree with my handlebars which sends me over the bars. I get up and soldier on. Still feeling good I head over to Bit O' Honey. Why I don't know. Last year towards the end of August I fell on this trail and hurt myself pretty badly. Today was no different, in fact where I fell is where I had fallen on that ride last year. Once again I banged up my knee which I've been icing since then and is healing nicely.

Wednesday was the return of my favorite group ride. CAMBA holds a group ride every Wednesday at Reagan Park. Almost always a good turnout and it's a great course. Last year I was a solid mid-to front of the B group. I had debated what ride to do before hand because of the knee injury so I arrived early and did a lap of the Huffman Park Trail. I felt great, no knee pain and I had energy. So I decided on the A group. Nancy Desmond led the A group and played sweeper and I took the front to set the pace. I set out a little below race pace, I wasn't sure of the tempo so I figured a little below would work. Hit the first climb at Huffman and looked behind me and no one was there.I had gapped the A group, the group on the one ride that I was off the back of and barely held on last year, and today I was pulling away from them, this would be how the entire evening went.

I kept having to set up and cool my tempo. I'm not saying I was faster than the people in the A group, because I know there are fast riders in there, Johnny P, Robert Shroka, Mike Farley, Nancy Desmond, all riders who are fast and quick. It was just that day I was feeling great. I know the course better than any course, my bike was in the best condition and lightest it's been. I don't know what it was but I just never tired and did the entire 10 miles in the big ring.

Today I went to West Branch for another CAMBA group ride. And boy did I not feel good. Three days of hard riding had down it's damage. I hung onto the A group for the entire Lake Side loop. Towards the end I ran into my team mate Mike and we rode the Lake Side loop backwards. He was flying and my tired legs felt like lead.

This weekend I will be doing the Vultures Knob race, and either Mohican State Park or The Valley Death Ride.

West Branch Group Ride

West Branch is finally open so I will be out there Sunday to ride the trail. Meet me at ten o'clock at the trail head. I'll be in my CAMBA Jersey.

Reclaimng OECR

Yesterday I had the day off and decided to drive up to the CAMBA Monthly meeting. It was a neat experience and it was good to be part of the behind the scenes action. A nice bit was when Brian was asked for a report on our race team. Brain answered "where racing" which was about true. Brett (el presidente) commented that we seemed to have a lot of podiums at the races, to which Brian said "Yep, and we are going to have a state champion" while nodding at me. After the meeting, we all went out to ride around the OECR (Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation) trail. Which John aptly described as a more intense Quails Hollow. We splintered pretty quickly as some where just leisurely riding and others where going fast. I fell towards the faster category. Truthfully, I didn't feel it was a good ride for me, but when I looked back at my numbers from my Garmin I realized I had kept a steady pace and a steady heartrate. I was pushing hard but wasn't over doing it.


Today was supposed to be a ride with Johnny P at Mohican State Park. I got to his house and he remembered he had left his shoes at his moms house in North Royalton, a 40 minute drive in the opposite direction. Kinda bummed but his moms house happened to be a mere 12 miles from OECR so we decided to go there again.


We arrived there about 2ish and set out after getting ready. The first lap I led to point out some trouble spots, those pesky blind decreasing radius turns that can shoot you towards a pretty nasty slope. He seemed to like the course so the second lap we stopped and took some photos, which are posted here.


After this we decided to do four laps at race pace. I wanted to see where I stood against him and it would be good training. I led off the line trying to burn some of his energy, I had gears so I know that the lead up on the parking lot would be my best chance to get ahead and maybe put some hurt into him. If I could lead into the single track I was hoping to push the pace on the climbs to wear him down. To my dismay on a short double track section right before the start of the trail he got around me. I kept him in my sights for the majority of the lap. During the lap I noticed my chain skipping. Towards the bottom of the ravine there's switch back with two lines, one carves to the inside of a small tree, the other to the outside. The inside line is safer but slower, the outside lane is faster but puts you in between a tree and a log on the outside. To be fast you have to stay to the inside of the outside and get as close to the tree as you can. The last two days I had done this, the lap before I leaned in and caught my shoulder on the tree. Not enough to do damage but enough to remind me it was there. This lap I forgot, and my hip barreled into the tree at full speed, hitting right on my pelvic bone. I stayed on the bike but was in immense pain, after analyzing the situation and making sure nothing was broke, I pedaled lightly back to the car. I fixed my chain and got bored waiting for John so I set out on another lap.


I kept an easy pace and turned an easy gear. Since nothing was broken I knew that the pain was from my muscles tightening and the best thing to do is stretch it out. John caught me towards the end of the trail and we rode out to the car together. I urged him to finish last lap as I would sit this one out and gain my wits about me. A little accident in a training ride can really take the drive out of you. There's no adrenaline rush you get at a race to mask the pain, so it's best to sit out the lap and regroup.


John finished his last lap and went over the bars and hurt his shoulder so both of us knew the end of the ride had come. So we were tooling around in the parking lot. John popping some mad wheelies and I practicing my skinny riding skills on the berms of the parking lot. Did about two until my front wheel slid into a gap between the curb and the grass, as my rear wheel slid off the curb in the opposite direction. My front wheel was stuck and my weight was leaning towards the pavement which is where I ended up landing on the same hip I had just injured, DOH! That officially ended my ride.

Over all it was a fun ride, good pace and good practice at cornering and learning where I need to be to be competitive as a sport racer. Tomorrow, is either Quails Hollow or a road ride depending on how the hip feels.

Mohican Group Ride

Sunday I got to finally go and ride the entirety of the Mohican State Park. 25 miles of pure single track fun. The original group was to consist of Mike (BionicKnee), Scott (Salsaman) Johnny P, Roger, Dirk and myself. Johnny P or Dirk couldn't make it and Roger showed up but because cell phones don't work in Mohican State Park I couldn't tell him that we were running late. Once again sorry about this Roger, though word is he did run into Brian Lennon from the CAMBA race team while he was out there.

I won't bore you with the details of the course but will hit some of the highlights we had. The first of three mechanicals happened to my bike. I had installed my cranks wrong and the cranks shifted to the left. Making my smallest, aka granny gear, out of range of my front derailluer, which left me under geared for most of the climbs. I, however, didn't walk a single one. Another two miles down the trail Scott broke his chain. Nothing broke for the next 15 or so miles.

I must admit that it wasn't my best day of riding. I went down twice mostly due to washing out on fast turns. Nothing serious or anything but I was pushing harder on the ride and took my tires past there grip level.

We reached the second parking lot at the top of the hill and went in search of water. The horse trailer though busy didn't have any water. We got excited when we found a water spicket at a campground which wasn't turned out. So we rode down the road in search of anything. At this point I had drinking the two bottles of water in my camelback plus a water bottle full of gatorade, and we still had ten miles to go! We found two houses, the first didn't answer their door but the second one a kind lady let us grab water from her faucet. The one thing I should have done on this break was eat and that would come back to hurt me later.

At mile 17 my chain started to skip real bad, and I knew that could only be one thing, a broken chain. I had a feeling that I would break one since I had to grind up every 3000 feet of climbing. Lo and Behold, a pin had pulled out. Fixed that and we were on our way again.

Another 3 miles down the road I started to feel hunger pains. Another mile and I was in full on bonk mode. Even though I had eaten earlier and drank the entire ride I was dehydrated and out of fuel. This all happened during a technical downhill rock garden section. My vision started blurring and my legs felt like jelly. It wasn't long before I was down again. Luckily I fell on soft pine needles and no damage was done. I got up and made my way down the trail and hit an uphill and I couldn't go an further. I knew I had to stop and get some food and water. I shoved an entire powerbar into my mouth and chugged as much water as I could. It took me a couple miles but after a while my legs came back and I finished strong.

At the end I could barely walk and I was on empty again. I barely could change out of my sweat stroke riding clothes and slumped into my car. It was a hard tough ride home where I fought wanting to fall asleep. I gotta admit I was proud of myself and enjoyed every second of it. Thanks Mike and Scott for a great ride. It was a big moral booster to look back and see how far I've come over the last year. Last year at this time I didn't own a bike and now I'm doing MSP in under 3 hours. Can't wait to get back and do it again! Now to taper for The Mountwood challenge. I'm hooked on racing and I look forward to more miles this season.

Ride Schedule

If anyone wants to join me for a ride here's when I'll be riding.

Thurs- Summit Freewheeler group ride, Botzum trailhead I'll be there about 5:30 leaves at 6

Friday- Somewhere in the Valley, maybe big boy route, Sometime after 5.

Sunday- Vultures Knob, time TBA

Let me know if you want to come out and ride, I'll make sure to not leave without you.

4 rides, 4 days and 4 different bikes.

Sunday started my four days of riding. John and I went out to pre-ride the rest of Mohican Wilderness that we missed the last time we were out. It was a beautiful day once again, dry, sunny and warm. Being a week from the first ombc race and good weather there was a good amount of people out on the course. John and I had discussed chain breakage on the way up. He had pointed out that he though it was difficult to break a single speed chain, with no gears he figured the wear would be less. The first half of the trail we rode through no problem and headed off to the longest mtb hill climb in Ohio. Before we even reach to woods and about 300 feet up the hill John snaps his chain. We head back to the car and he put on a new link and off we go again. This is where karma can be a real buzzkill, John breaks his chain about half a mile up the hill. We fix the chain with tool and links we had smartly brought with us. We ascend the hill and start the downhill, at one point something happened where I had to stop, I forget way, maybe a stick got stuck in my wheel or something like that. Nonetheless, John went ahead. I fixed whatever had happened and set off. Get back to the car and John is no where to be seen. Since I was behind and didn't pass him I knew that he hadn't had a mechincal or fallen, so I assumed he had either gotten lost or gone off course and went back to try and find me. If he had gotten lost it wouldn't be a big deal because it's all one big hill so all he had to do was point his bike downhill and he would end back at the cars. So I waited around and did a little bit of cool down and waited for him to get back. When I got back his bike was sitting against the car minus a chain. That's right three chains in one ride! I can understand climbing those hills on a single speed you'll surely put a lot of torque into the pedals.

The second ride was a short 10 miler on my fixed gear that served two goals. First, it was meant as a recovery ride to keep my legs fresh, secondly, it was a chance to play with my new toy. The Garmin edge 205.  It doesn't have heart rate or cadence but those will be features I will get back when I can afford an edge 305 later in the summer. The amount of other data and other features is incredible and will hold me over till then. The information that can be disected is so vast. Not a bad ride overall with a 16.7 mph average.

Next ride involved my Scattante Team XRL and the Summit Freewheelers. It was rather chilly on tuesday but still was a fun ride. Both of my croonies John and Sara showed up. Sara was alte and showed up to the wrong trailhead so we sadly missed her, though she would make it up the next day, and John was running late but luckily was able to jump onto the back for a good ten miles before he pulled off. We started at Botzum and ascended up Truxell Road where I was off the front the entire way. At the top we started are rotating paceline and did a quick loop around Stow and retraced down Truxell again where I hit my new top speed of 42 mph. We followed Riverview back and I asked if anyone would contest a final sprint. No one spoke up, so i figured the last 200 meters I would go all out and see if anyone would try and catch me. Well, 300 meters out one of the other riders jumped and we were off. We quickly left behind our group and blew by the Akron Bicycle Club that was 100 meters up the road. I got from 13 mph to 32 mph in 30 seconds over 300 meters on a flat road. Not to shabby for early season and being a climber. 

The last ride invovled Sara and I and my Fuji "rain" bike. It rained early in the day but cleared off nicely this afternoon for a good go at the CVNP Big Boy route. It was a fun day with three major climbs of 2000+ feet total and 31 miles. Sara is a great rider and a fun person too. She stuck out each of the climbs and did well. She flatted out towards the end but that was an easy fix. With a avg speed of 15.9, and hour fifty nine minutes on the bike it was a perfect ride. I'm sure there will be a lot of fun rides with my two croonies this summer.

90 miles in 4 days

5 hours on the bike total plus working everyday.

Not a bad week!

Mohican Wilderness Pre-ride

Today was the first warm weather mountain bike ride! It was meant as a pre-ride of the Mohican Wilderness race in two weeks. John and I both had today off and the weather was as warm as it was going to get for a couple days it was the perfect day to try the trails out. The first thing I noticed was that the trail was hard to find. It's located along a dirt road right outside of Mohican Reservation. Once you get there it's not entirily clear where the trail starts, and once you get on the trail it's easy to take a wrong turn in the early season. The area is potmarked with old logging roads that crisscross the trail, some are designed into the trail others are not. There were three places where the trail left the logging roads but there was not sign to show a change in direction. So needless to say a lot of time was wasted getting lost. 

The first major climb was up a gravel covered logging road. It was a steep uphill and John and I stopped to see who could get up it the furthest. I was first to go, I hammered hard up the hill and got about halfway up. John went second and beat me by about 50 feet. Third time I tried a different approach and went slow and steady. This time I made it most of the way up before I lost traction. John tried to best me but in his overgeared signaled-speed couldn't best me. To the right is my winning run up the hill.

After the hill climb fun we found the trail to the right and followed a fun rolling rollercoaster section the bottomed out with a small rock covered section. Followed by yet another climb but less severe. Besides another wrong turn that sent us up a crazy steep logging road. We found our bearings and got back on the trail, where John endoed. From here it was clear where the trail went and we headed back to the parking lot and rode down from the top of the trail, which is in this video.

When we got to the bottom I noticed my stem had loosened at the handlebars. So we stopped back at the car for me to retighten the bolts. To my dismay the screws had stripped and the ride was over before we could get to the second half and the major hill climb. I was dissapointed but it is what it is. Even though John has the right length stem the size didn't match and we had to call it a day. We'll be back later this week now that we know the course the next time we go we can enjoy the ride and finish the entire loop. Can't wait to get back out there.

Things don't always go as planned

Today I was lucky to have this beautiful Sunday off from work. It was a perfect day for an epic ride, I hoped my  friend Johny P could come along but he had a bicycle polo game to go to which sounded fun and I can't wait to hear about it.

So about one today I left my house and start riding towards the Valley. I went my usual route which was petty normal until I hit the MUP and climb the short hill by WaterWorks Park. Normally an easy no problem climb, and I attacked like I always do, out of the saddle and powering up the hill. Today my chain decided to give. To get it out the way, yes it was properly installed and lubed, and I wasn't shifting. It hasn't the first time, this has happened 3 times before, all in the same situation, powering up a hill with a clean chain. Maybe I'm just more powerful on the climbs that I know. This derailed (pun intended) my day as I couldn't put the chain together without having it bind up. So for the first and hopefully last time i called up my out and got picked up and driven home. Pulled out my good chain tool and got everything put back together. 

So know it's 3:30 and I know I can't make it to the valley and back by the time goes down, so I decide to drive up. I pulled into the parking lot of Lock 29 and spot Sarah who I saw a couple weeks ago at the Akron Bicycle Club ride. We talk and decide to head to another parking lot where there are more parking spots and head off. We follow most of the Big Boy Valley loop and I'm feeling good. I'm flying up all the hills and feeling good. We hit Sand Run Parkway Hill and Revere Road hill. Sarah is a strong rider and holds her own the entire time and I hope we have many more miles of riding this summer. Turning onto Wheatly Road we see a rider up ahead, so I ask if she's up to sprinting up to him and getting a third in our group. This is where things got interesting.

I shift up into the big ring and start putting the power to the pedals. Get up to about 28 mph and my pedal disengages, my foot flys away from the pedal and smacks something cutting my leg. I stayed on the bike, how I'm not sure give myself and my pedals a look over clip back in and start the sprint again. Sarah saw it from behind and was surprised I stayed on. To the right is a picture of the damage. We catch up and descend down Wheatly topping out at 40 MPH. At the bottom we are all tired and finish out ride. 

Because of the things that went wrong and putting in two seperate rides the data for this ride is somewhat misleading. Riding to get picked up dropped my average speed and cadence down below to what it actually was. But overall, with all that happened I enjoyed my day greatly.

map (exluding before chain broke)

Avg. Speed-15.6

Distance- 29.03

Time-1:51:23

Avg Cadence-79 rpm

Elevation- +1008

Unexpected Ride

Today ride was kinda unexpected. I had planned to meet Johny P after we both got off work around 3. I got home ate a quick lunch and got ready. Called Johny but it went to voicemail, I waited around thinking he got stuck at work and finally sent him a text message. He had gotten off work and had already set off and was already in CNVP. So I sent him a text I would be at Century Cycles in half an hour if he was nearby meet me there and we'll do a little ride together. Pulled into the parking lot got my things together and he showed up just as I was about to leave. Showed him the propsed map and off we went. 

We started off on Akron Peninsula road, John conceeded that he had already down close to 40 miles today and that I might have to do the brunt of the pulling in our two man paceline. I was more than happy to do that, as I figured it would be a slower paced ride because of John's already been on the road and my lunch shift. I quickly found this to be wrong. The pace immediatly went up, even against strong headwinds. I pulled hard and John stayed glue to my back wheel. Everyonce in a while I would move to the back to take a short break and before long I craved the front again. We turned right onto Sand Run Parkway and the pace picked up again. We climbed up Sand Run Parkway which turn out to be a pleasant little hill, not to steep to kill you but long enough to make you work for it. 

We turned right onto Revere Road and finished the climb and started descending towards Yellowcreek road. Which proved to be a steep climb. In the gearing of 39x27 I was still standing on the pedals trudging up the hill. After the hill was a short 13% descent. We missed our turn at Revere Road and continued down Yellowcreek until we hit Brecksville road. Another right onto Bath and the pace picked up once again, now we were cruising at a pretty steady 25 mph. Bath road ended with a nice descent where I hit a top speed of 38 mph. We finished by following Riverview road, a steady slight downhill and a tailwind meant the pace kept up and even included a sprint, which I easily won, OK so he was on a fixed so he didn't have the big ring like I did but I still think I can take him in a sprint. We'll see when he get's his Waterford out. The ride ended with motopacing a car around the corners back to the parking lot (kids don't try this at home).  Overall, it was a ride which I didn't think my body would do, but I was surprised at the output I could do. Hopefully, the rain holds off on Sunday and John and I can do a repeat of this ride. Here's the stats!

Mileage- 27.36

Avg speed-17.1

Avg Cadence- 84

Elavation- +761 feet

Time- 1:36:32

Good Vs. Evil AKA Fixed Mania

Today was another ride with my good friend Johnny P. I was on call tonight for work so I asked that we take an easy route. John came up with a nice rolling to flat route around the outskirts of Kent that may soon become a favorite ride of mine. SO brought out my white stead and met John with his black stead, and both of us headed out on a fixed gear bikes.  It took us past the beautiful Brady Lake and Lake Rockwell. It followed gently rolling roads that were free of traffic. It was a generally low key ride free of any major malfunctions or problems, well except John's snow covered cleats. On the upside my rides are improving each time I go out. Here's the important info

Map

Length- 29.27 miles

Avg Speed-15.9 mph

Time-around 1:40

Elevation Change-531 feet 

My First Half Century

Before today my total mileage for this year was a measly 100 miles, due to work and inclement weather. I tried to ride but it's hard when half the routes I normally took were impassible by snow. Luckily, today turned into a great day to ride. A local rider had seen my blog on my Valley hill climb loop and e-mailed me asking if he could tag along one time. It just so happened that we both had today off from work. So we decided to meet at my place and do a nice ride out to the valley.

Johnny P showed up to my house around 1 pm with his Surly fixed gear, and I pulled out my Scattante Team XRL. We promptly left and made out way down East Ave in Tallmadge and turned right onto Munroe Road. This took all the way to route 91 and the bike and hike trail in the Falls. After my legs warmed up, I gotta admit I was feeling pretty good, I was pushing a high cadence and generally was riding well. My corning was fast and smooth.

We followed the Bike and Hike up until we reached Truxell road and descended into the valley. Here on the gently flowing we grabbed some food and beverage in preparation for the hard work that was about to come. When we reached the Boston Mills climb Johnny P jumped out in front of me and rocketed up the hill. I was surprised at this, he was on a fixed gear for christ's sake! He's a strong rider for sure! While he rocketed up the hill, I was bonking hard core. My legs hit their lactic threshold and were burning like no other. I looked down and I was rolling at the blistering pace of 4-6mph. I couldn't muster any more strength and it took everything I had to make it up the 3 mile climb. I made it though and after the descent back down the valley we went back up Truxell road and this is where I was pushed past my limit, but I know when I got to the top I would be done with the worst part.

Our return took us through Stow and Kent and finally through Brimfield and back to my place. I gotta say it was a great ride, albeit a killer one for me. It's a ride I'll be riding again. And finally I want to thank Johnny P for the company. Pictures of me should go up on his blog.

Trip Data:

Mileage:50.47

Time: 3:24:37

Avg speed: 14.8

Avg Cadence: 75 rpm

Calories Burned: 2100

Elevation Change- 1,400 feet

Map of the ride