Declines

As noted in my previous post, last weekend was the 30th running of the infamous Dirty Dozen.  I survived the ride and managed to make it up all the hills without falling (but not without issue).  Ever since the ride however, I've felt very unmotivated and very sluggish and I'm not sure why.

In the past when I've done big ride weekends or been in races where I'm redlined for an extended period of time,  I've had a few days of lethargy and then I'm back to normal.  This past week has been a complete departure from that way of feeling.  I've spent the entire week being exhausted without reason.  I've been asleep (usually on my couch) several hours earlier than I normally fall asleep.  It's even gotten to the point where I'm having trouble getting out of bed (and not because I don't want to go to work).  

I realize a lot of this is trivial and I should be back to normal before long.  Soon I'll be riding again (as long as the weather permits).  Soon I'll be staying up late during the week.  And maybe, just maybe I'll grow my beard back thus getting rid of the super awesome mustache that I'm getting a bit too comfortable with.   

30 Dees

This past Saturday was the 30th running of a little known "race" up thirteen of the steepest hills in Pittsburgh.  The reason I put the word race in quotations is because the Dirty Dozen is only a race for about ten people and a day of survival for the rest.  This year was my third running and, in true DD fashion, there were cold temperatures, lots of windy spots, and snow.  Fortunately for me, because of road construction one of the hills was not on the route so we were down to only twelve hills, but that was still going to be about eleven more than I actually wanted to do.  

Like all good DD mornings I was a basket of nerves.  The day itself was going to be no different than the previous two years except I was on a new bike with different gearing, I was well under prepared physically, and the road conditions due to the weather were a general unknown (when a significant portion of steep riding is on slippery or icy roads, things can go seriously wrong).

The long and short of the day was this:  It snowed on and off almost the whole day and the temperatures hovered in the mid thirties (so it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick).  Riding as hard as you can to get up a hill makes you hot and sweaty.  Standing on top of a hill when you're hot and sweaty makes you very cold.  Slippery roads lead to lots of falls and wrecking (fortunately not for me).  

I learned a few things on this ride.  The first thing I learned was that I need to be in better shape if I plan to ride my current bike up these hills again next year.  The second thing I learned was that riding up really steep hills wears down your arms almost as much as your legs.  The third thing I learned was that mustaches are not as warm as beards.  The last thing I learned, and possibly the most important, is that if you're going to fall over in a slippery corner, make sure Jerry isn't there to see it because he'll yell at you loudly to go back to the bottom and ride the hill again.  After all, those are the rules.

T - Minus...

With time running out, I've resigned myself to the fact that I will not be in the shape I was hoping to be in for the impending DD.  Since the shape I am currently resembles a pear, I am going to change my plans and prepare for a more intense degree of pain than I want.  It seems to just make sense.

The way I figure it, I'm not going to be racing nor did I ever have plans to make it a race.  There are plenty of faster people than me to take care of that issue.  As long as I can keep turning the pedals over I'll be fine.  It just might take me longer than I really want.  Fortunately though, hill six is currently under construction so it's not in play.  That means I will only need to climb an even dozen hills.

I think I'm only fooling myself into thinking that twelve hills instead of thirteen will somehow be easier,  but I'll take any little mental breaks I can get.  In reality, I'll probably suffer more because of this little notion but only time will tell.  I just hope the weather is nice so I can enjoy some aspect of the day.

Train Wrecks

So I'm just under two weeks from my third installment of the DD and suffice it to so say, I'm a touch worried.  I'm worried about my bike, I'm worried about the weather, but most importantly, I'm worried about how out of shape I currently am.  This is supposed to be the year I get the dot next to my name in Chew's big book of DD's, but that only happens if I finish.  

See, earlier this year, before I went on my little junket to Florida, I was riding the hell out of my bikes.  I had spent the winter on my trainer trying to get in shape and had been logging solid miles for several months.  Some of my friends even thought I was too skinny; which was a compliment for me.  Then, after a week on the beach drinking margaritas and rolling a cruiser around the islands, I returned to reality and got both fat and lazy.  Yeah that's right, both (but at least my neck is still tight).

Now, I'm doing all I can to eek out some semblance of a training program in the last week and a few days before I embark on suffer-fest 2012.  With any luck I'll make it through this year's event without any significant issues but at this point I'm only 62% optimistic of that occurring.  Fortunately for me, this year there will only be twelve hills on the course as one of them is under construction.  This is beneficial in that I won't have as much pain inflicted upon me, but it might also mean that I don't get my dot.  After all, if it's not the full course, I didn't really do it.  That would be the most painful part of all...

A Practice in Lists

So this post is a day late from my normal schedule because I was traveling this weekend.  I spent a few days down in the 'burgh with Jerry and Bunny just to unplug for a few days and enjoy some time away from the SC.  We rode bikes and talked about future plans for travel and did some sightseeing around the city (even though I've seen most of the sights already).  

One thing we discussed was the upcoming DD.  This came up because I've been a bit less than aggressive in my training for this little event.  In particular, before this weekend I hadn't been on a bike in about three weeks; since my wreck.  Because of this, I jotted down a few things that I need to make sure I take care of between now and then.  In no particular order here is my list:

1)     Ride - (although this seems obvious, I need to write it down just so I don't forget)

2)     Get my bike ready - (why you might ask?  See the reason above)

3)     Shave off about 10 lbs - (some might dispute the need for this but I think it will help)

4)     Trim my beard - (this may help with number 3)

5)     Prepare to suffer - (this isn't so much for the ride as it is for the entire trip)

While this isn't an all inclusive list, it's a start.  I have a few weeks yet to work at this so I'll try to balance this list with the growing list of house projects that has been accumulating.  Sometimes it's not getting the list completed as much as it's getting a few items removed from the list.  Ideally it will be items one and three from above, but I'd be okay with completing any of this little "to-do."

Oh to the Bee

Over the bars, often referred to as OTB, is not just a bar on the South Side.  It also occurs when you are riding a bike (typically a mountain bike) and you decide for one reason or another, to go over your handle bars.  Now, there is typically only one way this happens and when it has happened to me it's never been intentional.  Usually when one goes over their bars they are riding down something steep; drop the front wheel a bit too much or bury it into something; and have their weight too far forward.  This results of this are you rotating around the axis of your front wheel therefore going over your bars and onto the ground. 

The magnitude of going over the bars can vary greatly; mostly based on the amount of speed and the steepness of the angle of approach.  I've experienced several varieties of going OTB from the extreme where I ended up launching about six feet off the front of my bike (on my first ride after I moved to the SC) to the benign where I was able to grab a tree in the middle of the forward momentum thus allowing me to gently fall to the ground.  This weekend I decided to take a trip over the bars with a little more pizazz.  

So Sunday was the annual fall group ride for the local mountain bike club.  We met at R.B. Winter State Park to ride trails that I have never been on.  We were on this super fun downhill stretch that was steep but not bad.  The terrain changed from loose baby heads to giant boulders in a big washed out area.  These trails don't get used much so there isn't a real defined line to ride.  On the burly section of big rocks I was making it up as I went and I chose poorly.

I was doing fairly well with some decent speed when I got bumped off the line I wanted and dropped off a big rock to what I thought was a solid place to put my front wheel when to my dismay, the wheel augured in and stopped.  I, unfortunately did not.  As the ground started coming closer and closer to my face I put out my arms to help ease myself in.  It worked, kind of.  I didn't hit the ground as hard as I could have but I went a few feet out and landed on a bunch of rocks.

I'll admit, it was one of the biggest diggers I've taken in a long time.  My elbow, wrist, and shoulder all hurt pretty bad.  My hip hurts a little but not awful.  The biggest thing is that I cracked my helmet when it bounced off a rock.  Yes, my head was in it so I'm a bit headachy.  I was able to get up and ride away.  The bike was fine and I was fine, for the most part.  I'm a little bummed that I need to get a new helmet, but I guess that's why I wear it in the first place.

The Trance

So this weekend was busy for me but I decided to carve out some time on Sunday for a few solid miles on my bike.  Since it had rained a bunch on Saturday, Brian and I chose to hit the road and avoid the trails as we expected the rocks might be a little slimy.  Also, the road would allow us to just keep on peddling without him waiting on me.  That wasn't so much good for me but better for him.

As a typical ride with Brian goes, it was a significant effort that meant I would have a soul crushing experience.  It would also involve lots of climbing followed by periods of quality suffering. I expect this when I ride with Brian so it was nothing new or out of the ordinary.  What was unique was a part of this little excursion that I was unfamiliar with.  

It's no secret that I don't ride with many people.  Brian is one of the few.  Normally I'll hang with him for a short while and then he ends up blowing my doors off and I suffer mercifully the rest of the day.  This ride was different, but only in the fact that I was able to hang with him longer, although I don't think it was my ability as much as he was going easy on me.  Because of this, I experienced something that was relatively new to me.  Here's a quick aside:

For those of you that are new to the road bicycling scene, the concept basically goes like this: If you're on the front, ride as fast as you are able.  If you are not on the front, put the front wheel of your bike as close to the rear wheel of the person in front of you without overlapping.  This allows you to stay in the draft and use less energy.  This cache of saved energy can then expend when you are on the front.  When there are only two people riding some of the group dynamic is lost.  Things you would normally not do in the pace line are okay because you're either the first guy in line or the last.  

So there I was, letting Brian pull me along and I was focused on his rear wheel, doing all I could to stay as close as I could.  I was tired, hungry, and had very little water left.  My body was just going through the motions and I was doing all I could to try and stay on his wheel.  If I got dropped I'd be on my own, but on his wheel I still had a chance of surviving.  I started to become fixated on that wheel.  I was watching the hub.  Looking at the tread.  Ignoring the important stuff like the surface of the road.  My head was drooping and I wanted to hold that wheel as long as I could.  It was like being in a trance where the only thing I could focus on was the hum of that wheel spinning along.  I was burying my self on the most pedestrian of rises in the road just to stay close.  I found myself with my jaw slack as I spun my legs as fast and aggressively as could manage, regardless of the pain.

Then, as if it was all a dream, that wheel slowly began to pull away and all I could see in my field of view was the pavement where the wheel I so desperately wanted to stay in contact with use to be.  I had finally popped like a naive balloon that wanted to meet a cactus.  Eventually I made it home, with Brian, but only because he waited, on several occasions.  We logged just over 80 miles and just over five hours.  It was windy.  But I was on my bike again so it was all worth it. 

Point Sources

So this weekend I had this great post planned that talked all about Brian and I heading to Raystown to meet up with Jerry, Bunny, and the whole Pittsburgh contingent for some mountain biking and some boating. It was a lot of fun, even though I was unable to keep pace with any of the people I rode with.  Instead, I was presented with a much better post that I will commence now.

After my trip to Raystown on Saturday, I planned to sleep in, drink my coffee, and then do some work around the house on Sunday.  I got a casual start on things that included mowing the grass (for the second time in less than a week), trimming some tree branches, and prepping my porch for an overdue paint job. I also planned to take in one of the last minor league baseball games of the season which meant that I would miss out on a grill session with the neighborhood crew.  As luck would have it, there was a nice solid rainstorm that rolled through the SC allowing me to bag the baseball game and head over to Cathy's for some grilling and football.  Since I was going to be an afterthought for the grilling, I decided I would take a bottle of wine (to go with my PBR and High Life).

As I went into the wine cellar (read: basement) to pick out a nice bottle, I noticed some water at the bottom of the steps.  When I looked in the other rooms around the basement I noticed more water on the floor.  This got me thinking that a pipe had broken and was leaking.  This was unfortunately not the case.  With a little more investigation, I discovered that water was leaking in through one of my basement windows.  Even more important, upon further inspection, I noticed a crack in my foundation below the window that was also allowing water to intrude in my basement.  

While I prepped the vacuum and began to extract the liquid that had accumulated in every room of my cellar, I thought about what might have cause the crack in my foundation.  It came down to two possible options.  One was the earthquake that recently occurred here in the northeast but that seemed unlikely  What I determined to be the more plausible option was the repetitive drilling of massive holes through my house to make way for the new heating and cooling system that has been installed.  Either way, I started to reevaluate my "to-do" list for the house and the foundation repair has managed to make it to the top of the list.  

Fortunately, the crack in the foundation was only part of what occupied my thoughts while cleaning up the basement.  The other thing that consumed me was why, after several years and plenty of significantly more torrential storms, had water filled this window well and overflowed into my basement.  Regardless, I wasn't going solve this issue overnight, and with the water vacuumed up, I decided to grab that bottle of wine and make my way around the corner to grill.  

As I walked around the side of my house I noticed a few things.  One thing I noticed was all the sticks and other debris from the rainstorm that littered my freshly mowed yard.  The other thing I noticed was the downspout that I had moved in order to mow.  The downspout that I moved right next to my basement window and forgot to move back after mowing my yard.  There's nothing like the feeling you get when you realize that the hour and a half you just wasted cleaning up water in your basement was because you decided to directly pipe all the storm water from your roof right into your basement.

Four Horses

So this weekend I played host to Jerry from Pittsburgh and our friend Nate who now lives in Montana. Nate was previously a resident of the SC so he is well versed in the single-track that is Rothrock State Forest, but hasn't been back in a few years to enjoy it.  The main item on our agenda for the weekend was to ride, eat steak, and avoid dude parties.  I was looking forward to getting back on the bike since I'd taken a few weeks off but I was not looking forward to riding with these two individuals because of their bicycling prowess.  To make things more interesting Brian was joining us and to add extra doses of fun Jerry and Nate decided to invite Ryan, one of their former teammates, to join us on our rock garden tour.

Let me break this down for you: Jerry is a cat one road racer and is crazy fast.  I'm not sure if it's from his disproportionally large ass (compared to the toothpicks he calls legs) or his love of queso dip but either way, he's scary strong.  Nate is a cat one road racer (retired) and can ride the wheels off any bike that is provided to him regardless of age, fit, or components.  Ryan is a former masters cyclocross national champion therefore further details or elaboration isn't necessary.  Finally, Brian is just a freak and somehow has the ability to change his riding ability to keep up with whomever he is with and punish them mercifully.  

Then there is me.  As I mentioned earlier, I've spent the last three weeks not riding.  Of course even if I had I would still only be about one fourth as talented as any one of these gentlemen on their worst day.  I felt like I was riding with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, except instead of horses we were on bikes.

Needless to say it was a lot of them waiting around for me and then me falling apart and having to bail. I would have provided pictures of this menacing group of soul crushing individuals, however I was never close enough (or had enough energy) to snap a picture.  Besides, knowing my luck any photo wouldn't turn out since these four guys are borderline inhuman and everyone knows they can't be captured on film.  Overall, however, the ride was super fun but also super humbling.  Someday I hope to actually stay in touch with any of these four on a bike, but I doubt that will ever happen.  Quite frankly I wouldn't want it any other way.

One Step Closer

So as most things go with my home improvements, this last round has been taking significantly longer than I've wanted or even hoped.  Fortunately though, this past weekend I finally got a nice reward for all the hard work I've been putting in lately.  My central air was plumbed, filled, and turned on.  And this was not a moment too soon as the entire weekend was blistering hot. 

Now that I was finally comfortable being in my own home, I was able to think about other things like all the cleaning I still had to do and a few races I have coming up.  I plan to compete in the Pennsylvania State Road Racing Championships in a few days and hit up a local mountain bike race over the next weekend.  I know what you're probably thinking.  "What has this clown done to earn a bid into the PA state road championships?"  "Is he that fast and talented on his bike?"  

The answer to those questions would be: any hack with a bike, and enough money to cover the entry fee can compete in the championships.  The only requirement for winning this prestigious distinction is to be the highest placed Pennsylvanian in your particular category.  You can technically finish DFL but if you are the only person from PA in that race then WOOPIE(!) you've just won a state road race championship.  The answer to the second question from above (remember, there were two) is no.  I am definitely not, but I met the requirements to question one so it looks like I'm in.

I'm fairly certain I'm not at all prepared for this road race but I'll give it a go and see what I can do.  Who knows, maybe things will work to my advantage and I'll be able to pull some magic out of my hat (or helmet in this case).  The mountain bike race will be a little more relaxed for me.  I don't know how much actual "racing" I'll do but I'll give it solid effort.  Fortunately it's in my backyard and I know the trails well enough to know how hard to go out.  Either way though, I'll have the satisfaction in knowing that at the end of the day, I'll be sleeping in pure air conditioned bliss.

It's not the Speed

So a little while back I mentioned the fact that I was making an attempt at being a bike racer again.  Well, that hasn't gone nearly as well as I would have hoped and, since I haven't raced since the end of April, I'm beginning to think that this "race season" may be a wash.  It basically comes down to the basic realization that I'm not fast.  And if you've ever tried to race anything; a bike, a car, a potato sack; being fast is kind of important.  

Since I'm not fast and probably won't get fast enough over the next few weeks to start racing for real anytime soon, I've decided that I should just ride as many miles as I can.  This happened again this past weekend when Brian, Scott, and I decided to do the Renovo loop.  This little spin would take us on a really scenic, yet deceptively hilly 103 mile trek.  I've done this ride several times, and yet I somehow forget how much I don't like certain parts of it.

The bottom line is this - it was a lot of climbing; a lot of wind for the last 25 miles; a potential wrong turn that worked out okay in the end; and Scott gutting out the whole thing with a significant chest cold.  I keep telling myself that rides like these are beneficial to my racing aspirations as I'm building base, but in the end, I'm just happy that I got my June hundy out of the way early so I can take it easy until July.  

Crushing Souls

For the avid readers of this blog, you may have heard me talk about my friend Brian.  While Brian and I don't hang out that much anymore now that he is new father, we still manage to get out for a ride every now and again.  This weekend was one of those times.  Since it was going to be extra warm and humid with chances for rain, we figured it would be a good time for a big ride. 

As per usual, Brian identified a nice long ride that had a few brutal climbs and plenty of rollers.  Also, to keep things interesting, our route would include very few places to stop for food or water so we had to take extra sustenance with us.  This is the typical kind of ride plan that we end up with so I shouldn't be surprised by it, but for some reason I still am.

So the long and short of our day was this: we left just before noon so we could enjoy the heat of the day.  We climbed over several mountains and rolled through several valleys.  We somehow managed to dance around what must have been a severe thunderstorm and only had periods of drizzle with wet roads.  We logged 112 miles, 6000 feet of climbing, several cases of water over the road, and spent about seven and a half hours in the saddle.  

It was a long and grueling day to say the least.  I spent an hour and a half cleaning all the grit off of my bike but after it was all said and done, I have to admit that it was worth it.  Of course, I haven't been able to feel my legs for two days so maybe that has something to do with it too.

Happy Memorial Day!

The Chase

Racing bikes is not easy; by any stretch.  

When you get shelled out the back of an 80 person field after the third corner; nothing good happens.  Quite frankly it demoralizing.  It's like expending every bit of energy you have just to hang on, only to get flagged out because you're either "Going to get lapped" or "Not in contention" for the win.  Either way you cut it; it sucks.  

Fortunately Jerry and Caroline are gracious hosts and let Colin and myself stay at their home.  Of course after getting destroyed during the sanctioned event you have to make sure not to take things easy because you just get clipped on the ride home.  Even when you don't know where you are or how to get where you want to be.  It's easy to get lost in the Burgh' and sometimes you get your finger crushed trying to find your way out.  

You just have to be careful I guess.

Dreams

Once upon a time, I had these grand allusions that I was going to be a bike racer.  Like most fairy tales, this particular bit of fiction makes much more sense in my mind than in reality.  Sure I've done a handful of races back in the day but it's been a few years since I've gotten my race license and spent the time or effort to train for competition.  Well, for the past month, Jerry has been guilting me into entering a race this coming weekend and for some unknown reason I think I'm going to do it.

In the past when I've raced, my season typically wouldn't start until sometime in mid May when I've had time to log a bunch of miles in the saddle.  While I've been riding a lot lately I haven't been doing the types of rides that will get me conditioned to do a good ole fashioned four corner crit.  Needless to say I'm nervous and unsure about what will happen.

The main race is on Sunday but to make things more interesting there is a track race at the "Bud" that I think I'm going to have to do as well.  I've never raced on a track before, but then again I've never raced back-to-back days before either.  If nothing else, this will be a humbling experience and a welcome foray back into the world of bike racing; if only for a dose of reality to make me feel slow.

Back to Basics

Now that I have a bit more free time in my day-to-day since I'm no longer trying to date a (maybe) anti-Semite, I decided it would be a good idea to get back to my roots and back onto my bike.  Fortunately the weather was cooperating and Sunday turned out to be a great day for a ride.  Well, only half of it was great for riding.

Brian and I decided to head out and spend about four hours on the bike.  This would give us a solid day and still allow me some time to take care of a few things around the house.  Things were going great on the way out as we had a wicked tailwind to push us along.  We were making great time rolling along much faster than we should have been.  Things got a little dicey when we started our return trip.

See, the tailwind turned into a solid headwind and we were getting buffeted by crazy amounts of wind.  It was brutal to say the least.  Fortunately Brian is taller than I am so I spent a lot of the ride back tucked into his draft allowing him to do all the work.  Sure it's a bit selfish but it was still plenty of work for me to try and keep up with him.  

When we finally ended our ride we had logged about six hours on the bikes and managed to get in just over 100 miles.  Right now, however, my legs feel like wet noodles and are on the verge of cramping every time I move.  Hopefully this will prove to have some benefit when I attempt a race a the end of the month.  Of course that assumes I'll recover from today's outing.

More of the Same

As I reported last week I'm full-on in the throws a significant electrical project in my house.  This weekend brought on more wiring, more drilling, more crawling through insulation, more second guessing myself, more investigation of existing conditions, and best of all spending more money.  Thankfully, I have the day off tomorrow so I'll continue with this wiring habit I've developed and maybe even tear out a wall or two.  On the upside, I did get in my first road ride of the year and had all the free salad I could eat so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Statements of the Day

Today was cold.

It barely got out of the 20’s.

Fortunately the sun was out so that helped.

I rode Scotia with Jeremy, the Nixtreeme, and Seb-dog.

My toes were cold until the end of the ride.

I cleared a big log; with an audience, and it felt amazing.

Winter without snow might not be that bad after all.

Tomorrow I get to sleep in…

Fair Weather Fun

As many of you know from reading this little distraction, I like to ride bikes. This started during an extended stint in Georgia when there really wasn’t anything else to do. Also, people already looked at me funny since I was from the north so I figured wearing spandex several days a week while hauling down back roads with several other like minded people would really blow their minds. We pretty much only did road rides; flat road rides. The temperatures were never much below fifty and that was in the middle of our winter. We could ride all year long without much to worry about.

After I moved to the SC I continued to ride my road bike but got back into mountain biking. Even though I continued to ride for as much of the year as I could, the riding season was always much shorter for me because the temperatures got much colder and I had no interest in freezing my bits off just to turn over the pedals. Sure, plenty of other people I knew were riding in temperatures that seemed crazy but that’s what they did. I don’t want to say I was soft, but I definitely grew accustomed to the warmer climes.

Over the years, however, I’ve continued to ride later and later into the season. I typically prefer to stay off the road (except the DD) because it’s usually too frigid and wind-blown for my tastes. Instead I choose to get out in the woods, on a bit of single track, where you tend to stay a lot warmer because you’re working more and moving around on the bike a lot more. It gets to the point where you are almost overdressed in little more than a jersey and wind jacket.

What’s the point of telling you all this, you might ask? Well, this weekend I was out riding my mountain bike on both Saturday and Sunday. Jeremy wanted to get the Seb-dog out for some exercise and I decided to tag along. Saturday we rode some of the new trails on the south end of Raystown which were super fun and flowy. Then Sunday we rode some of the Cooper’s Gap stuff in Rothrock. Both days I wore the same thing (literally) and was plenty warm. I’m not sure if this means I’m getting acclimatized to the cold weather or just getting bored with staying inside on the weekends. Either way, I’m feeling less like a fair weather rider.

DD Part Two

So as many of you know this past Thursday was Thanksgiving for we folks in the U.S. and, like any good person, I decided to travel. For the second year in a row I headed to Pittsburgh to spend the big day and subsequent weekend with the freshly minted Mr. and Mrs. Babik. The highlight of the trip, however, was going to be my second dance with the Dirty Dozen; riding bikes up thirteen of the steepest hills in the city. I wasn’t sure how the ride would go since I haven’t been training but the weather was going to be ideal and I figured I could struggle through it. After all, I would be starting with a belly full of Turkey.

A lot happened over the weekend so instead of going into specific detail I figure it will be easier to just make a list so here goes:

• Jared and Caroline host an amazing Thanksgiving feast
• Jared has more beer left over from his wedding than any one person should
• Pittsburgh has some fun mountain bike trails right in the city
• Steve K. is awful at NHL 95 but for some reason is really good at the Sweet Valley High board game
• There's free parking closer to the Pen’s games than most people realize, but watch out for the nacho cheese
• Caroline makes an amazing breakfast and is great at motivating cyclists so they don’t quit
• Steevo can ride the wheels off a bike; any bike
• Jared can get true hill points when he tries
• Riding roads and trails for four days straight takes a lot out of you
• Driving the turnpike the Sunday after Thanksgiving is a bad idea

As you can see it was a full couple of days and that is just a partial list. I survived another Dirty Dozen and completed all the hills. I felt better than I thought and rode stronger than I expected. Steevo won his 8th straight DD and a record crowd of over 300 cyclists showed up to start the 29th installment of this little tour of Pittsburgh (but the amount of finishers is unknown). Of course the show on WQED and the 60 degree weather probably helped but who’s counting? I’ve already decided that I’ll be back to do it again next year because the whole trip was a lot more fun than I expected but more importantly, I’ll get a dot next to my name for (hopefully) finishing my third DD.

Bike-ation

As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend was spent road tripping and riding bikes. Wormy Worm, J-WAG, my self, and the Seb Rocket caravanned down to the Shenandoah Valley Bike Coalition’s annual mountain bike festival. I’ve been down to the area to help out with bike races but had never ridden there. This was going to be a much deserved and full-scale suffer-fest of epic proportions. I just wasn’t aware of how much suffering would occur.

We all took off work on Friday for the trip and, after a brief stop in Harrisonburg for some supplies and to visit some bike shops; we rolled into the Stokesville campground at about three o’clock in the afternoon. This left just enough time to get geared up and head off to the downhill race. It was a short bike ride and a mild (by Shenandoah standards) singletrack climb to the start of the race and then about five minutes to bomb down some fast and swoopy singletrack. I wasn’t trying to compete in this race but I did want to recon the trails. This would be my first taste of what to expect. It was challenging, but I attributed my lack of skills to the fact that I’ve been off the bike for a while and needed to get my bearings back.

Saturday started early as we had a big day planned. Since Dr. Worm lived in the area for a while he knew the trails and would act as our guide. The three of us started out with a larger group and I quickly realized how my day was going to end up. My account of the ride goes something like this:

Step One - ride (or attempt to ride) straight up a mountain for about two and a half hours while getting punched in the face by steep section after steep section.

Step Two - spend about ten minutes riding an amazingly flowy and smooth ribbon of singletrack down the backside of the mountain you just rode up.

Step Three – slum back to the campground and cool off in the river before relaxing and enjoying the sunshine and amazing fall weather.

Sunday began with some sore legs and slow movements but we broke camp early and began heading back north. We stopped off to ride some trails near the local ski resort that Jerome had worked on. This ride was similar to the previous day except it wasn’t as big and I was almost completely crushed by the time it ended. Fortunately this was only about two hours which was about all I could handle.

All in all, it was a great weekend with great people and amazing trails that humbled me as a mountain bike rider. It will definitely be something I put on my calendar for future years as it’s a really chill event. The only downside was taking a digger in the mud to end my Sunday ride and provide a little extra clean-up of myself, my gear, and my bike.