Water logged.

Damn rain!

It seems mother nature has it in for me. She knows when I can't ride and gives us beautiful weather, and makes sure to bring back the rain just when I'm free! If I had a road bike, I think I'd just ride in the rain anyway, but alas....

I'm fanitsizing about a Surly Cross Check. Sure they're heavy as tanks, but it'll take some abuse, and they're cheap. Of course, I'm broke as a joke right now, so a fantasy it will have to remain.

The upside to the Cross Check would be if I finally started commuting to work like I keep talking about. I've convinced myself it'd only work on a bike that I can go fast on. I won't keep it up if it take a full hour to get to work each morning. If I can get to work and be changed and ready in an hour, though, that might do the trick.

To make commuting work, though, I'll have to start getting up earlier. I've tried this week. I had one success, and one miserable failure. Oh well, press on..

Going to ride a Triple Poto this weekend. Only one week left to get ready for Big M.. I'd like to make a halfway decent showing there. I know it's going to be brutal if I don't have some good rides under my belt this week. It's been a full week off the bike. Ugh.... I'll feel that next weekend... ;)

soup

You wanna go faster kid???

Lose the break!

Or short of that, bend the handle on a tree to make it harder to grab.. =P

Hit up PLRA tonight. I needed to go out and ride hard. Ride off the stress and problems. Get out a little aggression!

I also used my iPod on the trail for the first time. It was nice. Helped through the tough sections where I sometimes recover a little too long, but it was a little bit of a hassel. I was constantly looking over my shoulder for overtaking riders.. (of course there were none... ;) )

I managed to put down two consecutive, no rest, fast laps, in preparation for the PLRA XC race. I seem to have plateaued again. It was was a combination of fitness gains and technical improvement that got me over the last major hump. I'm not sure what will do it this time. I feel that I'm right at the edge of what I'm capable of in both regards, but then again, I guess you alwasy feel that way just before you go to the next level.

Tonight was a fantastic night to ride. About 78 degress, light breeze, the trail was dry, but had good traction. Almost perfection.

I was letting it go on the downhills and corners.. Practiced braking going into the corners, letting off, railing around and then jumping back on the pedals. What a RUSH! I was picking some pretty good lines, and think I've finally got a coupld down through the bigger rock gardens. That will come in handy for the race in august!!

On my second lap I must have taken a brain vacation, cuz I had my left pedel at 9 o'clock, and WHAM!!! ran my foot into a hugh rock.. I hit with enough force to not only unclip my foot, but my foot almost swung all the way around my bike to the other side like I was dismounting! That alone would have been bad enough, but then, with my leg still in the air, I hit a 3-4 inch diameter tree with my left hand/handlebar.. Luckily the tree gave a little, and I was able to recover without too much trouble.. I'm not quite sure how. Anyway, as I got back underway and came to the rock drop offs, I notcied I had trouble reaching my left brake lever. A quick inspection showed that the lever had been bent by the encounter with the tree.. It was still reachable, so I figured there was no point in stopping to fool with it. But I did find it easer to lay off the brake that lap, as the lever was not where I expected it to be!

Hope you got a chance to enjoy the weather tonight too!! Happy riding!

Soup.

I needed that!

What a weekend.

It had it all.. sun, sand, lake, nekkidness, laughs, friends, falls.... Like I said, everything!

First, the riding.

Saturday we rode the segment from Marilla to Dilling rd. It was suggested that we go from Dilling rd. to Marilla, as the climbing was loaded toward the Marilla trailhead side, making for an arduous return trip. Unfortunately, Tom wasn't familier with how to get to the Dilling Trailhead, so we nixed the idea.. (bad, bad idea...)

This trail is a BLAST! It's a constantly rolling trail, up and down, and the downs are a scream.. While not terribly technical, they are fast and they hug the side of a steep embankment of the Manistee river. You've got to break check around some fast turns where overshooting means a long trip down to the river (if you don't make friends with a tree first), and the off angle waterbars seem to keep wanting to push you off the trail! This was a bad time to forget and leave the front fork locked out!! On the way out I felt great! I didn't see what all the fuss was about.. there seemed to be equal amounts of up and down, and so the ride back should be no more challanging that the ride out, right?!?!

Along the way our group got strung out, many choosing to return to the trialhead after getting about 1/2 way out. I pressed on alone most of the ride until I was caught by Dustin as i chatted with a gentleman out to do some trial maintanence. We rode on toward Dilling, until we met Chris and Al who had just turned around at the Dilling trailhead. Dustin and I decided to turn as well, and head back in as a group.

Yeah, that lasted long.

Al in 38x16 and I in 36x17 were the only two SSer's. And we soon learned what all the fuss was about. While the up and down was nearly equal in proportion, they were no where near equal in pitch!! Going out the downs where much steeper than the ups. Hence, going back... well, you get the idea.. Al and I were soon dropped by Dustin and Junior as the long climbs sapped our legs for the downhills. Al and I pressed on. Let's just say that some pledges were made, bonds forged, and we made it out alive... (Al, I'm still trying to figure out which part I would have started with..)

We were greeted with cheers and, most importantly, cold beer at the trailhead. A great ride with great friends!



More to come later!

Me time.....

Wow.. it's been a little bit since I last posted.. I'm indanger of losing the interest of my two readers.. (if Nero counts.. ;) )

Anyway....

1.5 hours and I'm outta here.

This weekend is for me! No racing, no weddings. Just good friends, good beer, good times, good vibrations, good'n'plenty's... well, you get the idea..

The summer 2006 Luv NakedTri weekend is on. Well, it remains to be seen if there's be any gratuitous nudity this weekend, but with a keg of Mill's IPA and som Jager, my money's on skin!!

Unfortunately, there's been no real riding of late to report on. I've been working late, and the weather's been a little crappy.. I REALLY want to get a road bike so I can do more rides out of my house. And the Tour always gets me wanting to get get out and mash on a little bike!!

So, wish me luck. I'm going in. If i'm not back by Tuesday, send in the rescue squad...

Fast times..

It had been a while since I'd gotten out to Pontiac Lake to turn a fast lap.

I've always used Pontiac lake as a benchmark for speed. It tests all skills.. climbing, cornering, downhills, technical sections.... So I try to get out there every so often with the goal of putting down my fastest lap to see where I stand.

I was pretty pleased last night.. Though I think I could be more pleased.

Bike handling was pretty good, cornering not bad, though I was a bit timid into some of the sand-over-hardpack corners, though my fasttracks did seem to hold. I think where I was most pleased was gererally how I felt, and how I was able to keep up a sustained effort.

But then the question is, where was this at stoney? Granted that's a much longer race, but I never felt that good. I think it comes back to diet, on race day and in the days leading up to it. Prior to Stoney I think I got quite dehydrated, and then a hot race day, combined with a somewhat heavy breakfast, and little water in the system to aid in digestion... bad mojo mahn..

Ahh well.. live and learn... what do I think I am, anyway? a racerboy? :D

soup

Back in the saddle

Whew. What a holiday weekend.

I've not been getting out on the bike as I would like lately. I changed that this weekend.

Saturday was the Stoney Creek Marathon. As I said before I was really looking forward to this race. The course seemed like a lot of fun, and I was anxious to get my first XC race in on the year!

Well, the course was brutal, as was the heat. I still had a lot of fun, but, whew.. I got my butt kicked. For the record, saving 2 lbs by taking the suspension fork off..... NOT a good idea.. .=] My upper body was so beat up after the first couple laps. The susp. fork would have made those last coupld laps sooooo much more pleasant.

I executed my race plan to a T... for the first lap, anyway. I went out hard, and soon found myself in line with Andy B, Jay Jones, and a couple other expert SSer's. We kept a good pace through the pines, after which I decided to let them go, knowing that I couldn't maintain that pace for another 5, let alone 35 miles.

I never did see another single speeder. I passed a few expert riders, got passed by a few sport riders, but held my place throughout the rest of the race to hold on to 2nd in sport SS. A finish I'm pretty happy with, but I would like to have been a little more competative.

On Sunday I attended the Moss' excellent 4th of July bash. Much fun was had by all. I'm pretty sure I broke my big toe playing volley ball. Whatever, as long as it still fits in my bike shoe I'm good.. ;)

Tuesday brought the 3rd annual Brighton Brushbuster, led by CycloDan. What a ride this is every year. The pace is billed as being "spirited at times", and boy is it. Gearing for this ride was tough, knowing that the Torn Shirt loop waited at the end of theday. Too high a gear and I would be hating life when we got back to Brighton rec area, but too low I I'd be hating life the rest of the day on the roads. I stuck with my 36x17. I spun out a lot on the roads, but when I could I'd tuck into the paceline and let the draft pull me along. I think next year I will go with a higher gear, though, and just suck it up and walk a few climbs on Torn Shirt.

21 riders started the BB, and 9 finished. Many ran out of time, and some ran out of gas. Those who stayed got over the 100km goal for the day. We were rewarded with a refreshing dip in the lake. As far as I know, family holiday obligations superceded any post ride margaritas this time =[ I'm already looking forward to the 4th Annual Brushbuster. Start planning, Dan!