Trail 10 and 11...

The weather over the holiday was FREAKIN EPIC!!! 65 degrees at the end of November...SWEEEEEET!!! Anyway, Saturday was supposed to be an epic MTB ride at Smithville...that didn't happen, mostly due to being a lot tired!!! We ended up doing an epic at Landahl park. Which back in the day was the home of some of the GNARLIEST, MOST ROCK AND ROOT INFESTED single track around!!! Oh yeah...and for good measure, it was either up, down, off camber, or all of the above!!!

On to the ride...I was told earlier this year that the epic trails known as 10 and 11 were open again...with that in the back of my mind, we take off. We drop into the single track and wind our way to the bottom, we make our way across the scout camp and decide to ride the boulevard around to what we thought we be a trail to take us to the creek which accesses the trails...No joy there...someone or some company has purchased some of the land on which we USED to ride...FUCKERS!!!

We sit there for a minute, ponder what to do, and end up going back the way we came...After a scenic route to where we wanted to be, we come to a fork in the trail, decide to drop in and head down. This section of trail is new, it was rocks, roots and off camber...IT WAS SWEET!!!

Fast forward a mile...we get to the creek, and as far as I can tell the place we used to cross says CLOSED!!! We ride on about 100 yards and spy what looks to be another point to cross, that looks "used". So we drop in and cross to see if the infamous trails 10 and 11 are open. We start climbing and finally arrive at an intersection that has new trail markers pointing to trail 10 forward, and trail 11 to the right...hmmm...this is a good sign!! Oh yeah...they are designated black diamonds...the good stuff!!!

Off we go on trail 10. We ride along and I start to remember what it was like. Slowly it starts to get more and more technical, to the point where I have to put the Truth in granny and leave it for extended periods!! We keep on keepin on and I'm having a blast!!

The trails that I have been riding over the years since they closed 10 and 11, are fun, but are nowhere near as technical and challenging as these 2 trails. There's no trail that I have ridden lately that forces you to be in granny for that long...It was GREAT!!!

In the end, this portion of Landahl is a loop. Not a bad thing, it means who ever yanked up the land got some of that primo gnarly stuff that I used to call home!!

I think I managed to clean about 60% of the technical stuff on these trails, would have been more, but the fallen leaves offer no love when it come to needing traction!!! I did make it up some stuff I thought I wouldn't...that called for nice and loud WOOOHOOO!!!

We make it around the loop, head back down to the creek, and proceed to cross again. This is where I did something I haven't done in years!! I fumbled my attempt at crossing this creek and had to put my foot in the water...I just laughed!!!

We grind our way back to the trail head, take a short break, and go back for a 2 mile high speed pass. This particular trail was clean of any leaves and the dirt was hero dirt...which means fast and all of the traction you could ever want...hero dirt!!! I pretty much killed it for 2 miles and managed to go 22 mph somewhere along the way. It was sweeeet and I was flying!!!

It was a good day to ride, and it got even better finding out that the epic gnarly trails 10 and 11 are open again!!

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE!!!

Caffeine induced boredom post...

So it's been a while since I've posted so here's a new one!!! We are now into the off season, which is also cross season. That being said I have been riding more this year than previous years. The main reason is to maintain some fitness and to race in some cross events!!

As I have said before...I go into these races with no expectations, just to have fun and do my best!! Which theses days the fitness and fun factor is a quite a bit below the first cross race I did waaaaaay back in September...stupid MTB race!!!!!

Oh well I'm over it and slowly clawing back some fitness, I know I won't reach the level I was at in September and I'm good with that!! I just want to ease the suffering when I'm out on the cross course!!! So at this point that means one of two things...riding the trainer, or going out with the head light and riding at night...

I did my first night road ride last week and it was interesting!! You loose a lot of sensation of speed, because of the darkness and lack of info from your computer. I ended up riding a bit harder due to this but that's okay!! The way I see it...I needed to do a stronger effort in order to ease the CX suffering!!!

Hmmm...It's raining today and that means no riding outside...BOOOOOOooooo!!! On that note, the Weather Channel has rain in the forecast until Thursday...Mutha Nature is a HO!!!! That means no more riding in the woods either...Oh well...we got a good ride in the jungle...Hmmmm...I guess it's not jungle at this point...so woods on Saturday, and last week at Smithville...We rumbled for 23 miles there, it was SWEET!!!

I think I'm rambling now!! So I'm done, time to ride the freakin trainer...YEA YEA THAT'S GREAT!!!

Racing starts in about 3 and a half months...

The Dot CX

Hmmmm...not much to say about this race. This was my first attempt at racing again following the Dirt Gods vengeful wrath for doing a CX race on my MTB!! It was also the debut of the helmet cam...Unfortunately my aim pretty much sucks so all I got was a close up of the course 10 feet in front of me, and some pretty good quotes from the audio!!!

A few of my favorites..."Giggety", that was going into the first turn after the start. "POWERTAP...I can't compete with that"!!! A racer passed me that had a Powertap hub. "I'd go faster if I was a pro like you"!!! This was to a junior teammate that is a cat 2 rider, he started at the back of all the cat 4 racers which was about 100ish, I was about 10th at the time and started with the first wave of 4's.

Anyhoo...I started riding again on the Tuesday before this race. My ribs were finally good to go and started pedalling again!! I knew going in that my motor would be lacking a bit of top end, and I was right!!

On to the race...We arrive with plenty of time to get ready, so we watch some racing, sign up, eat some of the tasty confections that were available, and just generally kill time. The time comes to get ready, it's still pretty freakin cold!!! I grab the winter riding jacket and heavy gloves and off we go. Good warm up done, time to decide the dress for the race. I shed everything but a base layer and go with regular MTB gloves, which was the way to go!!!

Aaaaand...we're off!!! I stab the pedal on the first try, and the drag race to the first turn begins. I checked my max speed, it was at the start and was 28.5 mph...love that 46 tooth big ring!!! I lean into the first turn in about 4th or 5th out of 53 and proceed to catch air off of the roller that drops down to the course....WOOOHOOOO!!!!

Rolling along, I'm suffering pretty good, trying to maintain my position in the race. It's kinda working...a rider every now and again rolls by and I just try to maintain my effort and stay steady. Somewhere on lap 3 of 4 I finally breakthrough the pain, settle into feeling good and pick up the pace a bit. I start reeling in a trio of riders that are in front of me, and manage to pass all three on a short off camber uphill left...

One of the three passes me back, and rides me off his wheel. I slowly start reeling him in and get to his wheel at the second dismount. Up the hill and back on the bike, I say to him "kick it in big dog"...the guy was taller than me. He puts the hammer down and I manage to stay with him through the last headwind section and proceed to run out of gas just as we hit the pavement to the finish. Fortunately my last effort was enough to create a big gap and had time to do a wheelie across the line in 12th!!!

Good thing it's been raining, because I would really like to be blasting through the woods on some sweet single track ANYWHERE...and since I've done another CX race on the Truth, the the Dirt Gods might feel it necessary to take revenge again for the desecration of an Ellsworth Truth, whose origins are sown deeply in the roots, rocks, and sweet technical single track of the WOODS!!! Not a CX course...to this I say...It's fun and I await the vengeful hand of the Dirt Gods for lining up on the Truth in yet another CX race.

O gods of dirt and singletrack
Bow down and hear this cry
This Truth rider has faltered
Cross is fun, this is why...
The course of tape guides me
The barriers of wood divide
Take not my mad skeelz from me
NO!!! Not another black eye!!!


I love riding my bike!!!!

The next step...

It finally happened...I am now a 3...The last time I tried to upgrade was 2003. I did a ton of racing that year, but ultimately not enough...not enough of the right kind of racing I should say!!

As I look back on 2003, I did at least 15 MTB races, about 15 crits, and a couple of TT's just for kicks!!! A lot of racing for anyone!!! It turns out that TT's and slogging it out in the woods don't count towards an upgrade...who knew...I didn't at the time!!!

Today...after being called sandbagger for a half and hour by a teammate, I decided to give it another go...You need 20 points or 25 races as a 4 to move up to a 3. I had 17 points from 4 races, I bet my teammate a dollar that I would be denied...I lost a dollar...

So from this day forward I will race as a 3 or not race!! This means my next CX race will be as a 3...hmmm...stupid peer pressure!!!!

Racing as a 3...Lead, follow, or get the fuck outta the way!!!!!

Pay to play...

I lined up on Saturday and Sunday last weekend and managed to hit the ground twice...One because I'm a knucklehead and I like to show off a bit (this one was the least painful of the two!!!), and the other was on Sunday in an expert MTB race. I was lucky enough...or unlucky I should say, to wad it up on the most technical section of the track. This happened so fast I didn't even have time to put my hand out to try and catch myself!!

What I did was an endo at speed and stop myself with my cheekbone...I was 3rd and having a great race up until this point...I got up, out of the way and watched all of the work that I had just put in go by. I tried to get going again, but sometimes when you bail really hard, the flow you once had is gone and never to return until the next race...which is what happened to me!!! I realized this and rode the next 2 miles out of the woods like I was out on a fun ride...NICE AND SLOW!!!

Fast forward a week...I was planning on doing another cross on the 27th, but hammering myself into the rocks on last Sunday put an end to that, due to a vertebrae in my back between my shoulders that's out of place, making it painful to breath really deep!!! I see a chiropractor in my future because this SUCKS!!!

The title of this post is "Pay to Play"...This means if you play hard enough long enough, you will be asked to pay...Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot...

With any sport, this is the case...I have been pretty fortunate and not had to pay very much in the 14 years I have been riding and racing!! But when I have to it just SUCKS!!! I also know that it's part of racing, and move on eventually!!

Pay to play...if you didn't know about this...you do now!!! Welcome to racing!!!

Cross rewind!!!

So the first cross race of the season has come and gone, my 2nd CX race ever by the way!! I'll just say that it ended up waaaaaaay better than I had expected!!

So I get to the venue with a little over an hour to spare, plenty of time to get signed up and ready to race...I grab my license and my race pen, look at my bike and think for a second I should ride to the registration...NAH!!! Can't be that far, so off I go striding along. I wear my running shoes on the way to races for the very reason I'm about to tell...

I'm walking along for about 4 or 5 minutes and start thinking where is registration??? I ask a volunteer and he says keep going the same direction...off I go. A few more minutes of walking and I'm like WTF!!! Here's where the running shoes come into play!!! I start running, and after about 4 minutes of running, not jogging, I finally arrive at registration...at least a mile from where I parked!!! Damn!!! I knew I shoulda rode my bike!!! It's too far to just walk back, so being the whacked ball of race nerves that I am...I run...not jog RUN!! I haven't run that far since high school!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again...Why walk when you can ride!!! I hate running!!!

On to the race!!! I finally get on my bike and start warming up, there is a race in progress so I just ride around on the road doing wheelies...I love doing wheelies, don't get to do them on the road bike. Anyhoo, the race is over and the course is open for inspection...So I jump on it and speed up a little testing the traction in the turns, and just looking at the course all the while still doing wheelies!!

As I'm riding around the course, I come to the first set of barriers. You make a left turn onto this straight that is slightly canted downhill and about 75 yards from the turn are the barriers where low and behold...there's a photographer...So I yank the front wheel up and ride it until I had to set it down to dismount and run the barriers!!! The photog says I wasn't ready...do that in the race...I said HELL YEAH I'LL DO IT IN THE RACE!!!

So the inspection is over and they call us to the line...I farted around to long getting to the line so I was in the middle of the pack...SUCK!!!

They started us a little ways down this hill to try and string it out before the first turn. GO!!! We're off, I stab the pedal on the first try!! Grab a gear and start moving forward, grab another gear and start passing more and more...I'm thinking why the hell are you sissies going so slow!!! We hit the grass and I'm about 7th into the first turn.

At this point I'm on a mission and the MAD NINJA MTB SKEELZ kick in!! I made some of the sweetest and cleanest passes in the tightest spots EVER!! That just fueled the fire!!! We roll into a left hand hairpin and the guy in front of me is going slower than I want to be, so I start a pass around the outside and as I pull along side of this guy he starts to drift to my line, and I say to him "YOU BETTER TURN THAT BITCH"!!! As I say this I stick my left elbow out to ride wide and protect my line, and as soon as my elbow touches him he goes down!! I grab a gear and hammer away!!! It was a clean tactic!!!

Fast forward...still on lap 1. I think I'm sitting about 5th with a gap of about 5 seconds to 3rd and 4th as we roll onto the long pavement section. I jam the Truth into the big ring and start hammering, I close the gap quickly. I sit there for a few seconds and punch it again and go blasting by to the next grass section on the wheel of 2nd. He fumbles in a turn, I rail underneath him and set the sites on 1st, who wasn't but a few seconds ahead.

I get to his wheel and pressure him into a mistake and make the pass for 1st!!! So now I'm in first, we cross the road and make the left turn and head toward the barriers with the photographer...I see him so I grab a gear and yank the wheel up...the first attempt sucked!! So going faster now, I yank the wheel up and ride it baby!!! I set it down, look up, and realize that I'm waaaaay to close to the barriers and going waaaaay to fast!!! I grab as much brake as I can, start my dismount...At this point I'm doing a full on brake slide, totally sideways, standing on the left side of my bike on one pedal!!! IT WAS FREAKIN SWEEEEEEET!!!

I unclip, take a step and yank the bike up by the handle bar, (I didn't have time to grab the top tube because I was going to fast and too close), I make it over the first barrier, and in between I lose grip of the right side, so now the bike is in the air, I'm running with it with my left hand still attached between the barriers. The rear wheel hits the second barrier the same time as I jump it, the bike and myself flip to the ground...

As I scramble to my feet I get passed and drop back to 3rd...At this point I panicked...a lot...and start hammering again while trying to puke my guts out!!! It SUCKED!! I get back to 2nd's wheel and start pushing him again, he asks if I want by, I say no you're fine(I'm still trying to puke at this point). So I finally recover about the time we hit the pavement again, and proceed to ride him off of my wheel.

The next couple of laps I sat in no man's land slowly gaining time on 1st. On the last lap I put it on kill and got within 20 feet of him on the last climb to the finish line...I couldn't close it and he couldn't make it bigger...

I sat out to do this race for fun, which I did!!! As I think about the wheelie incident I laugh every time!!! Go big or don't go!!!! I'm sure the next one I do will not be so easy, because they know now!!! Insert evil tee hee here!!!! It makes me giddy!!!!

Cyclocross

It's Saturday morning and I'm waiting on my coffee, so I thought I would throw a few words down...I have about 4 hours to get my bike and all of my stuff together for this race today!! I was less than motivated last night due to sushi and beer on Thursday night, staying out too late and getting up waaaaaay to early!! Ding!! Coffee is done!!!

MMMmmmm CAFFEINE!!! Anyway, today is the first cross race I plan on doing, last week was a good taper week, one less day of riding than I would have liked but oh well...I'll be fine!! The race starts at 12:15 I think...I should probably look into that!! Should be fun!!!

Race report later!!!