Monday, July 25, 2011

Cranky Monkey Race - Wakefield Park


I took part in my first mountain bike race this past Sunday July 24.  The race is part of the Cranky Monkey Series (http://www.ex2adventures.com/tcm-schedule.php) which is a collection of 3 races at Wakefield Park, Shaeffer Farms and Fountainhead.  I've never ridden Shaeffer Farms, but if you read my blogs you know I've had my ups and downs at Fountainhead.

I figured since the Wilderness 101 is next Saturday, that I should be in good enough shape to make three 8 mile laps around Wakefield Park.  The part that I wasn't immediately prepared for was the part where I try to launch myself from the starting line like a cannon.  In hindsight, I probably should have eased into the race given that I really didn't give myself a proper warm-up.

I lined up with the other Clydesdales (over 200lbs) for heat 13.  The 13 permanently inked on my right calf should bring me luck over the next few months.  The start immediately goes up a gravel hill that isn't a big deal except when you've got 30 fat dudes all vying for position to overtake you.  I was around 10th going up the hill.  The next 1/2 mile I had to leisurely cruise behind a few guys because the trail simply isn't wide enough to pass fat guys.  This may have worked in my favor, as it served as a temporary throttle.  Once clear, I zoomed ahead of the 4 Michelin Men in front of me (one of them crashed in a rock garden, ouch!) and took the lead of that group.  

This turned out to be a short-term stay as I fell while climbing a short steep hill and tried to make the hard left back on the path.  I got up, ran with my bike a few meters and then couldn't get my clips anchored fast enough.  Then I heard PASSING! and let a few donuts through.  Just a little blood on both knees and my right shin.  At this point, I was sucking wind like a Hoover.  The heat, adrenaline and dust in my lungs all came together to make me start wondering why I was riding and not swimming at the pool.  I was pretty sure at this point that I was going to hurl and started debating if it would be easier to aim left, right or stop.

I kept riding and throttled back a bit until I acclimated to the conditions.  This was a good move, as there were only a handful of riders that passed me and I started feeling better with every mile.  By the end of the first loop, I was feeling great and knew I could catch the three girls that passed me who started in the heat 2 minutes after me.

As the 2nd loop neared completion, I rode faster and faster.  I had passed 2 of the 3 girls along with a few dudes.  The 3rd loop felt very fast.  I'm waiting to see the posted results so I can see the split times.  My unofficial time was 1hr 43min's.  I stuck around the award ceremony and I was only 5 minutes off the podium!  Dang, if only I hadn't been so slow on that first lap.

Unfortunately, I'm out of town for the Shaeffer and Fountainhead races.  Otherwise I'm sure I would have entered.  And yes, I did pass that 3rd girl on the 3rd loop.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Goshen Cub Scout Camp

This week I took off for Goshen Cub Scout Camp with Jared.  He's staying the whole week and stayed through Wednesday.  I wasn't sure what to expect from a camp in the middle of July.  We had 17 total kids go down and 5/6 parents for each half of the week.  Only 1 parent was crazy enough to stay the whole week.  Below is a view of Goshen Lake.  There are multiple scouting camps in the area.


It's a really rustic camp.  There are no frills about it.  Food is basic, but enough sustenance to keep you alive and functioning.  The only place where you find air conditioning is in the medical clinic, which Jared and I visited a few times.  One was for a boo-boo on the knee, but the other was a whittling accident.  We go over knife safety all the time, but he managed to put a longer shallow slice in his left thumb.  He's fine, just has to wear a bandage for a few days.  The cut might be worth it just to spend a few minutes in the a/c each day.


I will admit that the first day, Sunday, was a little rough on my pampered self.  First off, we had to carry all our stuff about 1/2 mile to the campsite.  The site is on the other side of a ravine, so you go all the way down, then all the way back up.  None of us ever stopped sweating the entire time.  Even the shower facilities which we managed to get the kids to a few times is on the wrong side of the ravine.  I took cold showers and felt great for a few minutes after.  But I was sweating again before getting back to the camp site.



The tents were no more than a piece of canvas.  Bugs flew and crawled through them at will.  We had to get several wolf spiders out of the kids tents.  Turns out those big spiders are your friends, as they eat other insects.  Let's talk about tents for a sec.  Has anyone ever seen what a tent looks like after a couple unsupervised 8 year old kids live in it for a day or two?  It's a complete mess.  Everything from their pack is all over the place.  Good luck finding clean clothes, or even getting some kids to change clothes.  I asked one kids why his shirt was inside-out and backwards.  He told me, "So when I wear it tomorrow it will be clean."


The campsite itself was pretty nice.  We had a lot of room for 17 kids to run around, plenty of tents, two fire pits, a couple benches with tarps for cover.  We only needed the tarp for one day where it rained significantly.  That rain was a welcome relief from the heat, until it stopped and the steam came.  The rain didn't damper anyone's spirits.  Our first activity in the rain was to build a fire which would have been easier if the camp counselor didn't leave the matches in the rain.


The mess hall was a big room with four fans blowing everywhere except where Jared and I sat.  There were about 275 people at camp this week.  Food was acceptable and everyone ate, no one complained.  We were all so hungry that it didn't matter what was on the table.  The best food was the Tuesday night meal we made on our own.  Precooked burger patties, with onions, potatoes that were grilled in aluminum foil over our campsite fires.  That was really good, and even Jared agreed.


We stayed at Camp Ross at Goshen.  There are other camps on the lake.  We visited a boy scout camp and the boys were very excited about the rifle range.  The boy scouts get to shoot 22 caliber rifles and 50 caliber muskets.  We got a demo from Braden that was cool.  From the smell of things, I'm not sure the boy scouts showered any more than the cub scouts.


Here's one additional link of a Pack 1864 camp song: Pack 1864 Song

I've never experienced this with Jared before, but when I left on Wednesday it was a real tearjerker.  Jared held it in pretty good, but we both had a few issues.  He's a strong kid, both physically and mentally.  He definitely made me proud this week.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Douthat State Park - Stony Creek

This week I visited Goshen Cub Scout camp.  A little research prior to the trip showed that Douthat State Park was just around the corner.  There has been lots of blogging about the quality of the mountain bike riding in that state park and I decided to have a look for myself.

Stony Run Trail is a 4.5 mile ascent up the mountain.  This trail is properly named as almost the entire length is riding up big and small rocks.  It's literally like a stream bed.  It's not a technical ascent, but it's long, and the switchbacks are difficult near the top of the mountain.

Stony Creek Trail
I took Stony Run up the mountain and veered off onto Tuscarora Overlook trail.  This overlook provides the best view of the Allegheny Mountains.  It's beautiful up there.  I didn't see a single person on the trail on the entire ride up and down.  Not surprising given the heat, plus who wants to walk up a 4.5 mile hill!  There is a cabin at the top that can be used as a rain shelter or overnight stay.  You can see this cabin in the video below.

Tuscarora Overlook
Here's the video from Tuscarora Overlook.


From Tuscarora Overlook I followed the Middle Mountain trail along the ridge line.  This is a long descent down the mountain.  There is a ton of overgrowth on the trail so be prepared to get a mountain laurel beat down on your legs.  Simple simple basic leg protection would have been nice, but not mandatory.  I screamed down this trail for a long time.  It's narrow but a real blast to ride.

The real descent starts on the Salt Stump Trail.  This is a hiking trail that you can bike on.  I'm not of the opinion that it's a good riding trail because it's so narrow, bumpy, slanted and a real good chance you slip on the downside of the trail and into the ravine.  I almost fell badly into a bunch of rocks and logs that were pointing up at me.  I took it a lot more cautious after that switchback.  I'm not sure what's the best way to get down from Middle Mountain.

At the bottom is a huge lake as seen below.  There are a lot of activities for kids if you go for a few days.  The cabins look nice, a good swimming area with a low board and slide into the water, and plenty of other things to do.

Douthat State Park Lake
I took a video of the surrounding area at the lake.   From here, I had a quick lunch and launched myself up Stony Run again.  This time I veered off onto the Locust Gap Trail, connected to the Laurel View Trail, and made my way back to the north side of the lake and back to the ranger station.  These trails are equestrian trails so they are a little wider and  not too hard to ride.     



Biking trail maps here: Douthat Trail Guide

Overall, it was a great ride and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to ride the trails.  At this point, I completed about 4 hours of riding and was itching to get back to camp.  I felt like I could ride another 2/3 hours and be just fine.  But even with those extra hours, I'd still have 4 more hours for what I expect the Wilderness 101 to take.

There is a mountain bike race up Stony Run Trail at some point during the year.  Not sure I want to race up that hill, but a slow steady climb is perfect training for the Wilderness 101 which is less than 2 weeks away!!!


Monday, July 11, 2011

Pure Pain

Two weeks ago I took a crash at Fountainhead and tore up my left forearm and left leg fairly well.  The crash ended up being in a patch of poison ivy.  Not very pleasant, but at this point it has mostly healed.  The unfortunate part is the pain isn't done.

Doc says I may have cellulitis in my forearm now which is infinitely more painful than the poison ivy.  A little cephalexin here, prednisone there, topped off with hydrocodon is hopefully the winning combination.  Today is the first full pain day, but it started last night.  This could very well be the most continuous pain I've felt in my life. Last night I slept for exactly 0 minutes.  That was the first time in a long time that I stayed awake all night.  I'm sure if the pain would subside, I'd take a really long nap right now.

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  I was feeling pretty fatigued from the get-go when I had a tennis match in the am.  Michelle and I got creamed by Rob and Brooke.  After that, we came home because the pool was closed. We hung out and had a good day.  Around 5:20pm I was able to get on my bike and spend 3.5 hours pedaling around Wakefield/Accotink.

I first went through Wakefield on the maintained trail, past the dam and up the off-road trails.  It was a good ride to the end, and then back around to Pickett Road.  Up the big hill at Picket and I had a new idea  .... let's take this a few more times.  So I pedaled up and zoomed down 5x.  Then for the first time, I took the trail back to Wakefield Park and spent some time off-road.  Then back to the dam and the Accotink off-road trails and eventually back home. 

That was an aggressive 3.5 hours, but it is still only 1/3 of the way of the Wilderness 101.  That ride is in a mere 19 days and my health is not helping me.  I'm hoping to get a few more long rides if I can.  Then we will simply tough that ride out as best I can.  I need some good luck.

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Hot Sonakshi Sinha, Car Price in India