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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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