I Got Lost in Springfield

I wish there had been more of these.

Tonight I set out for a good length ride on the Cross Country Trail.  I haven't been too far south of where the CCT crosses the Fairfax County Parkway and Rolling Road.  I quickly reviewed the map before leaving from work to go home so I would have a pretty good idea how to follow the CCT.  Perhaps a big cup of ginko-biloba would have help my memory for when I needed to make a turn.

I needed real riding gear, plus arm warmers and a raincoat for this ride.  It was just over 60 degrees and raining.  It pretty much rained on me the entire 2 1/2 hours of this ride.  I was warm enough and very happy to be pedaling somewhere I've never been.

I did well on the part of the route where I've been before :-).  Then a bad move where the CCT crosses the Fairfax County Parkway.  I was thinking I'd follow the parkway out to Scott Kelly's house, have him cook me up a steak and potatoes, then ride home from there.  It would have helped if I'd gone west on the parkway instead of south.  I believe it takes a PHD to navigate around Springfield.  Has anyone noticed there are like 15 Hooes Roads in Springfield?

I got on Rolling Road which I'm familiar with, or so I thought.  At this point I was completely clueless as to where I was, where I was going, which way was up.  One thing I was sure of is that a Scott Kelly dinner was looking less and less likely.

I found Fullerton Road which I'm familiar with.  Well, at least the Fullerton Road near Allentown PA.  I rode through the industrial park looking for the start of the yellow brick road to guide me home.  No yellow bricks, but there were two ladies outside some warehouse that I rode up to and asked, "Where am I?"   She explained the mystery road I was on was Backlick, AHA!  I've heard of that, now which way will take me to Springfield Mall.  Her final words were "Good Luck".

The ~4 miles North on Backlick was tough riding.  Strong headwind, plenty of cars, and decent rain.  I was pretty happy to finally see something familiar.  From here it was a quick trip further North to where I could re-enter Accotink Park and ride on known trails.

Total soggy distance was ~24 miles, in 2.5 hours.  There were a lot of stop lights, so that's my excuse for a slow ride.  Here's a link showing my unplanned route: My Crazy Route

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Annapolis Bay Country Century

The Annapolis Bay Country Century on Saturday Sept 3 takes one on a scenic tour of southern Maryland.  The ride starts at Northern Middle School in Owings, MD.  I've never been to this area before, and the one observation is that as soon as you get away from the urban lifestyle we're all familiar with, everyone owns at least one truck and half of them own an RV.  Yes, I'm jealous as I too would like to own both a truck and RV.

I pulled up to the school around 6:30am and started to gear up.  Bagels and bananas were laid out for a little breakfast.  Weather was very nice, just a little cool, and lots of sunshine.

I was one of the first riders out the gate near 7am and quickly came up to two other riders who were about the same pace.  The three of us set off on a blistering pace (for me) for the first 50+ miles.  We averaged over 20mph and had the outright lead going into Aid Station 1 about 21 miles into the course.  That was certainly a first, me in first place on a bike.

Aid  Station 1 - In First Place!

That lead lasted another 13 miles when the Coppi Team came screaming by us.  These six dudes obviously ride their bikes frequently.  They got up ahead and out of sight quickly, and I was surprised as anyone when we caught up to them at Aid Station 2 at 50 miles in.  

Aid Station 2 - Firehouse

At Aid Station 2, Dave (seen in the video below) mentioned to me that he might need to slow it down a bit as he was feeling the burn.  I agreed with him, but for the next 50 miles I was trying to figure out what he meant by slow down.  By my calculations, we were going as hard as we previously had.  Dave was a former racer of 12 years and was still really fit.  He no longer races, but still enjoys the long bike rides.  Here's a video of the crazy happenings at Aid Station 2.

The next Aid Station wasn't for 30 miles.  This was a long haul as there were lots of rolling hills with the occasional steeper hill.  No mountains or crazy climbing, just steady up and down.  The weather got a bit warmer and we took turns at the point.  There was considerable hurricane damage along the ride.  I couldn't count the number of trees that were down.  Most of the country side was in their yards with chainsaws and fire pits.

At mile 81 I was ready to be done with the ride.  Not only because I was getting tired, but there was this really cool beach called North Beach on Bay Ave.  There is a neat "kiddie" type pool setup with part of the Chesapeake Bay walled off.  Looks like a great place to bring little kids.  There's even a boat on the sand with a slide.

Aid Station 3 - North Beach, MD

Of course I had to take some video of the location.  I would have liked to stay longer, but I was getting the eye from Dave indicating he was ready to move on.

The road out of North Beach was about a 5 mile ascent.  Not steep, but very long. I was struggling a bit to keep up with Dave who looked to be just cruising along.  It doesn't take too many road rides to realize that two people are faster than one.  It's often difficult to keep up with a person in front of you to draft, but you realize that it's a lot more work and slower work if you don't.  Guess that's the mental toughness Coach Carvajal told me prior to the Wilderness 101.

The next 10 miles were arduous but I was able to keep the pace.  At mile 90, I started to whimper.  That crazy pace we had kept for the first 50+ miles had taken its toll on me.  The rolling country side was ok to navigate, but any time there was a more than mild ascent it was like the brakes came on.  Dave noticeably slowed for me a few times as I huffed, puffed, moaned and groaned.  This last 10 miles is the part of the ride that I need to forget in the coming days if I ever want to ride another century.

All these centuries are hard.  They're long, have different difficulties, and take a lot of preparation and toughness to get through.  Don't believe me?  Go try one.

Dave and I at the finish.

Here's the final ride recap.  Riding time was 5 hours 44 minutes.

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Reston Century - 106 Glorious Miles

The Reston Century is 106 rolling country miles through small town USA west of Reston.  The rides starts at the Reston Town Center and travels through Herndon, Loudoun County, Leesburg, Lovettsville and a whole lotta smaller towns that barely warrant a zip code.  There was one town where I was preparing for Josey Wales to come walking down the street, it was that western looking.

Virginia is a beautiful country palace just a few miles from where we live.  It really does look like a relaxing and enjoyable place to live.  Tons of farms and animals cover the country side.  There's even a bison farm out there!  In all, I saw deer, chicken, bison, goats, cows, horses, a black rat snake along the W&OD trail (not as scary as the rattlesnake 3 weeks ago), turtles, chipmunks, squirrels, and a lot of farmer looking men and women.

I really enjoyed the first 70 miles of this ride, but then the weather turned really sour.  That weather slammed into us from out of nowhere.  I pulled off the side of the road with 6 other bikers.  We climbed a steep embankment because the road was narrow and it just wasn't safe.  I huddled behind a massive oak in an effort to get out of the 30-40mph rain gusts.  We were all miserable and getting chilly as it dropped at least 25 degrees with that rain.  Lightning was coming down on us like crazy and it was close.  Weather certainly has to power to humble oneself.

After 20 minutes of standing there and getting poured on, I was the first to leave.  Amazingly, 1/2 mile up the road it hadn't rained!  We were on the very edge of the scattered storm.  I warmed up quickly but then found another pocket of rain.  For the remaining 30 miles it rained on/off, fairly heavy at times.  I decided to stop at 7-11 during a particularly hard rain, and thought I would warm up with a hot chocolate.  First off, I about froze between the front door and the chocolate machine. That 7-11 was freezing!  The chocolate was good, as was the two pepperoni pizza slices.

I was off again and after reaching the W&OD trail head in Purcellville, I was definitely ready for this ride to be over.  I rode pretty fast for the final 26 miles on the W&OD trail.  It finally stopped raining as I reached the Reston Town Center and enjoyed the post ride meal.  The mango/strawberry salad was absolutely delicious, and the assortment of pasta wasn't bad either.

I'd ride the Reston Century again.  It's not a difficult ride, being there are no big hills.  Riding time was ~6.5 hours.  Next time, I think I'll bring a rain coat.

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Wilderness 101 - July 30, 2011

The 11th annual Wilderness 101 is a mountain bike race covering 101 miles: 7 miles of roads, 10 miles of degraded forest roads, 56 miles of forest roads and 28 miles of trail. The race starts and end in Coburn, PA and is promoted by Shenandoah Mountain Touring (SMT).  Remind me to speak with an individual at SMT concerning pre-ride sanity checks.

This ride was hard, very hard, much harder than I had anticipated.  The multiple 5-6 mile ascents were too brutal.  The racing downhills were an exercise in trying to hold onto the handlebars and let the bike do the work.  The "level" areas were rock gardens that require a lot of effort to power through.  There was no where on this ride to relax and enjoy the scenery.  Overall, the ride took me 13 hours and 3 minutes. The professional first place rider finished in 6 1/2 hours, so he's only twice as fast as me.  Official results here, I'm #279 ... Official Results

Mom and I rolled into Coburn, PA Friday afternoon thinking this was going to be a fun little weekend getaway.  Mom's tasks for the weekend were to help with registration on Friday, and help cook a mighty fine meal on Saturday.  She really enjoyed helping with the event and I think would welcome coming back next year.  My weekend experience was going to be far different.

I have read many blogs about this ride.  Never in my readings did I feel that this ride was going to be ridiculously hard.  I think I should have read more blogs.

We were all woken up around 5:30am at the campsite.  Pre-ride talk at 6:45am, race starts at 7am.  Weather was comfortable, not too warm.  I thought there would be breakfast but I wasn't so lucky.  I did have a breakfast bar which needed to last me 40 miles to Aid #2 where food was served.  Aid #1 only had water/HEED.

You can see below that there's an ~5 mile climb which hits about 7:10am.  I don't know what everyone else is typically doing at this time, but I'm usually still in bed.  This was not an easy climb up a fire road.  Here it is, 15 minutes into the race and I'm already questioning what I'm doing.  I decided to let the better part of the ~380 racers pass me so I had some peace and quiet, and could enjoy the surroundings.  Honestly, I didn't feel well-oiled until 10am.  I reached Aid #2 after 3.5 hours.

Miles 1 - 40

I was famished rolling into Aid #2.  I was a kid in a cookie jar eyeballing the breakfast bars, PB&J sandwiches, M&M's, trail mix, peanuts, Pringle's and other food.  I camped here for about 15 minutes shoveling all of it in my mouth.  I totally took more than my share, but no big deal since I was bringing up the rear (or close to it).

I've heard through blogs that it's difficult to make it past the Aid station #3, 60 miles.  Right now, I was still trying to get to Aid #3.  The climbs below are absolute physical and mental crushers.  The mountain just goes on and on and on, switchback after switchback.  There were a few folks walking during the climbs, and I was happy to join them.

Mile 40 - 70

I shot a short video at Aid #3.  I was getting fairly worn out at this point.  I just had no idea that the mountains were going to be this difficult.  Even going down the single-track was very unpleasant because it just beats the tar out of your body banging down the slope.  Your hands are screaming for relief from gripping so tight.

The climb out of Aid #3 is another crusher.  More slogging up the mountain that even a Billy Goat wouldn't enjoy.  At the top of this climb, I started to think about Rob Carvajal.  Wondering if we would ever be able to play tennis together again.  Coach Carvajal told me ahead of time to stay mentally tough.  I'm thinking that he's never had to ride his bike in Coburn PA before.  The rock gardens at the top of this hill tossed me left and right.  I just didn't have the power to get up and over them.  After falling 3x I walked a bit on this surface.  These rocks were damn close to making me lose my mind and start boo-hoo'ing.  Then I lost my bike computer, so I couldn't tell where the heck I was.

The Wilderness 101 takes no prisoners and doesn't coddle the weak.  After the rock gardens comes the steepest unbelievable downhill on the Sassafras trail that one could imagine.  That close to vertical line between Aid #3 and #4 in the elevation chart above is downright close to it.  It's a narrow trail of loose rocks that is the scariest ride I could imagine.  I started riding down it and then just couldn't overcome the fear of what could adversely happen.  Plus, Michelle would have been so angry with me if I'd gotten hurt.  AND, how the heck would I get my busted up doof off that mountain?  As if anyone knew where I was!  I walked down it with my bike and even that was difficult to not fall.

Rolling down the hill into Aid #4 produced another nerve racking moment.  Apparently, I wasn't alone in the woods.  There are lots of things in the woods.  Check out this video of a mambo sized rattlesnake that blocked the trail.

Aid #4 was set up at a bridge under Route 322.  At this point I'm about 70 miles in and the first thoughts that "I may make it" started to creep into my head.  Oddly enough, I felt a lot better at this point than I did at any point from miles 40-60.  That mid-section is just too naughty.

The climb out of Aid #4 starts on a non-maintained rutted nightmare of a road.  Stronger riders than me are required to get up this ascent after putting 70+ miles on the legs already.

I would make Aid #5 and would keep feeling better, faster and stronger.  I know this makes no sense, but the course started to ease up a bit and I was getting very excited about finishing.  All that was left at this point was a few miles on a rail-trail and a couple mile ascent on Old Mingle Road.  Ha!  I laugh at 2 mile ascents at this point.  I went pretty darn fast over the final 12 miles to roll back into Coburn.

Mile 70 - 101

It was just after 8pm and daylight was waning when I rolled back to Coburn.  I was so happy to be done with this ride.  I got off the bike and banged that traditional gong as all finishing riders do.  I was also handed my Wilderness 101 pint glass that I later filled with Elk Creek Cafe home brew.  Finishing the ride, I'm thinking to myself, "Where did the time go?"  To be pedaling for over 12 hours is really not something I had aspired to do.  I'm very happy with being able to complete this ride, and would like to thank my sponsor A1 - Heating and Air Conditioning for the opportunity to represent their fine organization.  I'm not sure what the future holds for events like this again, this ride was just too tough.

Look to the right just before the finishing line for the lady in the blue shirt standing up with open arms ... that's my Mom!

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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.

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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 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.

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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 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!!!

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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 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.

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First Blood - Fountain Head

This afternoon I set out for more training for the Wilderness 101.  My goal was 3 laps around the Fountainhead mountain bike trail.  I've ridden this trail 3x previous with pretty good success.  I have even renamed the ominous Shock-O-Billy Hill to Speed-O-Billy because I just haul down it.  OK, a little caution on the first half, then it's off the brakes.

The trail is about 8 miles and just beats the tar out of you from beginning to end.  I have to say that I'm pretty tired of riding over roots at this point.  The first lap was just getting my legs under me and warming up.  The 2nd lap I really picked it up.  One of the longer straightaways I honestly took a little too fast.  I think it was either my front or back bike tire that was hitting the trail every 5 feet.  It was one bouncy affair.  I'd like to name this section Nutcracker Run.

I took a bypass that a dude told me about on the first lap.  It's a short section that brings you to Woodpecker Hill.  This hill got me as it's REALLY steep but short.  I didn't make it up, but I got even on the 2nd lap as I smoked this hill.  

The third lap started to get me a bit fatigued.  Cardiac Hill got me on this loop as I was indecisive on my line up the hill and a root caused me to get thrown to the right.  I never thought about it before, but my Camelbak acts like a cushion when falling on one's back.  Fortunately, the ravine on the right wasn't too steep so I only slid a little with my bike on top of me.  Those shoe clips really work.

Later on there are boardwalks designed to test one's riding skill.  Fountainhead has raised platforms about 3 feet high.  The boardwalk comes at the top of a hill and I decided to give it a go.  I was quite pleased with myself with making the entrance ramp onto the boardwalk given that it's at the top of a hill and kinda steep.  I rode around the length of one, then rode up another one.  I was at the end of the second boardwalk and feeling quite happy with myself.  

My 3rd lap and I just completed two boardwalks that really kinda scared me.  I distracted myself with my "King of the Universe" thoughts and took the exit ramp for granted.  Holey Crow that is steep.  I was not paying attention.  I had too much speed and did a nose dive straight into the dirt.  Unfortunately, my speed kept me skidding as I rolled to my left.  I remember grinding my left elbow and left leg along the dirt and rocks.  

Boardwalk Example

Pain is an interesting phenomenon.  All my fatigue, sore hands, sore neck and everything else took a complete back-seat to the pain that emanating from my elbow.  You don't feel the pain immediately, as I laid on the ground wishing this hadn't happened.  I picked myself up, looked around to see if anyone had seen me, but there wasn't another sole on the entire trail.  I started riding again and then the wave came.  Oh man, it really hurt.  Not just because I ripped up myself, but the sweat and salt was in the abrasions.  I was ready for this ride to be over.  I rode really fast for the remainder of the ride.

I've got a couple photos below of the boo-boo's.  Believe me, the elbow hurts a lot more than it may look.  My leg is more scraped up than shown, but I'd like to keep this PG-13.  Despite the advertising on the Bactine bottle, it really DOES STING!!!

It has a lot more ooze now.

Scraped pretty good, but not a lot of pain.

Update July 15:  Turns out that fall wasn't just into dirt.  It was a patch of poison ivy.  Half of my left forearm was covered in it.  It was pretty painful, but I toughed it out with some Gold Bond.  What I couldn't predict was the infection that would occur 1 week after the poison ivy was pretty much healed.  This felt like a blow torch on my forearm.  An ER visit later I got some vicodin, prednisone and cephalex to heal that up.  That episode was incredibly painful but I'm pretty good now.

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Danimal's Inaugural Cobia Ride

Danimal ventured out for his inaugural ride on the new Gary Fisher Cobia, and what a ride it was.  We spent 2.5 hours cruising around Lake Mercer, Burke Lake, South Run and the mighty Spartan trail under the power lines.  Danimal held up pretty well, which is to be expected.  The trail is about as flat as one can get in this area.  The "hills" that Danimal likes to refer to around Lake Mercer are nothing more than short inclines.

As expected, a bit of soreness started near the end of the ride.  Biggest pain point: the palms.  Putting that much consistent pressure on the palms is painful after awhile.  My palms get pretty sore on the century rides as well.  I just bought a pair of "Grab-On's" for my mountain bike that have a lot more cushion than the existing ones.  I'm sure that will come in helpful on July 30.

Other soreness will have to wait for Danimal's update.  I'd also like to get an update on the 2" rib-eye that he cooked up for himself right in front of me.  He's promised a BM update on that rib-eye as well.

Danimal is officially up and running, er biking, to condition himself for the Seagull Century on Oct. 15.

Many miles ahead,

K-Wants a Rib Eye

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Wakefield / Accotink 52+ a Nose Dive

How not to jump a creek

Ouch!  No, that's not my head criticizing me for taking a 6' drop into the creek head first.  It's my ass complaining about riding 52.5 miles in gym shorts.  That was the start of my Saturday June 18.

Saturday morning I got a 7:10am wake up call from Scott Kelly telling me to hightail it over to Wakefield Park.  Now I've been trying to get Scott to come riding with me for months.  Throughout this time I've offered time and time again to take different routes and areas to explore.  I don't believe I ever asked him to call me at 7:10am on a Saturday to go riding.

I met him and John Kidd at Wakefield Park at about 7:30am.  John Kidd was there already, prompt as he will always be, and then Scott rolled in.  Mounting their bikes, they really didn't strike me as well seasoned riders.  Scott said he checked out his bike, but he was riding on two flat tires and a clown bike.  What's up with these guys and their small bikes? (Danimal?)  John Kidd had a hybrid with road tires and a seat post with a built in shock ... how long ago did they stop making those?

It was pretty wet out there as a torrential rain came through the evening.  They appointed me as leader and I decided we'd stay clear of the off-road trails since it was so wet and John would be slipping on the smallest twig with his tires.  We did ride some very light trails and it was entertaining.  Note to fellas:  You need a little speed when approaching hills.  The fact that neither of them had toe clips didn't help.

Scott wanted to see where the trail went under RT236 so we rode up that way.  On the way back we rolled through a stream and Scott wanted to check out where the other fork of the trail went.  We went over there and there was a 6' drop into the creek with a short steep incline on the opposite bank.  Scott asked if I did this kind of thing. I said I haven't, but I would.  And so I tried.  He said he was scared for me to try it.

The mistake was not enough speed.  It's around 8am on a Saturday and my brain isn't firing on all cylinders.  I was thinking about getting up the embankment on the other side, rather than the 6' drop into the creek.  I backed up a bit and started pedaling in a low gear.  I reached the drop-off, pulled up on the tire, but my gear was so low that the front tire started dipping prior to my back wheel clearing the ledge.  Straight down like Jared does pencil's on the diving board.  I felt my front fork with 130mm of travel completely compress and then my face smashing into the creek bed followed by the rest of my body.  Thankfully, it was a hot day and the creek water felt great!  No injuries other than bumps and bruises.  I vowed to come back and do that drop-off again with more speed and a video camera.  Stay tuned for a YouTube posting of how to do it correctly.

I had to get back to the car by 8:30am for my Truro tennis match at 9am.  I broke the strings on my one and only good racquet and thus had to play with my backup.  The match was fairly quick with Bill Young and I losing by a break each set.  It's still better than being in the office.

Back to the house for a change into dry clothes and onto the bike again.  I planned on 3 laps of my 17.5 mile loop around Wakefield and Accotink.  The first lap is always fun and fast.  There is a little heavy breathing on some hills as the body is acclimating to the ride.  1hr 10 min's for the first loop.  The second loop feels a bit different physically.  The muscles are moving well and time usually passes quickly, except when you get hungry.

I figure I had been pretty active for over 4 hours so far in the morning.  The breakfast of two Quaker bars and a coconut water had run its course.  On the Mountains of Misery century ride a few weeks ago they had boiled potatoes at the later aid stations.  Simple cut up pieces you could grab, add salt and chew to your stomach's content.  Those potatoes tasted like food from the gods.  On the second lap, all I could think about were those potatoes.

No one was boiling potatoes for me on this ride so my mind raced to come up with the next best thing ... McDonald's French Fries !!!  I pass one at Pickett near the end of each loop.  My single motivation, single focus, sole purpose in life was to reach McDonald's.  No other thought, intent or idea distracted me from my goal.  I made it, and being as ridiculously muddy as I was, there was no way I was walking into the place.  So I stood in line behind a few cars at the drive-thru and chowed on a large #5 quarter pounder with cheese, powerade and the potatoes!  Words do not do justice for how good that #5 tasted.

Lunch completely invigorated me, but I was still getting a little pooped.  Almost 35 miles on the body, plus the tennis match, plus the 6' face first drive was taking it's toll.  I stayed with the plan for 3 loops and continued on.  Admittedly, I may have dogged it a little bit on that 3rd lap.  I did make the final loop amassing 52.5 miles  with about a 4 hour duration.

Little rest for the weary, as I got home, showered and then off to a party where badminton and basketball were the theme.  Rockland's catered the event and it never tasted so good.

Sunday morning was less than an ideal feeling trying to get out of bed.  Nothing "hurt", but the fatigue was high.  Thank goodness for Father's Day!  Michelle made a king-size breakfast that was fantastic.  I strung my tennis racquet and left for a USTA tennis match at 12:30pm.  Getting going for this was a bit rough, but in end I think it helped. Rob and I lost that match 7-6, 2-6, 9-10.  The final set is a 10 point tie-break.  We ran out of time down 9-10 ... I'm chalking that one up as a DNF.

A quick trip to the library for some books with the family and then back to Truro for Jared's tennis clinic.  Bill Donnell was down there with his son and the two of us hit for another hour.  I honestly thought something bad was going to happen given all this physical exercise.  It was hot, we had no water, and we hit for a solid hour very aggressively.  Nothing bad happened, and I actually felt pretty good afterwards.

All of this is in preparation for the Wilderness 101 mountain bike century on July 30 in Rothrock and Coburn National Forests in PA.  Given this weekend's physical output, I'm starting to think that I might be able to finish that ride.

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Fountain Head Regional Park - Solo

An incredible mountain biking trail

I set out Sunday morning to get in a few laps at Fountain Head.  As noted in previous blogs, this trail makes you "Bring It" for the entire 8 mile figure 8.  If you aren't ascending steep ravines like Cardiac Hill, Holy Grail Hill and Salamander Switchback, then you're crazy descending on roots and rocks with the ultimate test descending Shock-O-Billy hill.  Yes, that's a hill that even a Billy Goat would think twice about.  Even the "flat" terrain is loaded with rocks, roots, sharp turns and narrow paths with big drop-offs on one side.

I set out on my first lap and took it somewhat aggressive.  I powered up the hills and took the descents fairly quickly, with some caution so I didn't maim myself.  Even cautious riding draws blood as my rear wheel was slipping on the roots and I hammered my knee on the stem.

Different conditions make it a different ride.  The first time I rode this course it was very dry.  This time it was still wet from the nights rain.  This adds a few mud puddles and the worst is the slippery roots.  Ascending and turning on wet roots is problematic to say the least.  I equate it to the difference between a hard court and clay court in tennis.

I completed the first lap in a moderate 1 hour 10 minutes.  I stopped at the parking lot to refill fluids and have a quick bite.  The debate to tackle a second lap was in progress.  I was talking with a guy named Ed in the parking lot.  He said the second loop is usually easier because you're all warmed up and loose.  I couldn't fathom how that could be possible.

I did decide to take a second lap and amazingly cruised in at 1 hour 5 minutes.  For me, impressive.  It really wasn't much more difficult and seemed to go smoother than the first.   One noted change is the first lap I took Shock-O-Billy without pausing, the second I attacked that hill and even laid off the brakes for the bottom half of the hill.  Descending was generally faster as well.

Shock-O-Billy:  How to do it.  How not to.

I expect to get many more runs over the next 6 weeks in preparation for the Wilderness 101 mountain century on July 30.

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Accotink 100 degrees - Bring It!

As D-Atlas has been told many of times, "Bring It".  Last night took off on the Stumpy in extreme heat.  It was about 100 degrees and muggy. Fortunately I was not going to be riding in the direct sun.  I got on the Wakefield Park and Accotink trails and just kept going.  I rode lots of trails I had never ridden before and I couldn't believe how much I was sweating.

Thoughts did occur to me that I need to be mindful if I stop sweating.  That's when really bad things happen to your body.  Fortunately, I never reached that point and had plenty of cold water.  Riding time was almost two hours.  This kind of riding is far different than the road riding.  Road riding you are generally pretty consistently  pedaling with no crazy change in heart rate.  On the mountain bike, your heart is up and down as frequently as the hills.  It's very different training.  I noticed that I'm already sucking less air on certain hills that I was when I first rode just a few weeks ago.

Nothing too eventful on the trip itself.  Just some long runs through Accotink with a few quick sections at Wakefield and then on to Jared's baseball game.

I did stop by Billy's house for CamelBak reload.

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Fountain Head Regional Park

Brandon gave me a call last Saturday June 4 to see if I was up for a mountain biking extravaganza.  Of course I was, and Fountain Head was the choice track.  I've read about the track online and in lots of blogs.  It is a highly rated course and I was anxious to try it out.

Loaded up the bikes and off we went.  Weather was extremely nice for biking, a little on the hot/humid side.  We got to Fountain Head in about 20 minutes and unloaded.

The trail doesn't waste any time getting down to business.  It is serious technical riding over roots, rocks, trees, down ravines, up ravines and dodging various obstacles. Early on you're going up steep hills so the heart gets pumping early.  The track is sort of a big figure 8.  There are directional areas to prevent people from colliding head-on.  There are many points of the track that you don't want two-way traffic on.

Each of the hills has a special name.  I remember Cardiac Hill, ugh, but not too bad.  The more interesting of the hills is Shock-O-Billy.  I stopped at the top to get a good look at the hill going down.  You can't see the whole hill because it's so steep and the erosion control blocks your vision.  There was no way I was going down that hill first without surveying it more properly.   Brandon was egging me on, and I asked him how many times he's been down it.  "Never" was his reply.  After a few minutes, another rider who obviously had done the hill 50x before zipped down it.  I watched his line to get a little confidence and then let it fly.  Man, that's a steep hill.  Going over the erosion control adds some scare because it's a drop and you pick up more speed quickly.  I got down safely, then wiped out going up the next hill.

The figure 8 is pretty long.  I can see going back and riding it 2 or 3 times for a really good workout.  The more the merrier on this trip, but it's dangerous, technical and a lot of work.

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2011 Mountains of Misery

MOM Finish at the Top

Sunday May 29 may go down as the hardest day of biking in my life.  The Mountains of Misery 104 mile ride in Blacksburg VA is a very up and down course with at least 3 or 4 ridiculous climbs, and a bunch of others.  Did I mention how hard it was?

Dan Wolfe and I headed down Saturday afternoon and camped over night.  Perfect night for camping, as the weather got down to around 60.  Surprisingly, I got a good nights sleep.  And I am very fortunate to have slept so well.

The ride start has 5 waves at 5 minutes apart.  Wave 3 was our starting block.  Most days, I'm not even out of bed until close to 8am.  This ride started at 7am and to be honest, I was not at my peak between 7-8:30am.  I started near the front of wave 3, but it couldn't have a been a few miles before I was dead last in the wave.  A look over my shoulder saw wave 4 coming up strong.

I clocked 17 miles that first hour and steadily improved in time.  It was beautiful rolling country side.  100 miles on that terrain would really be a great ride.  The first 60 miles was similar, and then it pretty much comes to a close.  The first ridiculous climb is around mile 60.  To be honest, I think this was the toughest hill I've ever climbed.  There have been steeper ones, like Blue Ridge Mountain Road, but this was longer and at parts steeper.  It took a lot of energy to get up that hill.  Some dude was hurling on the side of the road halfway up.

On the other side was an amazing downhill.  There were several screaming downhills that you really needed to be careful.  I only posted 44 as a max speed, but it could have been quicker.  Too many turns going down the mountain to really stay off the brakes.

Now the up and down starts to drag on you a bit.  There is a gorgeous canopy enclosed country road that goes for miles and miles.  I was wondering if that road would ever end.  It was truly a gorgeous segment.  I remember a 10 mile loop area that starts out rolling, then has some difficult climbs and one really gnarly 60 yard stretch.  As I rolled up to that segment I didn't even try to ride up it.  It was like looking at a wall.  Walking up wasn't difficult, but I just wasn't willing to exert that much energy on the bike knowing I still had ~35 miles to go.

Elevation Chart

The rest stops were about every ~15 miles and I took my time at each one of them to eat, drink and stretch.  The volunteers were awesome, especially one lady at the last rest stop (more on her soon).

After mile 80 there is some more uphill that really isn't too pleasant.  But then the best downhill ever.  It must have been close to 5-7 miles of downhill.  It wasn't steep, just a good rolling downhill where you didn't have to pedal at all and you could cruise at about 25mph.  Really enjoyed that.  And it turns out that's the last enjoyable part of the ride.

The last 5 miles of the ride, after you've got 99 miles on your legs already, is the most ridiculous uphill segment ever.  It's not switchbacks where only the turnarounds are steep, it's pretty much straight up.  There is no reprieve, no rest, no level spots.  I made it without too much effort (ha) for the first ~3.5 miles.  It did take quite a bit of dedication to keep chugging along in 1st gear at 2 or 3 mph.  OK, it was hard.  I made the last rest stop and some dude told me I looked comatose.  After 30 seconds when I could speak, I told him I was just "concentrating".

There was a lady here who was fantastic.  She pours water on you, puts a towel on you, walks you to a chair, refills your water bottles, hands you something to drink, and some other dude takes your bike.  It really was awesome treatment and I guarantee everyone getting to that point needs it.

So this rest stop is about 1.25 miles from the finish.  One would hope there was some reprieve from the steepness but there isn't any.  I made it almost another .5 mile and then shut it down.  I'm not sure if I would be typing this blog if I toughed it out.  I was thinking that I have a family to return to and I wasn't quite sure what would happen if I put forth the amount of ch'i that was required to make it to the top.  I do know that I might have made the top, but it would not have been pretty afterwards.

So I walked 1/4 or 1/2 mile until I saw all the people at the top and the photographer.  Some lady was encouraging me and said she'd push.  I said ok and got back on.  She gave quite a push so I finished on the bike.

There was no huge elation feeling at the top, just thoughts about how hard that ride was.  There were a few people who really didn't look too good at the top.  A feast was eaten at the top and eventually I recovered to enjoy the moment.   Fortunately, you get shuttled back down to the starting area where we picked up our bikes and got in the car for the 4 hour drive home.

I don't recommend this ride for the casual rider.  It's hard, very hard, and deserves it's "Mountains of Misery" name.  My total net time was 9 hours 33 minutes.  Riding time was around 7.5 hours.  I placed about 290 out of 500 starters.  MOM results look like ~90 riders didn't finish.

Post ride comments: YouTube Interview

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Relentless - Marshal 57 miles

Saturday May 21 Dan Wolfe and I met up in Marshall VA to tackle the very difficult Blue Ridge Mountain Road and then some to be a tune-up for next weeks Mountains of Misery (MOM) century.  We arrived around 9am and off we went on Rectortown Road.

The beginning of the ride is rolling hills that aren't too bad.  However, the route does not let you warm up much so you're climbing right out of the gate.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and the country side is impressive, although I stopped noticing later in the ride.

Snickersville Turnpike is 20 miles into the ride.  We took a short break to power up and rest because we both knew what was coming.  Snickersville is quite a climb just getting up to RT 17 and then Blue Ridge Mountain Road.  This is a daunting task and it really is pretty difficult.  You can read this post about an earlier ride on the Blue Ridge Mtn BRM Ride.

We made it the length of BRM (~11 miles) with one relentless hill after another.  The difference with this ride is we took a different route than last time which added multiple climbs after BRM.  We re-filled and had a quick lunch outside the Ashby Inn in Paris.  It's a cute place.

Route 688 was next and the climbs there were difficult, perhaps more mental than physical ... but that is hard to imagine.  Coming around the corners just made me want to cry.  It can be a difficult thing not to panic during these climbs.  I'm tired, sore, and just don't want to tackle another hill.  The mental toughness plays a huge part.  This was only about mile 40 of the ride.

The next 17 miles included a couple more climbs, one of which was unnecessary.  We missed a turn and unfortunately this led us up a big hill.  On the flip-side, we turned around and got to go down it.  I didn't remember it being that big ... it was huge.  Fast fast fast downhill.  I hit a new land speed record on an earlier hill with 46mph.  I may have been able to make 50mph, but I was way out of my comfort zone and started braking.  46mph on a bike through narrow winding country roads is exciting and very scary.

I am happy to say it was a successful prelude to the MOM ride later this week.  I can't imagine MOM being any harder, just a little longer.

Many miles ahead,
K-Lance

Stats
Ride Time: 3 hrs 55 mins
Distance: 57 miles
Avg speed: 14 mph
Max speed: 46 mph

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National Half Marathon - Check!

This morning was the National Half Marathon run which starts at RFK stadium. A 5am alarm went off and surprisingly I was able to get out of bed easily.  Guess it helped to go to bed at 8PM.  D-Salazar came to pick me up around 5:30am and off we went.  34 degrees and dark ... lovely.

I was fairly intimidated by this event, as my training runs consisted of 4, 5, and 6 miles.  One time I went 9 miles.  I just wasn't sure what was going to happen attempting 13.  The whole reason for this run was a deal with D-Salazar.  I run a half marathon, and he rides a century (100 miles).  I definitely think that he got the easier end of the deal.

The first 3 miles were fairly uncomfortable.  It'd been 11 days since I ran and everything felt heavy.  I did like running with the crowd, hearing everyone cheer on the sides, and the energy in the run.   D-Salazar and Mickey were already ahead of me and getting further ahead.

Around 5 and 6 miles I was thinking this was about as far as I can comfortably go so I started getting nervous.  All of sudden, out popped D-Salazar from the side of the road to join me on the run.  He didn't manage his fluid intake very well and had to pee for the entire first 8 miles.  He bailed from the porta-potty line when he saw me running up.  He later found an empty alley around mile 8.

Surprisingly, miles 7-11 were absolutely blissful.  I have no explanation for this but it felt like I was soaring down the road, feeling no pain, and for the first time actually enjoyed the running.  I was actually thinking "How hard can a full marathon be?"  That thought didn't last long.

Around 11.5 I had to stop to tie my shoe.  When I took off again, p-ting!  My left calf got the same tweak that put my training on schedule on hold twice.  I was thinking oh-man!  The last couple miles took more effort than I have put out for quite some time .. possibly ever.  It was hard, and I knew that if I stopped then I wouldn't be starting again.  It hurt, but I made it to the finish line and got my medal (~10 minutes ahead of D-
Salazar!)  My pace was around 10 minute miles.

My running days are officially behind me.  Many miles ahead on my bike!

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Half-Marathon Training Week 7

7 weeks in and I've done a tremendous amount of running ... too much running in fact.  One of my goals during this endeavor was not to injure myself.  I've been fortunate to only have dealt with usual soreness and two left calf strains.  Calf strains seem to pop up when I'm pushing the run uphill.

My longest run was 9.1 miles from my house down around Lake Accotink.  It was just a wee bit to far for me at the end of week 5.  There was a little walking at the end, but the hills are very demanding at the end of the run. My follow up 5 mile run was really aggressive and that's when the 2nd calf strain kicked in, 1/4 mile from finishing the run.  I rested 1.5 weeks and ran 4.4 the other day with fine success.

I'm having a hard time finding motivation to keep running.  I have been spending considerable time on the bike rollers as supplement training. However, there's very little I can take from biking to running.

At this point, almost 4 weeks from the event, I've decided I'll do my best at finishing the training .. but there's going to be a price to pay on race day.  The longest run I expect to achieve will be 10 miles. Thankfully, all my training has been hilly, and the race is dead flat.  I'm hoping that works to my benefit.

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Half-Marathon Training Week 1

This is the first official week of a 10 week training regiment for the half-marathon in late March.  Last night I completed the second run of the week, a short 3 mile loop through the community.  The first run was 3 miles 2 nights ago.  The first time was a slow 31 minute jaunt which was lowered to 29 1/2 last night.  Plus, last Saturday I went out for a 5 mile jaunt with D-Salazar around Burke Lake Park.

I've decided this is hard work.  Any single run isn't that big a deal, but repeated runs start wearing on ones commitment.  There are a lot more miles ahead and I'm sure hope it gets a bit easier.

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Run/Bike

Feeling good from my first new day at Guident, I took to the blacktop for a little running.  Next week is the official kick-off for the half-marathon training in late March.  I marched forward for about 3 miles last night, but was forced to walk a little with tightness in the right calf.  After getting home and feeling a little wimpy, I took to the recumbent for 25 minutes on level 5.

To my surprise, I can actually move around and get out of my chair just fine today!  An internal debate on whether to run again tonight is currently going on in my brain.

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