Capital Idea to Purcellville (200m shy)

I set out for a long bike ride last night after work.  Not sure why I thought this was such a "capital idea", but the thought of going 70 miles was appealing to me.  I thought I could make it so I set 2 hours as my limit for riding west.  I started about 5:30pm and wouldn't you know it, 2 hours later I found myself out in Purcellville 35 miles from the car.  At this point I ate some peanut butter and jelly crackers and decided to head east.

What I didn't know is that I was only 200 meters from the Trails End!  That's where the W&OD trail comes to an end at the Trails End Bike Store, go figure.

So heading east was getting a little chilly.  I was hoping for warmer weather but didn't have too many options.  However, one option I did opt for was heading into 7-11 off Dry Mill in Leesburg.  A kiobasa on a roll and hot chocolate for everybody!  Wow that really hit the spot.  Then heading east again I was wondering to myself why this was a good idea, along with not being able to get that "Over You" song by Miranda Lambert out of my head.

The further east I got, the warmer it was so the climate was just perfect for riding.  Wind was at a minimum, trail was all mine, and it was quite peaceful cruising in the dark with the only illumination the bike light and stars.  I did have to watch out for the Easter Bunnies who were making an early appearance, plus all the fox, deer, and other rodents scurrying around the trail.

Somewhere outside of Ashburn I decided that I'd try for my first lifeline.  Unfortunately, Michelle didn't answer and as it turned out she wasn't playing racquetball at Worldgate in Herndon, but was already home on the couch.  Great, capital idea and I was going to be seeing this through to the end.  The ride was pretty nice in hindsight, but all the long rides are somewhat mentally tough.  

4 hours and 20 minutes later I returned to the car while logging 71 miles.  Here's the Garmin trip data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/162955425

Surprisingly, I got up early today and feel just fine ... albeit a little hungry.

Read more »

5-0 on the W&OD

Obviously more training is required if I get a little weary from a slow 2 hr 40 min ride down the CCT with P Binning.  So to toughen up I set out Wednesday March 25 for a 5-0 ride out the W&OD trail.  Weather was great, trail wasn't too busy, and I was ready to go.

After work, I parked at the Gallows Road and W&OD intersection and rode 25 miles west, then turned around and rode 25.1 miles back.  You figure that one out.  I pushed it a bit on the way out trying to keep over >20 miles hour.  At the turn around, I was averaging almost that.  The ride back was a little slower but not much. In the end, 2 hours and 38 minutes for 5-0 miles with the final average of 18.9 miles/hour.

Just over 2 months from now will be another ridiculously hard 100 mile mountain bike race through the Mohican State Forest in Ohio.  There's got to be some harder riding between now and then.

Many miles ahead.

Read more »

Biking to Work

Many of you know that I recently joined Gannett as a web development manager for USAToday.com.  This facility, the people and the work are all a welcome change from the federal space.  But the biggest difference has been the commute.

I've been riding my Specialized FSR Comp 29'er to work on most days.  This includes when it's cold (which it has been since November) and when it rains/snows (only once so far).  The ride is almost 11 miles one way which takes me on a lot sidewalks, a little trail, lots of residential and few heavily traveled roads.  Here's the route.
Let me tell you something you already know, traffic in this area sucks.  On the few occasions I have driven, the commute takes about 40 minutes.  It has taken 2 hours.  Once it took 12 minutes but that was leaving the office at 3:30AM.

Biking to work takes about about 50 minutes, rain or shine, day or night.  There is never a traffic jam, road closure, accident, or other impediment.  A quick shower, change of clothes and 2 cups of free orange juice at the gym and I'm at my desk.

Top 10 Reasons I Love Biking to Work 1. I now love commuting. 2. When I fart I don't smell it. 3. I can spam my friends with commuting stories. 4. I enjoy looking at the RT66 parking lot. 5. I hang my sweaty stinky clothes in someone else's cube. 6. I'm always first at the traffic light, always. 7. Exercise exercise exercise. 8. I don't have to shower after getting out of bed. 9. Going green. 10. Increase the benefit-to-cost ratio of my mountain bike.

 So by now you've got to be thinking "Why am I not riding my bike to work?" My suggestion is to detour your way over to the bike store and either tune up that piece of rust from the basement or buy a new one.  Personally, I've lost 6-7 pounds and am flirting with losing my Clydesdale label (200+ lbs).  Riding heals all.

Read more »

C&O Canal Century

I'm not sure what got into me this year with all this biking.  Over 1,300 miles logged while sitting on the saddle for more than 116 hours.  Some of the riding was incredibly hard, like the Wilderness 101 and Mountains of Misery, while other rides weren't as difficult.  This C&O Canal ride was my 6th century ride of the year.  I had a target of 6 centuries this year so I'm happy with the effort.

The C&O Canal Towpath runs from DC to Cumberland Gap, ~183 miles.  The full length of the trail from Cumberland Gap is on my 2012 Spring list, but for now myself and Derrick limited the ride to a round-trip from Great Falls to Harper's Ferry.  Derrick is a fellow dad from Cub Scouts and I was lucky to have bridged the conversation with him about this ride.  He's wanted to do it for some time as well.  His longest previous ride was ~60 miles, so he was definitely about to be tested.

We got on the trail around 7am and it was darn cold, 34 degrees to be exact.  The first few miles were a chilly and foggy affair.  We had crystals forming on us for the first several miles.  Let's see how we were doing after 6.5 miles.

The trail itself was in fine shape.  It had rained a lot the previous few days so we did have to deal with a lot of mud.  Later in the ride it was getting somewhat demoralizing to get your speed up and then get slogged in a mud bath and lose all your momentum.  There was an over-abundance of sticks on the trail as well.  I got a flat around 20 miles in and changing the tube was a little difficult as I was frozen in the riding position.

Here are two videos of landmarks on the way up.  White's Ferry and Point of Rocks.  

Brunswick is 5.5 miles from Harper's Ferry.  At this point we were feeling good and much warmer.  The day warmed up nicely to the upper 60's, maybe 70.  We stopped for a quick bite, er, longer bite as both of us didn't mind the rest.

The trail itself is not the most scenic adventure.  The water keeps it interesting with the Potomac on one side and the canal on the other.  Not many people out on the canal at this time, but it started to get more populated with the warmer weather.  Neither of us wanted to feel the cold again and we had a long ways to go before nightfall.

We rolled into Harper's Ferry in about 4.5 hours (I think).  I've read on different blogs that although the canal is uphill going North, it's not real noticeable.  I'm here to tell you that's a bunch of garbage.  It's definitely uphill and much more effort than riding South.  The town hasn't changed much since I was canoeing there as a kid.  I still remember "Big Rock" where you could body surf down the river.  The first video has a shot of the rock cliffs that I highly recommend you hike up on the trail when visiting.  A great look at the town can be seen from up there.

Here's a scene that's getting to be more common.  Filming a clip laid out on my back.  At this point in the ride we were both pretty spent.  I think it was about 75 miles in with 20 miles to go.  I'm laying on the same bridge where I changed my flat tire on the way up.

Finishing is always sweet but it's always hard.  We rode about 30 minutes in the dark and it got cold again when the sun went down.  Slugging out those final miles was a chore and I kept focused on the leftover Thanksgiving hot meal that was waiting for me at home.  Funny how at the end of these big rides I'm always thinking about food. 

Ride stats: 8hrs 15 min's riding.  10.5 hours duration.  95 miles. 7,432 calories burned.

Read more »

CCT to Occoquan

The Cross County Trail (CCT) extends from Occoquan Regional Park all the way to Great Falls Virginia.  I've been wanting to ride it from one end to the other for quite some time now.  And what better time to do it than when one is unemployed?

The CCT is part paved, part gravel, part shared road throughout the county.  This ride made me feel like I was in the Shenandoah given that the trail runs along a stream with high embankments on both sides.  It feels like a remote ravine.  A movie sorta comes to mind, something about "He got a real pretty mouth, there."

This past week I studied the CCT trail map and set out to what turned out to be multiple attempts.  I originally tried this on Sept 15 and got lost in Springfield.  My next attempt was last Tuesday which ended up being a 26.5 mile loop where I goofed at the CCT/Rolling Road interchange.  I followed up that attempt on Wednesday with a 28.5 mile loop where I made it further but missed the Pohick Road turn.  Thanks to Danimal for being his computer that day to tell me how to get home.

On one of the trips back along the trail I experienced a first with deer.  I've seen a ton of deer while riding around the county, but this was my first buck!

I took a couple days off to clear the cobwebs, re-energize and psyche up for another attempt.  This attempt was "mostly" successful, albeit a little off and another call to Danimal.  I made it to Occoquan Regional Park in about 1 hour 45 minutes.  Ride was almost 38 miles in 3.5 hours.

It's still a very confusing trail to follow as it's not adequately marked.  The trail down in Lorton goes right by the old prison, which is a very dismal place.  Clint's movie "Alcatraz" comes to mind.  Best line ever, "A man's got to know his limitations."

Here's the video of me rolling into the park.  This gets abruptly cut off since the battery wasn't charged.

I'm planning on riding the length again this week to catch the part of the CCT that I missed earlier.  Then the plan will be to take the CCT in the opposite direction and see if I can make it to Great Falls. I've tried that Difficult Run section before and got lost ... can't wait to do it again.

Garmin recap: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/129453635

Read more »

Seagull Century 2011

The 2011 Seagull Century will forever be known to me as the ride of Danimal's life.  Let's back up to October 2010 for a moment to explain why Danimal rode this ride.  We're both 40-something and trying to hold on to younger days by pushing ourselves to crazy extremes.  Danny with the marathon's, myself with the centuries. So we made a deal, I run a half-marathon and Danny rides a century.

I ran the Suntrust half-marathon earlier this year and followed a 10 week training program to make sure I had a good experience.  Danimal did an admirable job in training for the century by going on 3 bike rides around Burke Lake and getting in a few hours on the recumbent while watching football games.

Perhaps the best part of rides is the camping the night before.  We stayed at Woodlawn Campground in Salisbury.  Beautiful, clear and crisp night that we spent a good portion of shopping on Craiglist for a pop-up camper.  Here's a few videos of the evening.

Our Campsite

Danimal was legitimately worried the night before the race about the effort he was about to put forth.  He may have been feeling better when we arrived at the start because how could he be the only one out of almost 9,000 riders to not make the finish.  Here's a shot of the starting line:

And we're off with a strong 17mph pace!  Danimal couldn't keep a 17mph for 2 minutes down at the beach last year in August.  I'm thinking;

1. Danny is insane.
2. How is Danny going to finish?
3. Who's going to drive him to the finish line?
4. Confucious say, "Man who climb mountain too fast, not reach top".

Mile 1	Mile 6
Mile 11	Mile 20 - Aid Station #1

Miles 20 through 40 were not overly difficult, but there was a windy difficult stretch of a few miles before Aid Station #2 around mile 40.  This was just a taste of the 40mph wind gusts that we would feel later in the race, along with the constant head wind that would soon take a miserable toll on me. Mile 50 and Danimal is still setting a blistering pace.  I'm thinking that it was a really good idea he got slick high-pressure tires on his bike.  I was riding my huge 29x2.2" knobby's at around 45psi.  This turned out to make the ride much more difficult than it needed to be. If you listen to the riding videos closely, you can hear a low humming noise.  Those are my tires on the pavement.  Listen to the mile 6 video above for a great example.   Danny's previous max distance was 26 miles that we rode twice at the beach this past August.  Amazing how strong he looked at mile 50 and beyond.  Danny, how do you do it?  And in his own words, "I'm quite a specimen."

Mile 40 Mile 50

We cruised into mile 60 at the Assateague Island Aid Station #3 with a little fatigue setting in.  The wind was just ridiculous as you can hear from the videos.  It was a cross-wind at this point and it makes we wonder why no one was sent flying into the water.  There were a few horses out feeding and I'm always amazed at how much attention a few ponies can get.  Did I mention the wind?

At Mile 60 I was thinking that Danimal was going to start getting tired and that interesting times were ahead of us.  I had no idea that he was going to be the one chugging along strongly and I was going to be feeling the pain in the quads.  As a matter of fact, my quads were about to start screaming at me for taking my mountain bike on this ride.  My road bike would have been significantly easier and then perhaps I could have laughed at Danimal more.  As it turns out, too much effort went into the riding and not enough heckling Danimal.

Riding to mile 80 and the apple pie was a challenge for the both of us.  Coming out of Assateague we had a little scare with Danimal's hamstring as it tightened a bit.  He rode through it and I bet he rode through a lot more that he didn't bother to mention.  At least he didn't ride into a mailbox like some bone-headed guy, or get tossed to the pavement like a few other riders.  I was surprised by the number of riders getting flat tires.  That would be the ONLY benefit to riding 29x2.2" tires on this ride.

Let's just say that I was pretty spent at this point in the ride.  My quads were absolutely screaming at me and there wasn't much I could say to them, outside of "sorry".  Perhaps what kept me going was preventing the irony of Danimal finishing the ride without me.  Again, here's the mental toughness that comes into play on these rides.  They are all hard and have different challenges .. some you can predict and some you can't.

Danimal appeared to simply cruise to the finish line.  We were able to draft a little bit during the final few miles and at least I benefited from it.  Danimal kept looking like he was just riding around Burke Lake for another 5 mile practice ride.

I could not have been happier reaching the finish line at this point.  You can hear the fatigue in my voice in the video.  Danimal continues to chug along with no recognition of the physical toll that he just put out. All kudos to Danimal for making this ride.  In the two days after the ride, he has felt no knee pain whatsoever.  Even indicating that it feels better than it did before the ride! I hope that he remembers the therapeutic benefits of riding a bike and decides to go on future rides.  The simulated 40 mile hill with the wind from Assateague is a good indication that he's ready for more difficult events. Great job, Danimal !!!! Ride time: 7 hrs 9 min's.

Read more »

Reddish Knob - Up We Go!

Reddish Knob 

It's been a incredible birthday weekend this year.  Started out with a family trip to Cox Farms on Friday, then our 20-something JMU reunion on Saturday, followed by a great ride up Reddish Knob on Sunday.  RK is the second highest point in VA, standing a tall 4,397 feet.  I haven't been up there since my college party days.  This ride has always been on my bucket list and this was a perfect weekend to ride.  It's also a pre-ride check for the SMT 100 that I may ride next year.

I parked at Hone Quarry which is 6.7 miles from the top (~ the first yellow section below).  The ride would go up the service road and then take Timber Ridge/Wolf Ridge single-track down the mountain.  Tilghman Road to Briery Branch Road would circle me back to the car.

Elevation Profile

Jay Taylor, why didn't you bring your bike to the reunion?  Oh yea, because this climb would have kicked your flat-terrain-loving Rehoboth Beach soft-self back to the ocean.  Here's the pre-ride video.

The problem with starting on a hill is that you immediately go up it.  No warm-up and the legs and heart feel it quickly.  30 minutes into the ride was much more enjoyable once the muscles got greased.

Timber Ridge starts out very technical.  There's an immediate hike-a-bike over rocks that I would really like to see someone ride over.  I'm sure some guys do, but not me.  My intention is to get down the mountain in one piece.  The trail rolls up and down for a little while before starting the larger descents.  The absolute best part of the ride is lower Wolf Ridge where the rocks disappear.  This is smooth rolling while zig-zagging around trees and no pedaling.  Just a real joy of a downhill through the woods.  This part of the trail makes the climb totally worth it.

Back at the car I was feeling a little surprised at how easy of ride this turned out to be.  3 hours total without pushing it hard.  I thought about taking a leap from the reservoir tower but common sense kept me in the parking lot.  This was a fantastic ride and I'd recommend it to all mountain bikers.

Read more »

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

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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!

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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!!!

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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.

Read more »