Being Social

I don’t have a lot of time for a lengthy post today (good news for you), so I’ll keep it short.  I totally forgot to mention our ride Tuesday night, and I’m not sure why.

Our local club here does a great job of building and maintaining trails, but we’ve been lacking in the social aspect of mountain biking.  Most cyclists I know like to ride in groups, and they definitely like to enjoy a few beers when it’s all over.  Trying to do my part, I started a small social ride at one of our local trails.

It’s taken off better than expected.

We have a regular group of guys now, and coincidentally most of them are part of the crew that’s helping to build “The Trail.”  It just kinda worked out that way.

Unlike most advertised “social” rides, this one is actually pretty social.  We do a lot more talking than riding.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy the ride though.  We do a nice, easy lap at first, then we ride the trail backwards at a much quicker pace.  Even though there are a few other social rides in town, this one is becoming quite popular.  We have a good group of riders that just want to ride their bikes and have fun.  We have even been going out afterwards for some good Mexican food and a few beers.

And of course, more socializing.

That’s what it’s all about.

And…I’m out.

Hey, that rhymed.

Rough And Rugged

I did learn something during the last Winter Short Track Race…

Riding a bike in its simplest form is pretty damn rad.

Super awesome photo credit today goes to CherylAnnePhotography

The second race of the day for me would be the debut of my fully rigid single speed bike, and it was fun as hell.  I was a little worried at first, but as it turns out I didn’t need to be.  I setup my Maxxis Ardent with a guestimated “ideal” tire pressure, and took off in the woods with the rest of the one-geared folks.  The first lap was a little interesting, since I had to get used to a little bouncing around in the corners due to a lack of front suspension.

It didn’t take long to forget about that squishy front end I used to have.

I felt faster and in much more control, and as you can see above I had no problems catching air either.  The smaller jump after the one pictured above was full of hecklers as usual, so I made sure to jump that one too.

I was having a shitload of fun.

My legs were tired from racing earlier, but I was having so much fun riding a rigid bike that I forgot about that for a while.  Plus, Good Guy Greg decided to join in on the fun and “race” with me, also on a rigid single speed.

Hopefully he doesn’t hate me for talking him into it.

I did okay out there, and I have to say that I enjoyed my second race much more than the first.  Towards the end though, I did have a small issue with my right hand falling asleep.  I’ll chalk that up to the death grip I had on the handlebars.  I know, I know, I shouldn’t do that, but I was still getting used to the small amount of bouncing around.

That will get better with time I suppose.

For now, I think I may have found a new way to torture myself.

I mean, a new way to have fun.

Learned My Lesson?

Sort of.

In my first race of the day, I was just as frustrated as ever.  You know, because people in the woods wouldn’t get the hell out of my way.

I let it get to me a lot during this particular race, and it put me in a foul mood.  It happened way more than usual for some reason too.  You see, being a big fella I get all my speed in the woods.  Gravity is my friend, and coupled with my awesome technical skills (ha) it’s where I can gain the most time out on the race course. 

It doesn’t really work though, because people blow by me on the fire road climbs and through the parking lot, and then they ride their brakes in the woods.  It kinda bugs me I guess.

Somewhere during the course of the race though, things changed.  I started having some sort of change of heart...feelings, if you will.  I figured that not everyone excels in the woods riding the fast berms and jumps, and just because I do doesn’t mean that they are bad people (or that I'm better than they are.)  They weren’t trying to hold me up on purpose I thought, so maybe I should take it easy on them.

I mean, it’s my own damn fault, right?

My weakness is obviously climbing, so maybe if I worked on that a little bit I wouldn’t have such a shitty race every week.  All it would take is a little hard work, and I would be so far ahead of everyone by the time we got to the woods that it wouldn’t matter.

That sounds like some serious shit.  Maybe I’ll just keep having fun.

Photo cred:  Lunchbox

One thing is for sure, I really need to stop complaining and do something about it. 

But, isn't that people have blogs?

Eat More Chicken

Something cool happened at the Winter Short Track Race yesterday…

Another “racer” took things a little less serious. 

Yup, that’s Lunchbox.  And yes, he was all dressed up like a fancy cow.

Tired of going up against tiny racer children didn’t frustrate him.  In fact, it inspired him.  Instead of wasting hours and hours of his free time “training”, he decided to have a little fun.  That kid has his own personality for sure, and he doesn’t really care what people think.  He marches to the beat of his own drum, so to speak.

Anyway, as I stood there chatting with former Washington Redskins and current Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs (his grandson was racing) I watched my big goofy kid take off into the woods.  He was having a lot more fun, and I really enjoyed heckling the six foot three inch cow riding by on a bicycle.

Just like his dad, he’s pretty quick in the woods.  You know, as quick as a cow can be.

  

And also like his dad, climbs are tougher.  But when you’re dressed like a cow, things are so much more fun.

I’m really proud of Lunchbox for getting out there and riding his bovine tail off.  He’s a great kids, and he just wants to have a little fun.  He got a lot of laughs and cheers, and it was so nice watching someone “race” without being so damn serious about it.

People could learn a lesson from him.

Including me.

More about that tomorrow.

I’ve Figured It Out

Next up is another race weekend.  While that may sound all fancy, it’s actually not a big deal.  I’ve relegated the Winter Series to just a setp in the right direction for my “training.”  Two races at a time for the five day series seems to be a good platform to jump off of for the rest of the season.  If I can build on it, I just might get somewhere this year.

As you know, in addition to my “normal” race in the Clydesdale category, I’ll be running with the one-geared animals in the fully stacked single speed class.  It hurts like hell, and sometimes I wonder how I even manage to finish.  I’ve upped the ante a little bit by throwing a rigid fork in the SS bike, and I’m really looking forward to it.  I’ll probably bust my ass several times while I learn to handle a bike without suspension, and actually I’m looking forward to that too.

This shit is supposed to hurt, right?

Trail building is also on the menu for the weekend.  We’re hoping to get back out on The Trail to flag a new section, and hopefully we won’t have to undo any shoddy work.  I’ll be sure to report back here if we have any “encounters.”

In other news, in an effort to take things a little more seriously, I’ve taken a look at my current road bike setup.  The size of my bike is spot on, but I’ve had some issues with the cockpit.  Too stretched out, not enough width on the bars, and a host of other fit-related issues.  It’s time I take care of this so I that I might actually enjoy riding on the road.

Don’t worry, I don’t plan to become a dirt roadie.  That’s just stupid.

Lastly, I forgot to mention that I’ve rustled up some nutritional support again this season.  Honey Stinger has thrown their love my way just like last year (even though I talked a little shit about the guy on the packages a couple of times.)  Honey Stinger worked pretty well for me last season, and I’m glad they’re down with me once again.

I have enough to last me for a little while.

Yeah, that will be gone by Monday. 

Don’t worry though, I’ll be back.

Now it’s time for me to make like horse shit and hit the trail.

If You Build It...

Some fucker will come along and try to make it easier.  This is a problem on pretty much every mountain bike trail in existence:  difficult features are bypassed by inexperienced riders.  Instead of taking the time to learn how to ride a little bit better, they make go arounds and completely screw up the intended flow of the trail.  It happens everywhere, including “The Trail.”

When we were out working on Sunday, we noticed something odd.  We had stopped working on a rock garden the last time we were there, and this time we found several lines around it that we didn’t remember cutting.  The new lines were cut in quite shitty I might add, so I knew we didn’t do it.  We spent a few minutes “erasing” what the perpetrators had hastily built, and finally got a chance to complete the Three Headed Monster (there are three options at this point.)  It came out quite nice, and it’s sure to be challenging.

This is at the end of a long downhill, and your reward is a gauntlet of rocks.  None of it is too difficult though (to an experienced rider), so we couldn’t understand why someone would route the trail completely around it.  It’s part of the reason we’re building shit out there in the first place:  to kick your ass.

We decided to take a walk on the rest of the trail, and we found a few more (smaller) go arounds and even some strategically placed rocks that didn’t belong.  We spent a good while removing shit from the trail, and the more we did the more it pissed us off. 

It’s really dumb.  I mean, why would you make a go around for some tiny little roots between a couple of trees?

The logs to the left were put in place by us to let the guilty party know that their shortcut isn’t welcome.

Unless you know me or the rest of the crew that’s working out there, then you don’t know where this place is.  It’s not that we don’t want to share.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  We’d like to get a good amount of trail in first before we disclose the location.  However, it’s not too difficult to find if you look in the right place, and I’m sure that’s what happened in this case.  Overall, The Trail isn’t that hard to ride.  I mean, we have lots of smooth, fast sections.

After we finished undoing the stupid shit, we got busy.  We cut in a really large climb that will eventually lead to a really fun downhill again, and we took extra care to make sure we added some more difficult shit.  We spent several hours out there, and eventually reached the end of the line.

I went back out on Tuesday to see if anyone else had been there and I was pleased that they hadn’t.  We’re busting our collective asses to make an all-weather, fun (read:  difficult) singletrack sanctuary.  It won’t be for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.

If you can’t ride it, then you should practice.  If you’re not willing to work on your skills, then you don’t belong there.  That goes for any trail.

I have no problem falling on my ass out there until I can ride the whole thing.

Bring The Pain

I’m finally giving this a shot:

Yeah.

Monday evening I installed my rigid fork again on the single speed, and this time I plan on keeping it there for a while.  It didn’t work out so well before, but that’s because I didn’t really give it a chance.  I had a tire on the front that didn’t do well with lower pressures, but I may have solved that issue by putting on a Maxxis Ardent.  From what I hear, it’s the go to tire for rigid setups. 

It’s a big, beefy tire, and I couldn’t wait to try it out.  It just so happens that last night was our weekly night ride so I brought it along for some testing.  I didn’t get to ride right away because when I got there I realized that I didn’t bring all the lights with me (required for night riding, you know.)  So, I split up the lights I had between Lunchbox and Little Miss Sunshine, left them with the group, and made the trek back to my house to get the rest of my forgotten night riding accessories.

Dumbass.

When I got back, the group had just finished one lap.  I was ready to ride, and people were laughing about the pain I was gonna feel without any suspension.  I thought it was funny, especially since Good Guy Greg was also running a rigid fork.  He didn’t’ seem to mind it, but’s also running a carbon fork.  Mine isn’t so fancy.

I took off in the intermediate group, riding the trail backwards.  It was a little odd a first, because I felt every single bump.  It threw me off course quite a bit until I got the hang of it.  I don’t remember where I had the tire pressure, but I ended up taking a bit of air out when we stopped.  That seemed to to do the trick, because the rest of the ride was pretty awesome.  I had more control, and I could actually feel everything that the bike was doing underneath me.  I made “on the fly” adjustments really easy, and I felt faster because of it. 

It even felt great on rocky, rooty downhills.

I dig it.

My wrists and hands were a little sore, but I’ll get used to that.  Will I convert my other bike to rigid?  Hell no.  I do like having suspension, and this little test ride was to see if I could handle the bike enough to be ready to race it this weekend.  I think it will be fun.  Who knows, maybe I’ll keep the single speed setup without suspension.

Hey, it could happen.

In other news, I hit the beer jackpot yesterday before the ride (probably explains why I forgot the lights for my night ride.)  I found a local spot close to the house that has every kind of beer I could imagine (I can imagine a lot of beer though.)  More about that at a later date, but I thought I should at least share my find here.

That will dull the pain for a little while.