Mountain Bike Addict

NCT Bikepacking trip 2 - Williamsburg to Mackinaw City

2010-05-20T10:44:00.024-04:00

My second bikepacking trip took place this past weekend. This time I rode with my teammate Chad. The plan was to ride the dirt roads from his house in Williamsburg over to Kalkaska, then catch the North Country Trail. We would ride up to Mackinaw City over the course of 2 days, then ride the Gaylord to Mackinaw Rail-Trail and some roads back to Williamsburg on day 3.

Starting at Chad's house in Williamsburg. I believe we were rolling by a quarter to six.

Ahh snake ahh snake! Snaaake ahh snaaaake, oooh its a snake! Seen somewhere north of Starvation Lake.

We had lots 'o singletrack between Pickeral Lake and Alba. In Alba we stopped at a gas station to "refuel" on soda pop and sugary treats. Then we had a lengthy road section through the Jordan River valley, to bypass a section which was closed to bikes. Just north of the Jordan River valley, the singletrack picked up again.

A nice overlook in the quite hilly section south of Boyne Falls.

A road crossing, a stretch of rolling forest road, and finally a brief road section took us to the Slashing Road trailhead, and some sweet singletrack. Here we played a little leap-frog with the camera to get some action shots.

Which took us to "Chandler Hill". One of the benefits of being the guy with the camera: it's your riding partner that is photographed walking up the hills. Rest assured that I was walking also.
The downhill that followed was oh-so-sweet though!

We rolled some more nice singletrack, including this nice section along a field. Emerging from the trail, we had a road-ride into Petoskey...

where after a pizza supper, we set up camp at the Petoskey State Park.

After an oatmeal (followed by Burger King) breakfast, we rode a railroad grade up through Conway to the Kipp Road trailhead. Many miles of nice singletrack, and a couple of big climbs followed. I actually rode the entire rooted climb from the Kipp Road trailhead.

The landscape gradually changed to sandy "dune" type topography, including some impossibly steep hills. Nice overlooks though!

A short 1/8 mile jaunt over to Lake Michigan for a photo-op, then it was into Wilderness State Park. Short grunt climbs, and technical riding greeted us here. My confidence was shaken, but Chad handled the situation with aplomb. He was nice enough to wait for me to catch up after my backwards tumble on a hill though.

In the park, we came to the "Red Pine Trail", which the NCT was routed along. This trail was closed to bikes, but not knowing the trail system in the park presented a challenge to routing around this. We elected to walk the one mile trail section pushing our bikes. This also gave us a nice change of pace from the pedaling.

After leaving the state park, we had some nice trail along the shore of French Farm Lake. I particularly loved this section, with it's moderate rolling hills and flowing singletrack.

Towards the end of this section, there was the biggest dam tree I've ever seen a beaver have a go at. It looked like he got halfway done, gave up, and eventually the tree succumbed to wind. I have no clue how the dam beaver thought he was going to drag the tree away!

As we took the snowmobile trail into Mackinaw City, I wanted to get a closer look at the windmills. My riding partner Sanch Panza wouldn't let me though.

We rode through town for an obligatory photo-op in front of the bridge. Then it was fish-n-chips and Oberon at the Dixie Saloon to celebrate our accomplishment. Camp for day 2 was a few miles out of town at the Mill Creek Campground, were we also got to take much deserved showers.

We rolled out in the morning down the Midland to Mackinaw rail-trail, stopping for Burger King in Cheboygan.

Until Gaylord, where some "Random" Road took us on our way to a Chinese food buffet.

Full from lunch, we headed down the eastern shore of Otsego Lake. I had to stop and get a photo of this place, with it's earthen roof and wind turbine.

Paved roads, a big hill on the southern end of Otsego Lake, many smaller hills, an ice cream stop in Mancelona, more road, through Kalkaska, and onto the dirt roads between Kalkaska and Williamsburg...

Until we reached Chad's house.

A very successful trip. Some big days on the bike: day 1 was just over 110 miles and day 3 was 128 miles. We totalled just under 30 hours of saddle time. Needless to say that my butt was glad to be off the bike.

Until the next adventure...

NCT Bikepacking Trip 1 - White Cloud to Kalkaska

2010-05-19T19:09:00.017-04:00

Late March, I got together with my High Country Pathway riding pals Dan and Jeff. The plan was to ride the North Country Trail from the M-20 trailhead near White Cloud up to Mackinaw City, over the course of 5 days.

Ready to roll from the trailhead near White Cloud.

At Nichols Lake.

I broke my rack shortly before climbing up into Udell Hills. The rack finished the day flipped upside down and facing forward. The trunk bag finished the day strapped to my backpack.

Day 1 ended in Wellston. Dan bailed out at this point, as he had started the ride with a cold, and had a nasty crash coming down out of Udell Hills.
Due to sub-freezing temperatures, Jeff and I elected to spend the night at the Black Bear Inn. This allowed us the luxury of a shower and the chance to dry our gear.
With Dan bailing out, I was able to borrow his rack (he had the same one as me), so I could continue my ride.

After a bit of a road ride to bypass a section which is closed to bikes, we hit Dilling Road and "Section A". This section is marked with big ravines, and miles of bench cut trail along the hillside.
Jeff had me backtrack a bit to get this action shot.

Overlooking the Manistee River - Section A.

A large ravine in Section A - I believe this may be Sweets Ravine.

Because the "new" reroute north of Beers Road is closed to bikes, we took the old trail. Here we found what we believe to be Noah's Ark, awaiting restoration.

We took a "couple mile", according to Jeff, detour into Buckley to top off our water supply. Coca Cola and a Snickers bar were also consumed... better than any 4-Star gourmet restaurant!
After the detour, we rode a few miles of trail East of M-37, which took us to the Manistee River again.

The trail rolled down to river level, and then back up, then back down to river level, then back up...

'till we reached Highbanks Rollaway. During the heyday of the logging industry, it was high atop this bluff is where many logs were rolled down to the river.

After a brief stop at Highbanks, we rolled (walked) the big hills until we reached Baxter (Bastard) Bridge. A short road ride followed, then it was back into the woods where we set up camp along a small creek.

Day 3 had us stumbling upon some railroad cars that someone was nice enough to park across the trail...

which led to an impromptu "rail-trail" ride/hike.

We had long stretches of bumpy trail, punctuated with long stretches of sandy snowmobile trails, and a few hills. It was on one of these downhills near Fife Lake where it happened. I was coming around a loose corner, the bike got a little squirrely, I put my right foot out to "tripod" the corner, and felt a bit of a twinge in my knee.
Riding didn't feel too horrible to start, but as the day went on my knee gradually felt worse. We rolled through Schlecks campground, up (walking) some hills, through the fast Muncie Lakes Pathway, until we came to Supply Road. Here I decided that my knee had enough, and I got road directions from Jeff.
Painfully I rode the roads, until I got to Jeff's place in Kalkaska. Here I decided to cut my trip short after 3 days.

NCT, you have beaten me... but I'll be back!

A Different Side of Stony

2010-05-01T17:46:00.011-04:00

Today I traded my bike and helmet for boots and a camera, and headed out to an area of Stony I don't normally frequent.

Gettin' Crafty

2009-12-23T10:36:00.003-05:00

For Christmas this year, my mom came up with a novel idea. Each family member (my sis and her husband, mom and dad, and Brandy and I) would draw names for our Christmas gift exchange. The rules were simple: a $20 limit, and the gift had to be homemade.

I've actually been having a lot of fun with this, and it has also led to some homemade gifts for Brandy's (non)birthday present and a Christmas gift for her. It's always fun to learn new skills.

I can't spell out any details yet, since the family members both Brandy and I have are readers of this Blog. Look for photos of the final products to appear after Christmas.

Scenes From a Ride

2009-12-16T08:59:00.024-05:00

Heading out past the Vlasic pickle factory.

Scenery for a good chunk of the ride.

BFE = Farm Country

Happy to be riding.

Welcome to Lum..... don't blink!

Polly Ann Trail - this remains unimproved through Lapeer County.

Mom and Pop Christian???

Nice lake

An old wildlife conservacy. Unfortunately the sign ceased to be legible long ago.

Hey you... yes you... what are you hiding behind that big fancy gate with the high tech card reader and camera... you do realize that you are in the heart of BFE and the crime rate is low... please tell us... what are you hiding... Hoffa... Amelia Earhart... my mismated socks... please tell us what lurks behind that beefy gate...

Welcome to Kings Mill... don't blink... even on a bicycle...

Riding up the infamous "5-Nut Hill".

About ready to crest...

No Hunting Emu???

Deer Check Station closed. Can I at least check my Emu here?

Another pretty lake in the Lapeer State Game Area.

R.I.P John Smith

The flowers were nestled all snug in their bed.

Reflections

2009-11-12T08:23:00.005-05:00

For all intents and purposes, the 2009 racing season came to an end with Iceman. There is one more cyclocross race that I may participate in, provided that I don't get too fat and out of shape with a week at deer camp. It's now time to look back on my racing: what went well and what I can do better. Hopefully I can use this to make 2010 a much more successful racing season.

The Good

I raced in, and completed, my second Lumberjack 100. Being too stupid/stubborn to know when to quit is paying off. Even with mild cramping setting in around mile 40, I was able to get back on my nutrition plan, fend off the cramps, and push on through the pain.

This fall marked my first crack at cyclocross racing. I was able to jump right into the "B" group and not embarress myself (solid mid-pack). This was with an obvious lack of cyclocross specific skills (mounts and dismounts in particular).

Even though I didn't do a lot of racing, the ones I did do I was excited to do. Starting line stress was about perfect (not too laid back and not to antsy).

My starts have improved. In the past, I have been a slow starter, relying on my ability to pick off competitors through the course of the race. This year I made it a point to go out hard, but at a sustainable level, right from the start.

Pacing continues to be a strong point. My splits at Big M were quite consistant, with my last lap being a faster one. Upon review of my GPS data from the Maybury cyclocross I noted that my later laps were also amongst my faster ones.

The Not So Good

During much of the season, I just didn't feel like racing. I backed out on a few races when conditions looked like they would be dodgy (rain & mud). Other times I just didn't have the desire to race.

I effectively turned myself into a diesel this year. Early on I didn't do much for interval training or riding at threshold. This showed later in the season when I didn't have the top-end power to hang with the pack.

My cyclocross skills need much work. I would lose time on the barriers and run-ups. A few times my barrier attempts were "less than graceful", bouncing the bike off of the barrier tops for example. I also need to learn to shoulder my bike.

Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. From not properly hydrating leading up to the event (Big M), not fueling properly and bonking at the end (Michigan Bike Festival), to not following my fuel/hydration routine early in the race (not taking my electrolytes during lap 1 at Lumberjack). I made more stupid errors than I cared for.

There you have it, my racing season in a nutshell. All-in-all I'd give myself a "C" grade. I had some successes, but I know I could've done better with a little more focus.

The Niceman Cometh

2009-11-10T09:21:00.007-05:00

This past Saturday marked the 20th running of the Iceman Cometh MTB race, a point-to-point race from Kalkaska to Traverse City. Friday morning Brandy and I drove up to Traverse City; this would be my 3rd time doing the race. Based on my 7th place finish, I set the lofty goal of a podium (top 5) finish for this year.

Due to a SNAFU with registration, the number of participants was in excess of 4000. The race is generally capped at 2500 entries. Because of this, the start was moved from the Kalkaska middle school to downtown, giving an extra mile and a half or so.

After dropping Brandy off at the hotel, I met up with my teammates to pre-ride the finish of the course. We rode out to Anita's Hill, and rode the course back. The finish was a bit different this year, with the last big hill being closer to the finish than last year. Also there was some added wider singletrack snaking through the finish area. Word on the street was that the course was about 2 miles longer total than last year.

Friday night we had a great pre-race dinner with the team. Lots of pasta was eaten, and stories were told.

Saturday morning I did my warm-up, and secured a spot along the front row of the Mens 39 and under Singlespeed. With the added entries, our wave size was nearly doubled: 81 total finishers.
On the go, we rolled out. We were spinning along the opening road section hitting speeds around 23-25mph. My 65 gear-inches felt good here, and I settled in at the rear-center of the lead pack (just over a dozen of us).
When we passed by the school and reached the trail, the big dogs cracked open the throttle and the front chunk of the group pulled away. I found myself at the tail of a four man line. For the first few miles I would chase them, occasionally falling off when I had to pass stragglers from the previous wave, but quickly catching up. In the first singletrack, about 5 miles in, one of the other singlespeeders got tangled up with a Sport/Expert Clyde (previous wave). I jumped on this opportunity to get around him. A bit later, I think it was near the "Steve's Secret" section, I passed one of the other Singlespeeders. Once again I was able to ride up the singletrack climbs in "Steve's Secret". The Sport/Expert Clydes all had geared bikes, and they were crawling up in granny gear. But, I grunted it out, and passed when I had the opportunity.

I basically rode the last 19 miles solo. Shortly before Anita's Hill, the top 2 guys in the 40+ Singlespeed wave (which started 10 minutes after me) passed. I ramped it up and paced them for about a mile, until we hit Anita's Hill. Here they pulled away, and I was once again without anyone to pace me.

I rolled into the finish at 1:57:20, and I found out later that I placed 11th. Not the result I had hoped for, but with the longer course it seemed most people's times were longer (the top Pro finishers were about 5 minutes slower than last year). During most of the race, I could feel my lack of top-end training. Note to self: do more intervals and threshold rides next season.

The afternoon was spent hanging out at the team tent, drinking beers and watching people finish. The expressions on the Beginners' faces were quite varied: some looked like they were done 15 miles ago, some looked ready to puke, but there were a lot of smiles.

A few special shout-outs:

Thanks to Jackie and Jay, Noelle and others for setting up the campsite and BBQ for after the race, along with prepping the team dinner.

John Osgood - smoking it with an hour and 49, for a 9th place finish in Expert 30-34.

Chad Schut - racing in his 20th Iceman. Yes, that's correct, he's done every single Iceman.

Todd Shorkey - came within one second of a personal best.

2009-10-13T14:57:00.008-04:00

Since I went for pretty much the whole summer without any posting, I felt that I owed it to both my readers to say what I've been up to:

The big news - On July 20, I was laid off. Another casualty of the downturn in the automotive industry. On the bright side, I had a month to spend with Brandy before she went back to work. I've been using the time to get caught up on projects, try to find other employment (jobs in Engineering are hard to come by these days), and of course riding a lot.

Lumberjack 100 came and went: I finished in just over 9 hours, shaving 18 minutes off my time from last year. My placing was 12th in the Singlespeed class. Overall I don't think I ran as solid as a race this year. Some inattention to my electrolytes had me showing some mild cramps about 40 miles in. By eating a couple bananas I was able to knock the cramps back... unfortunately the damage had been done and I was lacking any climbing power for the second half of the race.

PALM followed immediately on the heels of Lumberjack, as in Lumberjack was on June 20, and we started pedaling on PALM on June 21. This led to some logistical "fun" for me. On the 20th, Brandy and her brother Rocky took bikes and gear to the endpoint for PALM, and took the bus over to the start. This was consistant with what we typically do for PALM. I did Lumberjack, and afterwards drove myself and my friend Jon down to the start of PALM. Thankfully PALM started this year in Whitehall, which was just over an hour from Lumberjack.
Brandy and I rode our separate bikes for this, as she wanted to prove to herself that she could do the whole week (with not much training I might add). Also, last year we found that on the tandem, we'd quickly pull away from Rocky.
PALM also happened to be on the hottest week of the summer, with temperatures in the low-mid 90s.

I haven't been doing much racing this year. My races so far consist of one Lake Orion spring race, the adventure race, Lumberjack, Big M, the race at the Michigan Bike Festival, Pain Haven, and the Ithaca GP of Cyclocross.
At Big M, I pretty much came out flat. I think for that race I was not fully hydrated at the start. I decided to race against the expert gearies in my age group, finishing 7th of 9. The good news was that I got faster as the race went on.
The race at the Michigan Bike Festival was unique, utilizing the ski trails at Hartwick Pines, singletrack at Hanson Hills, and roughly 9 miles of bike path connecting them. I basically ran out of gas with less than a mile left (next time I need to listen to TMB and eat more than a Clif bar for breakfast). I didn't realize it at the time, but I let the eventual 4th and 5th place guys past me with < 1 mile left, giving me a 6th place finish out of 7.

Overall, the Michigan Bike Festival was a great time. Attendance was on the low side, but I knew a lot of the people there. Hopefully next year, more people from southern Michigan make the trek up to Grayling for this.

Over the past couple months I've been running more than ever before. No real reason why. I've also had a couple big mileage months on the bike.

Not much more to say. Next up is a couple Cyclocross races, followed by Iceman.

High Country Pathway

2009-10-06T09:15:00.008-04:00

After a morning career fair in Marlette, I proceeded to drive north. My usual stop at Big Buck netted me a growler of IPA and a growler of Old Ale... alas, they were out of Docs ESB. Through the rain and drizzle I then drove on to Clear Lake State Park.
The drizzle let up enough for me to quickly set up camp. As nobody else was in the group site, I walked over to the modern campground where Rick and Chris were just setting up. I hung out with them for a while, before making my way back over to the group site. Tom and Joe had arrived, and Dan would arrive shortly later.
We had dinner, and sat around the fire sharing stories. We also elected to do the ride without spotting cars (everyone there was an HCP veteran), and also decided to put off riding until 11am (we usually get rolling by 10).

As usual, we caravaned up to Osmun Road, got ready, and did the group photo thing.

From Left: Joe, Chris, Dan, Myself, Rick, Al, Tom
*photo courtesy of Tom Landry

I was having fun riding the wet roots that greeted us right off the start. Quickly I found myself leading the pack, with Dan right on my wheel. We pulled ahead of the rest of the group; the pace was good but comfortably maintainable. After a bobble on a boardwalk, Dan took the lead. Dan and I both had the same thoughts: keep stops to a minimum so we wouldn't cool off and have our legs tighten up.
Things warmed up a bit, and at Pine Grove we stopped to shed our outer layers.
Boardwalks that would often be ridden (some even by me) were best walked in the wet conditions. Walking them was even trecherous: Dan "surfed" on his feet for a good few yards on one.
We stopped briefly at the DNR office to top off our water, and pushed on. Just past Tubbs Creek, it started to drizzle. We put on our raincoats, and rode on. A half hour later the rain stopped, and off came the raincoats. Things proceeded without incident until we were coming down off Rattlesnake Hill. Dan's rear brake went out! We (him carefully) rode to the road crossing at the base of Rattlesnake Hill. Here the problem was diagnosed as a broken cable. There was just enough cable where, with some adjustment of the pads, I was able to get him a little bit of rear stopping power. The alternative was to bail early onto dirt roads.
We rolled into the campground through the "Day Use" area, shaving 4 miles of trail off the ride (commonly done when riding the Fun 50). Our rolling time was 5 1/2 hours, with an extra 45 minutes worth of stops thrown in.

The rest of the crew had quite an adventure: an hour to fight with a flat tire, photo ops, and riding the last hour by moonlight. We picked up the cars from Osmun Road, and enjoyed a few beverages around the fire.

Newest Bike Build

2009-10-01T10:10:00.010-04:00

Thanks goes to Ben for the frame, wheels, and fork.

Build is as follows:

Frame: Unknown make. Based on a few details such as the Esge brake bridge and the seatpost diameter, I’m guessing mid ‘70s European made (Germany or Austria) department store bike (Free Spirit was a common example). Tubing is likely gas-pipe.

Frame cold set to 126 mm spacing

Wheels: Front is a Richey, rear is a Campy rim with unknown hub

Fork: Shimano

Crankset: Old Raleigh in a spinneriffic 170 mm length; 42t chainring

Cog: 16t cheap BMX cog (need to get a 14t)

Brakes: Shimano 600

Homemade drop hanger for the rear brake. Front brake adjustment slots lengthened to get the pads low enough (only needed ~2mm on the front)

Levers: Old skool Weinmann – new Cane Creek hoods trimmed to fit

Tires: Cheep Serfas 700x25. I think there may be a TPI or 2 somewhere in them ;)

Tape: Bontrager (my first crack at taping road bars)

Saddle: Selle Italia (Ti rails even – it spent a couple seasons on the Q)

Seatpost: unknown

All Aboard the Pain Train - a full weekend of racing

2009-09-28T17:46:00.020-04:00

After packing and loading up the car on Friday, I left early Saturday morning for Sanford MI. This was the site for the 30 Miles of Pain Haven race, a race which has been intriguing me for a year plus now. As the name states, this is a 30 mile mountain bike race, held at Pine Haven in Sanford. The start is a bit different than a typical race. You do a 1 mile time trial, and your time (relative to other riders) in the time trial determines which wave (of 2 or 3 riders) you start in. Each wave then starts 5 seconds apart. The primary reason for this is that the singletrack starts within 50 yards of the start, and it helps to cut down on bottlenecks going into the singletrack.
I had a mediocre time trial, and started about 5 waves back with Steve Kinley (a Masters rider). There were 3 others in the singlespeed class, 2 starting in the wave prior to me, and the last a few waves up.
I beat Steve to the singletrack, and grabbed ahold of the wheel of the singlespeed rider one wave ahead of me. Unfortunately, he quickly pulled away through the first couple miles of singletrack. When we hit the 2-track, Steve pulled around and took off.
I spent most of the race by myself, except for a bout of cat-and-mouse with a geared "age group" rider. Overall, it was a very enjoyable course, with a lot of doubletrack in the middle. There were a suprising number of hills in this doubletrack also. The twisty nature of the singletrack meant you were frequently seeing other riders, who were either a minute plus ahead of you or an equal distance behind you.
Late on the 3rd (and last) lap, I caught Steve. Afterwards I would find out he suffered a bout of crashes. I also pulled within site of another singlespeeder. unfortunately I was lacking in gas and time to fully reel him in.
I crossed the finish line at 2:19:24 for 4th of 4 in singlespeed. I was 10th of 20 overall (for the 30 mile racers, not counting the sport and beginner classes). All four of us in the singlespeed class were seperated by less than 3 minutes.

Unforutunately, I couldn't stick around for the awards, post-race food, or more than one beer. It was back in the car... next stop Ithaca... for the Ithaca Grand Prix of Cyclocross. Team Sandbag assisted in setting up the course for Sunday's race, and I had volunteered to help. I met up with the team, and we laid out the course. This was followed up with some pre-riding to learn the layout and work out the best lines on some of the corners. Afterwards, we had a nice pasta dinner and a good night sleep.

I had a bit of time before the singlespeed race, so I was able to watch all the other classes. My teammates Curt, Ben, and Lee rocked it out in the 30 minute "C" class race. Following that, I watched Todd and John in the 45 minute "B" class race. John had recovered from an early crash to work his way into the top 5. Unfortunately mid-race he suffered a flat and had to carry his bike ~2/3 of a lap to the pits. Grabbing his pit-bike, he was still able to at least finish.

At 1:15, after my warmup, I was lined up with Ben, John, and 12 others for the 45 minute singlespeed race. At the start, some of the riders made the dash for the cash Prime. John took off with this group: I think he was out for blood after his flat in the "B" race. I held back not wanting to blow myself up right away.
My start was mediocre, and I found myself back in 10th or 11th for the first couple laps. There were a few minor issues due to my jitters/inexperiences: tripping and almost falling on the ampitheater run-up, washing out on a hard left (luckily I recovered without hitting the ground), a few pedal strikes, some bad line choices.
Having worked out the opening jitters, and some of the "heavy legs" feeling that came from racing the day before, I was able to pick up the pace. My line choices became better, I used less brake going into some of the corners, and I was able to put the hammer down on the more open section mid-lap. Over the next 4 laps, I was able to work my way up to what I believed to be 6th or 7th place.
On the bell lap, noting that the next guy back was nowhere within striking distance, I backed off a bit. With one lap to go I didn't want to take any chances. Towards the end of the last lap, I noticed I was within 30 seconds or so of the rider in front of me. Unfortunately (as with Saturday's race) I was out of time to reel him in.
I crossed the line, and later was told that I finished 6th in the 15 person field. Not bad for my first ever cyclocross race. My teammate John rocked it to a 4th place finish.

Riding up the sled hill. We rode about 2/3 of the way up, made a hairpin left turn, and bombed right back down (hitting close to 25 mph). During set-up, it was suggested that we go all the way to the top. By my last lap I was thankful we didn't.

Hairpin left off of grass onto blacktop.

Running up the "Ampitheater of Pain"

Cresting a short climb.

New Crank Arm

2009-06-18T20:50:00.004-04:00

The new crank arm arrived today. Big thumbs-up to White Industries customer service for being able to turn this around quickly.

ENO Update

2009-06-18T07:47:00.004-04:00

I spoke to White Industries yesterday, and they are going to overnight a replacement crank arm to me. They just asked that I return the cracked arm to them, and I'll be paying the difference between overnight and standard shipping. The lady at White Industries was very nice to work with, and overall it's been a good experience so far.

I'll post up once I receive the replacement crank arm (should be this afternoon).

ENO on Crack

2009-06-16T19:42:00.003-04:00

Found this today while washing the bike.

Hopefully I can get a replacement crank arm in time for Lumberjack. I left a message with White Industries, and I'll post an update later after I hear back from them.

An 80 Mile Epic Ride

2009-06-07T16:20:00.016-04:00

This past weekend marked my fourth installment of High Country Pathway fun-n-games. June of 2007 had me attempting the entire 80 miles, aborting after 28 1/2 miles of trail. September of 2007 and '08 had me attempting, and completing, the 50ish mile section from Osmun Road back to the State Park. This year would mark my second crack at doing the full 80 mile loop.

Jon and I hit the road in the morning on Friday, and stopped for a noontime lap around Hanson Hills. At the trailhead, we bumped into one of Jon's fellow Mountain Bike Patrollers. We headed over with him and his group to the Keg 'O Nails bar in Grayling. After conversation, lunch, and a pint, Jon and I swung up to Big Buck to pick up some weekend "supplies".

We rolled into the group campsite in the evening, set up camp, had dinner, and spent the evening sitting around the campfire.

Five of us (Todd, Wendy, Dan, Tom and myself) rolled out at around 8:30 am, intending to do the entire 80 mile loop. We headed out counter-clockwise from the campground, so as to do the rougher and more overgrown stuff first. Coincidently, all except Dan were on singlespeeds.

About 10 miles in, Dan pulled ahead of the group. He must've been on a mission, as this would be the last I saw him until we finished the ride. The remaining four of us rode together for the most part.

Overlooking the Tomahawk Creek Flooding, not far from where my profile photo was taken.

Snack time at M33; Todd and Wendy enjoying a break.

On the Canada Creek bridge. Tom is in the background.

Canada Creek

Boardwalk near Dog Lake.

I didn't take as many photos as in trips past; the length of the ride didn't allow for many stops. Most of my photos were from the section between M33 and Osmun Road, since this is the stretch I hadn't ridden previously. If you dig into the musty archives from September 2007, "The Blue Dots Part 1" will take you from Clear Lake up to a few miles short of M33. "The Blue Dots Part 2" and my post from Last September take you from Osmun Road back to Clear Lake State Park.

Riding the boardwalk. I'm starting to get better at riding these.

I spent some of the time riding solo, and the rest riding with Todd, Tom and Wendy. After the stop at Pigeon Bridge, I rode off solo from the group, having a blast on the trail, climbing most of the hills, and actually riding the really long narrow boardwalk just before Tubbs Creek. Until... coming down some nice flowing trail, I saw two oncoming riders ahead. After a quick double-take, I realized it was Todd and Wendy. After a short debate, I let myself be convinced that they were heading the proper way (which ended up being the case), and after about a mile of backtracking familiar looking trail, we made another turn at a clearing. In hindsight I think I got turned around at this clearing when I circled it looking for the continuation of the trail.

I rode the remainder of the trail with Todd and Wendy, and we were joined by Tom at the base of Rattlesnake Hill. Here we donned lights and rode as a group to the campground.

Rattlesnake Hill overlook

We were on the trail for about 12 1/2 hours, of which about 10 1/2 hours was spent moving. But in the end, all of us that set out to complete the full 80 miles did indeed finish the full 80 miles.

Midwest Mountain Bike Summit

2009-06-04T08:06:00.015-04:00

This past weekend I elected to forego racing, and instead chose a long weekend of learning about MTB advocacy and trail building. Yeah, and there was some riding and beer drinking thrown in there also.

I left work Thursday evening, and made the trek over to Grand Rapids. After setting up my tent, I made my way over to the welcome reception. Dinner was a (very tasty) pig roast, and tasty Founders beer was on tap.

Friday held seminars on various advocacy topics. The first one I attended was about how to organize and maintain a successful advocacy club. This was hosted by Kelly and Collins Bishop, one of the IMBA trail care crews. Next, I learned about how to write a grant request. Finally, there was a classroom session on trail building. Here I learned many of the guidelines on how to build a sustainable trail for multiple user groups.
After the advocacy session, I made my way over to the Cannonsburg Ski Area, where myself and a couple others were given a guided tour by Rick Plite (a member of the local chapter of the MMBA). He actually laid out a significant portion of the trail, and rides it regularily, which made it "fun" to keep up with him.

The night was capped off with a late dinner followed by beers around the fire.

Saturday morning was spent putting my new trail building knowledge to the test. We went over to the Cannonsburg State Game Area, where we practiced laying out a stretch of trail.
Afterwards, a group of us decided to ride a lap of the Ski Area trail. Trek had their demo trailer there, so I decided to try out a Top Fuel (their 4" travel XC race bike). This was my first time ever riding a full suspension bike on singletrack, and it made for an interesting experience. The bike rode very nicely, but I could tell that I was tentitive in the corners. This was due to a combination of the 26" wheels, straight bars, different tires, and the effects of the suspension (i.e. drastically different than my bike. All-in-all a nice bike, but I'm definately wanting to stick to singlespeed.

Over the log pile on the Fuel. The blur makes it look like I'm going fast. (Actually I was going pretty fast)

Photo courtesy of Diane Ursu

Afterwards, a couple dozen of us headed over for a guided lap of Luton Park. This is a new trail in a new county park. The Western Chapter of the MMBA did a great job laying this trail out. Nothing steep, but still a fair bit of climbing in a couple of the loops. Very nice flow. A few technical spots, and a number of fast spots.
After the group lap, a few of us stuck around to do a second lap.

Riding the Luton Trail

Photo courtesy of Diane Ursu

Saturday evening was spent at Founders Brewery, where we watched the Wings beat up on the Penguins.

Sunday morning we met at the Cannonsburg State Game Area for the final group ride. I was put into the "fast" group, with Tim from the Founders MTB team, Steve (the owner of Ada Bikes), and another guy who's name I don't remember. As luck would have it, we were all riding singlespeeds. We rode part of the game area, then ducked out and headed on the roads over to Luton. After a lap of Luton, more roads took us to a paved path, which had a few rolling hills. This took us to the ski area where we rode a lap. Finally it was back to the game area where we finished the lap there. It ended up being a 40 mile loop.

Good trails, good people, good beer, and good MTB related information. All this made for a great weekend.

Broadsides of Barns

2009-04-24T13:45:00.004-04:00

I went shooting with my dad yesterday. We spent about an hour and a half at the indoor range at the Oakland County Sportsmans Club.

This was from my Ruger Single Six 22lr, which has a 7 1/2" barrel. Distance was 30 feet to the target.

This was from dad's Colt Cobra 38 Special, which has a 2" barrel. Distance was 30 feet to the target.

Not bad for someone who doesn't shoot a whole heck of a lot.

Adventures in Racing

2009-04-20T18:07:00.019-04:00

This past weekend, my teammate Ben and I participated in our first ever Adventure Race. This is a race where you attempt to locate a number of checkpoints using an assortment of travel modes, specifically paddling, bicycling, and trekking. This is something I've been wanting to do for some time now, so when Ben suggested the race while at the MMBA expo, I willingly dropped my original plans of doing the Paris-Ancaster race.

Saturday was spent putting the finishing touches on my gear, followed by an early bedtime. I woke on Sunday and headed out to the Walleye-Pike boat launch on the Holloway Reservoir, where the race was staged. After Ben arrived, we checked in with the promoters, and prepped for the race. There was a short pre-race meeting, where we were given the maps and race instructions, and we were left with a half hour in which to discuss final strategies.

We also used this as a chance to have a pre-race photo taken.

This particular race had us begin in the canoes, followed by the bikes, and finishing with an orienteering course taken on foot.
Ten minutes prior to the start (8am), we headed down to the shore. We staged the canoe, and when the promoter gave the "GO" command, we were off. Paddling into the wind to start...

We had to beach the canoe, get out, and run to the checkpoint. Repeat for each checkpoint.

After a couple hours, we ditched the canoe in favor of bikes. We rode out towards Columbiaville and Otter Lake in search of the elusive checkpoints. We started out doing great, working up from our ~1/3 way back positioning after the paddle.

We were coming up to the left turn which would take us to checkpoint #18, and then on the return trip.

One of us: "Do we have all the checkpoints?"
Ben: "Checkpoint 10... 11... 18?"
Me: "18 should be the last one."
Ben: "17?"
Me: "F***! We're making a right instead of a left."

After an extra 4 miles, we rolled back into the transition. We did indeed make up a few places even with our "diversion".

We dropped our bikes, donned our trail shoes, refilled water, and headed out into the final trekking portion. Here we would use our map, compass, and bushwacking skills to locate the final 18 checkpoints. Side note: for the bike and paddle portions, all checkpoints were mandatory. For the trekking portion, you could get as many or as few as possible, as long as you got back to the start by the 4pm cutoff time. A minimum of 3 were required to remain a ranked team. Placing was determined by the number of points taken, with ties being broken by finishing time. For example, 3 teams get 14 of the trekking checkpoints. Team 1 finishes at 3:30pm, team 2 finishes at 3:15pm, and team 3 finishes at 4:05pm the placing would be as follows: team 2, followed by team 1, with team 3 receiving a DNF (missed cutoff time). So, there was some strategy and time management involved... do you risk missing the cutoff to get that one more checkpoint.

We headed up hill...

Through swamps... this one was not too bad

Gathering checkpoints...

And making a couple wrong turns. We spent a half hour searching for one checkpoint only to figure out we were not too far from one we had already got. Oops!

We got to learn about the drinking habits of inhabitants long ago...

And about all things farming...

Unfortunately photos don't exist of the worst of the swamps. The cutoff time was fast approaching, and we had a fair bit to go to get out of the woods. The safe and sure way was to head straight North, where we would eventually hit Stanley Road where we would have a mile road run home. Straight North happened to take us through swamps ranging from ankle deep to "boys" deep.

Wet from hips down, we emerged onto Stanley road, and had a painful (for me) run to the finish. We made it in with 1 minute to spare!

The results had us finishing 17th overall out of the 54 teams which finished. We got 14 of the 18 checkpoints in the final trekking portion; we did see another of the checkpoints, but time was running short and we made the (wise) decision not to hike around the swamp to get it.

We both had a great time, learned a lot about navigation, and will definitely be doing this again.

Jose the Backroads Dreamboat

2009-03-24T20:52:00.004-04:00

After work, I hopped on the new San Jose, and headed out into BFE. My route took me east towards Capac, as the wind was blowing out of the east... I like to have the tailwind for the latter part of the ride if possible. Necessary tweaks had made to the saddle position... the saddle was moved forward quite a bit, and the nose was angled down, and the track cog was installed and rear wheel flipped around.
After a quick jaunt to the North, I headed to the east on the wind tunnels that were Weyer and Petz roads. Jose handled the dirt great, taking the sting out of the bumps. In fact, the ride didn't seem much rougher than the fat tired beast on the dirt. Having the drops allowed me to get into a bit more aerodynamic position, which helped greatly.
I turned south on Capac Road, and headed through downtown Capac. My route eventually took me south to Dryden Road, which I took back across Van Dyke. The last few miles were ridden in gradually decreasing light, making me thankful for my flashing taillamp and my headlamp... even though I saw very few cars.
After 31.5 miles, I rolled in, having enjoyed a great ride on a great bike.

03/24/2009 Route
Find more Bike Rides in Imlay City, Michigan

Spring

2009-03-20T09:33:00.006-04:00

Time to get outside. "5-Nut Hill" here I come!

In other news, the stable grew by one the other day. I was able to track down a leftover 2008 Bianchi San Jose. This will become my "go-to" ride for mixed dirt/paved road riding. Also, I'm planning on doing a bit of cyclocross racing this fall.

The maiden voyage was this past Tuesday; 28 miles mostly paved, but with a mile of dirt thrown in. The ride was very nice, not too much more jarring than the fat-tired beast on the dirt. The cockpit still needs to be tweaked: saddle feels a bit skewed, saddle is too "nose up", I think the saddle may not be far enough back, but these can be quickly addressed. Also for road use I'll need to get some different gearing. The stock 42:17 was a bit "spinny". I've only ridden it free so far, and I'll definately need taller gearing when I put the track cog on.

2009 Goals

2009-01-06T23:21:00.005-05:00

1: Start the race season at under 150lbs
2: Finish the Lumberjack 100 in under 9 hours - also top 10 in Singlespeed
3: Race in and finish a second race in the NUE series (Mohican, Wilderness, or Shenandoah)
4: Race a solo 12 hour race
5: Podium at Iceman - finish in 1:45 or less if weather conditions are conducive
6: Race in a cyclocross race

The Iceman Cometh

2008-11-10T18:45:00.015-05:00

I awoke Saturday morning to temperatures in the high 30s, and a forecast calling for light rain. Camelpack and bottle got filled, clothes got picked out, breakfast got consumed, and we made our way over to Kalkaska. We pulled into a crowded parking lot, where I finished getting ready. After about a 20 minute warm-up, I handed my windbreaker to Brandy, and made my way to the starting chute. Here I sized up the competition: this year the singlespeeders were divided into 2 waves, under 39 (which I was in), and 40+ (which would start 5 minutes after me). The last Expert wave, sport/expert clydes, started, and we were called up to the line.
Likely due to the smaller wave, we had roughly 45-50 people in ours, I was able to secure a spot on the front line. I wanted a good starting position, as my goals were lofty; a top-10 finish, be amongst the top 15 if you combine both singlespeed waves, and finish in the 1:50-1:55 range.

At the start. I'm number 703, near the right hand side of the photo.

After a five minute wait, we were off! After a clean start, including negotiating a loose corner a couple hundred yards in, I settled in holding 7th or 8th wheel. I kept the lead riders in sight for about 3/4 of a mile, before dropping back. A couple miles in, and I was catching the first of the sport/expert clydes, I passed them, and continued to hold a strong pace.
After about 3 miles, on a rough straight section, I felt my pedals go slack and heard a "chank" noise. #&*@, I dropped my chain! OK, now get off, re-rail the chain (while watching a half dozen guys on singlespeeds fly past), remount, and get going again.
The next 5 miles were spent picking off the guys who passed me while I addressed my chain. Here I was able to put my 65 gear inches to use, hammering a strong pace on the flat sections.
I caught and passed Joe from KLM's team just before some singletrack. We got caught up in a "conga line" of slower riders, so we used this opportunity to recover and chat about riding. We crested the grunt hill that marked the end of that singletrack and I put the hammer down, with Joe hot on my tail.
After another stretch of wide-open riding, we encountered a section signed "Steve's Secret", which was a sequence of loooooooong singletrack climbs, not wide enough for passing. Sure enough, we were greeted with a long line of riders from previous waves, slowly creeping up the hill in granny gear. I was able to pass one of them, but quickly caught the next. There would be no way for me to get around him till we hit the top. Somehow, I was able to keep the pedals turning (at an extruciatingly slow cadence), and ride up without having to dismount.
We reached the top, things opened up again, and I put the hammer down. I also looked back and noted that somehow I had dropped Joe.
Williamsburg Road greeted me with a downhill sand pit, where I had to negotiate a fallen rider right in the good line. I made it through unscathed, and hammered up the hill leading to the road. The cheering spectators and the announcer added some spring to my step. Some more fireroads, and we hit the Vasa trail. This was a fast rolling ski trail, with a bit of singletrack thrown in, including The Wall. The wall is a steep switchback singletrack descent, complete with 2 trees that there was no way in 'ell I was making it through without dismounting. Other than those trees, the wall presented no great difficulty.
The race finished up with "Anita's Hill", which was a run-up, the "Ice Breaker" hill, some sweet flowing singletrack, and another short steep run-up hill where I overtook another rider in my class (putting me in 7th). Knowing he was behind me, I hit the gas when I crested the hill.
I rode up the last climb: I knew it was the last one because the spectators were announcing that fact to everyone who rode by, and then was greeted with signs for 1 mile and then 1 kilometer to go. The announcer's voice was in the distance, as was the sound of cheering spectators. Almost done! I could hear Brandy cheer from on top of the bridge, and as I was crossing the finish, I saw that I had done the course in 1 hour 53 minutes and change. We would see later that my official time was 1:53:13, which put me in 7th place in my group.

Approaching the finish.

I found Brandy, and we walked around congratulating teammates and other friends as they finished. After changing, we made our way to the team tent where we shared our war stories, drank beverages, cheered the later beginner waves, and watched the Pro/Elite class finish.

Fun - High Country Pathway Style

2008-10-01T20:00:00.018-04:00

I met up with Steve and Shaun from the mysinglespeed.com group, and after a quick lunch, we headed northbound in Steve's overpacked Honda CRV. Four-ish hours later, and we rolled into the Clear Lake state park. Gear was unloaded, tents were pitched, beer was drank, burgers were ate, and stories were told. Around the campfire sat a number of return riders, and a handful of newbies, all anticipating the day ahead.

We woke the next morning, got our supplies ready to be staged in a couple of cars, and headed out to Osmun Road.

Organizing supplies

Getting ready at Osmun Road

Yours truly at the start

The group

We hit the trail, and for the first mile or so were greeted with some gnarled root sections and numerous boardwalks. I rode the roots, and walked the boardwalks. There were a couple trees we had to portage our bikes over, including one where it was a challenge to do even that.
The trail opened up, and we had a few miles with a great flow. The trail continued through Pigeon River state forest campground, past an overlook, and through some meadows.

Stopped at the first overlook

After a while we hit the Shingle Mill Pathway, were things opened up. Up until this time, I had been riding with 4 others out in front of the rest of the group. Myself and one other guy decided to take the eastern leg of the Shingle Mill, which was 2 miles longer, while the other 3 took the western leg. Some screaming downhills led us past Section Four Lake, a sinkhole lake. We had some rollers, a "neverending boardwalk" section, and then finally the first car at Pigeon Bridge.

Section Four Lake

Lunch stop at Pigeon Bridge

At Pigeon Bridge, the four guys I had been riding with forged on ahead. The 3 who took the western leg were getting ready to go, and the guy I rode the eastern leg with didn't want to stop. I waited for the rest of the group and had lunch with them.
I took off with one other guy from lunch, and, having fun on the nice flowing stuff that followed, pulled away from him. This left me to ride the stretch to Rattlesnake solo. I got into a zone here, flowing the trail, enjoying the views and changing flora.

Near the firetower site

I came to a road crossing. Here I didn't see any evidence where to go, so I hung a right and rode about 3/4 mile down the road. No blue dots! I turn around and ride past Town Corner campground, and see the posts for a HCP crossing. Here I hang a right onto the trail, and ride into the campground. Nothing looks familiar. I ride up and down the campground looking for the strangely missing blue dots. Get brave and ask some campers if they saw any other riders. A number of different campers reported seeing another rider about 20 minutes prior to seeing me (reports of yellow on the front of the jersey). Nobody knows anything on where the trail picks back up. Finally I find a guy who looks like a plumped up lost member of ZZ Top, and ask if he can help. He says "Sure, I have a map over on the table". We head over to the table where he has a map lying under an aluminum baseball bat (strangely, no other sporting equipment of any sort, let alone baseball gear, can be found). He points to the map, and directs me to ride out the enterance, hang a left, ride down the road, and at the top of a big hill there would be a clearing where I could find the trail. I said "have a great weekend", and rode off, out the campground, down the road, right back to where I first emerged from the woods. A bit of looking around revealed tire tracks entering the field directly across the road from where I had originally emerged! Oops. My little diversion into Town Corner campground probably added 45 minutes and 7 miles to my ride.

Town Corner Lake

Along the trail

Town Corner Campground - the site of my diversion

I crossed the Black River, and the trail took me into some lowlands. I rode some boardwalks, walked most, rode some rooted sections, and walked others. After I crossed Tubbs Creek, the trail climbed out of the lowlands. The stretch that followed was a great flowing section through some mature hardwoods with very little undergrowth.

Bridge

Roots and boardwalks

Tubbs Creek boardwalk

Back into the hardwoods

I came out onto a road, which I took to the car at the base of Rattlesnake Hill. Here I rejoined the group, where we had a snack and replenished our water supplies.

At the base of Rattlesnake Hills

Reaction to arm-scratchers

The climb up rattlesnake was hike-a-bike, and a tough hike-a-bike at that. But the view, and sweet downhill that followed, was more than worth it

How we got up Rattlesnake Hill

On top of Rattlesnake Hill

Rattlesnake Hill

After Rattlesnake Hill, the trail flowed through ferns, a field, another moderate hill, a short swamp/root/boardwalk section, and then finally out onto a roadway. We took the roadway back to the state park, entering through the day-use area.
After a shower, we ate, drank, and hung out around the fire.

Cruising back to the campground

HCP Here I Come

2008-09-26T07:18:00.002-04:00

A half day of work, and then I leave for the High Country Pathway Fun 50 ride!
Visions of blue dots dance in my head.

Addison Oaks Fall Classic

2008-09-21T18:40:00.007-04:00

Today I went back to where my short racing career began, Addison Oaks County Park, for the Addison Oaks Fall Classic. The trail at Addison Oaks has an excellent flow, with no big climbs, and not many spots where you need to scrub your speed. Pretty much the kind of trail that invites you to go at full throttle.

I had debated racing in Expert 30-39, but the other day I found out that Expert/Elite singlespeed would be doing the same number of laps as Expert (not the same number of laps as the Sport guys like in most races). I made a morning decision to race Ex/El Singlespeed (12:30pm as opposed to a 10am start time), and headed up to the venue.

After my warm-up, I made my way over to the start line. There was a good size field today, about 10~12 Expert/Elite guys and a similar number for the Sport/Beginner guys. My teammate Todd was lined up with me, as was Cary Marsh.

On the go, I got a decent start, and settled in about 4th or 5th wheel, just behind Todd. I held on strong until 3/4 of a mile in, when I crashed after striking a pedal. Just as I was getting ready to go again, Craig pointed out that my bottle of HEED was lying on the side of the trail. A near disaster averted, I picked up my bottle and got going again.

Most of lap one was spent in catch-up mode, eventually catching Craig and Todd. Coming through between laps, I reached down to take a swig of HEED. %#@W, the bottle was gone again. Must've rattled out on one of the downhills. Luckily I carry my water in a Camelpack, so I wasn't completely screwed, but 28 miles (21 more) at race-pace with no fuel source could be bad.

The 2nd lap started, I caught back up with Cary, and passed him. He latched on, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't shake him. This would go on for 2 full laps and the beginning of the 4th lap. Early in the 4th lap, I could feel myself pulling on Cary again (like at Stony 2 weeks ago). He would be a little slower catching back up to me. A couple miles into the lap, and I heard a crashing noise. Believing Cary went down, I hammered away. I knew I needed to pull ahead so he couldn't draft me on the 2-track mid-lap.

For the rest of my last lap I played it conservatively, trying not to crash. I caught another rider in my class, passed him, and after a bit of a fight on his part pulled away.

Just over 2 hours after the start, I rode across the finish line broken, battered, and whupped. A short while later the results were posted, and I saw that I finished in 3rd place!

Running with the Big Dogs - Stony Creek XC

2008-09-08T20:29:00.010-04:00

After a less than stellar crack at the expert class at the Custer Time Trial a couple of weeks ago, finishing in the bottom of the heap both in my age group and singlespeed, I was due some redemption. And I would find it on my home trail of Stony Creek. The overnight and early morning hours brought a fair amount of rain, but as I was making the drive, blue sky was starting to appear. I pulled into the parking lot, unloaded my bike, watched some muddy riders come through, and registered for the Expert/Elite singlespeed class.

A few minutes were spent hanging out with team members and other riding buddies, and with about 45 minutes to go I started my warm-up. Good and warmed up, I made my way over to the starting line and got staged.

Tailwind (the promoter) has both Expert/Elite and Sport/Beginner singlespeeds start at once, with the Expert/Elite guys staging at the front. I looked around to find about 18 other riders in both singlespeed classes combined.

TWEEEEEET!!!! We were off!!! I had a good start, and found myself in 5th or 6th off the line heading towards the opening climb. Cary Marsh and Joe (Sport/Beginner) were hot on my tail. We climbed, crested the top, and hit the main section of singletrack. I passed Ed Serrat in fairly short order, with Cary and Joe both passing him shortly after.

The first stretch of singletrack went uneventfully, with me taking things conservatively due to the wet conditions. We hit a fast downhill, and then had a mile of 2-track to put the hammer down. Here I put my 65 gear inches to use, but Cary was there to answer spinning away. We headed into the Pines, a flat stretch of singletrack that flows nicely, and except for a stretch in the middle, is blazing fast. Speeds, especially in that middle section, were kept in check due to the slickness. A sport guy who had been in front of us crashed here, and we all went around. After the Pines, we had about a third of a mile of flat 2-track, and then a couple 2-track rollers before hitting the rest of the main singletrack. After we finished the singletrack, there was another ~1 3/4 miles of gently rolling 2-track with one good hill. I tried again to no avail to gap Cary here again.

Through the start/finish area into the opening climb, with Cary and Joe hot on my tail. Joe took the lead of our little group mid-lap, and I jumped on his wheel to catch a bit of a draft. We also caught and passed a rider from Wolverine Cycling Club. Towards the end of lap 2, I re-took the lead of our group, and as we approached the start/finish area, I could feel myself starting to pull away.

On the opening hill of the last lap, I dropped Cary and Joe. Now flying solo, I held a strong pace. In fact I wouldn't see anyone else from my class until the end.
I crossed the line after 1 hour 35 minutes and change. Joe Lee from Fraser Bikes told me that he thought I was in 3rd or 4th. I didn't believe him, but after the results were posted, I saw that I did finish in 3rd! Some great redemption for the Custer TT, and proof that I am capable of running with some big dogs.

Sweet Ruby Mud

2008-07-22T20:27:00.021-04:00

Rain + Ruby = Fun Times!!! Made even funner when taken at race-pace. Yes, this past Sunday was the Ruby Campground XC race. Team Sandbag home turf. After watching my teammates Kevin and Todd put forth excellent efforts in the Expert race, I prepped up for my race in Sport/Beginner singlespeed.

After warming up, I headed over to the starting line, and took my position behind the Expert/Elite singlespeed guys. I noted that there were 2 others in my class.
A blast of a whistle, and we were off. I got a mediocre start, with one of the other sport/beginner guys in front of me, and another behind. We hit the opening hill, and one of the expert/elite riders fell, holding me up. The other sport/beginner guy made it through.
Very shortly after, I found my groove in the nicely flowing (imho) front section. I overtook 2nd place about a mile in, and quickly put some space between him and I.

A little over a mile in, the trail snaked through the parking area and ducked behind the "big green barn". Here was a section along the hillside with a very nice flow and some quick ups-and-downs. Just enough to keep your heart rate nice and high for "Lance", the first major climb at Ruby. This climb is always a crap shoot for me, and it wasn't any easier due to the greasy trail conditions. I did a brief hike-a-bike over the steep portion, and then rode along the top to the stepped downhill and the "washout", a mildly puckering armored downhill.
The trail then led me to the "mat hill", a short steep hill armored for a portion with a grid mat. I took this one on foot, since I'm usually successful in riding up it about 40% of the time, and it's quicker to run it anyways. The trail then led me down "outhouse hill", a bench cut downhill, that makes a 90 degree left just before the old outhouse.

Across the river we went, with me holding 2nd position. Through some greasy corners, up and down the section added last year, up "the wall", and then down "Ruby's Remorse", the biggest downhill. Somewhere in this stretch, I made a pass and found myself leading my class.

Lap 1 concluded with me holding the lead. Then disaster struck! I was hammering up "Lance", when just as I was about to crest (while carrying good momentum), I heard a "snap", and my foot violently came away from my bike.

First I though I had accidentally unclipped, but I glanced down and found that my pedal body was seperated from the spindle. Luckily with some quick thinking (to realize my teammate also used the same type of pedals), and some even quicker running by my buddy Scott (to find said teammate), we made a swap. This cost only about 2 minutes plus a run up "Lance".

I got moving, and found my groove again. The remainder of lap 2 proceeded uneventfully for me. Early in lap 3, I caught up with the leader, and overtook him to put myself in the lead. I gradually pulled away from him, and rolled through the finish chute after 1 hour 34 minutes and 48 seconds, to take the win!

Pedal Across Lower Michigan

2008-07-12T18:00:00.011-04:00

a.k.a PALM

This is a 6 day bicycle tour across the state, on the last week of June. This year it started in New Buffalo on June 22, and ended in Monroe on June 27.

Saturday
We drove down to Sterling State Park just outside of Monroe. Here we loaded our bikes onto box trucks, and hopped on a bus bound for the other side of the state. A few hours (and a lunch stop) later, and we were in New Buffalo. We went through the registration bit, set up our tents, and headed out for a short ride to the lake to dip our tires in the water.

The last of the bikes get loaded

Dipping the wheel

Brad, Brandy, and Rocky on the shore of Lake Michigan

Sunday
After a nice railroad alarm clock, we set out bound for Dowagiac. The first half of the ride gave us nice weather, until we hit the town of Buchanen. Shortly after, the skys opened up on us for quite some time. Thankfully we had decided to don our raingear prior to this. The rain let up just in time for us to stop at the "fruit stop" at Love Creek park. Here we took a deserved break, and snacked on a few things. We got rolling again, and the rain started back up. We had rain until about a half hour before Dowagiac, and then things started to clear. This was a nice thing, since it meant that we could dry out a bit and weren't setting up camp in the rain.
After setting up camp, we showered (ice cold gang shower for the men), had dinner, and then walked into town.
We stopped in at Zeke's Bar for some drinks to soothe the muscles. If you're ever in Dowagiac and looking for a good beer, Zeke's is the place to go. Something like 25 beers on tap, and about a bazillion other varieties in bottles.

Dinosaur Bones - must've been part whitetail

Three Oaks - the movie Prancer was filmed on location here

Dowagiac Union High School - where we stayed

Brandy and I in downtown Dowagiac

to be continued...

Lumberjack 100 - the rest of the story

2008-06-17T16:59:00.017-04:00

Thankfully we checked the discussion forums on Friday morning. Word was that wind and lightning and rain of biblical proportions had socked the Manistee/Wellston area. A quick call to our hotel in Manistee confirmed they were without power, and a flurry of phone calls later had home base moved to Cadillac. We hit the road just after noon, and met up with my teammates Jay and Todd at the venue to pick up our packets. After checking into our hotel, we went out to a nice dinner (steaks for the guys), got our things ready, and headed to bed early.

Jay, Todd and I left the hotel around 5:15am and headed over to Big M. Our wives did the sane thing and stayed in bed, intending to be there when we came through after our second lap. We arrived at the venue, unloaded, put our jerseys and number plates on, and listened in to the rider's meeting. There was to be a ~2 mile roll-out on the paved road before we hit the trail, the storm left a few downed trees, only a couple you had to dismount for, and there were a couple of foot deep sections of water.

We rode up to the start down the road, and Todd and I staged about mid-pack. I think Jay was a few rows behind us. A sound of a horn, and we were rolling! Todd and I rode in at a nice easy pace, hit the singletrack, and very shortly after hit the opening climb. Off our bikes for the first of many times, we hiked up the hill with the rest of the pack. At the top, we settled into a brisk pace. The "inner loop" of the course was hilly, but other than the opening hill everything was rideable. Of course what goes up must come down, and come down we did in a fun flowing fashion. Eight miles later, the "inner loop" ended and the "outer loop" began. This was near the parking/finish/pit area, so there was a group of spectators cheering on the riders. A nice thing to keep the motivation up. The outer loop started with a flat section for a couple miles, with some tight turns and a few open stretches. Gentle hills picked up, and at ~ the 12 mile mark we passed the neutral aid station. Neither Todd or I stopped on lap one, keeping a brisk pace. We rode together (or within sight of each other) for the entire first lap, riding with a pack, gradually passing the riders in the pack, and then catching the next pack.
A couple miles past the aid station, we hit another major climb, which was followed by a screaming fun downhill. This downhill put us into some lowlands, which led into the "couple spots of 12 inch deep water". Well, those couple spots were a series of ~200 foot long stretches of swamp! Todd and I rode through most of them, walking the last one due to traffic.
The last 7 or so miles had a series of big uphills and downhills, culminating with a huge uphill about 2 miles from the finish. For riding/walking this climb, we were rewarded with a blazing 30mph downhill! Another flat-ish section of flowing trail brought us through to the pit area to end lap one.

Coming through the pit area.

We pitted, and I filled my camelpack, picked up a fresh bottle of Hammer Sustained Energy and HEED mixture, and promptly hit the trail for lap 2. Todd was still in the pits, in fact that would be the last time I'd see him until we were finished. Lap 2 was basically a continuation of lap 1, but with me riding mostly solo and catching up with a couple packs of riders (and getting caught by a few riders also). The only SNAFU I had was at about 4 miles left in the lap, I sucked my Camelpack dry. I was also starting to get a touch of a headache. So, I took a couple of Advil, and decided to take my Hammer Endurolytes a bit more frequently.
When I pitted after lap 2, our wives had arrived. There was no staying to chat, as I refilled my pack, grabbed a fresh bottle, and was gone.

Lap 3 began rather uneventful, with my 3rd hike of the day up that hill. I was basically solo by this time, the 250 riders now being spread out along the course. Towards the end of the "inner loop", I caught up with Wayne (an experienced endurance racer, who I've ridden with before). We rode together until the aid station, where we both stopped to top off water supplies (me having learned from running out late lap 2). Since he was using bottles, he was gone before I was. About the time I had caught up with Wayne, the cramps were starting to rear their ugly head. Thankfully minor at this time, I continued taking my Endurolytes and was ever mindful of my hydration to keep them from getting worse. Thankfully I could also stave off the cramps a bit by altering my posture while climbing.

Once again in the pit area.

When I pitted after lap 3, I was saddened to find that Jay had thrown in the towel. He said that he had mis-judged his hydration and caloric intake, and was starting to hallucinate. Scary stuff indeed! They also informed me that Todd was behind me, but did go out for lap 3. I let Brandy know that I was already hurting and cramping up, but intended to give lap 4 a go. She handed me a banana, which I wisely ate.
Lap 4 started with a slow walk up the hill, and one last trip through the fun flowing stretches of the inner loop. I'll freely admit that I gave a quick glance over to the parking lot at the transition to the outer loop, when I realized that I still had 17 miles to go. The beginning of the outer loop, being flat, went uneventful. At the aid station, I topped off my water again. The nice lady working the station asked "anything else?", to which I pointed at my bike and replied "how about a motor for this thing." She laughed, and then said, "but then you'd be disqualified".
I rode off from the aid station, hiked the big hill a short while later, bombed the (now brake bump filled) downhill for one last time, and waded through the swamp. In fact after lap one I stopped even trying to ride through the swamp.
I think that if there is a Hell, it very much resembles the last 7 miles of the Lumberjack 100. The downhills seemed to get shorter, the flats seemed to go up, and I swear someone added in a couple climbs after I completed the first couple laps. So it was no small relief when I saw those 3 black downward arrows on a yellow background with the word "Caution" that signalled the last 30mph screaming downhill. I knew I was home free.

Brandy told me that my time was right around the 9:19 mark, which was well under my 10 hour goal time. Best of all, I HAD FINISHED.

We made a team decision to forego the awards ceremony, instead going to a local bar/grill in Cadillac for dinner. We were too tired to do much of anything else.

Two days later, the results were posted:
In the Mens Singlespeed class, 56 riders started, 31 finished, and I placed 11th! My official time was 9 hours 18 minutes and 54 seconds. This was also good enough for 36th overall amongst all the male finishers. My teammate Todd also finished, with a time of just over 10 hours.

Glad to be done.

Lumberjack 100 - the short version

2008-06-15T15:48:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the first of my key focus races this year, the Lumberjack 100. My goals were: to finish, and if I did finish, to do so in under 10 hours. Nothing about winning, or podium finishes (the winner would be around the 7 hour mark), but none-the-less, a good goal for me (ambitious but acheivable).
Three of us from Team Sandbag, Todd, Jay and myself headed up on Friday, after a flurry of last minute lodging changes. We got an early start in the morning and headed over to the race venue.
We started with a roll-out on the pavement leading up to the trail system, and ~2 miles later we were on the dirt. Shortly after, and it was hike-a-bike up the opening hill (the first of many hills I'd hoof it up). Lap one was ridden for the most part with my teammate Todd. We kept up a brisk pace.
I started lap 2 without Todd (he was still in the pits), and rode with various packs of riders. Laps 1 and 2 had me feeling great.
Laps 3 and 4 were spent solo for large chunks. I did ride with Wayne from the mysinglespeed.com team for a portion of lap 3, but he pulled away from me at the neutral aid station mid-lap.
Lap 4 was pretty much survival mode for me, walking up a large number of the hills, and the sheer agony of the last 7 miles.
Both goals were met for this race, with me finishing the entire 100 miles in right around 9:20. None of us (Todd, Jay, myself, or our wives) were up to heading to the awards ceremony, electing for a dinner out and an early bedtime.

More detail to follow...

A New Ride

2008-05-26T18:26:00.002-04:00

The primary purpose of Friday's trip to Grand Rapids...

Stay tuned for the ride report...

Cannonsburg and Ionia

2008-05-26T17:38:00.011-04:00

On Friday I made a trek out to Grand Rapids. While out there, I paid a visit to Cannonsburg to get in a little riding.

First up was Cannonsburg State Game Area. This trail was very open and fast, similar in character to Yankee Springs. There were some moderate climbs, blazing fast downhills, and some great turns to carve.

Cannonsburg SGA trailhead

A very bad self portrait

Cannonsburg SGA trail

After a lap of the SGA, I ducked out onto the roads, and rode over to the Cannonsburg Ski Area. Another rider at the trailhead clued me in to a spot about 1 1/2 miles in where I could duck out, and that it was only about a 3 mile ride to the ski area. Here I did one lap of the roughly 5 1/2 mile trail. The ski area had a lot in common with Bloomer and Ruby. Much tighter, more technical, lots of climbing packed into it's short length.

Cannonsburg Ski Area

The ski hill

Looking forward along the trail

Sign reads "No Parking Any Time" (overexposed). Note the sharp right just past the sign.

Looking back towards the chute-like section. This was a series of high banked turns downhill.

On my way home, I jumped off the expressway and drove the short distance north to Ionia Rec Area for a lap. Ionia is different in character from the Cannonsburg trails: tight, narrow, bumpy, rocks, roots, lots of more technical corners, not much climbing. There wasn't a lot of natural elevation change here, but the trail builders made good use of what there was. I also took more photos here than at Cannonsburg, partly because of the slower nature of the trail, and partly because I was getting tired.

One of the many open fields the trail passed through

I thought this was cool

Another self portrait - this one overlooking the Grand River

Typical of the Ionia Rec Area trail

The trail snakes through another open area - part of what looked to be a small gravel pit at one time

In case you ever wondered what the Ionia County Sheriff's Posse Clubhouse looks like

One day, three different trails, each with a vastly different character. Good times for sure!

Fort Custer Stampede

2008-05-07T08:21:00.015-04:00

The race I wasn't planning on doing...

This one came down to a "near day-of" decision for me. I had it on my schedule, but it was a low priority race. Although I love the trail, especially as a race course, it's a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there. So, my original decision was to not do this race. The day before, I started to re-consider my decision, and eventually decided that I would do the race. The next morning, I almost reconsidered. However, we did load up the car and hit the road.

We arrived at Fort Custer an hour and a half before start time, leaving me plenty of time to register, get ready, and get in about a 25 minute warm-up.

Just before 12:30, I made my way over to the start line, and lined up with the rest of the Sport/Beginner singlespeeds. The Expert/Elite singlespeeds were starting about a minute and a half before us. At this race last year, the singlespeed class was combined, meaning that I was racing against riders of all levels, from Elite down to Beginner. With the class being split this year, I would not be racing directly against the very fast guys.

GO!!! I tried to get the jump off the start, however a missed clip-in left me 5th wheel going into the singletrack (thankfully fairly open, but about a hundred yards from the start). The eventual class winner motored away right off the start, and another guy pulled away (a bit more slowly). The other 2 in front of me were not as fast, and 1/3 mile into the race I made a pass. Shaun from the Mysinglespeed.com team was shortly behind me, as evidenced by his rather loud rear freehub (Hope Pro hub).

The first couple miles were mostly open/flowing singletrack (the BLUE trail if you're looking at the trail map), with a tighter connecter (complete with logpiles) leading across an old road to the RED trail). Here we hit 2 of the major climbs at Custer, named Cardiac Hill and CPR. Cardiac is a longer climb, CPR is short steep and loose, and there is maybee 1/4 mile between them to recover. The top of CPR dumps you straight into a section named "Granny's Garden", the most technical section at Custer. Logpiles, drops, tight turns, logpiles, rocks, steep grunt hills. Through Cardiac, CPR, and Granny's I was able to hold off Shaun (in fact he would spend about 3/4 of the race very close behind me). After Granny's, there was a short hill, with a Boy Scout troop passing out water. I didn't take any water, as I use a hydration pack, but thanked them for their work anyways. This led to a stretch of open "2-track" where I was able to pull ahead of Shaun. In fact this would be the M.O. for the day. I'd pull away on the open and flowing sections, and he'd catch up in the tight stuff.

We rode through a short tight singletrack, then onto an open downhill singletrack, complete with a couple of whoop-de-doos. At high speed, this dumped us across another old roadbed into a section called the Amusement Park. This is a sweet flowing section of singletrack, with a couple of logpiles, a few short hills, and many fun turns. The Amusement Park, another section named the Crazy Beaver Loop, past the normal trailhead, and into a section called "The Trenches". This is probably my favorite section at Custer. This is a series of trenches that remain from when the park was still part of the military training base, and can be best described as riding in a halfpipe.

We rode through more tight singletrack, and over a section that could almost be described as "dirt jumps". In fact there were people there watching, I guess to see people catch air. I didn't, preferring to keep the rubber down. This spit us out over another old roadbed, and back onto the BLUE loop. There was a water crossing, a minor hill, and a very fast stretch of singletrack leading us back through the start/finish area. I finished lap one with Shaun hot on my tail.

Lap 2 basically continued where lap 1 left off, with Shaun on my tail and me trying to hold him off and pull away. Just before Granny's Garden, we ended up catching the 2nd place guy. I made a pass near Cardiac hill, and held them off through the singletrack. We passed a couple of the slower riders in the Expert/Elite class, and headed back into the Amusement Park. Here I could feel myself finally putting distance on Shaun and the other guy in my class. My legs were feeling strong at this point, so I put the hammer down. In the Crazy Beaver loop, I caught another 2 riders from the Expert/Elite wave, and passed them on the 2-track which followed. They stayed on my wheel back to the BLUE loop, and we traded passes.

I rolled across the finish after 1 hour 20 minutes and 9 seconds, in 2nd place! The 3rd place finisher came in a half minute later, and Shaun took 4th, about a minute and a half behind me (I guess my focus on endurance paid off with a good finishing kick). The winner was 4 1/2 minutes ahead of me: I would've needed a motorcycle to keep up.

A beautiful day, a great course, and a strong performance. You can't ask for a better race day!

Photos by Dan Frayer. Video by Duke at Mysinglespeed.com

Bloomer XC

2008-04-30T11:21:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, I did my first race of the season. It was held at Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills, and was a Cross Country format. This meant that I would be doing 3 laps of roughly 6 miles apiece.

The forecast for rain in the days leading up to the race meant that I was a fence-sitter. Also, I had swapped out my usual Ignitor/Smallblock 8 tire combination for some slower, but grippier in the mud, Kenda Klaws. The rain didn't quite materialize (some showers), but the tires stayed on. There were a few muddy spots that I noted on my pre-ride earlier in the week, and I decided that I would appreciate the extra grip.

I arrived a couple hours prior to my start time, registered, and met up with the team. Some time was spent just hanging out, and then we headed out to do our respective warm-ups. My start time approached, and I found my way to the starting line. I took my spot in the 2nd row (Expert/Elite guys were on the front row), and briefly took note of who was racing that day.

A blast of a whistle, and we were off. I found myself 3rd wheel in my class, behind Mark from the Mysinglespeed.com racing team, and Tim from Macomb Bike, while the Expert riders gradually pulled ahead. We stayed this way through the first half lap, running fast and hard through the early singletrack, down the switchbacks, and along the ridge trail. This dumped us (via a 180 degree turn) onto a long straight section. I was feeling good and strong, and decided to pass Tim. Over the next mile, I put some distance between Tim and myself.

After 5 miles, on a rough downhill, I got on the brakes way too hard. In hindsight I think this is because I remembered there was a slight reroute at the bottom due to mud. My bike started bucking, and after a brief fight, I hit the ground hard. In a haze I pulled my bike off the trail, and sat for a minute and a half, as I watched numerous riders pass by (Tim, Mark from Cycletherapy, and a couple others in my class).

After realizing that I wasn't busted up badly (no bike damage, some trail rash, and most of the cobwebs significantly cleared from my head), I got back on the bike and vowed to continue. I was able to get back up to speed rather quickly, and a quick glance at the clock on my way through the start/finish line made me realize I wasn't in horrible shape. My second lap proceeded very fast, as I attempted to reel in the other riders who had passed. Although I didn't catch anyone that lap, I did turn a fast lap and made up ground. Early in my third lap, I caught one of the other riders in my class (SWEET... I won't be DFL). A short while later I caught (in order) Tim, Mark, and Cary (who was racing Expert/Elite). I continued to ride hard attempting to put distance between them and myself. It worked, as they never caught back up.

After I rolled across the finish line, my teammate Todd informed me that only a handful of singlespeeders crossed the line before me. A good sign. About a half hour later, the preliminary results were posted, and I found out that I finished 3rd in my class!

Singlespeed Class Results (click to enlarge)

Sport/Beginner Singlespeed Podium

Here are a few videos from the race:

Singlespeed

Video courtesy of Duke at Mysinglespeed.com

Expert/Elite geared classes

Video courtesy of Masher's Media

Sport/Beginner classes, including Singlespeed

Video courtesy of Masher's Media

What's worse, wind or ice

2008-03-08T14:57:00.007-05:00

I'm going to have to go with ice on that one. At least the wind was at my back nearly as much as it was in my face.

The snowstorm they had originally forecasted for today failed to materialize, at least in our area, so I piled on the layers, filled a bottle and camelpack, and saddled up my trusty steed. The steed of choice today was my Quiring, set up in fixed gear format. My plan was to ride basically the same loop I rode last weekend. I headed out of town, and climbed the first hill on Attica Road. At the top, I turned right onto Summers Road, straight into north wind suckage... or shall I say blowage. Yup, the headwind would be with me for a while. I resolved to grunt my way into the wind, knowing it would be at my back for the return trip. Besides, Summers Road was in much better shape than last weekend, having no snow cover.

The headwind stayed with me until Lum Road, where I headed west. Crosswinds are slightly better than headwinds. Lum Road took me through Lum (don't blink... even on a bicycle), and out to Spaulding Road. A bit of a rear tire slip, and I had the sudden realization that I was riding on WHUMP ice. It was kind of neat in a way, a relatively painless landing, and a slide of about 30 feet before I came to a stop. I picked myself up, and walked the short distance back to Lum Road.

I rode back to Slattery Road, and started north. Slattery was in much better shape... to start. Sure enough, Ice, and another gravity check. I got back up, and rode/walked (mostly walked) northward, to see what Curtis road offered. Sure enough... more ice, and more ride/walk alternating. After a while, I came to Lake Pleasant Road. Paved at last. North into the wind. Heartrate at my Lactate Threshold and single digit speeds at points. I rode like this to North Branch Road, and headed west through North Branch.

Just past North Branch, I turned around and basically retraced my path. On to Lake Pleasant Road. South. With the wind. Speeds averaging 18mph, hitting well over 20 on the downhills. Spinning like mad but in a nice zone 2 endurance heart rate. Back through Lum. Down Summers Road. With the wind. Dirt roads seem rougher at 20+ than at less than 10mph.

I rolled into my driveway pretty much spent, and with just under 47 miles showing on the Edge.

Route from Today's ride (ain't high tech GPS toys neat)

Today's elevation profile

Spring Fever

2008-03-07T16:09:00.010-05:00

Just (im)patiently waiting for the spring thaw.

The bountiful snowfall in Lapeer county this year hasn't stopped me from logging some riding time outside though. Just aching to get back on the trails. Over the past year, I've put together a serviceable assortment of winter riding clothes. For Christmas, my parents got me a pair of neoprene booties, and a new pair of tights (to replace the ones I tore when I crashed at Iceman). I also picked up a pair of Moose Mitts at the MMBA expo to keep my hands warm. Add to that the skull caps, windbreakers, pullovers, long sleeve base layers, and socks that my wife and parents have bought for me, and I'm just about set.

The Quiring is set up in fixed gear format, with a 16 tooth tomicog (http://tomicog.blogspot.com/) bolted up. I've worked out a nice dirt/paved road route that takes me up through the Lapeer State Game area. So far I've done that route twice.

Route for dirt road ride.

Elevation profile for dirt road ride.

I've also been out on the road bike on a few occasions during February and March. Once I met up with Dave from the RBS bike team, and we rode from Lapeer to Otisville and back; just under 50 miles for that day. Another time I met up with my teammate Curt (blog link on right) and a few others at Stony, where I logged 40 miles of riding at a pace I wasn't expecting this early in the year. I've also done the below route from home, which I had done a few times last year. Basically I ride from Imlay City to Lapeer and back. This one nets out at 35 1/2 miles.

Imlay City to Lapeer route.

Elevation Profile

The preceeding maps and charts were made possible by a great gift from a loving wife to her husband. For Valentines Day, Brandy got me a Garmin Edge 305. This came with a cadence sensor and a heart rate monitor, and has a barometric altimeter built in. I'm hoping this will be a great training tool. At the very least, it will be neat to see elevation, speed, and heart rate statistics from my rides.

Re-Runs From Last Year

2008-01-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

Originally written on March 18,2007

Today I decided to take advantage of some glorious March weather. I laced up my hiking boots, grabbed my GPS and camera, and drove up to the Hogbacks area just north of Elba. When all was said and done, I had hiked for 6 miles.

A nice small lake within the Hogbacks area.

Looking back along the trail.

A view from the top of a ridge.

It's much steeper than it looks... basically a root staircase.

Between the trees or over the roots... you decide.

Fall line runs seem to be the norm here.

The end of the line, unless you have a horse or waders.

Another fall line run. Once again, it's steeper than it looks.

A river runs through it.

Through the open and flat.

The trail next to the lake.

Fun in the Cold

2008-01-20T08:57:00.000-05:00

Trainers and rollers are excellent off-season training tools, so don't get me wrong here. They have one major flaw though, and that is boredom. Sitting in the basement spinning away like a hamster on a wheel. TV with the right video helps immensely, but there is still no substitute for the real thing.

Saturday, I chose to brave the chilly temperatures and met Steve out at Island Lake for a few miles. Steve is one of the regulars on the mysinglespeed.com board. We decided to start with a lap of the Blue loop (approx. 10 miles), and make the call on the ~5.5 mile Yellow loop afterwards.

Here we are about a third of the way through the Blue loop. Steve's on the right, I'm on the left.

We did the blue loop, were feeling good, and decided to give the yellow loop a go. Trail conditions were excellent for the season: snow was good and grippy, there were only a few small icy spots, and only one tree down (about 2 miles or so into the blue loop). The wind was only a factor in one spot, the open area by the swimming hole.

Here's your's truly at a crossing on the yellow loop.

I'm the drab green spot in the middle of the photo. Note the runner up ahead. We weren't the only crazy ones out today.

We completed the yellow loop, and decided that we had time (and energy) to do another go-round of the blue loop. When we rolled back into the parking lot, I had about 23 1/3 miles showing on the computer.

Here's a photo of Steve's dash after the ride. Note the temperature of 13deg F.

The Fun Stuff

2008-01-11T23:09:00.000-05:00

May 17: Zoo-De-Mack
This will mark the 3rd year that Brandy and I did this ride. It has proven to be a fun time the past two. Picture arriving at Boyne Highlands on Friday, drinking, waking up on Saturday morning, riding, break for lunch and drink beer (or a massage in Brandy's case), ride some more, ferry across to Mackinac Island, drink more. Fun times

June 21-27: Pedal Across Lower Michigan
A 6 day bicycle tour across the state. Brandy and I did this 2 years ago, but missed last year's ride because we mailed in the application a "wee bit" too late. May 1st or 700 riders... last year they hit 700 riders by the end of February. We won't make the same mistake again.

Sometime in Late September-ish: High Country Pathway Fun 50
Click back in the archives a bit... 'nuff said!

Also on a date yet to be determined, I'm contemplating a trip either to the North Country Trail, Copper Harbor/MTU Trails, Mohican, or even as far as Pisgah NC.

2008 Tentative Race Schedule

2008-01-11T22:59:00.000-05:00

Apr 13: Pontiac Lake TT
April 20: Yankee Springs TT
Apr 27: Bloomer Park XC
May 4: Fort Custer Stampede XC
Jun 7-8: Brighton Stage Race
Jun 14: Lumberjack 100
Jun 28: Stony Creek Marathon XC
Jul 20: Ruby Campground XC
Jul 27: Stony Creek TT
Aug 3: Big M Cross Country XC
Aug 24: Pontiac Lake XC
Sep 7: Stoney Creek XC
Sep 21: Addison Oaks XC
Sep 28: Pando XC
Nov 8: Iceman Cometh

My key races will be the Brighton Stage Race, Lumberjack, Stony Creek XC, and Iceman.

Brewmaster for a Day

2007-12-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

Today I decided to play the part of brewmaster, and make a batch of beer. It's been around 2 years since I last brewed, and homebrew was sounding good to me. So I jotted down the ingredients for an IPA, and yesterday I stopped at a homebrew supply shop in Warren.

First I gathered up some necessary supplies.

I also arranged a few other items that I felt may come in handy.
Equipment was cleaned and sanitized. The sanitizing solution looks eerily similar in color to the beer I'd brew.
I make beer by using malt extracts (the cans and the bag of beige powder in a previous photo). This saves quite a bit of time over brewing all-malt. However, I do use some specialty grains in my brew. This gives beer some of it's flavor.

This particular recipe called for toasted malted barley, and crystal malt. The grains had to be cracked, and put into a cloth "sack" for use in steeping.
The "sack" of crushed grains, ready to go.
I filled the kettle with 6 gallons (5 gallon batch with allowance for some to boil off) of water, and turned on the heat.
The "sack" getting dropped in. This steeps for 15 minutes at 150 degrees F.
The spent "sack".

Bubble bubble toil and trouble...

Add the extract, boil for 50 minutes, adding hops at various points.

A shot of the "brewmaster". It's just about almost noonish... time for another beer!

After the boil, the wort needs to be brought down near room temperature. The faster the better, to avoid haze and lessen the risk of contamination. I use an immersion chiller, essentially 25' of copper tubing coiled up, with cold fresh water flowing through the tube. This will cool the wort in just under a half hour.
Usually I do this outside, but the ho's was froze, so I had to use the basement faucet.

Taking a reading of the initial gravity. This, combined with the final gravity after fermentation, can be used to estimate the alcohol content.

Racking the wort into the carboy for fermentation.
Pitching the yeast.

Airlock in place. The primary fermentation should be started by tomorrow mid morning, and finished in just under a week. Then will come a 1 week long secondary fermentation, then bottling. Stay tuned for progress updates.

Goals for Next Season, and Some Skiing

2007-12-18T20:39:00.000-05:00

My goals for next season are as follows:

Set up and follow a structured training plan
Be between 145lbs and 150lbs by the Pontiac Lake TT
Race in, and finish, the Lumberjack (under 10 hours would be nice)
Top 15 in Singlespeed at Iceman (I'd need to finish in ~1:50 to acheive this)
Top 2 in Sport/Beg Singlespeed - USAC XC series
Enter a race in Expert by the end of the season, and finish in the top half
Help TSB win the USAC team award!

To aid in meeting these goals, I have a "Hamster Cage" down in the basement. This consists of a set of rollers, a trainer, a treadmill, and a bench and weights. Of course, when the weather cooperates I'll take my training outside. I'm currently reading "The Mountain Biker's Training Bible", by Joe Friel. After only reading the first 4 chapters thus far, I can already see a number of things I've been doing wrong.

Skiing

On Sunday, I took advantage of the new snowfall and waxed up the cross country skis. A slow drive later, I found myself at a familiar locale: the West Branch parking lot at Stony Creek. I had never skied Stony before, and was eager to give it a go. Last year, I skied 2 or 3 times on the Polly Ann trail (a rail-trail), and that was the first I had x-c skied since the winter of 1998-99. Because of this, my stride was... shall I say... less than graceful. Fortunately for the most part there were nice tracks cut in from earlier skiers.

I looped around the outer perimeter to start. This was the easier and flatter section of trail; the trails in the middle of the mountain bike/ski area tend to be hillier. This allowed my legs to get used to the motions, and for the body and muscles to warm up. The only real hiccup here was when I got to the golf course. Just past the starter building (which will also serve as the ski hut when the renovations are finished), the trail basically disappeared due to drifting. This forced me to break new trail for a bit over a mile. Not the easiest thing to do.

After finishing the "outer loop", about 6 miles, I found myself back at the parking lot. I ate a Cliff bar, and set out to do a loop of the more advanced and hillier trails in the middle of the ski/bike area. Surprisingly, I was quickly able to "re-learn" the herringbone technique for climbing hills. The downhills that followed added an adrenaline rush also. I finished the "inner loop", and estimate that I had put in roughly 11 miles. Legs were sore, especially my inner and outer thighs, and toes were on the verge of developing blisters. But, I had a great time, enjoyed seeing very familiar trails in a new way, and am now hoping for some good snow throughout the winter.

I'm a Dirty Boy

2007-12-08T17:37:00.000-05:00

22 miles of dirt roads in northern Oakland County.

An Iceman Photo

2007-11-30T16:19:00.000-05:00

Photo courtesy of Matt Mccluskey. http://www.mattmccluskey.com/

Iceman

2007-11-12T20:22:00.000-05:00

This past weekend saw me in northern Michigan, for the Iceman Cometh Challenge (http://iceman.com/). The Iceman is a point-to-point race starting in Kalkaska, and finishing 27.5 miles of fireroads, 2-track, dirt roads, singletrack, sand, and hills later in Traverse City. This would be my first time racing the Iceman, so I kept my goals simple: finish, have fun, and try to finish in less than 2 hours 15 minutes.

We left for Traverse City after work on Friday, and rolled into town about 8:00. I picked up my registration packet, we stopped to pick up a couple beverages, checked into the hotel, and settled in for a quiet evening. Unfortunately our late arrival meant that we missed the team dinner Friday night. I would've liked to go, but unfortunately I had to work.

Saturday morning we woke up and ate the continental breakfast at our hotel. Here we ran into my teammate Todd Shorkey (see link to his blog on the right) and his wife. We chatted for a few and wished each other good luck. I also ran into Steve from the mysinglespeed.com group.

After breakfast, we drove over to Kalkaska, where the start of the race was. As this was my first time doing Iceman, I wanted to get there with plenty of time. We arrived just over an hour before my wave was scheduled to start, leaving me plenty of time to get prepared, do a brief warm-up, use the porta-john, and still have time to get staged fairly close to the front of my wave.

In the starting gate, I was lined up next to Tim from the Cycletherapy team. He is also one of the mysinglespeed.com crew, and I ride with him and Steve on an occasional Thursday night at Pontiac Lake. Tim is fast, and I knew it was going to be tough to keep with him for long. But him and I had similar plans for the race: get a good start, try not to kill ourselves early on, and save something for the hills towards the end.

BANG... not really (no gun)... we were off. Usually I'm a slow starter, preferring to take it easy off the line and settle into a good pace, letting the fast starters come back to me later in the race. This wasn't the case this time. I hit the gas good off the start, and hung with Tim as we worked our way through the pack: passing some, passed by others. The start... I wasn't fully prepared for the hectic nature. 100+ singlespeeds, and a handful of tandems (yes, people ride and race tandem bicycles offroad, and for Iceman they start them along with the singlespeeds) all flying off the line and holding a fast pace. Legs spinning like a mad hamster on crack, we were moving at 18mph+ for the first couple miles (I'm sure the top guys were a good amount in excess of 20mph).

I found my rythym at about 2 miles in, and settled in. About 5 miles or so in, we hit a stretch of singletrack (there is very little singletrack on the Iceman course). Usually singletrack is a blast to ride, and this bit was nice and smooth, just twisty enough to keep it interesting... basically the stuff that invites you to just boogy through it with a grin on your face. Not so at Iceman. Picture a line of bicycles moving oh-too-slowly through a tight spot where passing is all but impossible. And to top it off, at the end there was a short grunt hill, after a 90 degree left turn. The type of hill you need to carry momentum into to make on a singlespeed. I did my best approximation of a cyclocross dismount, run, and mount here, and actually was able to pass a couple riders in this fashion. This was also the first of 2 hills that I did on foot. Just after this point, I realized that a faint buzzing/pinging noise was coming from my bike. I quickly discovered that my bottle cage was coming loose. I pulled out my bottle of HEED (Hammer Nutrition's energy/electrolyte drink), and stuffed it into my jersey pocket. So much for easy access. Luckily my water was in a Camelpack (nice easy access), and there were enough flat open spots so I could safely access my bottle.

A short while later, I lost contact with Tim when we came to a group of slower riders. He got around them easily, while I struggled... then he was gone. I decided to keep riding my pace: hard, but something I was confident in being able to maintain for the duration. I kept passing slower riders, but mainly enjoyed a hard ride through some pretty northern Michigan forests.

Just over halfway in, I came to the Williamsburg road crossing. This was a popular spectating point; people were lined up on both sides, and there was an announcer calling out riders' names and hometowns. The announcer butchered my last name (no suprise). Oh, and by the way, the crossing is at the top of a hill. Just past Williamsburg Road, there was a tight switchback downhill. This was the only point other than the aforementioned climbs where I had to put a foot down. I felt bad for the riders behind me, and thought about the fact that switchback decents are something I really need to work on next year. About this time, the headache kicked in. Actually my head was starting to feel goofy a couple miles prior, but just after Williamsburg Road, it started to get bad. In hindsight I don't think I stayed well enough hydrated from Friday afternoon till the start of the race. I tried my best to ignore this, and just ride my race.

The next bit passed by uneventfully, until about 7 miles from the finish when I saw a Cycletherapy jersey ahead. I had caught up with Tim! We rode together for a while, then we came to a "mother" of a hill. People were two, even three abreast walking up the hill. Tim and I both said something along the lines of "bleep it", dismounted, and started walking. No running at this point in the game, walking was what I could muster.

At the top, I remounted and resumed riding. I also pulled away from Tim, and as it would turn out this was the last time I'd see him during the race. Here, I knew there were only about 3, maybee 4 miles left. Good thing, as a touch of nausia started to set in. In fact, I pretty much spent the remainder of the race trying not to chunk all over my bike. I also caught and passed 2 more riders in my class.

The finish snaked it's way for a mile or so through a campground resort, before we finally crossed a bridge, did a couple right hand turns, and crossed the line. In a moment of stupidity, I took the last turn too hot, and did a "slide into home" move. Nobody close behind me, nobody in front of me, why didn't I just ease up and finish... dumb, dumb, dumb. Gouged my knee up and blew a hole in my tights.

When I crossed the line, I noticed that there was a clock next to the course. A little bit of cyphering had me guessing that my time was just south of 2:05... much better than I thought I'd acheive! I leaned my bike against a tree, and made my way into the refreshment tent, where I ran into my teammate Todd (see link to the blog "Todd" on the right). He had moved up to Expert for this race, and therefore finished before me. I also looked around for Brandy, but didn't see her. In fact I didn't find her for about 20 minutes or so, and she missed seeing me finish the race. She got a little lost finding the place, and neither of us were expecting me to finish as fast as I did.

They posted the results a short while later: my time was 2:02:10, which put me 24th out of 104 riders in Men's Singlespeed!

After getting changed, we found (eventually) the team tent. We hung out, talked about the race, and waited to watch the Pro class to finish (they start significantly after everyone else, mainly for that reason). Lemme tell you, beer hits you hard when you are dehydrated and have little food in your belly! But, the beer was tasty, the company was great, and watching the Pro riders finish was awesome. The winner finished over a half hour faster than I did!.

We went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and headed over to the house that two teammates had rented for the after party. Low key, teammates, spouses, and a couple other friends hanging out. Perfect way to finish off a great weekend of racing.

Massive Fallout

2007-10-30T20:34:00.001-04:00

This is how I spent my Sunday.

This was a group ride that started as a brainstorm of a couple of guys that I ride with on Wednesday. They initially posted it as an informal gathering, but as interest grew, the ride grew. Word is that over 150 people total showed up for the ride. The route took us through Oakland County from Rochester up to Lake Orion/Lakeville, with options to ride the trails at Bloomer Park, Stony Creek, Bald Mountain, and Addison Oaks.

I met up with my teammates Curt, John, Mike, and Jay at the start point, the Rochester Mills Brewery. We, and a few others including another singlespeeder named Tim, set off at about 9am. As things were still damp from the day before, we elected to skip Bloomer and headed straight to Stony. This made for a nice warmup on the roads, and we hit first singletrack about 3 miles in. Stony was tacky, with some leaf cover. My Q was handling excellently, as I chased Tim through the singletrack.

We regrouped at the end of Stony's fine singletrack, ducked out the fence, and took Sheldon Road to Gunn Road to the Paint Creek Trail. The Paint Creek Trail (a rail-trail) took us towards Lake Orion, where a short singletrack connector took us out to Stony Creek Road. Here Curt and I believe Mike got seperated from the rest of us, and we headed to the main Bald Mountain trailhead at Harmon Road. We rode the entire loop of Bald Mountain North (we would later find out that Curt and Mike rode the "top" half). Bald Mountain was fun, albiet a bit greasy in parts. Just after we crossed over Harmon Road, we came to a bridge, at the bottom of a short downhill. This bridge, and basically all other wood encountered on the ride, was wet from Saturday's rain. It was here where John got a quick "reminder" that wet wood was slippery! I was right behind him, and luckily was able to stop in time to avoid him. He was ok, however he broke a rail on his saddle. He did finish the ride, although it was a bit more painful than he would've liked.

Curt and Mike were waiting at Addison when we rolled in. Regrouped, we headed out for a loop of Addison's singletrack. This trail is fast with a very good flow. Paul the trail coordinator has done an excellent job with this trail: challenging when taken at speed, and with not a lot of gratuitous things to rob you of your speed.

After Addison, discussions occurred, and Mike and Tim left while Curt, John, Jay and I decided to do a "4 Corners" loop. This is a 4 mile loop that takes you up Lake George, west on Drahner Road, south on Barr Road, and east on Indian Lake. Oh, and there is a fair bit of climbing on this section (see the segment from about mile 30 to mile 35 on the below elevation plot).

We finished up the "4 Corners", rode down Lake George, did the segment of Bald Mountain from Lake George to Harmon Road. A few miles of roads took us back to the Paint Creek Trail, which we rode back into Rochester. After 52.79 miles (by my computer), and 4 hours 10 minutes of riding time, we loaded up our bikes, changed clothes, and relaxed at the brewery with some food and a couple pints.

Curt's GPS plot of the route. He lost the data prior to Stony Creek, and took a slightly different route from me by Bald Mountain (near where the blue lines form an "X" at the top, to the right of the cluster of lakes)

Curt's GPS elevation plot.

50 Miles on the Q

2007-10-27T09:33:00.000-04:00

Thursday's ride put me just over 50 miles on the new bike, and I'm loving the handling so far. I still need the proper length stem, and that should put things at perfect.

Wednesday night was the weekly Stony Creek group ride. I did my usual one lap of the singletrack before heading down to meet the group. After my "pre-lap", I rode down to meet the group, where my bike had a few admirers. We did a lap of all the singletrack, all of which had to be completed with lights due to the darkness.

Thursday was the weekly www.mysinglespeed.com group ride at Pontiac Lake. Due to an off-site meeting ending early, I was actually able to make the 4:30 early lap (main lap is at 6~6:15). For the first lap, I rode with "Duke" and "Abbeytrails" (screen names). We kept to a leisurely pace, stopping fairly often. This didn't stop me from letting 'er rip on a few of the descents. Riding at PLRA reinforced the fact that the headtube angle change was the right thing to do. I was able to take some of the moderate/high speed corners with more confidence than I could with the Rig. Also, although this topic is highly debated, I am now a believer that frame material does make a difference in feeling impacts from the trail. The aluminum frame Rig felt much harsher than the titanium framed Quiring. Don't get me wrong, there is no mistaking the fact you're riding a hardtail, it's more of a dulled "thud" with the Quiring than the sharp "whack" with the Rig.

I rode the 2nd lap with "Gearless" and "Gears What Gears", and the pace quickened up quite a bit (Gearless is quite fast). We also stopped less frequently and for shorter durations. At one of our usual stopping points, the Campground Road crossing about 4 miles in, we bumped into a beginner who had probably one of the best attitudes about riding that I've seen in a while. She was waiting while her husband went to get their truck. It was starting to get dark, they had no lights with them, and the first 4 miles took it's toll on her. Although beaten by the trail this time, she stated that she needed to come back so she could finish it. The 3 of us all felt that this woman would be riding for quite some time to come.

We had to turn our lights on about 2/3 of the way through the trail, and finished by the glow off our helmets and the nearly full moon. My first experience riding PLRA at night.

Two great rides in two days with two great groups, loving the way your new bike handles, life is good.

Quiring - Built and Ridden

2007-10-23T20:41:00.000-04:00

Saturday, my new Quiring got built up into a proper bicycle. A big thanks to the Bicycle and Fitness Barn in Port Huron for work on the build, and my teammate Lee for loaning me the stem (bleeping Bontrager "non-square" stem causing the headset race to not want to sit square).

Yesterday late afternoon I took the Q for her maiden voyage. I went to Stony, since I tend to put in most of my miles there.Overall, I was very impressed with the handling. Steepening up the headtube angle from that of the Rig made a big difference. The Rig wanted to fight me when things got twisty: the Q wants to find the line quickly and hold it. Also during climbing, the Q seemed to track much straighter; the Rig wanted to wander. I didn't see any issues with tracking at higher speeds. A few tweaks still need to be made, mainly fine-tuning of saddle position and a new stem. The borrowed stem is longer (by 20mm) and shallower (by 5deg) than my Bontrager stem. Based on the maiden voyage, I will be going back to my original stem length and angle.

Side view

Profile view

Chris King / Quiring Cycles money shot

Mandatory drivetrain shot. Surly cog to replace cheap Shitmano BMX cog coming soon.

Thomson seatpost porn.

New Frame

2007-10-18T20:28:00.000-04:00

My new frame arrived yesterday. Just over 7 weeks from deposit to delivery. The workmanship is excellent, and if it rides even half as nice as it looks, I'll be very happy. Scott was great to deal with, promptly returning my calls and answering emails. He is very knowledgeable about bikes, and willing to work with the customer to give them what they want.

So here she is: 3 3/4 lbs of beautifully welded together polished titanium. Singlespeed only, Paragon sliding drops, built around a Rock Shox Reba fork, geometrically similar to my Rig but with the headtube angle steepened by a degree. The build-up will take place over the weekend, and "first dirt" should be seen on Monday.

Photos courtesy of Scott Quiring.

Overall view

Closeup of the downtube logo

Bottom bracket - no creaky eccentric here!

Downtube logo

Stupid Pet Tricks

2007-09-28T19:43:00.001-04:00

A couple photos of our "special" cat Onyx, taken a few years ago.

Which half do you want?

I'm thirsty.

The Blue Dots - Part 2

2007-09-24T19:46:00.001-04:00

Friday night was spent sitting around a fire, enjoying a few tasty beverages, and sharing stories of riding. Stories from High Country Pathway rides past floated around.

Everyone woke up Saturday morning, and got ready for the day's ride. Cars were loaded with food and water, and would be staged at a couple points along the route. Riding attire was donned. Last minute adjustments were made to bikes, which were then loaded into/onto cars, and we caravaned out to Osmun Road.

Jeff making last minute adjustments. Little did he know that he would be finishing the ride short a few gears.

Unloading at Osmun Road.

From Osmun Road, we headed west for a stretch before the trail turned to the south. Things were tight in stretches here, and there was the occasional boardwalk and wet root cluster to keep you thinking (or walking).

A stretch of boardwalk gets ridden.

Leafs over wet roots had us walking this stretch.

We continued along through a flat section for a couple of miles. Things opened up and became more rolling after a while. We had the occasional log down to ride over, some ferny sections, a bit of hardwood, and the occasional missed blue dot (doh!)
Nice stretch of singletrack.

We went down this little hill.

Through a series of rolling hills, we gradually climbed until we came to this overlook. Here was a good spot for everyone to regroup before continuing on.

Tom gives a thumbs-up at the overlook.

From here we rode along a ridge and past the Pine Grove State Forest campground. We eventually came to another overlook, where the group stopped to have a bite to eat.

Emerging from the woods approaching the overlook.

Milling about up top.

Looking out from up top.

Time to change color yet?

After refueling our bodies, we enjoyed a series of fast downhills through a couple fields before heading into the woods again. Once back in the woods, we went through a series of hills. One in particular was of the "you have got to be kidding me" variety.

Rooty, steep, and long meant that we were climbing this one on foot.

The top of that climb brought us to the Shingle Mill Pathway, which we rode for about 6 miles. The Shingle Mill Pathway is actually a series of loops (we rode the western side) that is used as a cross country ski trail in the winter. This meant things were open and fast for 6 miles. This started with a screaming downhill which had us well in excess of 20mph (approaching 30mph at one point). We then rode through some swampy lowland, complete with a long, but thankfully wide boardwalk. We had a couple of short climbs, and ended the Shingle Mill portion at the parking lot near the Pigeon Bridge Campground (regretfully closed this summer due to DNR budget cuts). Here was the spot of the first car, and we took a nice break to eat, stretch, and refill hydration packs.

Boardwalk on the Shingle Mill

Me at Pigeon Bridge. This is where my ride ended during the summer ride (going the other direction).

We left Pigeon Bridge and rode through an open stretch of forest. The trail had a great flow, and some good hills to go down or grunt up. A general uphill trend took us to the location of an old fire tower. The fire tower is gone, but if you search around you will find parts of the old foundation.

At the fire tower site, a good spot to regroup.

From the fire tower, we descended for a bit, climbed a bit, rode a ridge line stretch, and then descended into the swamps again. Here were more boardwalks... a bunch of them. There was one long one which I rode this time. An accomplishment, as I walked the entire couple hundred yards of it in the summer. There was then a few short sections of boardwalk, and a really gnarled section of roots. On one of these boardwalks I went down, HARD. I got some speed, lifted my front wheel to set it on the boardwalk, didn't get my wheel high enough... bike stopped... I didn't! A handlebar/thigh meeting gave me the mother of all charlie horses, and this would twinge when I would pedal (or push my bike). After sitting for a few, I got back on the bike, determined not to let this stop me.

We climbed out of the lowlands, and rode some miles through a stretch of trail that had an excellent flow. This went on for a few miles, until we were spit out onto County Road 622. Here was the second car where we rested, refueled, and prepared for the ride (hike) up Rattlesnake Hill. The climb up Rattlesnake Hill is another of the "you gotta be s^*#ing me" variety. Long, steep at parts, with a loose slope filled with gravel and baby head sized rocks to finish things up. Yep, hike-a-bike fore sure!

Me atop Rattlesnake Hill. You can see for about 20 miles, especially when it's as clear as it was for this ride.

Some of the group on top of Rattlesnake Hill.

We were treated to some fast, and perhaps the hairiest, downhills of the day coming off Rattlesnake Hill. Things became flatter, we had a section through some ferns, another tangle of unrideable boardwalks and roots, some sweet singletrack, before we were ultimately dumped out onto 622 again. Here the crew voted, and we elected to forgo the last couple of miles crossing over M33, instead electing to take the back way into the park. We were getting pretty whupped by this point, and showers, beer, hot food, and stories around the campfire awaited.

Was it a good ride... no, it was a GREAT ride. Was it easy... hell no! Will I be back... hell yeah!

The Blue Dots - Part 1

2007-09-23T20:07:00.000-04:00

Back in June, I fell in love with a trail. The High Country Pathway to be exact. This trail is located north of Atlanta MI, is 80 miles in length, and has been declared an "Epic Ride" by the International Mountain Bike Association. The trail conquered me after only 28.5 miles in June. I learned a valuable lesson related to growlers of Docs ESB and bottles of Oberon on the eve of a long ride, and vowed to return.

Friday

I took a vacation day on Friday, left home before 10am, and had camp set up by 3. Looking for a way to enjoy a couple hours, I loaded up my camelpack, got changed, and set out riding. I chose to ride the section from the campground (Clear Lake State Park) up to Tomahawk Lake, east of M33. A gradual downslope took me out of the park, across M33, and after a left at the fork, I was headed North.

The first section was a series of climbs, perfectly makeable in my 36:20 gearing, that led to a little overlook.

At the top of this little section looking back.

About the post title "The Blue Dots": this trail is blazed by a series of blue dots. No blue dots - you're lost. Note the blue dot above my bike in the proceeding photo.

For the climbing, I was rewarded with a couple of fast decents, followed by a couple little climbs. The trail popped out onto a logging road, which I took to the left for about a hundred yards... no blue dots. Turn around, backtrack, and there less than 20 feet to the right of where I emerged onto the logging road... a blue dot. OK, back on track, and this diversion only cost a couple minutes.

Here, the trail ran through the lowlands, and followed a very old railroad grade. Here was also the first section of boardwalk I'd encounter this weekend.

Reads: "Note the vegitative changes caused by the railroad grade built in 1895.

Boardwalks: I rode this stretch, rode a few others, and walked some.

The trail opened up some after the RR grade, and I passed the location of the logging town of McPhee.

Things stayed open for a while, passing through a stand of jack pine. After this stretch, things got very thick and overgrown for a bit over a mile.

There is a trail here amongst these ferns, trust me.

This led to a clearcut, more trail through a pine stand, and then a slightly rolling section as I approached the Tomahawk Creek Flooding, a very scenic lake.

On the edge of a clearcut. Very rough trail surface through here.

The trail ran along a low ridge on the east side of the flooding. Very nice riding here; smooth, no face-slappers, good flow.

Tomahawk Creek Flooding.

A small but well placed stump played "photographer for this shot of me with the flooding in the background.

After this point, the trail ran through a long clearcut, picked up a dirt/sand road for a quarter mile, and went through a more open stretch of woods. Eventually I came to Tomahawk Lake Road, which I took to M33. M33 brought me south back to camp, through perhaps the worst stretch of the ride: road, southbound, and into a fairly strong south wind.

When I arrived at camp, others had shown up and set up tents. I took a quick shower, and spent the evening hanging out by the fire in preparation for the main ride the next day, the HCP Fall Fun 50.

To Be Continued...

Here is a map of the trail for your reference. Clear Lake State Park is located in the southeast portion, near where the trail crosses M33. Friday's ride took me up to Tomahawk Lake Road, in the northeast portion. The "Fall Fun 50" begins where the trail crosses Osmun Road, in the northeast portion, and we ride counterclockwise back to the campground.

The Birth of a Quiring

2007-09-20T18:33:00.001-04:00

Scott from Quiring Cycles sent me an email today.

Coming soon in brushed titanium singlespeed glory...

The biggest change from the Rig is that the headtube angle is increased by a degree. This will quicken up the handling. Also, the new frame will have Paragon sliding dropouts instead of the eccentric bottom bracket on the Rig.

Other than that, I've been basically just working and riding. Last Saturday was the final trail day at Ruby Campground. We did some trimming for a haunted trail that the owners put on for Halloween. After that, we gathered and moved some rocks for use in armoring some sections next spring.

Sunday was a large group ride leaving from Stony Creek HS. We did some riding at Stony, then rode up to Addison Oaks and Bald Mountain. The highlight of the ride had to be the Paint Creek Cider Mill, towards the end of the ride. Cider, apples, and donuts so hot they practially burned your mouth and hands.

I had a couple of rides at Stony this week (Tuesday and Wednesday), totalling 17 and 20 miles respectively. Next on the agenda... 50 miles of the High Country Pathway this weekend! We will be camping at Clear Lake SP, and will ride the section from Osmun Road counter-clockwise back to the campground.

The week (and a half) in review

2007-09-10T19:30:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted anything since prior to Labor Day, so I feel that some updates are in order.

Labor Day weekend saw a couple of good rides, totaling just on the good side of 70 miles. On Saturday, I rode Harsen's Island with Brandy's uncle Dave. We rode the <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Succhi Bar, about 3/4 of the way through our ride.

The Sunday prior to Labor Day saw me out at Ruby for some riding with my teammates. I rode with Todd, Tom, and Kevin for a few laps of Ruby. Todd had a helmet cam strapped to his seat, and Mike did some filming while we sessioned a little jump and the outhouse hill. It was a fun time.

On Wednesday, I headed out to the Stony group ride after doing a quick loop through the singletrack. Rather than do the normal ride with the group, Erick and I took off seperately to do a couple laps of the XC race course. Erick was planning on entering the race, and was looking to do a pre-ride. The first lap through had me leading, while showing Erick the layout and pointing out a few things. For the 2nd lap, Erick took the lead. A very good ride. One slight hiccup... it was starting to get a wee bit dark towards the end, and we pretty much did the "back 9" section of the singletrack blindly.

There were a couple of days (Tuesday and Thursday) last week where I ran, running for 4 and 6 miles respectively. Just your basic uneventful runs.

This past Saturday saw another beautiful weekend day, and the racking up of yet more mileage. I started at Pontiac Lake where I met with a group of people from the Wednesday Stony ride. One of the guys Bob had never ridden Pontiac before, and was putting together a group to ride with. We had about 8 people total. We hit the trail a bit after 7, and kept a casual pace. There were frequent stops for people to catch up, including one stop at the RC airfield where we were treated to a display by a skilled pilot. I think we spent about 15 minutes watching him fly various aerobatics.

From there we finished the loop, and the group and I parted ways. They did the smart thing and went for margaritas, while I did the nutty thing and rode over to Highland. Highland Rec Area is quickly becoming one of my favorite rides, unfortunately it's too much of a drive to be a regular trail for me. This trail has it all: grunt climbs, rocks, long climbs, rocks, roots, rocks, tight singletrack, downhills, rocks, and that desolate "middle of nowhere" feeling that's tough to find in SE Michigan. Unfortunately my legs didn't have loop D in them, so I had to be content with loops A, B, and C. I finished up and rode back to Pontiac Lake, and rolled back to the trailhead with just under 51 1/2 miles showing on the CatEye.

Sunday had me in the Ann Arbor area for the baptism of the cutest kid in the world (actually a tie with his big sis for the title of "cutest kid"). It was nice seeing them (my niece and nephew), along with the rest of the family. My niece Makenna is starting to get big, and becoming quite the mischievous one. But she was very well behaved for her kid brother's big day.

Stony and PLRA

2007-08-30T21:58:00.000-04:00

Tuesday after work, I swung into Stony Creek for a hard ride. My legs were feeling recovered from the past weekend, and I was in the mood to pile on the mileage. I started with my usual lap of the Pines followed by a lap of the roller coaster. After that, I rode the Pines again followed by a bit of 2-track in the SE section of the park. The deer were out in full force here, including a nice looking 6 pointer. One really nice thing about summer is that the bucks are still in velvet. He was a nice size deer. Not as big as the 10 pointer I saw out on Gruber's last summer, but still a very nice sized deer.
After the 2-track, I rode the roller coaster 3 more times (4 laps total) and the pines once more (3 laps total). The computer showed just a tick over 24 miles for the day, and a couple minutes over 2 hours riding time.

This evening I met up with the guys from mysinglespeed.com for the Thursday evening PLRA (Pontiac Lake Recreation Area) group ride. I haven't been able to make this ride for a couple months now, due to weather and other commitments. So, I was happy to be able to make it out and ride with Duke, abbeytrails, and the rest of the guys. There were about 8 of us in all, including a couple guys I hadn't met before.
I had a really nice ride. Due to some freehub trouble with the Rig, I was riding the GT today. My freehub was starting to get really tight, to the point where the pedals would turn on their own "fixed gear style" when I walked the bike. I took the wheel to the bike shop today, not expecting to have it back till tomorrow. Well, they called me today to let me know that they got it as good as they could, but the thing is basically roached. A new one is on order, but at least the wheel is "rideable" until it comes in.
So, I brought the GT today as I anticipated the wheel not being finished until tomorrow. It was quite interesting riding the rigid fork today, especially with the braking bumps (late summer at PLRA). PLRA is notorious for being rough and bumpy.
One lap was it for me today; just a touch under 10 miles.

Pontiac Lake XC

2007-08-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

I had a feeling that yesterday's riding would turn out to be an unwise idea, and today's race proved that right. Yesterday I was pushing myself harder than I should've. This morning, although not feeling horrible, my legs were a bit tender.

I did a brief (and not sufficient) warm-up, and headed over to the start. They staged us, and a couple of minutes before the start I glanced down and saw my bottle of HEED (an energy/electrolyte drink) was not in the cage. Not enough time to go fetch it! Thankfully I had my hydration pack, so at least I wouldn't be hurting for water.

We started, and I settled into a spot in the back half of the pack. This is not unusual for me, as I am a slow starter anyways, preferring to let others take off hard and come back to me later in the race. I was keeping a decent pace until the first major climb. This put me near blowing up, and after that I was basically in to survival mode. What really was killing me was the gradual uphill sections; later in the race my legs were wanting to grind to a halt on these. On the bright side, I ran a good race from a bike handling perspective. It was just that my legs had no "pop" in them. Also, the last 1/4 of the race was spent very near bonking. I was amazed that I was able to make that last climb right before the end.

The weather and trail were just about perfect. Friday's rain really helped to pack down the loose stuff. Also, I had a really good time despite the reluctance of my legs.

I finished up in 6th out of 10 in the class, with a time of 1:40:13 for the 19ish mile race.

Now Begins the Waiting Game

2007-08-26T20:26:00.000-04:00

On Saturday I made the trek out to Charlotte, MI to pay a visit to Scott Quiring of Quiring Cycles. http://www.quiringcycles.net/ I met with him to get fitted up for a custom frame. It will be a 29er singlespeed specific frame, titanium, with a brushed finish. Also, it will have Paragon sliders for tensioning the chain. No more EBB (eccentric bottom bracket) for me. The one on my Rig is basically good for 2 things: creaking and slipping.

Scott is a great guy to work with. He measured the Rig, measured my body, and we discussed riding and my riding style. In the end, the overall dimensions for my new bike will end up being close to the Rig, with one notable difference, a steepened head tube. This will address the slow handling issue.

After the fitting stuff, he offered to show me the new trail which was opened in Charlotte just this summer. We got ready and rode down to the park, a short 1 1/2 miles away. I thought it was really cool that he offered to ride this with me.

The trail was very fun. Not a lot of elevation change, but some technical spots and an all-around great flow. It was slow due to Friday's rain and the fact that the trail is brand new. This trail seems like it'll be a blast after more people have ridden it to pack in the tread.

After finishing up, I loaded up and made the drive over to Yankee Springs. I rode there in the spring for the race, and really liked the trail. I was excited to be able to ride it at something less than a race-pace. With the Pontiac Lake XC on Sunday, I wasn't planning on riding hard. Actually riding Yankee probably wasn't the smartest decision to make (20+ offroad miles the day before a race).

Yankee was a blast. It was very dry despite the deluge received on Friday, and even had some sandy spots still. There were a few downed trees I had to lift over. Although not as fast as the race, my pace was still quite quick... quicker than it should've been with a race the next day. But the legs were feeling good and I was having fun. I did stop at a few spots to take in the views. Around 4~5 miles in, there are some large ravines the trail winds around, up, and down. During the race I couldn't fully appreciate the size of the ravines, especially compared to what we have in SE Michigan.

At the end of the day, I had put in 23 miles, had a blast, wore myself out, and ordered up a frame!

Some Restin', Some Runnin', and Some Ridin'

2007-08-22T21:42:00.000-04:00

Monday was basically a continuation of Sunday afternoon/evening. I spent the evening alternating between the sofa and the keyboard, doing a whole lot of nothing. It was nice giving my legs a full day to recover from Sunday's ride
On Tuesday, I ran the roads in and around Imlay City. I headed up Blacks Corners to Bowers Road, turned around and headed to Weyer Road. I then took Weyer to Fairgrounds/Almont Avenue, and finished by going around my block. All told, this worked out to be 9 1/4 miles. This was good seeing as I had been neglecting my running to some extent; it's been over a month and a half since I ran more than 6 miles at one time.
Today I met up with the MMBA group ride, actually driving to the normal meeting point this time. I wasn't planning on riding the trails today: I checked the radar when I woke up and the "green blob" covered a chunk of Wisconsin and Lake Michigan. During the day the blob shrunk to the point where SE Michigan received just a small amount of rain. I made a game-time decision on my drive home to do this ride. Thankfully I made excellent time, got ready quick, made equally good time to Stony Creek HS, and arrived with a few minutes to spare. The Rig was set up in fixed gear format again this week, and I was able to clear the logpile at the start of the Snakes twice without striking a pedal. One time I actually had to unweight the rear wheel and adjust the pedals prior to the log - and I did this successfully.
Today ended up being a short ride, with only 9 miles showing when I was through. I wasn't looking to brutalize myself, as I am planning on riding Yankee Springs Saturday, and will be doing the Pontiac Lake XC race on Sunday.
I did find a website that really interested me, and would interest anyone who frequents Stony Creek Metropark. In fact, I posted the link to the MMBA discussion forums. This website is http://shelden-estate.blogspot.com/, and contains a rich history of the Shelden family and their estate. For those who don't know, the portion of the park where the mtb trails are used to be owned by the Shelden family. In 1982 this land was deeded over to the metroparks authority. The website contains a number of pictures of the old buildings on the estate. Some of the ruins (stairways, tennis courts, wall), can still be found today. This link has also been added to my Blogs link section.

Sunny day... Keepin' the clouds away...

2007-08-20T19:18:00.000-04:00

That may work for Sesame Street, but it wasn't quite the case for the Assenmacher 100. In the days leading up to the ride, I was treated to gradually worsening forecasts for Sunday. Because of this, I was on the bubble for this ride up until Sunday morning at 6:30am, when I pulled out of my driveway. The last forecast I saw called for an 80% chance of rain, and a look at the radar revealed the "big green blob o'fun" creeping into the area. However, the "green blob" appeared to be heading ESE, and that the bulk of it would pass to the south.

I arrived in Swartz Creek at about a quarter past 7, and saw a small group; a sharp contrast to last year's mass of riders. I did the registration thingy, and was rolling by about quarter to 8. The first 27 miles went rather uneventful: legs getting warmed up, a brisk east wind (this'll suck on the flipside of the ride), passing a few riders, and getting passed by a couple riders. I rode for about 15 miles with a guy on a Bianchi fixed gear, and we talked fixed gear bikes, riding fixed, and tours. As with last year, I skipped the first food stop, which was located 10 miles into the ride.

The 2nd food stop (and the first I stopped at) was in a neat little park in Durand, about 27 miles in. I ate a banana and a couple of good homemade cookies, rested for a few, and was back on my way. This is when the rain started; a light rain which lasted for a little over 45 minutes. A few miles later, I caught up to another rider who was doing the 100 miler, and he offered to trade pulls. We rode in this manner for about 15 miles, and I enjoyed the reduced effort. This was my first real experience with drafting for an extended period. It seemed to make no difference in effort when I was pulling, but when I was drafting I could really notice a benefit. After about 15 miles, he decided to drop back. I was finding that I was pulling ahead of him on the hills by a good margin. I guess riding singlespeed offroad has done well for my climbing. Also about this time the rain let up.

The next food stop was at Sleepy Hollow State Park, about 55 miles in. I talked with the staff, and found out that one other rider had been through (not a lot of customers for the century today). The rider I drafted with and another rider pulled in about this time.

Leaving the state park meant riding in an easterly direction, and into the wind. Thankfully there were some northbound and southbound jogs in the route to break things up, but there were a couple long stretches into a headwind. I would just move to the drops, grit my teeth, and bear it. This about summed up the 2nd half of the ride, with food stops in Owosso and Kerby respectively.

I rolled in to Assnemachers about 2:15. Time spent in the saddle was 5 hours 50 minutes, with 101.7 miles on the clock. As I was loading up, it started misting... the first rain that I saw since just before the state park. In all, the weather held out better than I had hoped, and I had a very nice ride.

A Bit of a Catch Up, and Getting Fixed

2007-08-17T21:24:00.000-04:00

Seeing as I haven't posted in a week, it's only fair that I give an update.

Last Saturday I enjoyed a nice road ride outside of town. I started on one of my usual loops (as described in the Brooks saddle post), but decided to ride Newark all the way to Lapeer Road.

Total distance was a bit over 35 miles. I had a very nice ride, and the weather was beautiful. There was one issue; I had some chain issues about 12 miles in. The quick link on my chain decided to start to come undone, and became stuck only half latched. I noticed this as a rythmic skipping of the chain. I futzed with the link on the side of the road for about 10 minutes before I pulled out the chain tool. The offending link was removed, and I was back in action. With the shortened chain, I lost the big chainring big cog combo, but that combo is one I never use anyway.

Wednesday after work I did the Stony group ride again. I did my usual thing; park at the main trailhead, do a lap of the Roller Coaster and Pines, then ride down to the school to meet the group. This time I decided to do things a bit different; I had the Rig set up to run fixed gear... no freewheel. This is something I've been dabbling in since late last year, mostly at Stony and some dirt-roads around town. Riding fixed is a unique sensation. Since you can't coast, you can also slow down and stop using backpressure on the cranks. You also gain a heightened feel for the trail surface and available traction. Logpiles, while do-able, present a new level of challenge. You have to time your cranks to make it over without striking a pedal. This is something I'm still working on. However, I was able to clear the logpile at the start of the Pines twice, albiet slowly, to the chagrin of the rider behind me (he was hoping to hop the log).
On this ride, I met a fellow rider by the name of Kevin. As luck would have it, this was the same Kevin who sent me the drilled out cog that I use to run fixed. He is an avid off-road fixed gear rider, and all-around cool guy.
Last fall I attended a large singlespeed group ride at the Poto, and afterwards at the trailhead I took a brief spin on a fixed gear bike. I liked the feeling of being directly connected to the ground through the drivetrain, and was intrigued with the thought of this on the trail. After this ride I found a site with instructions on drilling out a cheap cog to an ISO disk brake pattern and mounting the cog in place of the rotor. A flip of the wheel and you have a fixed gear bicycle. Well, a half dozen drill bits later I was posting on mysinglespeed.com for advice. Kevin offered to send me a cog he had drilled out when he first experimented with fixed gear. I've ridden the Rig set up this way a few times outside of town, as well as about a dozen trips to Stony and one trip to Bloomer.
So, it was nice to meet Kevin. What made it really cool was that it was on a day when I was riding fixed gear.

Rear-End Pleasure

2007-08-17T20:59:00.000-04:00

No..... not what you may be thinking! I actually got a new saddle for my road bike. Specifically a Brooks Team Pro, recently ordered from Wallingford Bicycle Parts. The Brown Santa dropped off the package today, and after work the saddle got mounted up. I then went for a ride to try it out.

My trusty road steed, a 1982 Raleigh Super Course. My dad bought this bike new.
New saddle... ain't she a beaut??? The Proofide was still soaking in when I took the photos.

For the maiden voyage, I did one of my usual loops. This took me out of town along Attica Road, Peppermill, Lake George Road, Newark Road, Wilder Road, and Imlay City Road. This loop is 25 3/4 miles, and took me an hour and 45 minutes. Pending a couple of minor adjustments, I think this saddle will be a keeper. I did have a bit of an issue with sliding forward, and the saddle needs to be lowered about a quarter inch.
The ride was nice, barring the wind. We had a brisk wind out of the north this evening, and it seemed like I was fighting it for most of the ride. There was one stretch towards the end, along Imlay City Road, where I had the wind mostly to my back. I was able to hold my speed between 25 and 30 mph for the better part of 2 miles.

Well, tomorrow I'll make a couple of saddle tweaks. Then weather permitting I'll put the new Brooks through it's paces during the Assenmacher 100.

Blueberry Stomp and other assorted stuff

2007-08-08T19:45:00.000-04:00

As promised, here is a (belated) race report from Saturday's Blueberry Stomp 5k. This is a local 5k that is part of Imlay City's Blueberry Festival, and Saturday was my 2nd time running in it. Last year, I finished in 22:25, placing 2nd in my age group.

I walked to City Hall were the check in/registration was, registered, and did a brief warm up. By 5 to 9, everyone was at the start line. The gun time was supposed to be 9am, but about that time we were informed that there would be about a 10 minute delay due to a minor fender-bender along the route. After the wait, the cop who was set to lead us out informed the starter that it was clear. Set..... GO! And with that, we were running. I quickly settled in to a fast but comfortable pace, and was really feeling good. As is typical with these races for me, I couldn't tell for sure who was in what age group, so I made it a point to just run my own race.
We rounded the first turn and headed on to the Polly Ann trail for a short stint. Here, close to a mile in, I started wondering "what the bleep are you doing????" This seems to happen in every race I enter, but thankfully the feeling quickly fades, and I find my groove.
We rounded the bend at the halfway point, and as this race has an "out-and-back" layout, I was able to see how I stacked up against the other runners. I knew I was a few minutes behind the fast guys, as was to be expected, but I was in the top 1/3 of the runners.
The last half was a mix of fighting the pain, trying (successfully) to pick off a couple of runners (who turned out to be in the 40-49 age group, and hoping to be able to ratchet the pace up for the last 1/3 mile.
I crossed the finish line at 21:25, which netted me 2nd in Men 30-39. I was half a minute behind the class winner, and a minute ahead of 3rd place. Best of all, this was a personal best for me in the 5k.

Saturday afternoon we hosted a small party along with some friends of ours. The highlight of this was getting to see my Niece, who is 2, and my Nephew, who is a month old. They are a couple of cuties!

On Monday, I rode Stony after work. There were not a whole lot of riders out there, which didn't suprise me since it was quite warm and humid. The small bit of rain we received Sunday helped to firm things up some.
I rode 3 laps each of the roller coaster and the pines, and with some doubletrack added, I put in 23 1/4 miles. Total riding time was 1:55. This was probably my fastest non-race ride at Stony. I made it a point to focus on my lines through the turns, and being smooth at the enterances to the turns.
One other bright spot: there's this left hand climbing turn in the new section added this past spring. This particular turn is near where the new trail re-joins the old, and has been the subject of a few gripes over on MMBA.org. Particularily, this turn has been a thorn in my side, with me being able to make it about 1 in every 4 attempts. On Monday I attempted this turn 3 times, and completed it 3 times. I think I may have the line and the technique for this turn down finally.

No Training Today

2007-08-03T20:39:00.000-04:00

I took yesterday and today off from any sort of training. Tomorrow I'll be running in the Blueberry Stomp 5k, a local race that is part of the Imlay City Blueberry Festival. Race report to follow.

Till then, here is a warning to Plainwell dog walkers. Photo was taken during PALM 2006.

Stony Wednesday

2007-08-02T18:23:00.001-04:00

On Wednesday I did the MMBA Stony Creek group ride. I went mainly due to the fact that my friends Erick and Katie were going to be there. Erick just got back into riding this year, and this was to be Katie's 2nd time ever riding the trails.

As I leave work at 5:00, and the group doesn't meet until 6:30, I had time to do a quick lap of the roller coaster and the pines before heading down to the high school. Despite the heat, there was a nice size group there.

We rolled up Sheldon road, and entered Stony. After a quick regroup we headed towards the Pines. Two of the more experienced women took Katie under their wings for the evening, while the rest of us did the pines, a lap of the roller coaster, and a 2nd lap of the pines. This ride was a nice "no drop" format, with periodic stops to regroup. This was a refreshing change of pace from Tuesday's solo ride, where I held a faster pace and only stopped a couple times.

The GT handled great... once I got used to it again. It handles quite differently than the Rig (26er vs. 29er, smaller frame, standard bars vs. Mary bars). I can throw the GT around easier, but the Rig is much less affected by small obsticles and bumps in the trail. The flipside of this is that the GT is twitchier than I'm used to. Running a 2.3 Vertical Pro in the front and a 2.1 Fire XC in the rear, both pumped to 28psi yielded a rather cushed ride, and the tires hooked up great in the dry loose conditions. I'm considering lowering the pressure on the Rig a bit: I usually keep them around 36psi.

Earlier today I spoke to Erick, and he said that Katie really enjoyed herself on Wednesday, and that she is starting to get hooked. This is really nice to see; someone brand new coming into the sport, and someone else picking it back up after a long absence. I hope to see more of those 2 out on the trail.

A couple of nice rides

2007-07-31T21:51:00.000-04:00

Over the past 2 days, I took advantage of some beautiful weather. A couple of advantages of nice sunny weather with little/no rain: great for outdoor activities such as riding, and NO LAWN MOWING. So, I was able to get a couple of very nice rides in.

Yesterday Brandy and I went for a ride around and just outside of town. This was the first time we have ridden together in about a month, and it was very nice. We came across a new sub they're putting in just outside of town. They seem to be leaving up as many of the mature trees as possible, a nice change from some of the developments where they clearcut everything.
All told, we got in about 10 miles of easy riding.

This evening I hit up Stony Creek after work. I can hardly believe that this is the first time I've ridden at Stony since the Marathon race at the end of June. Pretty bad for what is basically my home trail!
My shoulder was feeling a lot better than on Sunday; I was able to do the logpiles without a little twinge of pain accompanying each one. My ride went uneventful, with no crashing and good line choice for the most part. One of the things I need to work on is carrying speed through corners.
I did 3 laps through the roller coaster, went through the Pines twice, and did somewhere around a dozen miles of double-track. All told, I'd estimate that I did a bit over 20 miles (bleeping computer is MIA).

Well, tomorrow promises to be another good day. I'm hooking up with the Wednesday Stony group ride, and my friend and his wife will be there. This will be my friend's wife's 2nd time ever riding the trails, and hopefully the maiden voyage of her new Trek.

Till then, here's a bit of bike pron. A 1994 entry level GT, which was my bike back in college. Gearing of 32:16 with a one season old chain worked out to be the magic ratio. The GT will be getting some lovin' tomorrow at Stony.

Holdridge Today

2007-07-29T19:56:00.000-04:00

Today I took advantage of some beautiful summer weather, and did some riding at Holdridge http://www.mmba.org/trails.php?trail=13. I rode the west loop, and did 3 laps total, skipping the tech loop on the last lap. My shoulder was acting up on the log piles, and some of the drops.

Oh, my shoulder...
Last weekend I did the 12 hours of Ithaca race, as part of a 4 man team. We did 29 laps, and took first in our class (out of 2 teams). On my last lap and 2nd of my night laps, I entered a corner a bit too fast. I overcorrected and shot to the inside at the exit of the corner, right into a tree! Hit the thing square on and with a good head of steam.
Last week was an easy week for me, with a pair of runs (6 and 3 miles each), and a 28 mile ride on the road bike. My shoulder was too tender all week to do any mountain biking, and riding today was probably not the smartest thing to do. But, a week off the bike is way too long.

Back to Holdridge...
I was feeling good today... well... except for my shoulder. As I stated previously, only the logpiles and drops seemed to bother it; basically anything where the front of my bike travelled downward rapidly. The trail was in perfect condition, with very little sand, no mud, and a fresh trim job on the leg-scratchers. My riding was going very well; about as error-free as I could be.

Midway through my first lap, at the top of the old "wall" I met another rider who reminded me a bit of myself 2 years ago. He was on a brand-new Gary Fisher Marlin which he had purchased a couple of months ago. He had started riding, as he put it, for something healthy to do. This meeting came about kind of by chance. See, about a mile earlier I found a seat bag lying along the trail. I picked it up and strapped it to my pack, with the plan to post a note at the trailhead and a message on mmba.org. I noticed that this rider's bike had a clip for a bag attached to his seat, so I asked him if he had a bag mounted earlier. He said that he did, and with that the bag had found it's rightful owner.

The rest of my ride went without incident, other than some slightly painful jarring on the logpiles. Because of this, I didn't do the tech loop on my last lap.

Hmmm, temperatures around 80, sun, a great trail... things can't get much better.

An Introduction

2007-07-26T20:21:00.000-04:00

Hi, I'm Brad... and I'm a singletrack-o-holic. It was June of 2005, my wife and I in our 6th month of losing weight, when we walked into Hamilton Bike Shop in Richmond MI. My wife selected a comfort bike for herself, and I decided on a Gary Fisher Marlin. Our plans were to ride a bit for fitness and to help with weight loss, with possibly "a bit of trail riding" for me.

The next week, on Wednesday after work if I recall correctly, I pulled into the West Branch parking lot at Stony Creek. I changed clothes, unloaded my bike, filled my bottle, strapped on my helmet, and proceeded to have an absolute bleeping blast! The day was not without it's challenges: down the "snakes" instead of up, walking just about every hill in the "roller coaster", wheezing my way up the 2-track climbs. But as big as the challenges were, the smile on my face was even bigger.

Since then, I've been a hopeless addict. I rode as much as I could through 2005, learning the techniques and building stamina. By late summer, I was able to ride Gruber's Grinder at Holdridge. Spring of 2006 saw the purchase of a Gary Fisher Rig, with my Marlin being religated to touring/dirt road duty. In the fall of 2006 I entered the Addison Oaks Fall Classic, where I place 2nd in Beginner Men 30-35. This year I joined an MTB race team, Team Sandbag. I'm racing in Sport/Beginner Singlespeed (Tailwind) and doing a few races in the MMBA CPS series (Open Singlespeed).

For now, I'll leave you with a few images.

My trusty steed: a 2006 Gary Fisher Rig

The start of the 2007 Pontiac Lake Time Trial. I placed 13th in Sport/Beginner Singlespeed.

I'm the one on the right.

Yankee Springs Time Trial - 28th place Open Singlespeed

Fort Custer Stampede - 14th place Open Singlespeed

Bloomer XC - 4th place Sport/Beginner Singlespeed

I'm the one in the Team Sandbag (TSB) jersey.