8/26/07

Assateague Beach





This is a quick write up I decided to try and bike to Assateague Beach instead of just going to the beach then doing a ride. I got dropped off in Heborn and then did a southern route that had me going over a ferry and then back up north to Berlin then to the beach. The route was completely flat which is not my favorite terrain but it was nice for a change of pace. I had only one rest stop and it was to be at mile 35 of a 72 mile ride. Well that was before I took a wrong turn  so the ride ended up being 82 miles and I was on fumes with no water coming into the rest stop(after about 40miles). The weather was very hot I think in the 90’s and I was just baking out there. There were hardly any cars on the roads besides the major ones, but they had 8 foot shoulders so it was no problem. The only issue I had was that this ride confirmed that I had a cracked frame at the BB(still ridable) also learned that even though the WTB Rocket V is a great seat for a Mountain biking I need a wider seat for road biking. The best part of the ride was doing the bridge to Assatateague Island.

The second ride I did that weekend was just a 30mile ride with others that I had done before with Jeff. We started off together then I rode with Diana in the back for a bit, and at the shortcut I gave her the map and I took the cue and then did a 8 mile time trial and caught up with the other people. That was a good workout doing that. I did the rest of the ride with Rob on his new bike I helped him pick out. After the ride we ate at a nice ice-cream shop and had milk shakes and hamburgers now that is the way to end a ride!!!

Assateague Beach 2007


8/18/07

Going Long at Gambril/Shed


Well the 18 hours of Scouts honor was canceled, so I wanted to ride because the weather was great. I talked to Ryan and we decided to go to Gambril / Shed and do some stuff we hadn't done before. I brought the map I had, that I color coded to be able to know where things were. Two things happened at the start of the ride, first I forgot my helmet!!!!! and second my shock was blown barely holding air. I ride with a helmet all the time, and in Mt. biking I actually use my helmet, with my head hitting low branches and the sort. The shock kinda worked, I have ordered a Cane Creek Cloud 9 for the SM100 it should be better and looks easy to service.
We met Paul from Fredrick and he was a great help, he knew the area and was a chill laid back kind of guy. I did some trails that I have never done before, I went past Moes Cut, to the Lookout which was nice, and we did this thing called little Cannan which was fun. I am getting better at doing rocks, but there is much room for improvement. Ryan was riding really strong, I think he is peaking at the right time for the SM100. I bonked on this ride, after we ate(at the lookout) we road a more direct route back, and I will say that I could still ride but I was paying the price for not having enough food for breakfast. I felt bad cause Ryan kept waiting for me, even though I told him to go ahead. After the ride Ryan and I went to DogFishHead for some food and brews and it didn't let us down. I must say the IPA 75 where they combine the IPA 60 and the IPA 90 is a winner. I feel like with Paul's help I have allot better handle on the watershed area, so I will plan some more mountain biking up there and do some of the trails we did again.

gambril Aug 4th

8/11/07

Elizabeth Furnace



This was a ride with Matt, Ryan, and Bruce. We were a good group seemed to be able to ride well together. The weather was great for being August, the temps were in the low 80's couldn't ask for much better. I drove up with Matt and his wife Katey. It was cool to meet her, after knowing Matt for a bit. We got there late, but Bruce and Ryan had not left yet. We did the fireroad climb and I really liked the wooded section unfortunately there wasn't more of it. We did the climb and Ryan seemed to be riding strong, I was second up the climb, then Matt was behind us with Bruce coming up the rear(I think he warms up slower and had ridden more that week). I have never been to EF, but had heard about the hike a bike. Well this lived up to it's reputation. The ridgeline was not all that rideable. I wreaked a couple of times and the 3 of them were slow ones because I couldn't unclip. I have used performance pedals for years and have not had a problem, but the new Carve pedals don't do well with me. So I was frustrated with that and after hurting myself on the downhill I was just going slow. Well after the first lap we talked about doing another lap. Ryan and decided to just do the Fire Road climb again, and come back down, while Bruce and Matt decided to go up the more technical downhill we had just came down. I started a good pace up the climb and had some space from Ryan and decided to push myself to see how much time I could get on him by the top. Well I pushed it pretty hard and let it all out since the way back was mostly downhill. Well Ryan bailed and went back early so I waited at the top, and ended up talking to some hikers. We saw Eric, Dietrich, and Mike Piece. Saw Joe from the Bike Lane and I talked with a NCVC woman rider I have seen at the races. So there were alot of people riding EF on Sat. Well the ride was not what I expected but the 2 hill climbs were a big workout. I like Liberty Furnace better, it is basically the same terrain.

More Photos

EF Aug.11 2007

8/3/07

Mountain Momma Century




I found out about this century and I thought it would be good training for the SM100. I was able to talk Steve, Mark, and even Bruce into doing this. Mark and I left Friday around 6pm and we didn't hit much traffic which was surprising. Well we had 4 guys sleeping in this Hotel in Stanton If you were there it was a funny site to behold. We got up early and headed to Monterey to the ride start. We get there with plenty of time, but as usual I goofed around and I had to hurry up to get to the start. This was not a race, but I was going to ride a consistent pace, and try not to stop too much and try out my sport legs, electrolyte combo for during the ride. So we start off and I see some of the usual PPTC suspects Brian, Rudi, Wolfgang, Joyce, Roger, Mariette. I took off pretty fast on the first climb which I shouldn't have done in hindsight. The down hill was scary fast and I was not descending very well. At one point I thought my tire was going flat, so I stopped and checked the tires, false alarm. Well when I stopped Bruce went by me so I caught up with him and we were riding, pretty much by ourselves until this group came that had Ryan and Matt in it. We rode with them for a few miles to the rest stop. I was trying not to take too much time at stops, and Bruce was good for this cause he didn't stop at a couple of stops that I had to for water. The climb after the rest stop at mile 30 was the steepest, but I felt fresh and went strong up the climb, going faster then Wolfgang. I was by myself for a bit after the summit, and then Wolfgang caught up and I knew I needed to let him go. So I rode by myself for a bit and decided I was going to stop at the next rest stop. While I was there Ryan, Bruce, Rudi, and Matt caught back up to me. I was thinking even though this isn't a race, funny how people can catch right back up to you. Well Bruce rolls out real quick, and I had been there for a bit so I follow. Rudi joined us and we thought Ryan and Matt would join us as well but they didn't come. So we started the next climb and we ran into Bruce's friend TJ who is fast but was dropped by the front group. He said that he wasn't feeling so well(found out later he had a kidney stone, that he passed at mile 80 and felt great after that!) So now it was just Bruce and I and it would be that way for the next 40 miles. As the day wore on I was getting slower and slower on the climbs at first I was minutes in front of Bruce on the climbs then we were just climbing together. Bruce's endurance I think was coming into play as well. The climbs are not killers, just long. I like my climbs more like 3 miles then over. With these 3-4 mile approaches that were not steep, but not flat, then 3-4 mile climbs I was getting drained. I had to play catch up after one stop where I got the bottles filled and Bruce was still going. Bruce was going pretty good on the downhills, and I will say I was under geared on the downhills, I couldn't pedaled faster then 36 or so(riding a compact 50T big ring) if I got going fast I would just get into a tuck. After the second Allegheny Climb a new technique seemed to click for me on descending. I put more weight back and let the seat rest lower on my thigh then it was before where it would be be my upper thigh by my crotch. That seemed to do the trick. I was able to keep up with Bruce on the descents. In the end Bike Lane got me :-(, I had a faster ride time, but with Bruce's not stopping when I did he was able to finish in front of me. I was pleased though I did a 5:45(ride time) Century with over 10,000ft of climbing. My rest stops added up to less then 20minutes so that was good too. The other thing was this is the first long effort I have ever done and not have my legs cramp up with Dehydration. So onto the SM100!

More Photos


MountMomma Century 2007