Boulder Day 2-Peak to Peak Hwy or Boulder-Ward-Lyons

For my second day in Boulder I was to do a solo ride, while Rob was running the route of the Boulder half Iron man, and Sara and Christie were doing their own run.  I had thought to go out to do the Mountains that were behind the house.  I went on Bikely to scope out a route, and made one that was only 37 miles and let me go up the mountain and then come back down.
I woke up early with the weather being cool in the high 60's and cloudy with Fog.  I got my cue and got the bottles filled up with water and Power Aid.  I also brought a 3rd bottle in my jersey so I wouldn't go through the problem that I had the day before of not having enough to drink.

Darren Boulder Mt. Adventure

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The first thing I noticed was that the 60miles the day before had done a number on the undercarriage. Rob's seat was harder, and narrower then I am used to.  So I lubed up :-)   I decided to be cruel to myself, and instead of going around Lee Hill I thought I would go over it, since it would be less mileage. 

The first thing to note is that Rob's bike is a regular 39-53 with a 25 in back.  I am used to riding a 36-50 so I knew the gears might be an issue with this ride.  Climbing Lee Hill  reminded me of the climbing I usually do on the hilly rides on the east coast.   Pretty darn steep, with some steeps, and not too many miles.  As I was going up Lee Hill I was getting worried, cause I was on the lowest gear and breathing up a storm.  I kept it up and eventually I got to the top.  I was a little worried, cause if the rest of the ride was going to be like this my knees would be toast!  The downhill to Lefthand Canyon Dr. is crazy steep going into a full U-turn, I took it nice and easy since I wasn't in a race or anything.  

Right at the cloud line

Once I got to Lefthand Canyon Dr. I started the gradual climb up to Ward.  Now this kind of climbing is not to my liking...  It was a shallow grade of 4%? maybe and I was running the upper end of the cassette, but was not pedaling slow.  The climbing never let up, so I never got a breather.  I would stand to change the tempo of the climbing, but the lack of steps was taking it's toll on the boat anchor of body weight I am carrying around.    As I was climbing I was seeing a number of cyclists coming down the mountain wearing arm warmers, and jackets.  The weather was still cloudy, cool, and muggy.  I was wearing a muscle jersey after the 90+ degrees the day before.  The only thing keeping me warm was that I had been climbing for an hour or so.   It got to the point where I had goosebumps on my arms.  As I was getting into Ward I was hitting the clouds, thinking if it isn't sunny on the decent I am screwed.   
Once I got on to Peak to Peak Hwy, I realized why I had seen a fair amount of bikers.  They were part of the Sunrise Valley century going on.  They were going the opposite way that I was going.  I must have seen around 1000 bikers throughout the ride.  Peak to Peak Hwy was nice, and had some great views.  Thankfully the sun decided to show itself so I was finally not cold.
As I was starting to descend I was looking for a road called Jamestown, and by this time my cue sheet had gotten a bunch of sweat on it and was soggy(so I couldn't read it).  I ended up taking a right on Rt. 7 but still descending.   At mile 38 I knew something was up, since I should of been done with the ride.  I wasn't that upset, cause I was still descending, but I didn't know if this was taking me to the other side of the mountain away from Boulder.   I was thinking to call Sara and see if they could come pick me up since I was not going to be able to make it back over a mountain, and we had plans that I needed to get back for(I had no cell signal).  I happened by a park, and I thought to just look at the Kiosk hoping there was a map or something.  They had a brochure on the parks in the Boulder area, that had a map.  With the map I could see where I was and realized I could get back ok, even though it was going to be a little bit of a drag.  After 18 miles of descending......let me repeat that 18 miles of mostly going downhill that is something I am not used to.  I got into Lyons and then took Foothills back to Boulder.  I was now riding with a lot of the Century folk, Foothills has a nice big shoulder, but it is a busy road.  There are a few up and downs that you have to do, but finally I made it back.  

• 2 hard days, but two totally different experiences I liked the day two terrian better
• Decsending through the canyons made my trip, something that I will remember.
• Great to experiance 20+ miles of climbing before topping out.  
• With my build the power climbing with steps suits me better.

Maybe next year do an extended vacation with more biking.

With the Crew before the airport

Boulder Day 1-Carter Lake

Carter Lake

Well Sara had been meaning to visit one of her best friends Christie since she had moved to Boulder CO.  I had met Christie several times, and her Husband Rob, who is a triathlete.  Rob and myself had talked about biking a little, but we had never ridden together.
Before the trip I knew that Rob and I would get in at least one ride.  I was going to try and ride his bike instead of renting or lugging my bike out there.  I found out later that Rob used to work Velonews/Triathlete and knew the head guy at Cervelo.  So Rob had a SL-3 for me to ride, and he would ride his P-3.  I brought out my ancient spd Dura Ace pedals I use, since I ride with Mt. shoes all the time.  I also brought out my 130mm stem to go on his 56cm bike(I ride a 58 normally).  He said there was enough post.  I put on my stem, and raised the seatpost, moved the saddle back, and when I tightened the clamp-POP I broke the seatclamp.  We went to Excel sports and got another Clamp that was a Cervelo clamp, that was made the same way, but had been beefed up where I had cracked his.  The clamp cost me $35, but was a lot cheaper then renting a bike.

56cm SL-3 That rode for the weekend

One fast dude

The ride we did was on a 90+ day we did a rolling ride to Carter Lake.  I am used to riding a compact, and was interesting being back on regular rings for the weekend.  On our way out we were hitting some pretty high speeds on Foothills road.  I did some digs on Rob, which he might have been surprised by.  This was the first time I have ridden with someone on a Tri Bike.   For the riding we were doing, it was interesting cause once we got to the high 20's I needed to draft behind Rob, and in the 30's I couldn't let him get too far away from me or I would loose him.    There were some small hills, nothing too big, the biggest being the climb to the lake itself.  The gearing was fine for that, but I was worried cause I was to do another ride the next day with more climbing.

The ride back was almost the same way we came.  The ride down the hill we came up to get to the lake, I gave Rob some room, and the last turn off the hill he was in his aero bars, and must have been doing 35-40 so I really couldn't catch up to him.  He waited for me at the next turn. So as we were going back.  I was starting to loose it, I didn't drink enough I think.   I also had said that I would be good for 50, and it was the last 11 that really got me(we did 62).  I would have been fine if I could of just gone my own pace.  Rob was being nice and would slow, and I would suck his wheel at 20 then 18,and 16 I just couldn't keep the pace.  After the ride, my legs hurt so bad that I really couldn't stand I had to laydown for a bit to recover.
Was a good ride, I think I can ride with Rob pretty well when I am in shape.  I think I surprised him on how I rode the small hills there, but I didn't have the power with endurance when I am in shape too keep my speed on the flats.

I saw this a lot during the ride back, I was a wheel sucking fool

Carter Lake

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Lewisburg PA, 4X over the Ridge with the Big Guy

 
I knew I was going to be up in Lewisburg, PA in mid-July because Sara's parents were allowing me to store some things at their house. After a hectic Friday packing the Uhaul and an equally hectic Saturday unloading it, I thought I needed to do a ride on Sunday for body and soul. The route that I planned to do was one that I'd plotted out two years ago that was very similar to a route that I'd found on the Bucknell cycling website. The route had three climbs, with one being pretty darn big. Sara and I had come down the big one on the tandem.

4X over the Ridge with the big Guy



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The ride started off fine--foggy as per usual for a summer's day in Central PA. Going south on Stein was the right route to take, considering the road is blown out and would have been pretty unsafe if I were to be coming down from the ridge that way. Once over the ridge, I crossed over Rt. 304  and got onto some nice small roads, even crossing a nice little bridge on a road strangely called Little Mexico Rd.. I missed a turn or two along the way to New Berlin.

It was early in the morning, and it was very different going through New Berlin this time as opposed to when I went through it with Sara during a craft show. The small town was all quiet. I went up the ridge to go north out of the town and took Mountain Rd. to the left to go diagonally. This road ended up being a dirt road--and a little grippy at the beginning. I had to stay seated to keep traction, because if I didn't my wheels would spin out. It turned into a downhill that was still gravel, but a little more hard packed. It's always a little unnerving going 30 mph on road tires in gravel.

The next part of the ride was probably my favorite, going along the ridge on the north side, where there were flat-to-rolling roads. I encountered the Amish going to church. Some of them were riding bikes, but in their normal Sunday clothes rather than in spandex. I also had a first-time experience of following two horse-drawn buggies, which were going at a pretty good clip but were slower on downhills because they couldn't freewheel like I could. I overtook the buggies on a downhill section, and the kids in the back seemed amused.

Then came the big climb on RT 235. The climb was actually too my liking--somewhat stepped, but still tough. It took a while to get to the top, but what goes up must come down. The downhill was pretty straight, so I was able to let it hang out and ended up going 50 mph at some points. As I worked my way back to New Berlin to go over the ridge again and head to Sara's parents' place, I took some back roads instead of the more direct route to the town. I went through some rolling, hilly sections, finally going up one last hill that turned to gravel. As I                            I was riding another gravel downhill, disaster struck. I got a sidewall cut in my tire, which basically ended my ride. The kicker is, I was only 50 yards from the gravel ending and going to pavement. I called Sara to pick me up, and luckily she was home and willing to do so. Interesting to note, I was able to ride three or four miles on the flat, tubeless tire, in the process catching 2 girls on mountain bikes who caught me after I'd flatted. Sara came shortly thereafter. I got a nice warm reception and we rode home together in her mom's car.

I ended up with a little under 50 miles on the day and only didn't do the last five to Sara's parents' house. So it was a good ride. Next time I will cue it to stay away from the dirt roads.
 

NJ Beach weekend Day 2

From July 4th
 

For the Second Ride of the Trip I decided to do a shorter slower ride.
I saw from the New Jersey department of tourism that have a 50+ mile ride
that goes from Stone Harbor to CapeMay and back.  I was going to use this route,
but instead of going to the west side of the peninsula I was going to go straight
north through the middle of the peninsula.I went out south out of South Harbor.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Avalon-to-CapeMay-and-back

Avalon to CapeMay and back

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 There were several Bridges that I had to cross that cost $1 or so but free if biking.  The view was nice an I was enjoying the nice summer weather with highs in the 70's in the morning. The riding down south was not as crowded, but at the same time it wasn't a great place to get a workout on.  I saw that you could ride the boardwalk in the morning in Wildwood so I went up there with every other person who was out and about.  There were the cycle cars which are like a car with four passengers who all pedal.  They looked fun, would like to try it sometime.

The Glass field on the side of the Road

I finally got to the Cape May lighthouse, and it was really funny getting cause once you got to the tip, it was like being in the country.  The roads were not city streets anymore.
There was a vineyard, and some farms down in CapeMay.  I went around the to the west and then headed north over the bridge to exit the technically a island of CapeMay(since there is a canal that separates it.  As I was headed north I found a nice path that I rode for a bit unfortunatly it ended and I was back on the road.  I took Rt. 9 which was not too fun, and then back over to the sea.  I heard some crunchy sounds and I relised that I was riding on a glass field on the side of the road.  Somehow I didn't get a flat.  As I was heading back I saw that the car was gone from the hotel, So I called Sara and she told me that it was up at her Uncle and Aunt's place.  So I rode another 4 miles up there to make it a 50 or so mile day.  The riding was OK, if I did it again I think I would have Sara drop me off on the way to the beach, and would ride to it behind her.  In that way I could get some of the nicer country roads.

CapMay is an island since there is a canal you have to go over.

Beach Ride Avalon and more

Did a ride the second day at the beach.  It was still nice with low humidity.  The roads were a little more crowded then I thought they would be.  The moots was riding nice since I had the new bars on it, which make it fit the way I thought it would.  The beach riding wasn't that great because you didn't really ride next to the ocean, as much as you would like.  I also ended up with a bit more miles from one or two wrong turns.

Avalon Solo Ride

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The Best riding on the ride were the roads near Belleplain State Forest.  Seems that you can mt. bike there, so would be interested to see a map of the trails.
On the Way back I found a great bakery and had some carrot cake. The cars were backed up and going 10mph to the beach while I was doing 20+ next to them. Ended up being a pretty good ride, but the legs were fried after 61 miles spinning non-stop.

First Bike ride in almost 7 weeks

I was sick before the CM 9 hour race so I only rode once(with a slight fever and hocking up phlegm)  The ride this morning was like  a winter ride where you are happy to be riding since it is nice out, but are totally out of shape.  The doc. said no sports on my papers, but I am interpreting that to mean ball / hand sports.  The feel on the CX bike was good on the hoods didn't notice the pinky too much.  It was on the drops where I could feel and notice my pinky not bending.  Happy to be on the bike though.  I will do mostly road, maybe a little mountain, it will be awhile before I do some really tight singletrack or rocky stuff, cause I don't want to bash my finger or have to use it for support when crashing.  I will be out there, so be nice to me and go a little slower :-)
My season goals have changed, might just enjoy riding this summer, and see how I feel in the fall.

The 9 Hours of Cranky Monkey at Rocky Gap

This is a new race put on by the EX2 Adventures folks at Rocky Gap State Park. Both Leland and Tom liked the course, so I thought it would be a good place to go race. I had never done a relay race with Chris, so I teamed up with him and got Jonathan to join us. We were able to sign up for a 120+ team because our ages were 45, 43 and 35.

I got to Chris's a bit late and he was a little upset, but all was good once we got on the road. We got there in a little over 2 hours, with an hour to spare before the start. Originally, I was going to go third, thinking that I would be the slowest...but Chris said I had to go second because I was late. The crafty old man played his cards well, and he ended up doing only three laps instead of the four that Jonathan and I did.

The Start

Jonathan started us off. Unfortunately, there was a little bit of a run at the beginning, which is not Jonathan's strong suit. He went out, did a good lap and came in about a minute behind Leland, who was riding on a 3-man open team. I was a little worried about racing with my finger. I thought it was sprained (found out after the race it was broken), so I put a little mini-splint on and hoped it wouldn't hurt too much while I was riding.

I started my first lap and things were going well. I was feeling very comfortable on the flowing singletrack considering that the last race I had done was very twisty (12 hrs of Lodi). I was picking off people and I think I was in the lead of our class when I spied Mike S. from the DCMTB 3-man open team in front of me. As I was starting to gain some ground on him and was excited about the prospect of passing him, I felt my pedal at an odd angle. My crank arm was coming off the spindle. I had to stop to take care of this, which took some valuable time (around 7 minutes or so) to fix. Fixing it entailed bashing my multi-tool against the crank arm since the screw thing had broken when the crank arm came off. I was feeling my finger a little bit, but I was still hopeful that the pain wouldn't get too bad. I then started doing some of the downhills on the course, which turned out to be a different issue. I was almost crying and each time ended up losing some precious momentum that would have helped me up the uphills. I finally brought it in and Chris went out for his lap.

Rest of the Race

After my lap, I believe we were down by almost 12 minutes to the first place team. I was able to ride with my pinky taped to my ring finger instead of riding with a splint. It was still painful at times, but if I gripped the handlebars really tight, I was able to deal with it.

As a team, we all rode consistent laps after my mishap, and we were able to chip away at the lead of the teams in front of us. On the last lap, which was mine, we were up by one minute. I went out pretty hard to ensure that no one would get past me. At one point, a rider caught up to me, asking what class I was in. I didn't believe it was the rider in our division, but at the same time I wanted to drop him if I could. I rode the rocky uphill section at a steady pace and was able to slowly distance myself from him. Once I got to the downhill, I took the left-hand side, which was a lot rougher but let it all hang out and bombed down. I passed seven or eight people and left him behind in the process. I ended up having the same time on my last lap as I did on my third lap--pretty crazy.

Because I held off that racer (he was part of the first-place 105+ 3-man team), we ended up getting third place overall for 3-man teams. We also won the 3-man 120+ division. It was great hanging out with the DCMTB and Family Bikes crew and watching Ian and Mike crush the competition. They ended up being first place overall at the race. The Family Bikes team did a great job getting 2nd place in the 105+ division and the other DCMTBers on the "Not the Old Guys" team got 3rd in their race. Good results for all.

So the big question is...after I have surgery on my pinky, will I be able to hold the handlebars to train for the 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey. If not, I think I might start running again :) Maybe I will go to the 12-hour race just to watch and pit with Mike K, who has a broken foot. Special thanks to Sara for typing this up because I couldn't do it with my pinky in a cast.

12hours of Lodi

From May 2nd. Photos by backlight photography

This race has a special place in my heart, it was the first 12 hour race I had ever done. I did this race in 1999 or 2000 when it started at 12 mid-night and went to 12pm the next day. It was my first night ride too! We raced it in a impromptu 2 man division(our 3r rider bailed) and won. I have done the race 3-4 times over the years, with last year being the first to do it single speed.
I am not a single speed mountain bike person, but I found the single speed is fun to ride at the easier places in the area like Wakefield, Larual Hills, Roseyville, Schaffer. I usually ride those places rigid, but I had bought a front shock for Lodi. Compared to other racers I was running a really low gear a 32 x 22 29er. I love that gear at Lodi, cause with the turning and short hills it lets you have the ability to climb everything. There are only two parts of the course that are longer then 50 feet of flat/straight.
I raced 3-man SS with Jonathan, and Kevin. We were competing against the other DCMTB team of Mike, Joel, and Kent. We had our work cutout for us. I was going last since I knew I would be the slowest of the three of us. Jonathan did a great first lap, but got a little dehydrated out there which would effect him the rest of the race. Kevin did a strong first lap as well. My first lap I had a lead, but I knew that Mike was coming behind me. I was able to hold him off until the end of the lap, so it would be up to my teamates to build that cushion.
We ended up slipping father and father away from the other team, ended in 2nd place by 11 minutes or so. I was not happy with my times, but considering that this year has been slow-slow start up I was just happy to be tired on my last lap and not to have my back hurting me. I do like racing the SS at certain races. I like doing wakefield on the SS, and am thinking I might the battle at burke farm SS. Or maybe the Schaffer CM race.
I want to give a big thanks to Sara for coming to the race, and for picking up some Chipotle and driving me to my parents place at 12:30am.

Random Notes:

• Great weather this year at Lodi, was warm but no rain
• The course started to get slick with the temps falling in the evening.
• First Year I have done this race without the poison ivy, used Jonathan's trick of wiping off with rubbing alcohol with baby wipes every lap.
• Lodi is still great event even though the amount of teams has gone down, while the solo's have gone up.
• Hope to race here next year, but be in better shape.
• DCMTB had great crew out there with a 2nd place expert(team was co-ed) 1,2 3-man SS

Las Vegas- Day 6 Cottonvalley Canyon

I had ridden these trails on a rented bike back in 2003 or so. At the time I went with a friend, who was not a fast biker, so I was looking forward to riding these trails on my own bike and at my own pace. I decided to start at the Blue Diamond Trailhead, since that is where I started from before. I decided to do the old Norba course across 160 and then come back again.

I started the day at 5:15 a.m., was on the road by 6 a.m. in Phoenix, and got on the trail near Las Vegas around 12 p.m. The first part of the trail was pretty good getting to 160. Since 2003 there has been a new paved parking lot added on Rt. 160. I got over to the other side and did the trail there and it wasn’t bad, although it was kinda slow since it was going uphill the whole time. I ended up going towards 160 to get the start of the Norba race trail. I had to ride some blown out Jeep road to get to it. The trail was ok. I thought it would be better, and it had too much jeep road for me. I did like the part that was single track, and I thought Satan’s Ladder was good challenge (I made it up at least without dabbing). Once at the top, I saw the time and knew that I needed to get going to meet Sara in Vegas (she just came out for the wedding). I had some issues finding the Red Trail to take back, so I ended up just taking the double track road. I was flying on that, which showed that I had been climbing a long time. I ended up seeing the Red Trail later on, so I took that and road back down the trail that I came up. This trail was a blast riding the other way. Once I got back across 160 I decided to do the other half of the Blue Loop to get back to Blue Diamond. I will say this trail was the funnest of the day. It had you going slightly down hill and through some big rollers. There were some technical rock bits in there as well. I got back to the car with some good riding for the day to end the bike part of my trip.

Thoughts:

• The trails closer to Blue Diamond are more frequently ridden and are actually more fun to ride to boot.
• If I get back here again, I want to hit the Bonny and Clyde Trail, it was the only trail I didn’t ride at all, and it would be the most logical choice for the next ride here.
• Blue Diamond Bike Shop is a place to know. If you are in Vegas and have a car, just ride like 25 minutes from the strip and rent a bike for $40 to ride for the afternoon.