Over the July 4th weekend, we went tubing on the 3rd and then spent 2 days at the Lost River State Park in WV. The Park is really nice with cabins, a pool, a rec room with Ping Pong. The park also has trails for hiking, riding and horses.
Road
The ride started off a little chilly, but one I started climbing I was doing just fine. This ride has some pretty roads from Patrick Hallow a back country road to Old Route 50 which had a great surface and banking with almost no traffic. I didn't know that there would be such steep stuff on old route 50, and was kinda funny when I did a wrong turn and ended up doing part of the route over again. This ride was a hard one, had allot of climbing and some bombing descents. I was able to test the Moots on some downhill action. The main course of the ride was the Lost River Road climb. Going from 940ft to 2800 ft. I had heard of this climb from a blog on the GamJams news role. The NCVC rider talked about people having to walk, I was like what? So I wanted to see it for myself. This is a closeup of the hardest part of the climb.
It was one of the hardest climbs I have done right up there with Reddish Knob near Harrisonburg. I was riding a 36-26 and I was still going like 50rpms in some places, so I could see someone with a 39-23 or 25 dieing on it. Once I got to the Top it was some nice mountain top riding then a fun descent back to the park, only issue was that it felt like a mountain top finish with me having to climb the last bit back to the cabin.
Mountain(trails I rode in pink)
The next day I got up and went Mt. biking from the cabin on park trails. I wasn't sure how long I would ride since we were leaving that day, and there weren't too many trails to ride in the park. I get out of the cabin and go to the end of the street and bamn! I am in my 22-34 with the steepness of the climbing(I ride a 29er) I got up and on the east ridge trail which was the (mt. biking friendly trail) well some parts were big enough for a ATV to ride, but when it started going downhill you needed to be on a dual suspension, disc brake bike or have some skills. My brakes started squelling and at the bottom I put my glove on the rotor and it burned the leather! I then went up the fireroad to Big Mountain. This climb was harder then the previos day's climb but I was on a Mt. bike and had the low gears to get up it. After about 45minutes I made it to the top. 
There is a ridgeline trail that add some good mileage to the ride. I did an out and back on that with out ever getting to Millers Rock, it was starting to rain and I thought it would be good to get back. I took the Big Ridge Trail back down the mountain, and it was a horse trail, but did not say bikers couldn't use it. I wasn't worried about horses cause of the rain and crappy morning weather. Horses can really churn up a trail, this tail was sandy, and every rock unless it was a boulder was not in the ground firmly. I had some big rock kick up and hit me and my bike. The scary moment was when I came to a ravine, and the raing had made the rocks and roots slick. I slipped on a rock and then slipped on a root where I crashed and had my thigh pinched between the root and my bike. Was scary for a second, but luckly I have some big legs so a bruise not a broken bone. I then went back to the cabin via the howards lick trail and the lollipop trail. By the time I got back it was fully rainning, making me happy I got a ride in when the trails were dry. I did about 2 hours and only rode 12miles so that kinda tells how steep this place is. Would be really cool to have a Mt bike race here and have everyone campout and cabin at the race site.
7/11/09
Lost River Riding
7/6/09
12 hours of Cranky Monkey 2009
This was one of the big races I wanted to do well at this year. I was not able to race it last year, cause of my back, so this year I wanted to do well. The team I had come up with was Mike K.(who I seem to keep racing with) and Alex who I raced with at Lodi. We made the age cut-off and raced the Open Men's division. I wanted us to do well, and I had hopes for us to battle against DCMTB's Vet squad of Marc, Raul, and Chris.
I started us off and after much debate we agreed to do single laps(which was the best call) I did the run and got to pretty good position with Matty right around me. I then kicked it on the gravel doubletrack, and was off. I was sitting in like 5th place or so then we hit the powerline climb and I had some chainsuck. I lost 3 spots there, and would then be babing my drivetrain for the rest of the race. I ended up riding with Raul for like 2 miles at the end and was a great way to end the lap meaning we were tied with the Vet team. Mike, and Alex put in some really fast laps which then gave us the lead over the Vet team and the Co-Ed team of Matty, Tom, Lynne) For my 2nd lap I was fearful of Matty catching me, and after a couple of miles I heard someone gainning on me, and I said hey Matty that you? YEP So I rode with Matty for a bit, but at one point he took a hairy turn and sped up again I knew I had to let him go and go my own pace. I finished the lap a couple of minutes down on them. After that I don't think we ever saw the front again. My 3rd lap was ok, but yet again I saw the lead go away and this was that I lost 1st place in the 3 man open division when I saw the Luv team go in front of me. I wanted to stay with him which I did for a bit, but I knew that I was going too much into the red. So I stayed my own tempo. I was starting to get some cramps. Alex and Mike did some fast laps again, meanwhile the 1st place 3-man open team was losing gas and we had taken the lead from them. With my last lap coming I knew I needed to keep on the gas and not get caught by the Luv team. I was going my hardest out on the course, I had a fast SS playing cat and mouse with me. he would catch up and then fall away then catch up again. He never went in front of me, but we rode like that for about 4 miles until around mile 8 I left him. I was also determined to leave it on the trail compared to Big Bear where I still had energy in the tank, that meant riding through several bouts of cramps that wanted to take hold but I fended them off. I came back with a 2 minute faster lap time then any of my other laps. Alex went next since he needed to get home, and Mike K. finished us off with a wicked fast lap. We won the open 3-man Division and ended up 2nd place over-all. Another thanks for Sara coming out and she also helped out and did scoring at the end of the even. Check out the pics if you can't see the slide show http://picasaweb.google.com/lovedabikes/12HoursOfCrankyMonkey2009#
The whole DCMTB team really shined out there with:
1st over-all 1st co-ed(by 2 laps) 3 -person
Matty, Tom, Lynn
2nd over-all 1st 3-man open
Darren, Alex, Mike
5th over-all 2nd 3-man vet
Raul, Marc, Chris
3rd 3-man open
Vince, Leland, Kevin
3rd Co-Ed Du0 (with PVC)
Samantha and Chris
6th Co-Ed 3-person
Mike S., Jonathan, Tris
6/29/09
Wednesday at Wakefield #1 2009
Short write up about the race, I have done these races for years, they are a good scene and you get to see allot of people out there. I decided to race Single Speed, because after doing two years of expert where I raced in the bottom 1/4 of the field I wouldn't be racing anyone my 3rd and 4th laps. I wasn't sure if I had the right gear but I went with a 32x18 on a 29er with 2.55 tires. I had done the course at one point last fall on my rigid SS so I thought I would be ok.
The start of the race has the famous gravel hill, I am usually pretty good with starts of races and this was no different, I was on the wheel of my teammate Alex and I think we were in like 4/5th place. I was riding fine with him, and once we got to the doubletrack Evan Ellicot came flying up and passed us doing like 160 rmps on the cranks. I was with Alex the rest of the lap until the creek where I bobbled it and lost 2-3 spots. I then worked my way back to Larry Camp and followed him for like 1/2 a lap then got around him. The only upsetting thing for the race was bobbling the last Climb on a root and having someone pass me there to loose a spot. I did achieve my goal of a top 10 finish, and it was close with around 10seconds seperating 6-10th place. Alex did a good job getting 6th. I was thinking that I should be able to improve on this in the future W@W races. DCMTB had good showing with Alex and I, Joel got 1st Clydesdale, Lynne got first in Female expert, Kent got 2nd 35+, Chris got 2nd 45+ Brain-I mean Brian(thanks Joel) got 5th 35+ and Tom Managed a mid pack finish in the Expert class.
6/24/09
Fifty on a Fixie
I had wanted to do a big Hill fest ride on Sat. , but the rain put those plans on hold. I needed to get a ride in for my upcoming races. I was going to be down at the parents house which has nice riding, but I knew they would be upset if I was gone for too long.
Sara and I got down to my parents place around 1am after going to my friend Ann roof-deck B-day party(was fun). I got up around 6:45 and got myself on the road by 7:15 or so. The sky was nice and blue and it was really humid out so made it a hot morning. I brought an extra waterbottle and left that at the back entrance for Sara to drink on her run around the lake.
The ride was pretty peacefull, there seemed to be more traffic then normal on Rt. 522 but I think it was from people going to lake Anna. At the 25 mile mark I got off and stretched my back, since I was feeling it a little bit after a long uphill stretch. I then worked my way back to my parents place. I went through the Wilderness Battlefield on Hill Ewell Dr. which has a nice surface to it. I got back to the house and had like 48miles, so I found some more streets in their neighborhood to get my total to 50.
50miles
18.4mph(give or take)
around 2:50 ride time
- This was the longest Fixied gear ride I have everdone.
- Had a little bit of chaffing with moving my legs so much
- I thought it wasn't that bad but riding the next day my legs were shot so that spinning had really worked the legs.
6/19/09
24 hours of Big Bear-2009
Quick write up for the event. I was on the DCMTB team in the expert class and we were going into a field stacked with ex-pros and fast dudes. I was hoping that we could be competitive against the Gripped Racing boys our DC rival at most races. I drove up with Kent and Vince, and we made camp, with Kevin, Leland, Mike, and Jonathan getting there shortly after us. We made some food Friday night, and the steaks I contributed to came out nice. I went to bed early.
I woke the next day and we made Kent's famous chocolate, bacon, bannana pancakes. After that Alex his wife Stephane and Sara came. Mike found out that the bolt to my Mountain bike was stripped so I did not do the 2nd lap for the team(was fighting Mike for it). Alex let us barrow his car and Sara and I went to a small town down the road and got a cairage bolt to do the job of the stripped out bolt. I also took Sara to the local bakery to get some tasty treats.
My thoughts about the course:
The course was really slow, I mean my dawn lap(while it was pretty) was like riding on Velcro!!! Laird did a reroute, and in doing so made the course 13.5 miles, so a good night lap was in the 1:30's. I was personally little disappointed in my performance, I wanted to be getting the same times as Mike(who rocks on this course), but I wasn't able to, and I also felt like I couldn't kill the course cause when you started to push you lost traction in the mud. I will say that the mud at the Big Bear course is better then when it was at Snowshoe, it doesn't cake up your bike but it makes it feel slow. I felt the most in control I have ever felt there, I wasn't fighting the rocks like I was 3-4 years ago. I had a real fun time from mile 3-7 on my dawn lap I felt I was flowing with the trail and going pretty fast. I also made it up the steep hill every lap even with all the mud.
How the Race unfolded:
After the first rotation we were 53minutes! behind 1st expert. Kent had a flat tire(he would go on to have two more) So as the night wore on we soldiered on and on one lap Jonathan got a flat as well. Mike's first two laps were impressive, I was able to hold an OK time at night which I usually don't. As the race was ending we were still in last place, around 12 minutes behind Gripped Films and Mike and Jonathan were racing to get me back on the course so I would do another lap. I was prepared to do it, but at the same time didn't want to do it for no reason. On Mike's last lap he passed the Gripped Racing's Doug who had double flatted that lap. So Jonathan needed to keep the pressure on for us to beat Gripped Films. I suited up thinking I wouldn't have another lap, cause Jonathan would have to pull a 1:23 2-minutes faster then his first lap. Well Jonathan came in at 12:03 and pulled a 1:26! only 2 minutes slower then his first lap. I was really impressed that he was able to pull that and on a SS! So we ended up in 5th in the expert field.
About my Race:
-I felt good on the bike didn't have too much back issues, I believe this to be from trying to stand and climb when I could.
-I have gotten better at riding in general, before I was weary in some spots on the course now I was just riding through it.
-My bike didn't break!!!! Last year the chainstay broke and the year before the deraileur got ripped off.
-I rode my secondary tires cause of the mud and the CST tires worked great considering they are about $12 29er tires.
-I wish I would have pushed myself more on the course. I also thought I had to do 4 laps so when I would have killed myself on my last lap I didn't do that on my 3rd lap.
-Thanks to Kent for driving and making it a fun time
-The pizza place Puccini's outside of Cumberland is the bomb! whenever I am on Rt.68/70 going through the area I try to stop by.
-Sara came and supported me again, so I was happy she was there but sad I couldnt' show better. There is always next year
For next year this race will be the national champinionships I am thinking that I will try and race the Vet class then.
6/15/09
Mountain bike Ride with DCMTB
Since most of our members live in DC or the surrounding burbs we have to get out there to ride mountain bikes. We were able to get the whole expert team for Big Bear together and others who were doing the 24 hours of Big Bear or who wanted to ride Iceberg with those that had gone before. I got a ride up with new team member Tyler and Alex who had done the 12 hour of Lodi with. This was the biggest DCMTB ride I have done, Kevin and Leland were came up and Kent, and Paula, there was Tyler, Alex, myself, and Jonathan and Mike K.
We went up the Sand Flats route which worked out pretty good, I hadn't been up that way in a bit cause usually we come down that on the way back to Hamburg Rd. We hit Skink to get to Gambril road and that was challenging and once we got out there we then went to Iceberg. The trail is pretty good to challenge yourself on. I rode it allot better on my own bike compared to how I did in the winter with Mike's bike. We then went down to the Pit one of my favorite trails in the shed. Then we came back up Gambril Rd. and I took Jonathan and Alex back via Fisher Creek where we got back to the cars the hard way. 
Mike K and the others came back via Gambril Rd. Most of the crew then got some pizza afterwards. Was a great day on the trail with the team.
6/11/09
Road Ride with DCMTB
Got out on Saturday for a road ride with some DCMTB folks. I had not done a ride with people since the February ride before the Team Party. I had some issues with start location, I think the issue was that I went up too far on Piney Branch road.
The ride consisted of Marc, Michael, Sarah, Mark, Raul, John and myself. The 10am ride ended up riding with us for a bit, and then we went all the way to the top of Rock Creek to give us some distance from the other group. Once we got into Maryland Raul was starting to go on the hills and I was chasing him around. I think I took a strong pull and the group became John, Marc, Raul and myself. I think Raul sat up to ride with Mark the rest of the time. That left Marc, John, some Pedal and Spoke guy and myself. I went pretty strong up a hill on river road, and that split us up and I think John came around me and was like,"Marc has fallen back lets give this a little stick". So we were drilling it and Marc was about even, not gainning on us, but then we got to the Falls rd. stoplight. I then gave Marc a pull for Falls rd. On MacArthur I just sucked Marc's wheel since he was pushing 26-27mph in his aero bars(getting ready for the church creek TT) The ride ended with me doing a 60+ ride with a avg of 20.4 so was a fast day indeed.
6/10/09
Demo a Moots-Hills of Maryland
So after cracking another bike that brings the tally up to: 8
1998 Mongoose Rx 7.7 Cracked in accident
1999 Bianchi Alloro Cracked seatube BB in 2001
2001 Bianchi Alloro Cracked seatube BB in 2007
2003 Bianchi Axis Cracked seatube BB in 2006
(sensing a trend here :-)
2006 Gary Fisher 292 Cracked TopTube where the shockmount is
2007 Gary Fisher 292 Cracked TopTube where the shockmount is
2008 Gary Fisher Hi-Fi Cracked the Chainstay
2008 Cranked the Seat stay on the Raliegh Team Frame
So I decided that I would go the same route as I had for my cx bike. I had Aluminum and now I am riding a Jamis Super Nova out of 853 Steel. So for the road bike I have always wanted a titanium bike.
Family Bike Shop has just started becoming a Moots dealer so I talked to Jonathan and he was able to get in contact with Moots to get a Demo bike that I could try out.
I got the bike and took her out for the first ride, a short 15 mile ride around where I live. There were two problems first the Moots stem was too short was a 110 and the seat was a racer seat where I usually ride something with a little more cush.
For my second ride I needed to get my rigid SS fork from my brother-in-law, and I thought I would do a ride from Leesburg. I usually ride compact gearing so I wanted to do a ride that wasn't too hilly, and I ended up doing a pretty hilly ride anyway! I had the bike set up with a 130mm stem(which was a little too long 120mm is just right).
Hightlights from the ride:
83 miles
4450 elevation
- Going up the short steep hill before the Flint hill store was a good way to test the Moots for uphill standing climbing sense my gear was too high to sit. With the Titanium and the Top end Mavic wheels the bike just moved whenever you stomped on the pedals.
- Mt. Zion was tuff but not as bad as I thought it would be, I knew it was going to challenge me with mountain in name of the road.
- In Middletown on Bidle Rd. the bridge is gone not just closed, I rode down the hill and saw just water to cross, so had to backtrack and look at a map at the gasstation and reroute myself.
- I took a wrong turn at the top of Gapland Rd. I went off the mountain the wrong way had to go back up what I came down.
6/9/09
Memorial Day
I wanted to get out and do a little ride so I figured I would do Shaffer Farms which I haven't been to in about a year or so. I decided to ride the SS there since It would be one of the last rides on the front suspension fork I had borrowed for the 12 Hours of Lodi race. So I get to the lot thinking I would do the Holyes Mill conector to Black Hills park then come back around to Schaffer to finish up. In the Parking lot I ran into Roger Massi and I talked to him for a bit. He was riding with Chris who he was competing with in the Mohician 100 the following week in OH. So I said I would ride with these guys. I knew they were faster then me. It took about 3 miles for me to figure out that these guys were just too fast for me after doing two big rides down in the GW forest the previous days. So I finally told them at a turn to go ahead. I then got stuck doing like 2 more loops on the white trail before getting over to the Yellow trail. When I do Shaffer I try and hit all the trails there. The one trail that always gives me trouble is the Red dead end loop. This time with the grasses being so high when I got out of there I have never been soo itchy! I actually got hives from the grasses slapping my legs and arms. That trail needs one of those brush mowers to make a 3 foot path so you are not touching the grasses all the time. After that I worked my way back to the car, and about 2 minutes after I left the skies opened up and a huge down pour came so I guess I timed that perfectly.
5/24/09
IMBA-VA Mt. Bike Festival
From May 25th
Double Southern Traverse
The Virginia IMBA mt. bike festival is a great time to get down to the GW area and ride some really great trails. Also helps as a warm up for the SM100. This year I did a quick jaunt down to the festival for just Friday night. I got Alex involved and we left at 6:30am and were riding at 12:30pm to do the Southern Traverse trail From the South out and back. I really liked doing the trail this way I felt that it was allot better to be on singletrak the whole time. I didn't mean for us to go down a hill to the fireroad and then right back up it, but once we started heading down we ended up at the fire road. I will say going South to North is allot harder, there is more climbing, and almost all the downhill parts are on off camber sections. The good news is going back the traditional way North to South it is allot faster and easier. Also you get the 3 mile down hill at the end. Kent and his wife Paula came out and went at their own pace, we caught up to them when we turned around and started on our way back.
The Huge Ride-less road
The Fallowing day we got up had a nice pancake breakfast, and Sid and Erik came down for the day and we started our ride up Hankey. Within the first 2 miles Sid broke a chain so he had to fix that. I had wanted to get in front of people but now we were in the mix with a huge group of Bike Line riders, and Pouch, and Mark from DCMTB who had caught up with us. We kinda rode behind the Bike Line folks for a bit and then started up the steep part of Hankey. I almost made it thru that section without dabbing, but I ran out of gas and had to walk a little. For the rest of the climb up Hankey it was myself in front with Erik, or Alex behind and Sid off the back. We made it down Dowells and then to the store, there we were back with the Bike Line folks again. We got out of there, and hooked up with Mike S. and Co. for the road ride up to Braileys. Mike was setting a good tempo and then I took it over, almost had to gear down but Braileys was there. Alex had fallen off the pace but caught back up while regrouped at Braileys to refill our camelbacks with the water pump which was a team effort to work. Going into the Singletrak we were yet again bunched with the Bike Line people. We get to the stream and people go through and start the climb. I don't like getting my feet wet if I don't have to, and since I was not in a race, I was the only one to take off my shoes and socks and then walk across the stream. I then put on my shoes and socks and walked the first part of the climb. I seem to climb pretty good for how big I am, and I wasn't upset that I was the last person on the trail. This way I knew I would have more open trail and not be stuck behind someone and have to stop. I was spinning up, cause I knew you had to save you strength for the couple of sections of rock where you need your speed to get through it. As I went up I caught all of my group and passed some of the Bike Line people. I made it up without dabbing(ok I did kick off one tree but did not touch the ground or stop). Only the second time I have done that, the first being during the SM100 I did in 2007. At the top we bumped into Joe, who was riding with Punga. We ate some and found out after a couple of minutes that Alex had stopped like 500ft from the top cause he didn't know how much longer it was to the top :-) so I yelled for him and he came up. Sid and Erik got going cause they needed to get back to their cars to get home. Alex was pretty spent so he rode back with Jonathan. I wanted to go up Dowells to Hankey and then down that to the campsite. I was now solo since others didn't want to do hill climb. I timed it up Dowells not killing it but riding consistantly and getting out of the saddle when I could to keep the back happy. I made it up it in like 30 minutes or so. After the hike a bike up Hankey I went to the lookout and took pictures. I then started on my way back passing the Dan hudson group, and he said the Bike Line boys were ahead. I then caught them, and kind of rode by them. I think Rob from that team kept up with me for a bit, but I pushed the pace as if I was finishing the SM100. I kept it up and I ended up with like 4:11 ride time. I was pretty happy with that. I even beat Alex back!
We then packed up and were out of there by 5:00pm to get back to DC.
