Happy Halloween!!!

So here is the creation. I carved the Kokopelli. If you haven't seen him, I strongly reccomend taking a trip out to Grand Junction, CO or Moab, UT-and don't forget your bike while your at it.

And this is what I call lighting a pumpkin. Screw those little candles, here is an HID lighted Pumpkin. A little bright, huh? You can see it shining through the left side. When I took the picture, the entire pumpkin was glowing from the light. For the best interest of trick-or-treater's eyes, I took it out and replaced it with a night-light.

Now go get some candy. I hear it is great powerfood and carboloading for some snowy and cold race this weekend! BTW, 36 degrees high SAT in TC!

Recovery

My legs were really feeling it the past few weeks. The legs started to burn on a constant basis last week and I decided to answer the call. I took Friday, Saturday and Sunday all off the bike and guess what? I am still alive. I did it! It wasn't too bad because of the crummy weather on Friday and Saturday. Sunday turned out decent but WINDY. Saturday even showed some nice big wet snowflakes when I was truing up the wheels for all of the MTBs in the household.


I was able to get an axle and some cones to put my rear wheel of the Yeti back together on Saturday. It is now spinning nice and smooth, ready for this weekend. I did a little Pumpkin carving on Friday night so that we have a orange circle on the porch for Halloween. I will show off my creation tommorrow as I don't want those hoologans smashing it tonight. I am thinking screw the candle inside and the normal nightlights that we normally use. I am thinking of going all out-HID inside the pumpkin to light it up! Hopefully it won't blind anyone.

I did a ride over to ILRA today and put in a little over 20 miles on singletrack and another 10 on my way over and back. I took the trail out the backside of blue and rode over to the new Green Oak Village Mall at Lee Rd. I am not a mall guy at all, but I decided it would be cool to check it out. I read in the paper that it had a huge oudoor fireplace that I wanted to see. Yeah, I rode around there and never saw it. The place does look nice and had some good restaurants in there. I forgot to mention, it was 70 degrees today.

T-10 Days

Holy Cow! Iceman is only 10 days away. I was sure that it was at least 2 weeks. Time seems to be flying by. It has been a fairly easy week at school, but I have not been terribly motivated to ride. I am always giddy and exciting to rush home and jump on the bike for 2-3 hours. This shock of cold weather and Michigan clouds is killing me. I am sure the end of the season thing isn't helping either, as well as wet conditions. I pushed myself to go outside on Monday as I rode the fixie on the backroads and through the hills at Kensington. I took a little different route and found some new roads. Riding the same dirt roads over and over just gets monotanous. Yesterday was another gloomy day. I decided that I would flip the wheel over on the SS and run a 44-18 with the freewheel(the off-road fixie ride will happen AFTER Iceman!). I rode over to ILRA and rode a lap before hooking up with the group and riding a pretty good pace most of the time. On lap 1, I had some chain slipping issues, as the chain kept falling off on standing climbs. I stopped and added some tension to the chain which seemed to work. The second yellow loop required lights. I cut out at Kensington Rd and took the roads home. With a rear blinky light and a HID up front, the cars could easily see me and moved much further over than during the day. It seemed like at night people are more cautious and actually care than in the daytime. Hmm, centuries at night? Start at 6pm and finish before 11 for a dark 100 miles. Might need 2 lights though, doh! Today I was actually hyped to go put in a hard road ride with intervals and hill repeats. After I got out of school late, I had to eat, needed to get some things done, and had to work at 6pm...there was not enough time. At least tommorrow looks like 50degrees and maybe, just maybe a peak of sun for a nice 60 mile road ride. I can't wait. Get a little more riding in this weekedn before tapering for Iceman.

End of the Season Training

2 weeks until Iceman; the last race of the season. I have been getting in some good rides lately to get reasy for the race. Another good week of riding coming up, then a nice taper will hopefully get me into the race shape I need. Last Sunday, I put in a good 52 mile ride from my house and 3 loops of ILRA. The weather turned out to be decent, as I only wore arm and knee warmers. I have noticed lately that once te sun goes down(if it ever comes out) it gets much colder. Monday was another nasty day, and Tuesday showed some good hopes of an all day rain/mist/wet-fest. I decided to jump on the trainer and get in some good intervals with the Carmichael DVD's. Wednesday finally turned into a nice day with temps in the low 60's. I did a 60 mile road ride through ILRA and Kensington. I put in 5 loops of the hills in the park, then rode back over to ILRA and headed home via Kensington Rd to hit the last hill. My legs were a little sore at first, but seemed to feel better as time went on. Thursday was yet another damp day and I took it as rest. Frida was going to be another 60+ mile road ride, but after my knee had a little pain in it, I called it a day and rode home for a weak 22 miles. I just need to keep up on my knee exercises and I'll be fine! Saturday was going to be a dirt road ride on the fixie in the morning before work, but guess what? Rain!!! I went to work from 1-3, but ended up filling in for another game, so I didn't leave until 4:15. I got home and that yellow ball in the sky was peeking through. I came home and immediately got dressed. I grabbed the SS and headed out. I did dirt roads with 2 loops of Kensington Park hill loops, and a ride up the Kensington Hill standing up the whole time. There were a few good leg burning hills with the 44-16 gearing. By the tie I got back at 6:50, the sun had been swept away, and the temp had dropped. I mapped out my ride HERE and had just over 40 miles with about 2000 feet of climbing.

My Yeti is down right now. I was going to change the disc brake rotor when I noticed that the rear hub bearings were rough. With over 2200 miles on them, I figured I should probably grease them since I hadn't done that since winter. I took the axle and bearings out, cleaned them, re-greases verything, slid the axle in, and threaded everything back on. I had the cone at perfect tension, and was trying to tightend the end nut against it. Well, the end nut was turning the entire axle and not tightening against the cone. So I took it off, and found out that the axle is stripped, or has some bad threads about a centimeter in. I tried to take the cone off, but it got stuck and would not come off at all once it got to the bad spot. Luckily, it was far enough out that I could take the nut and cone off from the freehub side and slide the axle out. Now I just need to order a new axle and put the wheel back together before Iceman. I have 2 weeks, hopefully I can get a few rides on it before the race.

Cold? Snow? October?...Oh, Michigan!!!

WHAT?

I was pretty sure that I was wearing shorts and a jeresy on Sunday as it about hit 80 degrees. Then on Tuesday I wore the same, but with the choice of some arm warmers for the 60 degree temps. Yesterday it started snowing and din't let up my whole drive into school. I did not ride yesterday, as I took it off for recovery, but dang-it was snowing A LOT.

I was ready for the cold today, so away with the shorts and jeresy. I wore all of my COLD WINTER riding gear. Yup, booties, tights, under armor, wind proof jacket, winter gloves, and a balaclava to keep the blood in my cheeks. I headed out around 10am to brave the nasty winds(but not quite as bad as yesterday) and cold temps. When I left, it was 34 out with a wind chill in the low 20's. Ain't nothing better to train in for the ICEMAN!!! I rode the fixie again on the dirt roads out to Wixom, and through Milford. I came back a little different way to mix it up a bit. I was pretty comfortable for most of the ride. I least I get to wear a bunch of clothes unlike the Tigers(YEAH, Go Tigers). Closed off the morning with 33 miles of dirt. It was enough for today, but I am planning on heading out early again tommorrow and riding the 16 miles over to Highland and riding the A and B loop. I am hoping it will be a tad bit warmer with no wind so I can wear less clothes. The ride today just felt waaaay to much like January base training miles=cold, snow flakes, bone-chilling wind, and of course...gray skies. Only in Michigan. Has anyone found the door out of here yet. When you do, let me know!!!

The fixed cog

Fixed on Dirt

I have officially gone FIXIE! I ordered a Boone Titanium fixed gear cog for my single speed a few weeks ago. It showed up the other day and I installed it and rode around the neighborhood to check it out. The cog bolts onto the 6-bolt pattern where the disc brake rotor usually is attached... you flip the wheel around on your SS and "wallah". Yesterday was the maiden voyage for the never-stop-spinning bike. I took it on the dirt roads around Brighton, Milford, and Wixom to see how it was to ride fixie. I went for some hills and was standing up pushing through them to get a good ride in. To my surprise, it is much easier to ride than I would have thought. One of the hardest parts is spinning very FAST on long steep downhills. I is a constant workout because once you have hamemred to the top of a climb, you must keep pedaling and then spin wildly down. I was running a 44-16 and it worked out really well; being able to sit down on long grades and hammering out of the saddle on steeper pitches. I got in 34 miles on the fixie and had a great time. I am going to keep riding that on the dirt roads as it is good training to keep pedaling ad no coasting, as well as powering up the climbs. I originally bought it for off-season base training miles, but I think it will be used a little more than anticipated. I have the route mapped out with distance and elevation HERE on Route Slip.

After that ride, I came home and grabbed a few twizzlers as my lunch before changing clothes and heading off to ILRA. I grabbed the gearie (I didn't want to kill myslef riding fixed gear on the MTB trails on Day 1) and rode the five miles to ILRA and rode the second half of yellow. I hooke dup with my dad to ride with him as he put in a good B/Y and then another half of yellow before I headed off for home. Another 30+ miles in the saddle was necessary since the weather wasn't looking too promising for future days. Good thing I just watched the weather and it looks dry for the next 5 days. Cool, I don't mind cooler temps as long as I can ride. I don't know about others, but I get grouchy if I don't ride for a few days!

Pictures from Boyne

My Dad coming down the final hill

The B-E-A-UTIFUL fall colored leaves on the earth's floor

Boyne XC Race Recap

The past week was getting ready for Boyne and enjoying myself. Friday, we left on mission "to boyne." I threw down a nice pre-ride in sunny 50 degree weather. I rode a lap with my dad and then went and rode the first 2.5 miles, then crossed the road and spun up the mountain (well, MI ski hill) and finished the backside of the trail off. Saturday was a nice recovery day to watch the Tigers BEAT those Yankees! I am not a baseball fan, but ya have to show some love for dem Tigers. I rode a trail called Aspen Pak in the middle of Gaylord to move my legs for 5 miles.

Sunday was race day. I got there nice and early to be able to get a good pre-ride in. I rode around for a while, then rode the first 2ish miles of the trail to get my HR up and ready for the climbs in the race. As the race started, I realized that there were only 2 of us in 19-under. We lined up with the 20-29's and took off. That was the best start ever! The pace wasn't pushed really high-my HR was only 150, when usually it is high 170's. After the first few climbs, I broke away from the group with a guy from Breakaway Bicycles (how ironic). About 5 miles in, I started picking off Elite riders. After the first lap, I had passed 4 Elite riders and was way ahead of my competition.

Lap 2-I kept on chugging and moving foreward. I passed another Elite rider early on, then another one later on. The hills were feeling good even though I couldn't get my HR as high as I normally can. There was no back and forth, but I just had to try and stay focused.

Lap 3-The guy from B-Bicycles zoomed by me after the last downhill at the end of lap 2, so I just let him go. I was going, but not sure how hard since I had no gauge with anyone. There was no one in front or behind me, but eventually I got into a good rhythm on the hills and caught the BB guy at the top of the ski hill.

I ended up getting first place by 25 minutes, which wasn't too big a deal. I would have managed to get 7th in Elite if I would have raced that (about middle of the pack). I figured race Expert in this and Iceman, then move up to Elite next year. A fun weekend with a beautiful countryside of red and orange leaves. Next up, ICEMAN...I have 4 weeks to figure out what tires to run!!!

Another Good Week of Riding

After the Addison race, I took some good measures of recovery to be able to train hard this week. Monday I was planning on a 60 mile road ride through the parks and around my Milford/Wixom route. That was changed when the forecast called for 20-30mph winds. I decided instead to go ride the MTB. I went over to ILRA and rode three loops of blue/yellow and then came back home for a good 52 miles. For most of the ride, I had about 20psi in my tires just like at Addison. I guess my tires didn't seal to well and the Stan's sealant wasn't working well around the rim.

Tuesday was less wind, but a nice looking day out. I took a long route on the road bke over to Novi Tree Farm. I got in 39 miles on the road and put in some good efforts along the way. I jumped on the SS and did the 10 mile loop over at the Farm with a group at a nice social pace. The weather turned out great and no extra clothing was required at all.

I took Wednesday off as a recovery day and because of the rain that was coming down sparatically. At one time, I was cleaning all of the mud from Addison off of my bike when it started raining. I pulled it in the garage before the sky let loose and hail was coming down! I also decided to re-seal my rear tire and put fresh sealant in to try and fix my leaking problem. Later on in the evening I went off and reffed a hockey game. It was a good way to move the legs and get payed:-)

Thursday I came home and sealed my front tire up. It seemed like it was working, so I headed off to the Poto to ride. I ended up riding with Crispy, Bryan, and Amanda from the KONA Team. The trail was in the best shape I have seen it in a long time. There was even some guy who had raked all of the sand off to the side of the trail. Almost every sand pit or sandy climb had been raked until it was like concrete. Kudos to that guy, but why the hell would anyone do that-especially on 18 miles at the Poto. It turned out to be a fun ride with a few good efforts thrown in near the end. I could tell my downhill skills improved just by riding behind those guys!

Friday was my day off school, so I took a ride in the morning on the back roads. I rode out to Milford and around the dirt roads back and forth and to Charms Rd. in Wixom. I was planning on coming back the same way I came, but the cholride trucks were soaking the road around Kensington. In return, I decided to ride through D-Town Milford and over to the new Hubble Pond Park to ride the new 3.5 mile loop. For a new trail, it was great-and I figured out where to go without getting too lost. After a little single-track to keep myself motivated, I rode the road back home going around the GM proving grounds and then down the Kensington Rd. Hill beofre hitting the dirt roads bac home.

Was supposed to ride the Poto today; it's really wet and more rain is forecasted. That just means I have to get a good ride in before the baptism tommorrow.

Addison Oaks XC Race Recap

The last of the CPS races is now over. The Addison Oaks XC was this morning held under slimy conditions, but better than anticipated. The past week was spent tapering for a few days and only putting in 145 miles. I rode the course this morning to check it out before the race and it was a little greasy in the corners. You just had to be careful in a few and slow down instead of blowing through them. I came out of the race clean-no crashes that is. I was pretty muddy from my pre-ride and the race. The course dried out and the mud was pushed off for the most part after 2 laps.

It started off with only me and Kyle Stange showing up to race. He is winning(now won) the CPS sereis, and is some good competition. I let him take the lead into the woods as I followed him for the first two laps. Lap 3 I took the lead on a stupid decision and then tried to give it back. On the beginning of lap 4, we were going slow through the grass trying to make the other lead. Finally he took the lead after one of the Elites(we had already passed) decided to not play our games and go by. I went for it on a climb and through some two-track, but it was too late in the two-track. I should have done it earlier-lessons learned. On the last gravely climb, I was leading and he stood up and flew around me before I could see it coming. He put a nice gap in and it wasn't too far from the end. Just some singletrack that was hard to make time up on. After going back and forth the whole race, he ended up sliding by me and winning by 17 seconds. It was a good strong race and I had fun. We both handed it to the other Expert calsses as the next closest time was 3.5 minutes later. I learned a lot as far as decisions and what I need to work on. I will focus on those as I train for the next races. Boyne Championships in 2 weeks and then Iceman in November.

FS: 2006 19" Giant XTC Carbon Fiber Bike

A friend has their bike up for sale. It is a 2006 19" Giant XTC Carbon Fiber bike only ridden since the beginning of the year. It is full stock setup and the info can be seen HERE. It is a light hardtail racing machine. If you are interested, leave a comment below and I will get you in touch with the owner.

Well, I got 2 up...I guess I should get a Wirless Card

Leelanau's Largest Cup of Cofee
Your's Truly at the top of Inspiration Point

A Weekend of Riding in Leelanau

What a fantastic weekend. We left early Friday morning ready to go north to Leelanau County. ONly 4.5hrs later, we arrived at our little motel a few miles from d-town Glen Arbor(can you say no night life). After indulging in a few bagels, we headed out to do part of the TDL race loop around Maple City, Empire, Glen Haven and Glen Arbor. I ended up hitting 2 of the KOM's and then a turnoff to Tower road to ride the 20% grade. All of the route was rideable in the big ring except for Tower Rd. It was a great ride with some awesome views of both Glen Lakes, the Sand Dunes, and cool small towns in-between. There were a few fun sweeping downhills that were easy to hit 45mph with some fun no-braking corners!

Saturday was race day in Leelanau County. I went out and watched the Tour de Leelanau at 4 different spots. First was about 25 miles in at Fredrickson Rd which had a good steep climb for 1/3 of a mile or so. From there it was over to Tower Rd. to watch the guys and gals climb the 20% grade. That was a good site to see struggling and progressing. Then it was off to M-22 and Carlson Rd where we saw the lead guy riding for Priority Health come by 3:00 ahead of everyone else. There was also a small group of 4 off the front a couple of minutes before the peleton came sweeping through the turn. Following that sighting, we drove a mile down the road to see them returning with 6 miles to go. There were no marshalls or cops, so the 10minute car threw me and another person an orange vest and had us stop traffic and guide the racers left. It was fun watching how the group really split up by then. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and a fun day of watching cycling. After the race we went into Leland's "fish-town" ad cruised around for a while before heading off to the Dunes to run around.

Sunday was the Leelanau Harvest Tour. All of the people we were with decided on the 67 miler. There is no way I can turn down a hundie, so I went off solo. It was another good scenic ride-some of which we dd a few days prior. At the 52.5 mile mark, I had an average of 21.5 and was feeling pretty good overall. From that stop at Lake Leelanau, the route headed up into Northport and rode by Lk. MI for a while. The wind really picked up there and was a steady 15-25mph the whole way back. At mile 83, I joined up with a group of 8, eventually splitting it up a few iles down the road. I took a few 10 minute pulls and helped the guys out in the wind. At the end of the ride, I had and average of 20.6 and feeling good. I ended up getting back just minutes after evryone else, so it all worked out. The CCCC put on a good route, only confusing me on the route a minimal amount of times. I was dissapointed that there was only 3500ish feet of climbing, but I guess the wind made up for it.

This week I am tapering for the Addison race after 4 good solid weeks of XC training. I went to PT for me knee after school, put on some new rubber on the Yeti along with grips, and took a 35 minute ride on the trainer while studying to make me smarter and flush the lactic acid out.

Blogger is being lame. I actually have some good pics to put up but it's not working for me. I will get them up tommorrow. I have one of the TDL here with this guy solo off the front.

Slip Slide and Away

This damn rain stuff is messing with me. As of right know, it is raining, lightning, and thundering like a bitch. Good thing I finished my ride 30 minutes ago. It was a nice sunny ride with some decent wind and dry streets. I even took the time to look at the trees between my intervals on the road and noticed that the leaves are already changing colors. It must be this annoying fall like weather destrying everything and its pattern. The road ride today was dry until the ride home where I turned around in the park and said, "Ah, no," when the first bolt of lightning struck. It was all downhill from there with torrential downpours and dark skies. Morelightning came to follow, but I got home in time to survive.

The training has been going well lately. After 13 days straight of riding, (yes, I had recovery rides in there) I took Monday off, then rode the TRAINER (ugh) yesterday for some quick power intervals to keep me in check. Tonight I start my winter job up again. I am off to ref hockey this evening for good money and great cross training for cycling.

I leave you with a picture to make this and the rest of the dreary days better.

Met the quota

After my 47 mile hill repeat ride today, I was able to meet my quita for the week. The ride put me over 211 miles and I should have more coming for tommorrow. This end of the season training for me has been going really well. It helps tremendously when the weather cooperates. I got in a recovery road ride on Wednesday out on the roads around here. Thursday I went out on a dirt road ride and did intervals and then went for a group ride on the SS out at Brighton Rec.

Today was a good hill repeat day out at Kensington. There was a US Ametuer Disc Golf tournament that I was able to scan as I road up Spring Hill by the tobaggon runs. Weather was great in the 80's like it should be, but it is looking down from here. Now comes the fall leave color changing, arm warmer wearing, night riding season. Should be a fun on as long as it stays free of the white stuff by November 4th!!!

Tommorrow I am off early at 7:30 t ride out to the South Lyon High School where I am supposed to lead a group of runners out for the Witch's Hat 10K run. I belted up the SS with a 44x18 which will be good for the dirt roads. If the rain holds off, I plan on riding a loop of ILRA before venturing home. If you've got nothing better to do on Sunday, come out to ILRA to help fix the trail.

Thank You Mr. Weatherman

I would like to first send a shout out to the Fox 2 weatherman who said it wasn't going to rain, and the weather.com doppler who showed no large grren areas in the vicinity of SE MI. Yep, I started my ride over to ILRA for a lap then out to Novi tree farm. What are the chances I am riding through Yellow and BAM! rain. It was raining although it was quite nice in the trails besides all of the puddles that haven't drained yet. So I decided to ride home after my lap and it just downpoured. The 5 miles home the rain never let up one bit. At one point it was raining so hard it was stinging pretty bad. Came home and pampered my bike with a wipedown, greasing and some oil. Got it all nice and purdy for its next adventure.

The holiday weekend was a good one for riding. I was able to get in about 35 miles on the SS out to Highland Rec and the trails out there on Thursday. Friday was a successful day of riding the eastside loop of Addison, Bald Mt, PCT, and Stony. It was a really nice ride-only if I knew my way around Bloomer would it be better. Saturday was a 30 some mile roadride over through the parks and back home before I hit up a double Poto on the SS Sunday. Poto was awesome-great condition and extremely fast no-brakes downhills. I finished the Labor Day weekend off with a Double PLRA on the SS with a little extra riding. It has been some good training getting ready for the end of the year races of Addison, Boyne, and Iceman.

I Am Feeling IT...

Left the house about 4:30 to start a nice road ride over to the bi-parkal region. After a good warmup over to ILRA, I rode to the trailhead to see what was happening, and then made my way over to do my thing. Yup, it was hill repeat day. My plan was to do the loop-'o-hills 4 times all in the big ring. Well, I ended up doing them five times just to keep myself happy and motivated. My legs were in great shape and feeling good for the whole ride. I would go up farm center hill, then Spring hill, left over the rollers to the big "puke" and little "puke" hills, and finnaly back down Farm center before turning around and coming back. I beautiful day; although it is becoming fall WAAAAAAAAAAAY too early. If it keeps up, Iceman will be "snowshoe while holding your bike"MAN. Ended up with 55 miles on the day.

I had the long day at school today-got out around 1:30. Came home and did some homework before mowing the tall weed looking grass. Then it was time to get to work...yes, get the single speed back in order with the 36-16 for my ride down to Highland tommorrow and then all 4 loops. All is good and working well. Should be a fun ride if it doesn't rain.

Hammer Time

The first day of school was short and fairly uneventfull. I walked out of there around 11:30, and was home by 12 where I got ready to go ride. The clouds were still rain threatening, but I could not resist the urge to ride. I popped out of the house at 12:30 and headed out towards Kensington to hit the Kensington Rd Hill and the GM loop. From there I did the normal out through d-town Milford and back around Wixom before cruising back home. It never did rain on me, but 45 minutes after I got home it came down and has been raining ever since. 40 miles, 21.5 mph average felt good for the day. Unfortunatelty it kept rainng so I didn't get to go down to Hines, but I had time to work on my SS.

Plan was to ride the SS down the dirt roads tommorrow with the 44x18 gearing then hit up a few loops of ILRA and then back the roads home. After this 1" of rain so far and still coming, it looks like a hill repeat session is in store for tommorrow out at Kensington. Hopefully it will dry out soon so I can get some good FUN riding on the SS and for riding Addison and hopefully other trails on the east side Friday.

The Ohio Weekend

We left early Saturday morning at 6am sharp to get down to Mohican State Park in Loudenville, OH. We pulled in around 9:45 and relaxed while powering up on bagels and bananas. Once Deadman got to the park around 11:30, we all headed out to the Mohican Wilderness Trail 10 miles away to go for a ride. The trail starts off with a 1.2 mile climb with just under 400 vertical feet of climb sprinkeled with roots and rocks. Once at the top, we re-grouped as riders caught their breaths before going into the next singletrack section.

The trail then winds through the woods with minimal climbing, and then extends down a fire road before hopping back into the timbers downhill. The trail then becomes fast and fun. From to much speed to hammering up the hills, it was an adrenaline rush for all. After riding along a ridge, you come upon a nice long downhill technical section where you have to pick your line well or hit the ground. Near the bottom, the rocks become the trail and there must be no hesitation to ride over them because of the slick moss and tire catchers. Last year I walked this section, but this year I cleaned it easily, then went back and cleared it again for fun(It is nothing after riding out west on all rock!).

Once you get thrught that section the majority of the fun stuff is over, but the trail is still fast and enjoyable. We met back up down at the bottom of the first trail before heading into the second trail. It went through a few shallow creeks and then into some climbing singletrack before ending at a non-ridable horse trail.

We packed the bikes back up and headed back to the state park. Once there, I refilled bottles and took off. I went right up the 1.25 mile climb and kept on booking through the trail to get some good intensity in. I was having a great time dancing my bike around the rock sections and climbing up the hills. That was until my sweaty bike shorts decided to slide around. So, I turned onto a return loop at mile 4 and went back to change my shorts. I came back and started form the begining again to do the climb. I decided to go around race pace, but a little shy of it to get the the 8 mile end turnaound point where the group would meet. 43 minutes later, I was there, just behind them. We came back the trail, which was considerably downhill until mile 4 where we took the return route down to the valley. I ended up getting 27 miles in for the day of some decent riding with lots of fun.

The plan for today was to get up and ride the 16 miles of the state park again before packing up the tent and heading home. Wel, at about 3am it started raining and didn't let up until 7:30 when I got up and packed up most of the stuff. We hung out helping for a while before coming home where it was also raining. No riding today which was a bummer, but I should tommorrow after my first day of school. I am hoping to be home around noon and get a 40 mile road ride in before hitting up the Monday night RR on Hines Dr.

Back on Track!

I finally saw the knee doctor and he told me that I have Chrondomalacia in my knee. I had it a few years ago in my right knee and I guess it often comes back in the other. It is something like flamed up cartlige due to a knee displacement. It has been feeling better lately, and I am going to go to PT to get a refresher course. I am already doing some exercises that I can remember to get the ball rolling.

I took Monday off after the hundie and then went back hard and rode 40 miles of MTB on Tuesday with some good intervals. My speed is really coming along, especially on the flats where I needed the work. I rode over to ILRA and did a double B/Y then home to make dinner.

Wednesday I took off from work to get stuff done.
#1-Buy books for school. ONLY $400!!!
#2-Order bike parts
#3-Go to Maybury and demo Kona Bikes
#4-Go to USA Hockey Referee Seminar

The Kona demo at Maybury was a ton of fun. I first took out the King Supreme and rode a lap on that with my friend Dave who had just happened to show up. I threw it down a few times to see how it handled and WOW. That little 2.5" of rear travel flew over the roots really well. I overshot the first few corners, but that was the 5" handlebar differencial and slacker headtube-I got the hang of it and took the rest much smoother.

Next up was the Coilair. Now that was FUN. 6" front and rear travel with air shocks made for a pavement-type feel. It soaked everthing up and was exceptionally fast for the type of bike. I cooked through the trail much faster than I thought. I figured it would be a squishy pedaling bike, but I was shown wrong. I went back after a lap and did some more of the rock piles over to have some more fun.

A good day of riding and trying out cool new stuff. Next up is a trip to Ohio this weekend to ride the Mohican Wilderness and State Park Trails. Maybe after that I will think about this for next year.