I've been hoping to get Laura more in to mountain biking. Her leg issues are really putting a damper on her running and while she loves her cross bike, I felt like this might be a good opportunity to gently nudge her toward mountainbikedom. I'd have to play this carefully though, providing just the right incentive without seeming like it really matters to me. She's taken a liking to my mukluk for its fun playful demeanor. With the seat lowered, it is just barely tolerable for her. She took it out for some field/path exploring a few days ago and then to the BioReserve two days ago for a real trail ride. She said she walked down a few of the steeper hills but overall it was a glorious success. Who knows, maybe a size small fatbike is in her future.Right after Cohutta I took my Superfly 100 in the shop for some TLC. I do an excellent job of maintaining the bike, but it is now three years old and has several hard ultra races on it. The shocks were showing their age. So the Trek store said it usually takes 10 days or so to send in the shocks to Fox and get them rebuilt. That was almost 3 weeks ago and I haven't got the bike back yet. Not that I'm super concerned with my busy job coming up in June, but still, it is taking way longer than they said. And I expect it will be expensive too. They are also running new shifting cables and suspension pivot hardware. I just put a new chain on, the cassette and chainrings are all good.
On last Saturday, I took Eli to Alum Creek Phase 2. This is our third outing there and I can see him make progress each time. He is still too little (just turned 7) to make it up the steep climbs (especially with a rigid ss kid's bike) but he is learning valuable skills. I even saw him make a tricky steep switchback in the beginning .. he let his front wheel drift out wide and then hammered it to make the tight steep turn without flopping. I was very proud of him. He was railing it for about 2 miles, hitting berms, doing the logovers, etc. and then the wheels came off when he wanted to catch big air on his favorite jump and couldn't manage to get it just right. We rode the next 2 miles with him being mostly grumpy and "tired". He came out of his funk at the end and we had a good last bit. He even did the 30 yard elevated walkway (about 15 feet up at one point) without much trouble. We hit two bike shops on the way home. Roll-Polaris had a Pugsley Black Ops in Laura's size ... hmm.
The next day (Sunday) John G and I went to Mohican. I was hoping to maybe get two good laps in. Again, with the SF100 in the shop, I took my El Mariachi. John and I both commented that the trails seems bumpier than in previous years ... more roots and stuff. I definitely noticed that Salsa hardtail was bouncing around more than my cushy SF. When we got to the parking lot, there were a lot of other riders there that we knew. Two of them, ostensibly slower than us, took off right away to get a jump on us. Three of us followed. John, as usual, rockets off to superhuman pace. They guy just doesn't have any other speed. He was supposed to do a 150 mile gravel ride the day before but only managed 20 miles when his tire came apart. So I think he was somewhere between "angry" and "energized" for this ride which didn't help things. I went into the red zone quickly on the first climb and managed to stay on their wheels till Mile 7 where the second major climb is. We whizzed by the first group and then shot off up the Mile 7 climb. I fell off the back with legs that were already showing fatigue for that 45 minute sprint. I stayed aways back from them for the remainder of the ride, catching up from time to time when they stopped. At mile 19, one of our group had his rear wheel come apart. There wasn't anything I could do so I rode onward. They joined us back at the car after having used the roads to bail out and limp home on the bad wheel. I was glad not to do a second lap as I just went too hard in the first section. I did my lap in 2:30ish -- not my fastest time but pretty close. I could have gone faster with a more conservative start as I was really flagging in the second half.
I am supposed to ride up to Sandusky tomorrow. It is 120 miles and I've done this trip each year. Last year we had favorable winds out of the south pushing me along. I joined Jeff B at mile 60 and he hammered the last 60 miles for us. I managed 19 mph with 6:19 on the clock. Way faster than I would normally do it. I am not sure I can match that time this year. I will start at 5:30am (just enough light to see) and hope to make it up there before 1pm. John G says he is getting up early to join me for the first half. Jeff B plans to meet me at mile 45 this year but can't come all the way up. So I will probably have faster company for most of my ride and then suffer the last 30 miles or so by myself. To make matters worse, I've been fighting a stomach bug for the past few days. I think I am better today, but still 120 miles is a long ride!
I received my Vascacha in the mail yesterday from Eric Parsons of Relevate Designs. I got his tank bag and food bag last year and they are great. This touring seat bag will come in good use this summer. I hope to make a mostly-road trip to State College in 2 or 3 days (350 miles) and to do the GAP trail between Pitts and DC this year (340 miles each way). I still have to clear all this with the VP of Domestic Affairs though. Been eyeing a Ti Fargo and reading Tour Divide race reports ... fun to dream about such stuff. I'll have to start small.
