Summer Riding

Once again, I've been slow in blogging so there is lots to catch up on.

Lake House:  I did my usual early summer ride up to Sandusky to my parents' lake house.  I choose the Karate Monkey single speed this year.  Yup, 119 miles of mostly road on a single speed 29er mtn bike.  It wasn't as painful as it could have been, but it was plenty hard.  There was a solid headwind out of the north the whole way so I couldn't go fast anyway; good day to choose a slower, more conservative ride.  

Laura's Pugsley:  Laura gave me permission to bid on eBay on a Surley Pugsley.  We won and now she has her early bday present, a 16" white Pugs.  I gotta be honest here and say that her bike is cooler looking than my Salsa Mukluk.  Maybe a pound heavier, but cooler looking and that white is sharp.   She is loving it which is all I could ask for to nudge her gradually towards mountain biking. 

Dad, Jen, Laura and I explore the North Coast Inland Railtrail outside of Norwalk, OH.

Laura Lookin Fat

Job: I am now officially unemployed.  My stint as Dean ended on July 1 and I don't start as professor until Sept 1.   Still, there is lots to do up at the office, but it is certainly along way away from the busy dean thing.   June-O was, as usual, all encompassing for four weeks.  Lots of days that were 16-18 hours long and the rest were 12 hours.  It is just a bugger and it comes at exactly the time of the year when you feel most like you need a break.   I handed in my key and now it is all Mark.  Funny, it is taking me some time to actually learn to decompress and relax; it wasn't as fast coming as I thought.

Storm: We had that same straight line bugger storm that brought 80 mph winds and knocked tons of trees down.  We lost power on Friday and didn't get it back until a week later, almost to the minute.  It was incredibly hot that whole time with temps in the upper 90s and 100s and a sufferfest without AC.  Fortunately Laura's parents got power back on Monday so we camped in their finished basement.  It made riding hard when there is no power and it is so bloody hot.

Cute Couple?

Coming Off Detweiler

Nice View Over Bear Meadows

State College:  We went to State College for Arts Fest week and took the fat bikes.  A great trip.  I got Laura out for a 20 mile ride on dirt roads and jeep trails.  She did great.  I got 5 hours in the next day.  I found the Tussey Ridge trail and it lived up to its billing.  It was 4 or 5 miles of pure rock garden.  I was doing ok until my wide bars caught a tree and I splatted my shin on a rock.   Then I seemed to be out of rhythm and have too many pedal strikes.   A full boinger would be better than the fat bike which is heavy and bouncy.

In the "small world" category, I had to neat encounters at the end of my ride.  As I was coming down Bear Meadows Rd, a car with a couple of bikes on top give me a nice toot.  Wasn't sure if it was because I was just a mtn biker or because I was on a fat bike.   They turned around and chased me down ... turns out it was the Athens Bicycle jersey.  They were from Athens OH here for an OU mtn bike reunion of sorts.  I also ran in to David Shipp in Freeze Thaw.  He was in town from Virginia and vaguely remembered teaching my cycling class.  

Back in Ohio, I also snuck in a trail ride with John G and a group out at Mohican.  We did a lap in 2:25 and I could have easily gone much faster.   The SF100 was working great with the shocks rebuilt.  I had good legs and managed to pull away from John on the big covered bridge climb.  Still he was on his Mukluk so it wasn't a fair fight, but I did have good legs. 

Wilderness 101 is just two weeks away.  I'm not sure I'm in the fitness place I planned to be.  I think I'm fine for the time/distance but could use these next few days to do some more speed work so my heart doesn't jump out of my chest every time the grade bumps up over 5%.   Then Hampshire 100 is 3 weeks after that, then SM100 two weeks later ... that is already two full weeks in to the school year!  When your summer doesn't start will July 1, it seems to go by fast.  I got in a good speedy cross ride today with some big climbs and then a whole bunch of testy hills.  Again, good legs.