Fall Ramblings

This is a catch-up entry on a couple of weeks.   In late September was "take your kid mountain biking day".  There was a big event organized at Alum Creek.  Unfortunately it had rained hard the night before prompting the cancellation of the said event.  Eli and I went anyway and we brought along John Sada and his ten year-old son Anthony.  John rides tons but he is very new to mtn biking.  Anthony rides quite a bit for a 10 year old but is also new to mtn biking.  We set off for a lap on P2 and it was immediately loads of fun watching these two newbies navigate the trail for the first time.  Log overs, skinnies, and the wet roots all through them for a loop.  But to their credit they wanted to ride the stuff over and over again, each time being willing to learn the techniques and give them an honest try.   We did our first lap in about an hour.  So much fun was had that everyone wanted to do lap 2.  So we set off again.  This time John and Anthony took off in race mode.  Eli and I had a good lap too, but were fed humble pie back at the car by the two Sadas.

Last week I did a cross ride up to Gambier.  It was a bit chilly, but the major problem was the wind.  I caught steady winds of 20mph with gusts up to 30 or so.  They were coming out of the south so I had a nice ride up, but a nightmare coming back home.  I really haven't done any long rides in the latter half of the summer, so this was doubly painful.   I think I averaged about 10 mph coming home.

During the summer olympics I got inspired watching the African lope effortlessly along in the distance running events.  I still fondly remember those days.  So I signed up for the Columbus Half Marathon.  I really haven't run hardly at all this whole year.  So I did about a week of easy running, then I spread 5 real workouts over two weeks: 2 long runs of 9 and 11 miles, 1 tempo run of 5 miles and 2 track workouts (quarters and halves).   Then I got sick in the week leading up to the race (see above nightmare windy ride as the cause).   I still had sniffles this morning for the start of the race as this cold was still lingering a bit.   To be honest, I wasn't sure I could do 6:30 pace, and anything faster seemed out of reach.  

I started at 7:30am this morning in the "A" corral about 10 people deep.  I did a 6:36 mile to open things up and it felt pretty darn good.  So I picked it up a bit and logged 6:15ish for the next few miles.  Muscle memory was kicking in good and things were going smoothly.  I was working my way through the field.  By mile 8 I accelerated a bit more and started hitting some miles in the 6:10 to 6:00 variety.   This was simply lovely.  Then I started to tighten a bit (lack of training and that it was 37 deg).  I help 6:15 on the last 3 miles but it was very difficult to keep the legs fresh.  I crossed the line in 1:21:11 and I'm very happy with that.  Far from my 1:12 PR but what can I expect with only 5 serious training runs all year?  

It is funny how I can train pretty regularly for 3 years in mtn bike racing and struggle to crack the top 25%.  Then I basically fall out of bed without hardly any training and run 6:12 pace for a half marathon -- finishing in the top 1/2 of a percent.   I have a runner's body -- low on power but light and very efficient.  

Fatbike Adventure in Hocking Hills

It is funny, but about this time each year I get the hankering for a fatbike adventure.  It isn't anything necessarily planned, but maybe coming off the high volume racing season my body and mind are ready for a different kind of riding and I naturally gravitate towards the fatbike and its relaxed, go anywhere, mentality.


Fatbike Adventure Ride Following the Buckeye Trail from Matt Kretchmar on Vimeo.

This year I made a trip south of the Hocking Hills region to follow segments of the Buckeye Trail that were rideable.   It had rained heavily the day before so the going was kind of wet and muddy in places; glad I brought the Mukluk.   I logged four hours of riding time with about 40 miles of exploration.  A fun day indeed.

My sister has caught the fatbike bug too.  She has a 2013 Pugsley on order through her local shop.  I've been sending her links to videos, ride reports and photos to torment her while her bike still hasn't yet arrived.