New Albany Ride

My training buddies have been bugging me forever to join the Thursday night New Albany speed ride.  I finally gave in to the peer pressure and went out tonight.  I rode the 17 miles over there from Granville at a very easy spinning pace.  I gave myself enough time to hit a convenience store and get some cool liquids in me. 

I went with the B group, sized at about 30-40 riders.  We hit rolling backroads through Licking County over to the edge of Granville.  The pace was brisk, I think we were at 23mph average before making the turn back into the wind.  Even after the climb up Jersey Mill, we were still above 22mph.  What was really impressive is that young Anthony (10 years old) was hanging with the group well.

This kind of thing is good for me.  That burst of speed and recover.  That interval training.  All that is missing from my mostly steady diet of longer rides.  If I can do a bunch more of these rides, it should help my fitness considerably.

Fargo Go Go

I can't resist taking photos of old churches and schools.

Since the school term is wrapping up and the nice weather is here, I've been on the bike more and my form is coming along.  I got in two fast cross rides this week on hilly gravel; 40 miles on Wednesday and 45 more miles on Friday.  I also snuck in two easier runs.   Today (Sunday) I joined Mike S on his super route.  He mapped out 51 miles of hilly gravel starting from his house.  A group of us rode out to his place from Granville, did the ride, and rode back.

It was a lovely day, temps in the 70s, a stiff breeze that didn't seem to bother us much but provided some cooling, and brilliant sunshine.

  Anthony went out with us for the first 20 miles or so; at 10 years old he is quite the strong rider.

The group strung out on one of the steep climbs.

We stayed together as a group for the first 16 miles to Somerset.  It was hilly indeed!   After a nice early lunch, the group split into different paces and I went with John S out front.  I was blessed with strong legs today and I think we averaged about 16.5 mph after the lunch stop.   I scored some new dirt roads in Perry State Forest that were fantastic.  Kudos to Mike for plotting out such a great route.

I ended the day with 84 miles, 15.1 mph average, and 5550' vertical.   And I wasn't at all blown at the end.  Tired yes, blown no!

The Fargo really impressed today.  Yes, the ride would have been faster on a cross bike.  But the Fargo can scoot if necessary. 

Another abandoned school.

Mike D cresting a gravel climb.

One of the reclamation lakes in Perry State Forest.

Perry SF had awesome, smooth gravel with gentle grades. 

Fargo Adventure in PA

I was supposed to go to race at Cohutta this weekend, but the forecast called for straight rain all night Friday and all day Saturday through the race.  I've done the rainy 100 miler before and it ain't fun.  Plus it destroys your bike.  So I went off to State College instead.

This was a perfect opportunity to pick up my new Salsa Fargo (a 2012 model) that Evan was holding for me at Rothrock Outfitters in Huntington.  Seems like I've heard alot about and emailed with Evan but never met the guy.  He is a nice guy and runs a great shop.  I was happy to support his business.  It so happens that John G picked up Evan's Krampus frame too so I brought that back with me.  

On Saturday, I started out with my father out to Boalsburg and through Brush Valley.  The sun was out, spring was in the air, it was a splendid day.  Just before Centre Hall, I split north up Black Hawk Gap leaving my dad to add a few more miles before turning back.  I crossed over the highway and headed down a forest service road in Bald Eagle State Forest.  It was smooth gravel for a long ways and then, after going through a gate, it got much narrower and headed sharply down the mountain.  I was greeted by a "bridge out" stream crossing at the bottom.  The water was about 10" deep at the point where I obviously could have ridden through.  But the morning air was still frosty and I didn't want wet feet at that point.  So I shimmied across the tree in this photo.   

Then there was a steep, rocky, jeep trail ascent back up the other side.  I had never been down this road before so I was happy to explore and find such exotic trail treasures.  The Fargo was the perfect choice ... fast enough to do well on the road and tough enough for the rocky mountain bike ascent. 

After coming down off the mountain at SR192, I pedaled over to Penn's Cave.  I got to see the semi-exotic animals they keep there.  The farmers were out in their rolling fields doing the spring plowing.  It was a very special image.  A few miles down the road I came upon the Swamp Church made famous by its ghostly inhabitants.  I took a pic and sent it to Eli who loves that story.  A few years ago, we drove out there at dusk and really scared the beejeebers out of the little dude.  He loved it. 

I went through Spring Mills and stopped at an old fashioned general store for a snack.  It was a great store.  Not all touristy and kitchy but a real surviving relic from the early 20th century.  It had all kinds of stuff, but mostly food.  I sat out front on the bench and watched the locals filter in and out.  Quite a lot of Saturday morning business and about 90% of it was guys in big ass pickup trucks, and the guys were all decked out in camo/hunting gear.  I was definitely not in Obama territory.  

Apparently there was a big fishing tournament in Penns Creek that morning.  There were hundreds of guys (and a few gals) all standing in the creek.  It went for miles and miles.  I feel bad for the fish; I can't imagine any of them could not be caught as there was no where for any of them to swim.  I think the "may flies" (or something similar) where hatching that morning too as they were all over that stretch of road.  I caught several in my mouth and helmet vents.  

I finally came upon Coburn which was having some kind of celebration of its own.  There were a pair of big oxen out front and I couldn't resist taking a picture.  The locals were all out enjoying the warm sunshine and the festivities.  Once through Coburn I headed up on Riders Hollow Trail.  It was kind of a dirt jeep road at the start.  Steep bugger too.  I couldn't tell if it was private or not.  So I kept my head down and just went up, hoping I wouldn't bump in to anyone with a gun.   The trail quickly degrades into a serious 4x4 jeep double track that was rocky and washed out.  My gps read 20% to 25% for a sustained pitch.  My wheel slipped on a wet rock and I had to put a foot down.  Hiked for a short bit as it was too steep to remount.  I must have climbed nearly a 1000 ft and finally made the summit as the trail interested with Poe Paddy forest road.   I took Poe Paddy across the ridge to where it intersects with Siegler Milheim Pike, at the top of the first climb of the Wilderness 101 mountain bike race.  I stopped in the shade of a pine forest and had my lunch on a soft bed of pine needles.  I even got to see a very plump turkey tom venture out from the road.  

I followed Decker Valley, across 322, and then Crowfield.  This is a long stretch in the W101 that is undulating gravel.  Some moderate climbs and never ending roads make this seem like a chore.  I also had enough headwind yesterday to make the going a bit rougher.  I got to see a large coyote scamper off into the woods.  But I made my way along the W101 course over to Penn Roosevelt State Park.   This place was first used in the timber industry in the early 1900s.  Apparently there was a railroad that came up through here from Milroy.  Once the place was cleared of wood, it was disused for a while until the Great Depression hit.  Then a CCV camp was set up here and the young men built all the roads that I now ride upon.  The place seems so remote that I can't imagine all those guys living up there and doing all the road building labor by hand.  There are a few structures still standing including the cooking fireplace (see pic).  But mostly miles of awesome gravel roads. 

I climbed up Thickhead mountain on the rocky path.  I started to be a bit more focused on the climbs at this point (about mile 65).  So I made decent time scampering up the big climb.  It looks as though someone (forest service?) had come through early this spring or late last fall and cleared a lot of the overgrowth back.  The trail seemed much wider and more manicured than I remembered from last July.  It was funny just how few people I had seen out on the paths/roads today.  A few cars.  But no cyclist yet or hikers.  And such a beautiful Saturday.  Once on top, I came down Detweiler.  I must now confess to more fully appreciating modern suspension designs.  The Fargo wasn't terrible, but it is a rigid bike and flying down the rocky path at 30 mph sent all the jolts through the bike and my body.  I had to stop twice to retighten the fork-mounted water bottle cages as they had both rattled loose on the jarring descent.   

I popped out on the forest road and stuck with the W101 course up over to Bear Meadows.  Here I deviated and turned left on North Meadows road.  This used to be a major gravel road that I traversed regularly as a kid.  But it was gated and is now more of a grassy path than a road.   I made quick work of the climb up to Big Flat Top.  I went down Greenlee road now following the W101 course backwards.  Someone had just regraded the road and/or put down fresh gravel.  So the surface was very soft and sketchy.  I almost wiped out once and had to come down a little more cautiously than I would have liked.   I was starting to feel a bit drained now, so I took a quick detour out to SR26 to get a snack at the Whipple's Dam general store.  

After my nosh, I started the long march back up Little Flat Top.  There is about 4 miles of gravel at 1-2% and then it goes up more sharply from there.  Unfortunately, I still felt a headwind even though now I was pointed back toward the East.  Just one of those days where you seem to have a headwind no matter which way you turn.  I turned off at Pine Swamp Rd and then went through the gate up Little Shingletown Rd.  I almost always come down this path, so it was interesting going back up.  My legs were feeling it now and the path went up, first at 12% and then hit patches of rockiness at over 20%.  I had to stop a few times to catch my breadth. 

I came down the front side to Tussey and back on the roads to State College.  I hit 92 miles for the day at 7:30 moving time (about an hour of stoppage time) and 9k feet of climbing.   It wasn't quite the Cohutta 100 but it was a good day regardless.

My impressions of the Salsa Fargo?  Great bike.  I'm glad to add it to my stable.  This route was perfect for it: about 30% back country roads (paved), about 50% gravel forest roads, and about 20% trail or double track.   The bike does decently on the paved roads.   It is not quite as nimble as my cross bike, but it still makes a good pace.  It slows a little on the climbs because of the extra weight.  On the forest roads it is perfect.  That is its sweet spot.  It is more stable than a skinny cross bike and has better gearing for the steep climbs and better brakes for the fast descents.   On the rocky double track, it did fine.  Almost as good as any rigid mountain bike.   But most importantly, it CAN DO that kind of stuff.  There really isn't hardly anywhere you could ride a bike where this thing couldn't go and make a good showing.  It is about as good of a compromise for an all around bike as I could imagine.  I hate the saddle.  That WTB thing is just way too soft and unsupportive.  I have firmer saddles that I can put on so that is no issue.  I like the woodchippers but now that I've spent 8 hours in them I might have to tweak the set up a little.  My shop put on real spiffy Brooke's bar tape, but I'm not sure I love that.  It is too slippery and I wouldn't mind something with a little more padding.  I also need to convert the tires to tubeless so I can run them at a lower pressure.  I would have enjoyed the rocky jeep trails more with a few less PSI in the tires.   But those are small niggles that can be fixed easily.   Conceptually, the bike is a big winner.  I can't wait to take it on my first overnight trip soon.  

Beautiful Day

Spring is here!   Yahoo.  About 6 weeks late, but it has arrived.  We had temps in the upper 60s on both Saturday and Sunday.  No rain!  No snow!  No freezing 24 deg starts.  Things will be getting green soon.

Five of us went to Mohican on Saturday afternoon.  This is after spending 2 hours cutting trails at Lobdell earlier that morning.  We started at a cabin of a guy named Glenn, just outside of Loudonville.  Nice place.  We entered the trail at Mile 9 and quickly settled in a good pace.  The trail was in awesome shape.   I pushed it hard on the big climb at Mile 12 and burned my legs a bit; I wasn't fully warmed up.   We took turns leading for the next 10 miles or so.  Glenn did a stint that was respectable and then Todd got up front on his rigid single and did a nice fast stretch.  Once he clipped a tree and came to an abrupt stop.  I had to grab my brakes hard to avoid crashing in to him and I ended up flipping over the bars and depositing myself on the forest floor.  A few bruises, but not too bad.

Once we got back to the "start" I went up front and really lit it up.  I was feeling good.  Dispatched the starting climb and crushed the climb at Mile 7.  In between I was rocking it, fast, uphill, through trees, etc.  It was glorious.  I did a lap time of 2:07, my fastest ever and I felt like I could have dropped several more minutes if I had gone off the front sooner.  Midseason form!

Yesterday I went out on the Karate Monkey for a light spin.  It turned in to a bit more than that, but my legs felt good.   I hope to get my fatbike wheel and derailleur back soon.

Making Progress, Destroying Bikes & Finding My Pop

The cold weather is showing very tiny hints of finally receding.  It is still 10 to 15 degrees below normal.  But "normal" now is close to 60 so that 45 feels tolerable compared to the 35 we've had for the last few weeks.  It has been in the low 20s in the mornings, complete with snowfall on Monday morning.  But this afternoon was sunny and a warm 50ish.  It will maybe hit 60 by the weekend and the forecasters are calling for 70 next week!   I find that hard to believe.  In my heart, I truly do expect to ride in tights and booties all summer long; I just can't conceive of cycling without them.

I took advantage of nicer weather on Saturday (high of 45 with only 12 mph winds) to get in 83 miles with 4500' of climbing.  It was supposed to be a 100 mile ride, but I was making progress slower than I needed to in order to keep to our "date night" plans.  I pulled out the cross bike and headed north on gravel to Mount Vernon.  Then bikepath through Gambier and some backroads over to Millwood.  I diverted from my plan to explore gravel in the Walhonding area and instead stuck to Rte 715.  I met a nice gent cyclist and we rode together through Nellie.  I split off for some gravely adventures with a 300' steep climb up on to a ridge.  For the next hour or so, I traversed the top of the ridge, dipping and climbing as the ridge went.  It was hard going!   I finally bailed on the ridge and dropped off back to 79.  On the gravel descent I almost impaled myself on a road grater that was working the road that day.  Then I immediately sucked on a huge cloud of dust as some local yocal went speeding past.  And then almost became a hood ornament on some pickup truck that was speeding by right in the cloud of dust of the first car.  There was enough of a strong breeze that the second car could have waited 10 seconds back.  But no, it had to drive right down the middle of the road in zero visibility and I almost became the casualty.   Some people are so stupid!

I got back out during my lunch hour on Tuesday for some fatbike hill repeats on Sugarloaf.  I was on repeat #17 when, during the high speed descent, something went askew with the back half of the bike.  The next result was my rear derailleur got torn off and caught in the wheel.  The rear wheel locked up immediately and almost kicked me off the bike and onto the gravel pathway at high speed.  I managed to escaped unscathed but the bike suffered major damage.  It will need a new derailleur, derailleur hanger, shifting cable + housing, and have the rear wheel rebuilt with new spokes.   Hope it isn't too expensive. 

Speaking of trashing bikes, Eli managed to break one of his pedals off his little Gary Fisher single speed.  I bought him a bling set of of pedals today and installed them.  I think he can't wait to ride to school again tomorrow morning.  I'm just hoping it isn't 24 degrees when we do so ... I almost froze this morning. 

I got out tonight to straif the gravel roads on the cross bike in the darkness.  I have to wait till Laura gets home from teaching at nearly 8pm.  I wasn't dressed adequately as the temps dropped much faster than the web said they would.  Frozen fingers and frozen toes.   I'm not sure I'm digging the gravel rides at night as much as I used to.  Maybe on a bike with wider tires like the fatbike, but I felt a little uncomfortable on the cross bike.  Potholes are too hard to see.  I can't see the texture of the gravel surface and thus am always unsure of  the bike's motion.  And it was just darn cold.  But I did it.

I know I am rounding in to shape when I start to get my pop back.  I might be tired at the end of a long ride, or trying to hang with a group of faster riders, and I'll encounter a situation, such as a big hill, which will require me to dig deep for that extra boost.  Most of the time I don't have it and just have to slow down and suffer.  But when I'm on form (at least by my modest standards) I can sometimes magically summon that extra burst and stick with the fast guy trying to ride off the front on the last big climb.  That's my pop.  And I think I finally found some tonight at the end of my ride when I seemed to rocket up that last steep climb on Berg St as I was coming back in to town.  I found myself coming up the climb much faster than I had any business doing and the crest of the hill came toward me surprisingly quickly.  I blew over the top and put the hammer down without the need to gasp for recovery.  Yup, some pop.   And just in time for my first race experience later this month.  Now if I can just avoid destroying any more bikes. 

A Couple of Good Days

The weather still sucks -- winter just won't leave -- but I can't wait any longer.  Cohutta 100 is just six weeks away so I have to ride or not go.   I cleared Saturday afternoon after piano lessons and logged 67 miles by looping through north columbus and back.  A cold windy day, but the strong winds were out of the west and so I got a nice tailwind push on the way home.  Oh, and fatbike all the way.

Today I took a day off from work to log another long ride.  This time I went to Dresden, South to Zanesville and then back through the hills home.  Stats were 85 miles, 6:15 on the clock, 5100 ft vertical.   The ride was truly epic in a number of ways.  First the weather was cold and super blustery -- air temps of 32 deg with 25 mph winds from the west giving a windchill of about 22.  It also rained a ton yesterday which factors in the story too.

My route started heading east on flat bike paths and country roads.  I hit 25 mph with the strong tailwind push and averaged 17mph without working.  I got to race a train through Newark which was a treat since there are rarely trains on that track.  I could almost reach out over the 3ft fence and touch the box cars moving right along side me.  I snapped this nice pic of a dilapidated farm house; seemed scenic framed by that tree.  I wonder who used to live there. 

Once I hit Dresden things got tough.  I turned south on SR666 and had a glancing wind from the side and partially from the front.  My speed slowed to 10-14 mph.  To make things more interesting, there was a stretch of SR666 advertised as closed, but it was nearly all the way to Zanesville.  I decided to take a chance that I could somehow get around it instead of heading back already. 

When I got near the construction zone it was clear that a long part of the road was closed so it wasn't suitable for a simple walk-a-round.  I detoured further east on some remote gravel roads.  The climb up from SR666 was super steep (20% in places) and a real tough dig.   The detour added only about 3 miles extra distance, but it was a super tough 3 miles. 

I got lunch in Zanesville and then started the hard slog home.  3+ hours straight into a 25mph headwind.  At times I was struggling on flat ground to go 10mph.  It was that impossible.  I knew today would be a character building day.  I knew it would be a mental slog home.  I made it.

The first stretch back had two major ascents followed by hilly ridge top riding.  It added substantial climbing and the fatbike is a super pig when the road goes up.  I hope that if I train enough on the fatbike, my race rocket will feel extra fast come race day.  

After the two ridges, I dropped to Toboso and got on the Blackhand Gorge bikepath.  Snapped a nice pic of a waterfall.  With all the rain, there were lots of healthy runs coming down crevices in the ridgelines.  

However, my next big obstacle came at the stream crossing at mile 3.5 on the gorge trail.  There is a stream crossing which is normally an inch or two deep.  But today it was 2 to 3 feet deep in fast moving water.  With temps around 25 deg it would be suicide to get wet.   Initially I thought I would have to go all the way back to Toboso and then make my way north back to the bike path.  This would be at least an 8 mile detour.  I really didn't want to do this.  Then I noticed a fallen tree across the creek.  It seemed big and sturdy enough.  But one wrong move and I'd plunge in to deep, cold, fast moving water.   Or I might drop my bike and watch it go floating out to sea (with little chance of retrieving it).  It was a big risk but I decided to take it.  I inched my way across the narrow, mossy, slippery log.  The 35 lb fatbike made things very difficult.  I took it one slow, careful step at a time.  And made it high and dry.  Problem solved.  Adventure by Bike indeed!  

On the way back, Mother Nature threw some snow in my face for good measure.  As if the 25 mph headwind wasn't enough.  I think MN was afraid I was going to win and make it back home safely!  

Finally ... a Nice Day!

We've been below average temps for five straight weeks.  Maybe just a day or two squeaking above average but they have all been rainy and then a cold front moves in immediately afterward to drop the temps 15 degrees below normal.  Today, we've finally had an above average day ... with sun.

Yesterday was 50 and today it reached 60 or so.  Yes, both were windy days but hey, sun and warm and no snow!

I went out late yesterday afternoon for a hard 31 mile ride of hilly gravel.  Really pounded the pedals and paid the price with tired, sore legs.  Today (Sunday) I went out for a longer spin.  The stiff wind from the south made the progress down toward Lancaster very painful.  I turned away from the wind about 6 miles short of Lancaster and then sped home with a nice tail wind.  I averaged 16.2 mph on mostly rolling roads with a few big climbs at the end on Canyon.

Three hours seems like a long time on the bike right now.  I've got about seven weeks to go before I hit my first NUE race in GA.  So I'll need to add mileage quickly.  But I can only take what the body is willing to give.

This is my spring break week so I'll try to ride nearly every day.  I'm planning on a road trip to State College at the end of the week.  Last year we had temps in the 70s.  This week it is forecast for temps in the upper 30s or lower 40s.  Cold!  The mountain roads may still be iced over so I may have to stick to paved roads.  My goal for the week is to be consistent and push myself but not get injured.