Dancing Co

Seems that a buddy blogger works for Dansko. Look at the middle picture at dansko.com, then come back here and look at the blogs on the left. Guess who? It's easy if you click on the right spot. ;)

Mellow

Saturday morn wifey and I went up to the Garden State for a baptism. These, weddings, Christmas and Easter masses are the only times that this lifelong Catholic sets foot in church any more. Got back home just in time to see the sun set, so there was no riding for me that day.

In between sleeping, eating, and a little riding, this was the weekend of the movies. We just joined some Blockbuster plan where you pay $15 for the first month, and you can have two movies a day. If done right, you can make out with ~60 movies a month and a lot more dead brain cells. We also have Netflix, so we were ready for the snow.

Saturday night we watched the Village. It's probably the lamest movie I've seen recently. After the brilliant Sixth Sense, M. Night has steadily declined. Later that night, we moved onto This Girl's Life. Watchable, and the spattering of nudity didn't hurt.

Sunday morn we started off with Twilight Samurai. That was probably the gem of the weekend. Can't go wrong watching this with the gal, but probably not the guys. The next one was Old School, which is more appropriate with the fellas. It had me in tears laughing my ass off.

After lunch I struck out into the neighborhood and tooled around with the camera and my bike on my way to Blockbuster. Picked up Chinese Chocolate and Maria Full of Grace. We tried to watch Chinese Chocolate, but after being so pissed off about the Village from the previous night, I decided that if the movie sucks superbad after 10 minutes, it wasn't going to get any more play. This one got the superbad label and was out.

We tried to play La Ley de Herodes, but some effer scratched it pretty bad in one spot and it screwed up my DVD player. It's strange, but after trying to play this movie (which kept dying at the ~2 minute mark), every other DVD kept dying at around the 2 minute mark. I unplugged the player, whacked it a few times, and banged it on the floor for good measure. It must have straightened up the laser because I had no problems afterward. Finally, we watched Maria Full of Grace. I'm glad we finished up the weekend with it.

Melange à Trois

Halfway through the eight mile loop of the Rosaryville ride last night, the drive side bolt on my ENO hub stripped and was trying to escape by rattling itself loose. If you ride fixie - heck, if you ride - you know that you won't get far if the hub is only supported on one side. I just replaced that bolt 20 minutes earlier because the one I started the ride with stripped as well. That previous one lasted only for two hours of riding since I replaced it last week. Three bolts. One hub. One useless hub.

I am now up to three major things that have died since the beginning of the year: this ENO hub, a $300+ Chris King SS rear hub, and (drumroll please) a singlespeed titanium frame. White will get a call from me tomorrow. King will be receiving their rear hub in five days. And Matt, well, this one is just hard to discuss right now. I've talked to him and he's going to build me a new one. However, I have to decide whether I want a 29er or another 26er (which he no longer builds). In the near future, I may be asking for opinions of which way I should go.

Finally, this is my third wedding anniversary. We'll sit in front of a fire and have a quiet dinner to celebrate. Leather is the traditional present for the third, so I'll pick her up another pair of Dansko clogs in antique red. She loves them things. I gave her first pair 5 years ago, and they remain her favorite shoes. She also just got me my first pair of the quirky clogs (Professionals in black), and I dig 'em.

Maleficent madness

I read somewhere that Eskimos have over 50 names for snow. I wonder what they'd call the stuff we encountered on the hills of Gambrill/Watershed yesterday. The powder looked thick, fluffy, and inviting, yet was hateful. It was angry that Markie, Becky, and I spoiled her virginity.

It never allowed our tires to travel in a straight line. It melted and refroze on my glasses to give me a nice sheen of ice so that it was close to impossible to see. It did the same to my eyelashes so that it became difficult to open my eyes. It easily gave way and allowed my elbow and knee to plunge through and find pointy rocks. It sniggered at us for attempting uphills.

I had my EWR, built up with my Fox, and 34:18 gearing. It wasn't a good choice. I even slapped on my Nokian Gazzi 2.6 and pumped it up to 10 PSI so I can have some semblance of float. It was no use. Anything short of skis or a sled was an exercise in futility. On downhills and flats, I weaved no matter if I gave the death grip or relaxed and let the tires cut their own course. Bike and I charged everywhere but straight ahead.

There were a few things I learned on yesterday's ride. If you are going to ride at Gambrill in six inches of fresh powder while it is still steadily coming down:

1. Use a stupid low gear. 1:1 is what the two of them used for the bulk of the ride.
2. Stay rigid. You need no squish.
3. Fixie might have made things easier.
   
4. If you aren't prepared for the white-knuckle/ulcer-inducing/20 near-miss crash/3.5 hour commute back, stay home. I wasn't, and I wish I did.
   

Snow! Glorious snow! I love it, love it, love it! 

Tired today.

Watershed yesterday. Ass cold. Frozen mud. Useless brakes. Foggy glasses. Painful fingertips. Pointy rocks. Three hours. Big fun. Going back.

Meat beat manifesto

Last week a buddy said (in jest?) that I am not very good on descents. Joking or not, he's absolutely right. I've known this for a long time and I've been practicing, but I still leave a lot to be desired. Maybe it's the lack of skills or confidence, or the ugly head of self-preservation which keeps rearing up. No matter, this year I am going to try to kick all three of their asses and get me some downhill.

I know, it's easy right? Throw on a shock and you're all set! I wish it were that simple though. The last few times I've used my Fox, I ended up kissing the dirt. It's always been on the same kind of situation each time: I hop over one rock/log only to be stopped dead in my tracks by another rock/log immediately after, then it's face meet ground.

I do go faster with it, but the prospect of bashing my face on a rock scares me. I've been lucky that I've only been hitting the relatively soft soil. (I ain't pretty, but I can't afford any more scars.) On those rides I've either ended up with sore palms, face, or chest as I did the soil dive.

To assuage my front shock angst for yesterday's ride at Gambrill, yet get some squish in the front, I compromised: I put on a honkin' fat Nokian Gazzi 2.6 downhill tire. I inflated it to about 10-15 psi. With the super stiff sidewalls there was no discernible squirm. For good measure, I threw on the Tioga Factory DH 2.1 tire on the rear. I think I added about three pounds to my regular setup (Mythos 2.1 & Cortez 2.4).

When I got on the trail I noticed the difference immediately. With the lower pressures, the tires conformed to the surface better. I also got the give I was looking for. I don't usually air it out on lips, but the fat tires gave me more confidence to add an extra inch to my already staggering two inch high jumps. ;)

I even got a little reckless. I let go of the brakes on some sections and let things fly. The front tire had a nice run-in with a rock and heard a "Thung!" as the rim bottomed out on said rock. I stop and take a look and I can't find a dent on the rim. Better yet, I hear no telltale hissing from a flat. Bad ass. It's hard to beat good meat!

Now about the one negative thing: the Nokian is damn heavy. It's almost twice the weight of the tires I usually run, but when going down you don't notice it as much. It gets this funky gyroscopic effect that you can feel when trying to steer. It's like the bars don't want to turn. The smoother and faster the run, the more you can feel the resistance. However, when you're bouncing around at light speed and everything's a blur, this feeling is probably a good thing. It doesn't want to tip over, so you are more prone to staying upright.

I was with some friends that have never been to Gambrill before, and as a selling point, I promised that they wouldn't have to do any uphills. So at the bottom, I humped my way back up Gambrill Rd. Save for about three minutes, I was standing up the whole way stomping the pedals.

I get up to the top and I am wiped because of the redline effort all the way up. Bike on car, I zoom down Hamburg again to get the guys. Lucky for me they are wiped out as well. If I had to climb the hill again, it would've been a really long drive home.

Hello pictures

I got my HRM yesterday and it's huge! I know, stupid pic.

I'm playing with this image software that works in conjunction with blogs. It looks like it works fine, but I wonder if you can add text before posting it up. I added this text after the fact.

Sluggard to slumber

I'm getting fatter and slower. Ten years ago I entered the world of mountain bike racing at 135 pounds. I'm 33 now (and about that many more pounds), and I see many of my friends constantly improving while I'm standing still. It doesn't seem to matter their age. Some are younger and some older. Some are training seriously, and some are just genetically gifted. I have neither of these going for me, so I've got to do something about it or I will always be the one off the back.

This year I resolve to make a training plan for biking, and actually sticking to it. If you want measurable results, then I'll say I want to lop two hours off my previous SM100 time.

I've never done this before. Previously, my training consisted of riding hard and riding often. That's it. I am learning now that this isn't the best way to go about it. There's stuff like zones, peaks, and, er, dedication which can make you a much better rider without too much more work. I've got a lot to learn, but hopefully tomorrow I'll get the training book and HRM my wife ordered for me for Christmas.

Dropping down to 150 pounds will be my secondary goal. However, this may be harder than training regimen because I'm a lazy eater. I'm semi-allergic to a bunch of types of fruits, so I usually snack on sugary items. I also eat fast food because I don't like taking time to prepare food. Ask my wife, but whenever I cook, I've had the bad habit of eating the food while preparing it. Hopefully I can control myself around the Krispy Kremes, KFC, and Five Guys burgers and fries.

I used to laugh and make fun of those that said stuff like, "I need to stay in Zone 2 on tonight's ride." Now, I'll be joining their ranks. Join me as I laugh at myself.

Day 2

Yesterday I was still riding high off the awesome ride I had on Friday, so I went back up to the same spot. I was half-considering going on Erin's cyclocross ride at the Shed, but I didn't want to take my Crosscheck apart because it's in fixie road condition - a terrible setup for gravel and rocks.

They waited for me, but I took my Chester up and I didn't feel like killing myself to keep up with a fast-looking group they had assembled. I told them to go ahead without me. It's been a while since I rode solo at the Shed, but I know it enough to not get stranded into the night.

I took off into the Gambrill side, but I had it in my head that I wanted to do some climbing. I rode all the way down the Blue trail, but just kept going to the very bottom, crossing over the multitude of streams, then back onto the road.

I then began the grunt climb on the road back to the parking lot. It's a little tough for me, but luckily I threw on the dorky looking bar ends. No matter that they look like crap, they actually help me get more leverage on the climbs. If I keep doing rides with long grinding uphills, I'll keep them on. If I'm hitting any of the really local stuff where the climbs take less than two minutes, they're just extra weight.

I make it back to the car, eat a Gu, and leave my jacket. Not quite satisfied with that climb, I barrel back down the blue trail, and repeat the road climb up. The second time's a doozy, but I make it without too much fanfare. I still have a little left in me so I go back down again, just to explore. At the point that I turned left to go all the way down, I go right. Three of those Hamburg road climbs in one day can't be good for you ;) I mess around on the trails that either I don't remember riding before, or actually have never ridden before until I get to a section that I already hit. I head back because it's getting late and I have a lot of stuff to do for work after being off for two weeks.

More rides like this and it's going to be a great year.

Last blast

Friday afternoon I headed out to meet some friends at Greenbrier. I arrived at about forty minutes early for what I thought was a 1:30 ride so I decided to go for a quick spin after suiting up. [Looking back at my e-mail it was 12:30, dumbass.] Up the hill to the left, then back down to the car by 1:25. I remembered Markie had a group ride going on at the Watershed at 2:00 so I waited until about 1:40, but they didn't show up so I left a little P.O.'d. I threw the bike onto the car and blazed back south to the Hamburg Road parking lot.

As I was pulling up, I saw about a dozen guys on BIG full-suspension bikes, with arm pads, leg pads, the whole deal. No sweat I thought to myself, Markie can't be riding with them.

I roll up to Markie and I see Becky, a gal I've ridden with once before who isn't half bad. I figure it's just the three of us, but one of the freeride guys calls her over. Oh snap. I confirm with Markie if this is the crew. Yup. Double snaps. How am I going to keep up with them? I don't know any of them so I have no idea what kind of riding we'll be doing, but from the looks of them, it'll be the big drop stuff. I felt like a brought a knife to a gunfight decked out in my tight lycra shorts (red to boot), kneewarmers and heart rate monitor.

We set off towards on the Blue trail towards Gambrill, a direction that I have started riding more often. I like it because there are a lot of sections that are really rocky, but rideable, and it's easy to get into a groove where you need to concentrate on the next spot where you will be, unless you enjoy doing endos.

All the while, Markie and I are in the lead group doing just fine with the big travel boys. The guy right in front of me is a little skittish and gives me many opportunities to trackstand as he stutters and stops on the rocks. Ahh, I get it. This isn't the first time I've been unnecessarily worried about showing up for a ride with guys decked out in downhill pads and gear (while I was in my lycra). They were using the safety stuff as precautionary measures. It wasn't for ripping up the trail -- it was for the inevitable falls. I start to relax a little when I realize that I'll be ok riding with this crew.

At the bottom of the Blue trail (which I love!), one of the guys (that actually can jump) challenges me to lift his bike. I do and I'm blown away how heavy it is. It actually feels like it's around 50 pounds. Yikes! I can't imagine trying to ride a bike like that...upwards.

We take a few turns and since we're at the bottom, there's no way but up. Markie and I break away up the Blue trail valley (I suck at names so that could be completely off). He on his lightweight Salsa hardtail gearie, me because I have no choice. The rest of the crew spinning furiously in their grannies, doing just fine cleaning the stuff, albeit at crawling speed.

We make it past the yellow trail, but daylight is running short, as are peoples' time. We have to hightail it back to the Hamburg Rd parking lot, but two guys get flats within minutes of each other. They get it fixed up quickly, then we do a reverse of the trail that we took out.

When I get back I am completely spent. Bouncing off the rocks is a great workout. I absolutely love this section and glad that I was able to hook up with a fun group.