I'm going flat...

I decided that drop bars are NOT for me. With about 30yrs of bike riding experience, and the VAST majority of that with BMX or mountain bike handlebars, I'm going with a flat bar on the 'cross bike. I tried the drop bars, and I just didn't like the hoods, and riding on the flats was too narrow. I can deal with it on my road bike, but I didn't feel that I could be aggressive enough on the 'cross bike.

Spoiled Dog

With my new job, I'm able to greatly reduce the amount of driving I do. I love the fact that I get to ride my bike! I've been working on using my bike as transportation for more and more of life's obligations, including revitalizing my cargo trailer (thanks to the ability to use B.O.B. components with a discontinued Yakima trailer). Of course, as a dog owner, I still need to occasionally transport the mutt to the vet, the groomers (I'll gladly pay to have someone cut her nails), or to some of Luna's favorite beaches and parks. I had, at one time, tried to convert a baby bicycle trailer for dog use, but it didn't work very well, and I sold it to someone with a human baby. I was thinking about tackling that project again, but a quick Google search helped me find that there were actually several products specifically designed for dog trailers. I located a DoggyRide trailer, and after a long wait, it finally arrived last week. I haven't had time to take Luna very far, only a quick inaugural ride around the block. But, it seemed like she liked it, or at least tolerated it without freaking out.

After a few more short rides I'll start taking her to the park and what not, and then she'll associate the trailer with fun just like she associates the car with fun. And the best part is that this will mean less dog hair in my car!

New England Velo Cross Challenge

So I had my first cyclocross race of the season this past weekend. I sufferred for a bit but it was fun. And I do love the fact that there are plenty of races within an hour or so from home. That means I can get a race in and usually be home around noon... Much different from the all-day committments of most mountain bike races (although, I do love mtb racing).

This race was in Londonderry, NH, and it was a mix of pavement, grass and trails. Here's how it went down: The race started with a half lap on a paved oval track followed by a hard left turn with a short little uphill that lead into the woods. This small hill had good line in the middle but was soft on the sides. It was rideable with a good approach but would be a run-up if congested. You then had another left turn, a short downhill trail, then a hard right turn up a steep hill that would definitely need to be run. At the top of that hill, there was a longer trail section that was fairly fast with very little in the way of techincal obstacles. After a short rise, the trail turned right and went down a steep hill with a near hairpin turn at the bottom, followed by a soft uphill that again would need to be run up. At the top, the trail was slightly off-camber but easily rideable. A few twists and turns and you were out of the woods and on to some flat grass areas riddled with caution tape and 180-degree turns.

We were then directed up a short, steep, soft hill that again had to be run up. At the top, we were greeted with a short stretch of sand that was also best to be run. After that, we crossed the pavement and went into the infield of the track. A couple of twists and turns, and two sets of barriers later and we were back at the start and ready for another lap.

I got a good start but I was NOT comfortable with the speed and closeness of the other riders as we were rocketing from the pavement into the woods. We were "criterium" racer close and that's not something I'm accustomed to. That's not really come up for me in other 'cross races I've done and it's certainly not something I'm used to from mountain bike races. I backed off and that put me back many places. Once in the woods, I was further hampered by a small stick that caught a ride in my derailleur. I knew I had abandoned derailleurs on my other bikes for a reason! I lost probably almost a full minute as I unwound the vine-like stick from my cogs and derailleur, and I'm pretty sure I was at the back of the pack. Damn. From there, the rest of my race was uneventful, and I slowly worked at moving back up through the ranks.

I think I finished around 15th out of nearly 30. Not great, but that's racing. Thanks to Tom Merrill for the pics!

Take Down that Wall!

We recently had our retaining wall totally re-done, and it came out awesome. Our mason was Brian Rodriguez, who took LONGER than expected, but he did a really good job. The next phase is to start working on the walkway to the front and back doors. As with EVERYTHING with our house, this is a much bigger project than anyone would anticipate. Our mason had a really tough time breaking up the concrete wall that was there previously, so I took it upon myself to remove the walkway.

I recruited my good friend, Mike Lawless, who has access to truly manly tools, and Doug Salb, who likes to be around manly tools. Mike rolled up with a giant compressor/trailer on the back of his truck with a 90-lb jack hammer and a 60-lb jack hammer. He also brought the rain, because as soon as we got everything plugged in, the precipitation started to fall. With safety glasses and gloves in place, we started the laborious process of chipping away at the bomb-shelter quality concrete.

Tragedy struck when Doug stepped wrong on the air compressor hose and rolled his ankle. I administered a quick evaluation using the Ottawa Ankle Rule, and decided that an X-ray was not needed. Ice, elevation, compression and NSAIDs were also quickly administered and Mike and I got back to hammering. It was slow-going, but we eventually got the job done and Mike was even kind enough to let me fill the back of his truck with as much concrete debris as would fit.

We now have a massive pit that welcomes people to our home… let’s hope the walkway gets done soon!

Willowdale State Forest Rocks!

I'm really impressed with the amount of singletrack in Willowdale State Forest. It seems like each time I go out there I find more and more. I thought I had a pretty good handle on most of it when I took Doug on a convoluted tour this past Friday, however, we found our way on to a killer, long, twisty climb followed by smooth, rolling singletrack. Hell yeah! My mission now is to ride every trail I can find with my GPS, and then superimpose the digital trail data onto the park trail map (which does NOT have most of the good stuff shown). Of course, this is just an excuse for me to "geek-out" with the techno-gadgets, but I will have a cool map when I'm done!

Ouch.

This *could* have been painful... my carbon fiber seatpost broke off, at the frame, while seated and going over a bump (actually a pot-hole). Fortunately, I caught myself as soon as I had the falling sensation, and fortunately there were no sharp protrusions, and fortunately I was able to remove the stub from the frame, and fortunately I had a good, reliable Thomson post that I could use as a replacement. Whew.

Check out this little story from Cyclingnews.com to see why I used the word "fortunately" so much:

Czech triathlete and Olympic bronze medallist, Jan Rehula, suffered one of the worst possible consequences of a seat breakage after a training accident in Sydney recently. 27 year old Rehula hit a pothole, snapped his seat, was gouged in the rear by his seat post and lost two litres of blood.

He has so far had two operations and has internal damage in his lower back. His start in the Hawaii Ironman triathlon in October is in doubt, but his spokesman said that he was quite positive that he will be able to resume his career.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/2001/feb01/feb09news.shtml

Yikes! I'll stick to metals...

The 29'er Revolution

Plenty of people have strong opinions about 29'er mountain bikes. Personally, I'm a convert. I may never ride a 26-inch wheeled mountain bike again. Heck, I even got some brake post converters that enable me to run 29'er wheels (700c) on a standard mountain bike frame (only with cyclocross tires because of clearance issues, but that's okay with me)--With that conversion complete, I've only got one other 26-inch mtb in my stable, and that's been collecting dust--partly because of the small wheels and partly because it's encumbered with 26 more gears than I really want to deal with. There are plenty of reasons to love or hate 29-inch mtb wheels, but when I ran across this photo of me riding a standard 26-inch mountain bike (with a 20-inch frame no less), I realized that I could never go back... it looks like I'm riding a BMX bike!

24hrs of Great Glen

Well, the 24hrs of Great Glen race is over. I feel like I brought a knife to a gun fight. Nay, I feel like I brought a rubber chicken to a gun fight.

First, a word (or more) about the weather. Friday night, as Doug and I were trying to load the car up, we had thunder and lightning in biblical proportions. I haven't seen weather like that in a long time. That delayed our departure by quite a while and we had patchy rain and fog the whole drive up. I opted to grab a hotel on the way up rather than set up camp in the dark and in the rain. We had some more light rain Saturday morning, but, miraculously, the rain stopped just before the race started and we had clear skies all the way through until the race ended Sunday. THEN, however, while many racers were still sitting/eating/drinking/recovering, the skies opened up again with torrential downpours and hail. Fortunately, Doug had started our packing process while I was out for my last lap, so our gear was all packed up just as the first drops started to fall. That rain continued intermittently on the way home, even forcing me to stop because visibility was zero just beyond my dashboard.

Now, the course. Check out the GPS data here. In total, I did 7 laps for a total of about 8400ft of climbing. The race had to be modified because of all of the rain/mud and a couple of sections were cut. There was still more than enough mud to go around though. In my mind, there were two distinct types of trails in the race--fast, SMOOTH fireroads, and muddy, gnarly walking sections; with only some sections that were rideable singletrack. The course also changed throughout the race as well, with some sections getting worse, some getting better. I don't know if it was "fun," but the scenery was spectacular. I was going to go out after the race and take some pics, but the hail was sort of a buzz-kill.

And finally, here's the race report. The race started with a 1/2 mile run (why?) around a pond before we grabbed our bikes. I wanted to take it easy on the run--this isn't a sprint--but I was being beat by a guy in an Elvis costume and a guy in a viking helmet, so I picked up the pace a bit. My heart rate hit the 170's and didn't let up. After getting on the bike, we crossed the road to a switchback climb on the appropriately named Blueberry Hill. Clogged with riders, this became a walk, and after a quick downhill, we were back across the road to the main part of the course.

As I said before, I was either riding as fast as I could on the smooth fireroads or slogging through deep mud, pushing/carrying the bike. Rob and I switched off lap for lap with no big problems for several hours. I went out for my 5th lap (a night lap, with lights in full effect), and trouble started. I got through about 80% of the lap before I had some leg cramps threaten to bring me down, but I was still moving, then I got a spasm in my back that took my breath away. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to walk, it hurt to oxidize carbohydrates. I had a similar problem on a run a few weeks ago, and that took almost a week of NSAIDs and other treatments to resolve. I honestly didn't think I'd even be able to walk out of the woods to finish the lap. Of course, the truly painful part was the realization in the back of my mind at how meaningless my pain was. Oh well, it still hurt. Anyway, I limped out of the woods, slowly rolled in to the end of the lap and told Rob the bad news--I thought I was done.

I got back to my car, and because I couldn't even think about crawling down to the ground to sleep in my tent, I slept in the Element. Believe it or not, it was fairly comfortable. I pumped myself full of medications and fluids, and tried to sleep it off. I woke up at about 5:00am and the pain was still there but not as bad. I walked over to the main tent and found that, surprisingly, even with our break, we were still in 2nd place. Rob got up shortly after and went out for another lap. By the time he got back, I had loosened up enough to feel like I could go out again. I was able to keep the spasm in check and we were able to pull a total of four more laps in on Sunday to secure second place. Pay no attention to the fact that there were a total of 3 teams in the two-man singlespeed division. Ignore that fact.

I kept myself full of ibuprofen and had the heating pad on my back for the whole drive home.

It was good to hang out with everyone--Rob Bousquet, Renee Bousquet, Dan Walsh, Todd Roberts, Mike Deak, Ron Salb, and Doug Salb, and it was VERY helpful to have Doug provide support/assistance. THANKS!

I also have to thank Jamie at Western Cycle for all of my last-minute bike needs, Mike Lawless for letting me borrow his Rig as a back-up parts bike (not needed), and to Trek/Gary Fisher for getting me a replacement eccentric bottom bracket at the last minute. In the days leading up to the race, I wanted to "fix" something on my bike, I made it worse, and I freaked.

The bike is happy now, although it is completely disassembled. Just about all of the laundry has been done, and almost all of my stuff is back where it belongs. Next up, some cyclocross races this fall and the Stonecat Trail marathon... Yee ha!

The countdown to 24hrs of Great Glen

So I'm in the final stretch coming up to the big 24hr race at Great Glen. Rob Bousquet and I will be racing as a two-man team on single-speed bikes. It's going to be two men, two bikes, two gears and one dream--to be the best! Hah. My dream, more of a potentially sleep deprived delusion, will be to survive. I got my last big training ride in on August 1st: just under 6hrs on the bike and just under 50 miles covering trails in Bradley Palmer, Willowdale and along the Bay Circuit Trail. I'm amazed at the amount of great trails in my back yard, and I can't believe how many of them are new to me. This Bay Circuit Trail will definitely needs further exploration. Anyway, I survived the training ride without complications. I was getting sore--not sore/tired legs, but sore neck/wrists/butt. I'm thinking that with the frequent breaks and ability to stretch between laps will help mitigate that at the 24hr race. And, I carried just about all the water/fuel I needed for this last ride with me--another thing that I won't have to worry about at Great Glen. Nope, I'll just have to worry about staying awake and keeping those pedals churning, mile after mile, hour after hour...

I still have plenty of preparation ahead of me before I'm ready to head north too. This is my first week at a new job--which is great, but I'm basically heading home each night and trying to organize and pack gear. Here's tentative list:

• helmet (2)
  sunglasses (2)
  jerseys (up to 10)
  shorts (up to 10)
  socks (up to 10 pr)
  cycling shoes (3)
  gloves (all)
  t-shirts (4)
  shorts (3)
  underwear (3)
  flip-flops
  coat hangers
  first aid kit
  camera
  Water
  Gatorade (liquid and powder)
  Gels
  Bars
  Food…
  towels
  tent
  tarps
  air mattress
  sleeping bag
  camp chair
  camping lights
  kenda 10x10 tent
  folding table
  Rig (that's my bike)
  D440 (that's a back-up bike)
  cycling lights (all & charged), including blinking red lights
  extra tubes
  disc pads
  chain
  extra bolts
  pedals
  work stand
  tool kit
  bike wash materials
  

And, I might be bringing my friend Doug who has graciously offered to give up his weekend to help out (and to watch me suffer).

So much packing and preparation--why am I doing this? Stay tuned...

Kenda Bicycle Festival

Last week I drove out to Hancock, Massachusetts (I actually had to go through NY to get there) for the recently re-named Kenda Bicycle Festival Presented by Dirt Rag, formerly known simply as PedrosFest. No matter what the name, it's a big bike festival with hundred of riders, an expo area, food, entertainment and plenty of other fun stuff. And, incidentally, Jean and I got engaged on our way out to the festival way back in 2001. Anyway, I was only able to go out for one day this year (that annoying work always seems to get in the way), but it was worth the 3hr drive each way (I think).

With all the rain that we've had, I had a premonition that the trails would be soupy, and sloppy groups rides tend to turn into muddy walks with bikes. Sure enough, the first group trail ride that I participated in, almost immediately after crawling out of my car after the previously mentioned 3hr drive, was an advertised Intermediate Ride. I thought it would be good to stretch the legs out... At first, one of the ride leaders said to be ready because we'd be doing lots of climbing. I've given up on gears for off-road riding, but what the heck, bring it on. With 30+ people in the group, I was also predicting 2.5 flat tires, 1 broken chain, 1 muscle cramp, and lots of chain-suck. The first two miles were all up. Two miles of continuous climbing, and much of it slippery, sloppy, mud. It became conga line of riders intermittently walking and riding. Fun (not). At the top, we were rewarded with about a 1.5 mile down hill, of twisty singletrack. Fun (for real). At the end though, (mind you, 3.5 miles later), we were milling around waiting for the remaining 50% of the "group" to re-coalesce to determine what to do next. I decided to bail and head to my back-up plan--my road bike.

I grabbed a Western Massachusetts bike map and made my way from Hancock to Williamstown to Adams to Savoy to Pittsfield and back to Hancock, for a total of about 60 miles. I was hoping to ride up to Mt. Greylock but the approach I had chosen (from the north, just outside of Williamstown) was closed. I still did more than 4,000 ft of climbing on the ride, mostly thanks to a LONG slog into Savoy. I'd like to try to get up Greylock sometime though...

Anyway, after the ride, it was time to socialize with some of my Dirt Rag and Kenda peeps, grab some grub, and make my way back home.

July Vacation Part 2

So, we got to ride at Kingdom Trails, which as I've mentioned, is always awesome. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday, we made our way to Canadian province of Quebec but that was AFTER a great run on the hills and dirt roads in Newark, VT (including a 500ft climb up in the first mile). The drive to Quebec City was, for the most part, uneventful. The Canadian border patrol agent made fun of my passport photo, gas was about $6/gallon, and Canada apparently doesn't put road maintenance high up on it's list of national priorities (must be because of all of that nationalized health care). Anyway, we got to the lovely KOA, set up our giant tent and found some grub, ironically, at a restaurant called Boston Pizza.

We spent the next day in the "old town" of Quebec City. Lots of tourist shop, lots of "semi-European" architecture, and some good, dark beer (Chambly Noire). Everyone seems to say that going to Quebec City is similar to going to Europe, but we didn't get that feeling. In fact, we bailed out of the KOA and headed to another campground in a more rural area of Quebec, near Lake Massawippi and North Hatley. This was a beautiful area and we got to do some good (hilly) riding (Jean IS in the pic to the left). The scenery was similar to northern Vermont (duh) but with more signs in French.

Friday we had all sorts of ideas for things to do, but the constant cracks of thunder and lightning and torrential rail limited our options. There was a short break in the rain, and we decided to try to break camp, but as soon as we started, the downpour began again. Essentially, we threw EVERYTHING in the car, wet or dry, in absolutely no order. I hate chaos in my car.

We headed back to our friend's house in VT, and we contemplating spending another night there, but the rain followed and we knew that the trails would be closed, so we picked up our mountain bikes and continued on to home, but not before stopping in Manchester, NH, for dinner with our friends Mike and Jo.

And thus ended our Maine/Vermont/Canada vacation. We got to pick Luna up a day early and get some great riding in at home; and we got to get started on drying all of our camping gear...

Anyway, check out the rest of the pics here...

The Maine Bike Rally (July Vacation Part 1)

That’s how our vacation started; at the Maine Bike Rally, in Fryeburg, Maine (July 11-13). I was fortunate in that one of my co-workers took my shift on Thursday (7/10) so I could spend that day getting “stuff” done. That stuff included moving everything in our basement so it could be painted while we were away, weeding the yard, and well, you get the picture. Friday morning it was time to actually get ready for the trip, and that meant packing, stuffing everything into the Element, and dropping Luna off at the kennel. Once all that was done, we were on the road—first to Portland, ME, for lunch. From Portland we shot west—through the tourist trap that is Sebago Lake—and ultimately arrived in Fryeburg. We didn’t have time to make any of the rides on the first day, but we got our tent set up, scoped out the scene (so many great rides available), and planned our weekend. On Friday night we got to see a great slide show (don’t worry, it was digital) about a couple that was touring through Arizona when there bikes were stolen by some crack-heads. In the end, they got the bikes back, but not until they confronted the alleged thief in the “hood.” It was very entertaining, and the teaching point is to ALWAYS lock your bike.

Saturday morning we got up, got our “included” breakfast, and chose our route. We picked a fun 20+-miler called the Farm and Garden loop or something like that. The rural roads in Northern Maine were great and the ride was very fun. We got back in time for me to participate in one of the group mountain bike rides. We had to carpool about 12 miles to North Conway, but the trail was worth it—fun singletrack with some good climbs and good downhills.

The Rally had an amazing spread set up for dinner that night with chicken, portabello mushrooms, pulled pork and other stuff that Jean ate. From there we were sucked in to watching a movie presentation by a Canadian couple who rode their bikes 8,000km through Mongolia, China, Tibet, Nepal and India. While I do think a ride of that magnitude is impressive, the movie was so self-congratulatory that it was sickening. It’s not like they were over there building schools or working with sick people—they were on a ride for themselves, and it was annoying hearing them talk about how they always find new and challenging ways to push themselves beyond the limit. Blah, blah, blah. Get a job and a haircut.

Sunday we got out for another road ride, this time on part of the Kancamagus highway. This was a very scenic 35-mile ride and a great way to stretch the legs out. After that, it was time to break camp and head to North Conway to support the local “Outlet” economy. Jean didn’t do so well, but I cleaned up at Reebok and Pearl Izumi, and scored a nice sweater from Brooks Brothers. We hit the road and then made for Vermont—to the Northeast Kingdom for riding at Kingdom Trails. We drove into to scattered showers and storms…hmmmm… the trails might be messy…It rained ALL night Sunday night, and stopped just before sunrise. The weather outlook for Monday was questionable, but in the end, the rain held off and while the trails were muddy in spots, any day on Kingdom Trails is a good day.

Commuting by Bicycle...

With rising gas prices, more and more people will be considering bikes are more than just toys--they can actually be used as transportation too. Who would have thunk it? With my new job, I'll soon join the ranks of bicycle commuters, but take my advice--bring a pump, a tube, and other implements of repair. I probably have more tools and supplies than some small bike shops, but I (yes me) was caught unprepared when I pinch flatted on my way home from a PA symposium. Jean rescued me--and ridiculed me. Lesson learned.

Re-Emerging Threat to US

With the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and World Health Organization monitoring the front lines for re-emerging biological threats (from diphtheria to bubonic plague), I have to ask, who was asleep at the wheel and failed to notice an even more insidious threat? Of course, I'm talking about the fact that everything from my organs of corti to my primary auditory cortex is infected with the vile sounds of the New Kids on the Block yet again. Didn't the Coalition of the Willing erradicate them? Weren't they sealed up in a concrete bunker somewhere? Aren't they in rehab? The only comforting thought is that if we got rid of them once, we can surely come together as a nation and do it again. America, prepare yourselves.

Where's David?

Wow. It's been almost two months since my last post. That's lame, huh. If you can find me in this photo, I'll tell you why it's taken me so long to get back to the blog... Otherwise, there'll be another update in a couple of days.

Bilenky!

I had mentioned in my earlier post that I would talk about the bikes, so here I go. I picked up a pair of Redline D440’s. These are chromoly frames—fully rigid—with 29er wheels (700c). Out of the box they are designed to be mountain bikes, but the wheel size will also support road tires (or cyclocross tires for road/light off-road use), and because the fork and frame have disc mounts, the brakes can easily be upgraded, which I did to Avids. Gearing is simple—1x8, so no front derailleur, and the frame also has mounts for racks/panniers, making the bike suitable for touring. What this all means is that with this one bike, I can ride road, off-road, a mix of the two, with or without touring bags. That’s pretty versatile in my book.

I’m a total convert to the 29er wheel platform, and I’ve committed myself to this totally by making my “bike of choice” for trail riding my 29er singlespeed hardtail.

Anyway, as if the inherent characteristics of the bikes weren’t cool enough, I had the frames custom modified by a frame builder in Pennsylvania (Bilenky) so that the frames can easily be split into two pieces for packing/traveling. The amazing thing is that you can fit a complete bike into a suitcase that the airlines will take WITHOUT charging you the $100-$150 (each way) extra surcharge. My bike isn’t assembled yet, but every review I’ve read about the S&S couplers states that you absolutely can NOT tell that the frame is two pieces screwed together. Jean rode her bike and had no complaints. I’ll keep you posted.

The retro-fitting was not cheap, but it’s an investment and after a couple of trips, it will pay for itself. Our biking travel just got bumped to the next level.

Mini Bike Trip #1

So, Jean and I just returned from our first self supported bike trip. Sure, we’ve been on MANY different bike trips, including Iowa’s RAGBRAI to our tour down Germany’s Romantische Straße, but those were “supported” (someone schlepped our gear for us), or part of an organized event. We’ve also been on plenty of trips where we drive a car full of bikes and gear to a destination, get some riding in, and then drive home. We’re now embarking on the type of travel where we roll out of our front door with our bikes—and whatever else we need for the trip—and then just go. Well, the one caveat is that we have to drop our dog off at the spa (kennel), so we’ll usually be leaving the car there and using that as our step off point.

Because this was going to be our first trip, I planned something close to home. A short ride from Ipswich to Newburyport, Massachusetts, with a side trip down the National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island for a total of just under 30 miles. I wanted us to get used to having gear on the bikes, and we were supposed to have two new bikes to break in as well.

Oh, and I planned all this as a surpise to Jean. First, I ordered the bikes—one for each of us. I’ll talk more about the bikes later. Then I booked a reservation at a decent bed & breakfast/inn in Newburyport, then I booked Luna’s stay at her spa, then I prayed that the weather would hold out.

All weather reports indicated that Saturday would be clear and that Sunday would have a cloudy start with rain later in the day. I could certainly work around that!

When Jean learned of the plans, she was excited—we’d be having a min-adventure!

The weekend finally arrived, but we only had one new bike (again, more on the bikes another time). That was fine though, Jean would take her new “adventure bike,” and I’d ride my cyclocross bike. She was set up with panniers (waterproof bags on either side of the back wheel), and I had a small bike trailer (and a waterproof gear bag).

We were packed, we dropped Luna off, and we hit the road under VERY overcast skies.

About two miles in, we had our first detour—literally. Route 1A (a more scenic route) was closed because a bridge was out, forcing us on to Route 1 (a busier, not-so-scenic route). It only put us a few miles out of our way and there was a enough room for us to ride that we didn’t feel like our lives were in constant danger. Once into Newburyport, we made our way over to Plum Island to ride the 12 mile (round trip) out and back ride to the end of the Wildlife Refuge. Lunch was on our agenda first and we stopped at Bob’s Lobster Shack for chowder and salmon burgers. That’s when the rain started. A good, steady, dismal rain. Fortunately, we have lots of gear and that meant rain pants, jackets and socks. Jean even had waterproof gloves. We made our way down the Plum Island road but we did cut a few miles off when we realized that the scenery wasn’t going to change and the rain wasn’t going to let up.

We made our way back into Newburyport—into downtown, and found our accommodations—the Essex Street Inn. We secured our bikes and exploded into our room, covering everything with wet gear in hopes of fostering some evaporation.

Then it was hot showers, warm clothes, and off for a nice dinner and a movie—how civilized.

The next morning, we woke to a thick misting drizzle that later changed to driving rain. Our gear was dry (except for my gloves), so we got dressed, got packed, and started pedaling. With no side trips this time, and the detour expected, we made the short ride from Newburyport to Ipswich in less than an hour (remember, carry/towing our gear), and exploded into the Element with wet gear, bikes, and a wet dog.

It was only a short trip this time, but it was a blast. We’re planning our next one and we’re thinking of better packing methods, better route planning methods, and better weather.

Joe's Ridge and Kessel Run

I finally got a chance to tweak some of the video that we took in Fruita (shot with a GoPro Helmet HERO). I really have no idea what I'm doing with QuickTime, but I was able to cut out a minute of useless video and I was able to add Dio in to the soundtrack, so Damn it, that's a good enough start for me. This video is about six minutes long, so enjoy (more to come).

Fruita, Colorado

Yep, my buddy Rob Bousquet and I had "guy's trip" to Colorado for some early season singlespeed abuse. (I've got lots of links in the text below, so be sure to use 'em!)

Day 1: April 1st got an EARLY start for us. Our flight was at 6:00am, which meant leaving Rob’s house by about 4:00am which meant getting up at a little after 3:00am. Who’s idea was this? Anyway, we made it to the airport by about 5:00am, checked in, and had an uneventful four-hour flight to Dallas. After an hour layover, we had another uneventful flight to Montrose, CO. By the time we had landed—only about noon local time, we had been up for 11 hours. Oy. We grabbed the rental (Dodge Durango), and made the 90 minute drive to Fruita, stopping for food along the way. After a quick check-in at the hotel (Comfort Inn), we made our way over to Over the Edge Sports to grab our bikes. At this point, I was starting to feel the day’s toll of traveling, but we assembled our bikes with vigor. Rob had some difficulties with his brakes, and I found that my rear tire had a huge gash in it, so it took way longer than it should have. We finally ended up on a trail by about 5:00pm Colorado time, or about 7:00pm our time (after being up for about 16 hours with only about 4hrs sleep). Yeah. Our goal was a short ride on Mary’s Loop and Horse Thief Bench (See the ride here). About 15 minutes into the ride I stopped to wait for Rob (something he would be doing for me on the climbs later in the trip). He finally rounded the turn with multiple bruises and abrasions on his legs and elbows. Yep, that how the trip started. Anyway, we rode just under 13 miles of some of the area’s best singletrack and made it back to the Comfort Inn for sleep, but not before hitting a local spot—the Hot Tomato Café for some killer pizza and great beer on tap. We chatted with a couple from San Francisco (Sam and Colleen), who were also in town for some riding.

Day 2: Our plan (mostly Rob’s plan) was to do an epic ride in the morning, grab some lunch, and then do another epic ride in the afternoon. We fulfilled that goal, although not exactly on epic proportions. Our first ride was in the legendary Book Cliffs area at 18 Road. We climbed up a short trail called Prime Cut, then crossed over to Joe’s Ridge—an awesome downhill ridgeline rollercoaster ride—to Kessel Run—a mellow downhill course that’s essentially a two mile slalom run. From there, we ended back at the starting point, went back up Prime Cut and then descended on Chutes & Ladders. A good time was had by all, and I got some great video (or so I thought).

We rolled back in to town for lunch, and then headed to an area called Rabbit Valley for a long, windy, sandy ride that turned out not quite as planned. I got a flat, we got lost, and all in all, we spent way too much time surfing through sand. Later, while talking to many locals, the overall feeling was that there was no surprise that we got lost. Hmmmm, thanks.

The Hot Tomato Café was having $2 drafts (yeah, more New Belgium 1554 please), and more of their “hot pie.” Our new friends, Sam and Colleen were there and we shared a LOUD table (right next to the band), for food and biking tales.

Sadly, that evening’s pizza, or what I like to call “meatzza” reared it’s ugly head about midnight, forcing me up and out of bed to find a truck stop stocked with Maalox and/or Tums. I thought I would perhaps vomit, something that’s occurred only two other times in my memory. My superior GI tract prevailed, with the help of antacids, and I was able to get at least “some” sleep.

Day 3: Our plan for this day was to find one longer, but perhaps more mellow ride. It’s still quite early in the season for us, and we had been doing plenty of climbing on our singlespeeds. Rob found a trail just over the border in Utah, that advertised about 650ft of climbing over about 20 miles (7 miles out, a 7 mile loop, and 7 miles back). It sounded perfect. We used our trail book, written by local trail builder, Troy Rarick, but he forgot the first rule of any trail guide—getting people to the trail head. With no directions in the book, and no signs anywhere along the road, we made full use of our 4x4 Durango, ultimately relying on the map, some compass readings, and a little luck.

The trail, known as the Overlook Trail, started off great. It was mostly smooth, flowing singletrack, with enough rocks and obstacles to keep it interesting. The scenery was impressive, and the miles rolled by. There were no signs along the trail, but we were able to stick to the plan, and finally at about 9 miles, we stopped for lunch on the Arch Loop. Fully refueled, we proceeded to finish the loop and get back on the same trail that we took in. Something changed though because as soon as we started off, we were confronted with deep sand and rocky transitions, forcing us to do lots of walking. And that great trail out? It was so fun because it was slightly downhill—a fact that was brutally revealed when we were working our asses off to get back to the car. In the end, it was a long, dusty, hard ride that wiped us out. The total on the GPS? About 20 miles and just under 3,200 feet of climbing. Oy! Did I mention that it’s EARLY season for us, and that we’re on singlespeeds?

Day 4: With fried legs from our previous three days of riding—57 miles with 8947 feet of climbing—we were looking for a mellow day. I had accidentally deleted my video footage of Joe’s Ridge (one of the area’s prime attractions), so we opted to re-do Prime Cut to Joe’s to Kessel. That would give us just over 5 miles of riding and a little more than 711ft of up and down. I got video, I got photos, and I was done. By calling it a day at that, we were able to take our time disassembling and packing our bikes, and supporting the local economy.

And speaking of the local economy, Over The Edge Sports (OTE) was the only local shop that I knew of, and they were the shop that allowed us to ship our bikes out AND store our cases while we were in town. I thought that was pretty cool but the overall “feeling” I got from the shop was “we’re the cool shop in town, we’re locals, and you owe us for riding our trails.” One guy even told us to try a certain trail because of one of the hard climbs, and that if we could do it on our singlespeeds, he’d buy us beers, but if we couldn’t we’d owe him a beer. Huh?

A stone’s throw away we found another bike shop, Single Tracks, and they couldn’t have been more helpful. Chris, the owner, spent lots of time talking about trails and local conditions, and he was super friendly. A perfect comparison between the two shops is this: when we got our boxes, OTE said we could put our bikes together outside on the sidewalk next to the shop. When we were taking our bikes apart, Single Tracks let us use a work stand, their hose, and any tools we needed in a side work area. I know where I’ll be going back next time.

I’m trying to get some more video from the trip, and I’ll be posting that soon, but you can check out all of the photos here.

Easter 5K Cross Country Race

What better way to celebrate Easter than to run!? Jean, myself, Jeff Hattem and two "newbies" (Mike & Jo Schnyder) headed up to the Salem Country Club to participate in the 5K cross country race on the golf course. This was Mike and Jo's first ever event like this--I hope it's the first of many! After the run, it was time to replenish depleted calories, and Jean had QUITE the spread with banana bread, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, sweat potato biscuits, German apple pancakes, sausages, tempeh bacon, fresh cut fruit, two different quiche's and mimosas... Hmmm... I didn't deplete enough calories!