Thursday fun

With the temps being in the 50's, I knew there would be a group ride forming. I made sure everything was taken care of and loaded up my gear. 50's can be a tough call on what to wear. It all depends on how much sun is out and how windy it is. I made sure to pack a couple of options just in case. The sun was nice all day and warming up good. I chose a happy medium of all the options I packed and hoped it was warm enough and not too warm.

There was 7 of us that showed up. I was happy with my start. I didn't red line anywhere too soon and it gave my body enough time to warm up. I even took a turn at the front fairly early. This is not always good for me as it can raise my heart rate up too soon and when that happens, my tank gets drained quickly. There was a hill that worked my over a little, but I recovered quickly and went on.

The pace was moving along nicely and the group was working together well. There was a little more accordion action going on then normal. This along with a few turns left me hurting enough that a short group of hills spit me out the back with the HR way too high. Everyone slowed down long enough for me to jump back on. I seemed to feel better after this and could stay with everyone.

We hit an intersection a little ways in to the route and it was discussed if we were going left or right. I think the original plan was to go left, but someone seemed to talk everyone in to going right and hit a few more hills than what we would have. Right away I was spit out the back for the first climb, but managed to not get too far behind. The group was splitting up with the back to back hills. There also seemed to be a few guys who felt froggy and test each other. The group kept pulling back together and then someone would pull off the front. The pace was really moving for this section and the group was a bit of a chaos, but still fun. Between the hills and the accelerations, my legs were screaming at me at times, but seemed to recover quickly. By the end of that straight we all seemed to get back together and started to keep the group going. I ended up at the front pulling again. I was not feeling too bad, so I stayed there as I felt I could.

Not long after that section when I pulled off the front, I had the thought that it would be a great picture. So, I pulled my glove off so my phone would work. I then dug in to my pocket and grabbed my phone. I sat up and took the picture above while sitting up riding no handed somewhere around 24 mph. I didn't really think much of it, but if something would have went wrong, I know my wife would have been very mad at me for being what she would call dumb.

A little ways down the road we all slowed down for a little bit. I took the time to down a gel. I could tell the tank was getting empty and my calf was threatening to cramp. It was not longer a threat in a few minutes and was cramping on and off for a little bit. I managed to work through it and started to feel better again. We crossed the road and headed toward some more hills. Yeah! Somehow when we crossed the road I ended up near the front of the pack again and soon enough, it was my turn at the front again. I took my turn, but it ended up at one of the first hills. I slowed and almost everyone went around and said goodbye.

This next section was a couple of hills back to back. I tried to recoup as fast as I could and still put down a good enough effort to close the gap. Eventually they slowed down some and I could jump back on with one more still behind me. As the road was going down more than up at this time, all 7 of us were back together and started to roll as a group again. We had to cross another road and sure enough, I found myself in second again. I really need to work on not getting myself back at the front all the time. I seem to end up there all too often and then I have to take my turn pulling. This time Brian was going to be kind enough to pass me and take the front. He knew I didn't want to be up there and had been there often enough. I was glad, but still did what I was going to do and pulled out to the side and enjoyed some time at the back of the pack. Things were good from there on except for the short hill near the end. I know how some of them like to hit it on the hill at the end of the ride. I had found myself toward the front and jumped and went for it, but could not hold off everyone. There was another small hill after that one and I tried to push it again, but didn't have anything left. I settled in and was just happy to roll up to the car.

It was a great group ride. I think it pushed almost all of us harder then we expected. I know I was shot when I got home and had a hard time keeping my eyes open for very long. My whole body hurt as it still does today. At times even walking hurts. That just tells me it was a great ride! I look forward to keeping at it and seeing how the group can progress as the weather gets better. If we get a lot stronger then we currently are, I know I will be happy with how I will be riding. There had been times that I would have been just happy to be doing what we are right now.


sweet!! That actually worked. That is another reason for the switch.

Faster Misfit

Thanks to Faster Mustache, my SS is now 6.66% faster. That is .06% faster than what is guaranteed, but the bike was so excited it went the other .06% on it's own. Time will tell if the excitement will wear off or not and the bike slows down. If that happens, I will still be 6.6% faster than before.

This is a great thing. I need to get as fast as I can before the season starts. I seem to be a head of schedule from the last few years, but it is not really saying anything. Previous years I didn't do very much at all over the winter. This year I was only a step above that. I know I should have spend hours upon hours in misery sitting on the trainer, but it just didn't happen. Spin class was a great way to get a work out in and I wonder what would have happened if I had a membership another month. Next year will be better.....

Time is ticking away for the season to start. I better start running because it is much to late to jog. April 28th is the opening race for the KY MTB series. What better way to start the season off than to race at Ft. Duffied. That itself is hard enough, but being true to myself I plan on racing or at least showing up in the SS class for the Kentucky races. I am not sure if this is a smart thing to do or not, but I have rarely been accused of being smart. I am fine with riding a SS the problem I normally have is that I am Cat 2 racer at best and the SS class is an open class that can leave me racing some Cat 1 guys. I understand what I am getting in to and can only hope that I continue to improve and get fast enough to be able to hold my own in the class. That or hope for some flat tires. Either way will work for me.

Stop by the KY MTB Series web site and mark your calendars - http://xccrider1.wix.com/kentuckypointseries#!

The Ft. Fuffield flier can be found here - FT. Duffield

I really hope this new address is the final one. Traffic does not seem too bad, but there are still a lot of people hitting the old blog page and not clicking on the link to come over here. I don't think I can make it much clearer than that, so I hope eventually most of the few people that actually read this can make the adjustment. Since you did make the trip over here and if you like what you read, stick around a little bit by clicking on the join this site button on the right --->

Spring snow ride?

As strange as that sounds, it is exactly what I tried to do. I was out of town all weekend and took off work on Monday because we were probably going to get home late on Sunday. My plan all week was to get a ride in on Monday. The weather on the other hand had different thoughts. Driving home we came through a bad snow storm and the wind was wicked. I thought I might be in luck when we got closer to home and we were not getting any snow. When I woke up I realized I was wrong. It was snowing and the ground was white. I had hopes that the trails would be good enough to ride since Ferdinand is ride able when a lot of other trails are not.

I loaded up the SS since I still have small knobbies on the Niner and I am still thinking of racing my SS in the KY series. There is a KY race before the Dino series starts, so I better get myself back in SS shape. I was there in no time and ready to hit the trail. The entrance was softer then I liked to see, but figured that area is always different than the rest. The trail did get better, but it was still not what I wanted to ride. Where the snow actually covered the trail, it was great. Where the trail was not covered, it was not so much. It did not get cold enough over night to have the ground cold enough. It was not overly muddy, but it was slick and not what I wanted to ride.

I ended up taking the gravel out of the park and hitting a short loop that is a mix of gravel and back roads. The wide was brutal on some road sections. The SS was not set up with the greatest gear for this route, but I am not sure I would have wanted a bigger gear on some of the climbs. I had also lowered the pressure in the back tire to help with traction and it now seemed to be on the low side for the road. Remembering that I forgot to pack a co2, I did not want to go too far from the park.

I didn't end up with the ride that I would have liked, but I still ended up climbing some good hills and it was better than not getting out. I have a long way to go before I am ready to race the SS at Duffied, but I have a few weeks left before I need to be ready. I just hope to get closer by then.

A surprise encounter with an old friend

With baseball practice cancelled, this had Aj going to bowling. My plan was to work in some elliptical or trainer time. With a call saying that I didn't need to pick him up, all plans were off. I went down stairs and did a quick once over with the Surly 1x1. It had been a long time since I have been on her and with all the rain we have had, I knew it was time for her to come off of the bench and get in the game.  I just hoped that every thing was working good enough and I had all the tools needed to fix most problems on the road side if needed.

   

The first thing I did was head toward the closest gravel I could find. My old faithful roads did not let me down. Well, they did keep it interesting with several sections flooded over. I only passed on one section because it looked kind of deep. I am sure I could have road it, but with another option right there, I just went the longer route. It also didn't take me long to remember that riding 42x20 gear on some of those climbs can really hurt. I cleaned all but one. I was disappointed by having to get off, but I made up with it by climbing the next one that I usually have trouble cleaning. The wind was brutal in some sections and even worse when I was climbing a steep hill into the wind.

 

It was not a huge ride, but hurt none the less. Between the wind and the climbing, it was a good workout and still made it home before dark. I tried to push the hills to work on my climbing at speed. Sometimes it seemed to work and others it didn't. It felt colder outside than the thermometer said it was. The wind was on the cool side. I probably over dressed to be safe, but overall it was just about right. I was cold at times and warm  others. I was drenched when I got home which is not the best, but it does help with trying to loose weight. It was just great to get outside and ride on a day that I figured I would be training indoors or end up not training at all. I know the rest of the week will be hard to get out if the weather cooperates and this weekend we will be indoors. I hope to get a work out in or so, but I am not holding my breath. I just hope the weather works out that I can get a ride in on Monday.