Snow Ride

With all the snow that came down last week, I tried to get out for a snow ride. It didn't go too bad, but it was hard to keep traction going up. The next day you could not see any of my tracks and it was too deep to ride. After a few more days, I figured the snow settled down and would be better for a ride. I headed out to give it a try. I started out on the SS. I could go pretty good, but climbing was still not easy, but better than the other day.

After a few trips around, the trail kept getting better to ride. On one time around the fast section, I lost traction in the front end and slid out. When I got up, the front wheel was flat. I am not sure if I got a flat tire when I lost traction or if the flat tire caused the slide out. I knew the front tire was on the low side of pressure, but I figured it would be good for traction. I then had to push the bike back to the house and get the Niner.

This section started to experience some freeze/thaw and the top layer was getting slick. I limited my trips down the hill and kept from climbing. It was not that hard to limit my trips down since the effort it took to get to this point was adding up. The other sections were easier to roll and the snow still covered those sections better. This section has less tree coverage and is the first section that will get sun light, so it was not that shocking it was getting soft quick. I still made the most of it and got a good ride in. It was good to get a ride in while I could since it decided to rain the next day. All the trails are now bare and very soft.

On Sunday I took advantage of some free time and soft trails to do some trail work. I worked on a new section I have been doing some work on. I made some good headway, but it will need to dry out before I can give it a try. The second half of the new section is not quite ready, but it is closer than it was. I need to do some more bench cutting on one section before it will be ready to ride. I am really looking forward to getting this section open. It will be an easier section and should add some distance that does not have so much climbing. I still have several other lines pictured in my head that I hope to continue to put in.

The trail has been great to have and I hope to continue to get the benefits of having it around. The plan is to do a better job of staying in shape over the winter and even improving myself as much as I can. It would be good to start the year off ahead of where I was last year. One of the things that keeps me from riding in the winter other than not liking my rollers or trainer is being cold. Mainly my feet are the issue. I have always wanted some nice winter riding shoes, but just could not work them in. Well, I can no longer say that. I picked myself up a pair of Scott Heater shoes. I have not had the chance to try them out, but they feel like they will be much warmer than anything I have ever had before. I was hoping to get a pair of Lake MXZ boots or some 45North ones, but I think I will be happy with these. Not quite as heavy duty as those, but good enough for the riding I will do.

End of the season - The lost post

2013 Race season has come and gone. Last winter it seemed like it would never get here and now it seems like it went by too quick. I know there was a ton of time in the middle there, but it seems the busier you are, the faster time rolls on.

2013 Race Results

3/9 - Sub <9 - Death Marth - 45th

5/18 - Dino - Winona Lake - 23rd

5/26 - KPS - Ft. Duffield - 3rd SS

6/9 - KPS - White Lightning - 4th SS

6/15 - Dino - French Lick - 18th

6/23 - KPS - Cherokee Park - 6th SS

6/30 - Dino - Muscatatuck - 22nd

7/7 - Dino - BCSP - 24th

7/21 - Dino - Versailles - 21st

7/28 - KPS - Capital View - 5th SS

8/4 - KPS - Ben Hawes - 5th SS

8/11 - Dino - Logansport - 10th

8/18 - Burning Quad Crit - Cat 5 - 17th

8/18 - Burning Quad Crit - Cat 4/5 - 31st

8/25 - Dino - Southwestway - 13th

9/22 - 3 Peaks - Beech mtn, NC - 27th

11/30 - Sub <9 - Gravel Grovel - 85th

I thought this was posted a while back, but I guess it didn't get finished. I had some other garbage started, but it didn't make a lot of sense so I deleted it. I am not sure what to say about the season as a whole. There were some good times and bad times. I was not as fast as I would have liked, but I can only blame myself. I did have some moments of strong legs, but they didn't last very long. As my typical theme, life seems to get in the way of racing. I really don't mind life getting in the way when it comes to family, but I could do with out work being in that list. The only thing that I would prefer is to be able to keep up the legs better when I slack on the riding.

Now that it is the new year, I am already behind a lot of other racers out there. This is a time where I should be putting in some base miles or some weight workouts. I have yet to turn a pedal or do any lifting. What I have been doing is gaining weight. Not that unexpected, but not on the to do list. I just hope to get it under control before I gain too much. It gets harder and harder to loose weight as I get older. I know that carrying around all that extra weight does nothing but slow me down and make me feel worse. Hopefully I will figure out a plan that is easy to keep and works well. Maybe next year.

Gravel Grovel V5.0

This weekend was the fifth rendition of the Gravel Grovel. I have attended every race and don't plan on changing that anytime soon. Each year keeps on improving, but I didn't have an issue with it the first year even with any of the issues. The event keeps running smoother and smoother each time. Sub 9 has done a great job of growing this race, I just hope that they don't loose that grassroots feel. I know I always enjoy myself.

This year the weather was better than last year. I had big dreams as to getting close to the 5 hour mark. That is something I really should be able to attend or even better. I have been close before a couple years ago on my SS, so with some gears I should be able to get there. Last year I was slower than the previous year even with gears. I am not sure what my main problem was last year, but I am fairly sure that the lack of riding in the two months leading up to this race didn't help me this year. I put in as many rides in November as I did in August and September combined.

This year there was a group that was talking about going for the same goal that I was wanting to do. I was interested in trying to ride with them, but I really didn't think I could keep up. I was in the group at the start. The pack took off at a pretty good pace. I tried to keep up, but when they dropped me the second time, I figured I better just ride my pace. I know that when I start out too hard with out being fully warmed up, I end up hurting myself more than it is good. I am not sure if this was part of my problem or not, but I just didn't have the legs to climb at pace. I could climb the hills, just not as fast as I would like. Then when I would shift in to the granny I would be even slower.

I was happy to see one member of the group making an effort to wait on me. I am very thankful that Eric L. decided to stay with me. It sure made the day go a lot better. I seemed to ride pretty good for most of the route except for the climbs. I tried to let him know that he didn't have to wait on me. He was riding a lot stronger than I was. We made it to story earlier than normal, but that was because it was earlier in the race. When Charles saw me roll through the check point, he knew I would take a beer. I was the first rider to take one (no shocker there). I saw that two riders were still waiting on me, so I downed it as fast as I could and we were off again.

I am not sure when it ended up only being the two of us, but we were working well together. I had to sit on early, but later on in the ride, I felt like I had some legs to do some pulls too. By the end of the ride it seemed like I was returning the favor of waiting on him. I really don't know why I seem to do better at the end of the ride. Several people say that I ride stronger at the end of the ride than I do at the start. I am not sure if this is true or not, but it does seem like it. I think I just tend to ride the same pace for the whole ride and everyone else just slows down. I do know that as the pain settles in and the miles tick off, I get to the point that I am just ready to get back to the car. Maybe that pushes me to ride a little harder than I did when I started.

Well, we were not very close to the 5 hour mark. Actually we were almost an hour off of that. Part of me thinks that does not sound too bad and the other part of me thinks that is way slow. I really didn't think I could make the 5 hours this year and would have been happy with 5.5. So, to be only 25 min. off of a time that I would have been happy with does not sound bad. The other part of me sees some people that did make the 5 hour mark and less and think that I should be in that group. I am not sure I will ever get to the 3.5 hour mark that it takes to win, but I should be able to get less than the 5.

There is always next year. You know, the year I actually get in shape over the winter and come out swinging. I also won't drop off a few months in the middle. Yea, I am sure next year is the year. Right now I am not sure what next year will even be. The tentative race schedule looks like I will be doing a lot of driving if I am racing. It really sucks living in the southern part of the state where they don't want to have races because too many people won't drive that far. Guess what, we always have to drive that far. That was part of the reasons I quit racing so many years ago. I am looking forward to seeing the Kentucky point series. I had also thought about doing a few of the Ultracross races, but since I was almost last in the two I did this year, maybe I should wait until I can actually keep my goals threw the winter. No matter what ends up on the calendar, I am sure I will have a blast riding my bike.

I would like to thank Tania, Jonathan, Charles and the whole Sub-9 team that puts in a lot of hard work so I can have some "fun" riding/racing my bike. Thanks to the Midwest Trail rider and MTO outpost, they have one of the best start/finish areas that I have ever been to. If you have not taken advantage of the cabins, I highly recommend it as they are awesome to stay in. Thanks to all the other sponsors for helping make this the one race of the year that I just can't miss! See you for V6.0.