Memorial Day Fun Extravaganza

I apologize for my lack of posts lately, but the last 5 days have kept me quite busy with my family.  Just a little run down of our awesome Memorial Day Holiday weekend!

Friday-  Day off work, pack up family and hit a picnic for the adoption agency in Cleveland!  Awesome time for the kids -bounce house, games, pizza, animals, and great families!

Saturday- Visited the Christmas Story House, then Cleveland Zoo with EAC adoption agency.  Awesome day at the Zoo, beautiful weather, great food, international parade, cool animals, and talented Russian musicians (Moscow Nights); capped off by a nice family dinner out and an evening at the pool.

Sunday- Back in Columbus, sweet day at the pool, followed by spontaneous backyard picnic and beers!  Life is good!

Monday- 8am ride at Dillon State Park, 90 degrees and pain.  Ride was tough, came home battle scarred and beaten.  Not sure who got it worse, me or the bike!  Spent afternoon in the backyard baby pool with my son and his buddies!  Neighbors came over for another cookout!  Cold  beer, steaks, grilled veggies,  corn on the cob, and watermelon!

Tuesday- Another day off!  Woot!  Zoombezi Bay Water park with family.  Unbelievable weather, insane water slides, cool pools, lazy river, cold beer, tasty Pizza and awesome wave pool!  Exhausted 4 year old, and wore out old man!  

Time to rest from mini vacation!

Break in the weather!

I couldn't resist, I had a break in the weather so I called up the bike shop, bailed my bike out of the clink, and hit the trails. Looking back, I guess I should have left it there. 100 feet in and the mud was unridable. 4 miles later I was exhausted, muddy and ready to call it quits. I found a road, hit the high gears and hammered back to the car. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention the endo I did into a big heaping pile of stinking mud. Good thing there was a stream that I could rinse off in, or I wouldn't have been able to ride home with myself. Guess what, its freaking raining again. When will this weather ever change!

First Spokejunkie Ride is in the books- Mohican

The first ride of the season is now in the books.  Estimates are between 50 and 75 riders showed up at Mohican State Park for the first Spokejunkie ride of the season.  This picture above is only  a sample of those that attended.  Many were still getting geared up, while others had already left for the trail.  This was my first ride with the group, so I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into.   As it turned out, a very nice day, interrupted by a tough ride.  

As for the ride itself, it started out a little rough.  50 people out of the gate starting out on a trail that begins with a  mile and a half climb was a little interesting.  Lot of slow traffic, and some frustrated riders who were looking for a little quicker pace (not me, by the way).  This can create a little challenge when you are clipped in and someone stops dead in their tracks right in front of you.  This is what happened to me, as I had my first and only crash about 3 and half miles in when someone stopped quickly on a short uphill (rocky burst).  Needless to say, couldn't get out of clips, fell over and banged my elbow hard on the rocks.
 
The next 4 miles were pretty smooth as things opened up a bit.   People started to speed up, slow down, and generally group together in skill set.   I got separated from my riding partner, as he had to double back to get his dog.  I basically cruised at a decent pace from 3-7 miles, until the first major climb since the first mile.  This climb takes you to a peek with an awesome view, and quite frankly a great place to rest ( which I did).   I sat around for a good 15 minutes to allow Marc to catch up, and we moved on.  We rolled forward another half a mile and found our third rider who was waiting for us and trying to work out some cramps.

We rode together again until we hit the covered bridge at mile 12 and took a brief rest.  The downhill was awesome, but all I kept thinking about was the climb that was to follow.  Many of the other riders bailed out the bridge, that would have been the smart thing to do.  Unfortunately, we were not smart yesterday, and we labored on.  Big elevation change, as we climbed for the next two miles from miles 12-14.  I would like to say I made the entire climb, I didn't.  Cramps had settled in by now, and I was struggling mightily on the hill.  Eventually completed the climb, only to get a nice short ridge ride, and then you guessed it, more climbing up to 15.

At 15, we did group up again, and determine our next plan of attack.  For those of you who do not know, 15 is one of the first major bail out points that would enable us to at least ride the road the rest of the way back.  That would have been the smart thing to do.  We were not smart, and we soldiered on.  15-19 is some of my favorite segments at MSP so I was looking forward to the next 4.  Cramps actually started to go away a bit, as I controlled my pace a bit as we rode through a really nice pine forest, followed by some nice ridge riding, with just a few little climbs layered in.  Unfortunately, this section also had some of the worst storm damage, and there were many trees down which ruined the nice flow sections of the trail.  The sweet downhill at 19 was blocked by an enormous tree down which really ruined the segment as this was the best part.  At 19 1/2, we hit the next bail out point, and we split up.   Marc continued on, Steve and I called it a day and rode the road the 3 miles to the campground.  The nice part about the road, is that it is mostly downhill and you can really fly which is a nice way to end a ride.  Unfortunately you also have to dodge automobiles, but it is definitely worth it if you are tired. 

Arrived back to campground where I waited for Marc to finish the last 6. Unfortunately he had some mechanical issues with his derailleur, but was able to get back to the campground and join the rest of us for a nice cookout and raffle.  2 fat double cheeseburgers each with a potato salad chaser and we had all the fuel we needed to make the 1 1/2 hour ride home to Columbus. Also picked up a couple nice prizes at the raffle, which rounded out a great day.

My first junkie ride completed, and I truly realized, I am old and out of shape.  Although I went further than a lot of people, I still struggled mightily.  Cramping seemed to be the major challenge and I just suck at hills! Time to start training a little bit more before I try that again.

Can't get it out!- Lake Hope

     After an insane week at work which included major issues as well as a 48 hour West Coast trip to LA, I was desperate to get a ride this weekend.  The problem was that the weather just wasn't cooperating as much as I would have liked.  It had rained on and off most of the week, and the temps were not getting to where we would have like them to be in order to start drying out the trail.  Additionally, we haven't ridden in over two weeks so I was concerned about endurance and the effect the conditions would have on my legs.

     Decisions were finally made and we decided to head two hours south to Logan and ride Lake Hope.  The thought was, that it would be somewhat drier, and a little more "flowy" than Mohican.  If you have not ridden Lake Hope, it is a series of 3-7 mile loops that all tie together which allows the rider to hit the best of the segments and actually ride them in either direction to get a couple different perspectives.  There probably is about 24 unique miles of trail, but given the layout, it is sometime required to hit the same piece of trail couple of times which enable you to get more miles in.

    After careful examination of the trails, we had our trip mapped out and we set off on our quest.  Although the trails were fairly dry, we realized right away some adjustments were made.  Tire pressures reduced a bit to provide a little bit more traction and we were off again.  Most of the trails were in decent shape, but we did run into a decent amount of downed trees and brush.  Several times we dismounted to build "log bridges" just so other riders wouldn't have to dismount as much as we did to get over some of these fallen logs.  

     The first 15 miles were not bad, and I actually felt pretty good.  However, after a quick lunch break, things just didn't return to normal.  Legs started getting tired quicker on the climbs and the ridge rides, and even the awesome downhills started to wear on my body.  About 4 miles into to second segment, the first mechanical failure of the day hit.  Believe it or not, my clipless pedals malfunctioned, and I actually could not get my shoes out of the Candy EggBeaterMallets!.   Not a good thing when you are getting tired, climbing hills and fighting wet conditions.  As we attempted to repair pedals, a nice thunderstorm rolled in and started to dump rain and a little scary lighting on us.  Needless to say, it was time to get the hell out of the woods.  I got back on saddle, with shoe stuck to pedal and limped the next mile out of the woods to the service road and headed back for the truck.  A nice hilly 3 mile ride back the dirt road in the big ring did the trick and we called it a day.  

     All in all, a good day, although a little shorter than anticipated.  We had some awesome downhills with some sweet jumps, had some reasonable climbs, enjoyed some good laughs, got wet, and most importantly realized that anything could go wrong out there and we should always be prepared!

    I wonder what will the next ride will bring?

Lake Hope Stone Furnace

Pre ride service

Marc getting up after fall

note the shoe hanging from the pedal! 

...must ride soon

Weather turned again today, back in the high 40's.  Weatherman says it is going to be nice all week and most likely dry out by the weekend.  Problem is, I am still waiting for some replacement parts to come in to get out on the trails.  It also has rained like crazy the last few days, so we would need to ride somewhere with some excellent drainage.  Odds are, I will get my parts Friday, make some repairs, and be ready to rock by Saturday morning.  Trip to Lake Hope, and we should be in business.  Now if only I was in shape to actually pull it off and enjoy myself this weekend!  

I think I will handle it!  

Mohican National Park

Timeline of an awesome ride today!

9:00 am:   Bikes loaded up in two trucks; time for a quick snack  (PB and J’s which never made it to the hill)

9:10 am:  Oh shit, need to get gas..Hour drive and no gas, not a good thing

10:30 am: Dropped off truck number one at shuttle location, time for dog to get a quick puke on!  good thing not my truck!

10:45 am:  Gear on, packs loaded, gloves, helmets, music (note to self, need a new playlist), camera, phone.  Let’s Roll

10:55 am:  Still on my bike, so far so good, unfortunately it is early, and trail is only going to get rougher.

11:00 am:  First mechanical issues kick in; gear challenges can make for a long day!

11:15 am:  Did he just actually spit up blood?  wtf

11:30 am:  Realize, what the hell am I doing out here.  It’s wet, it’s icy, and I am freaking out of shape

12:00 am: Still holding on, still bringing up the rear, but still having fun!

1:00 pm:  Pain starting to kick in with my legs.  Clips are helping, but the climbs are tough with the wet ground and snow.

1:30 pm:  Crash 1,

1:31 pm:  Crash 2, Ice takes out two of us

1:35 pm:  Realize front rim is toast; push bike next quarter mile across icy hillside

1:40 pm:  Limp bike back to truck, rider 1 sitting in back laughing at how long it took us to catch up!

2:45 pm: After long drive through farm country; time for some cold ones

Can’t wait to do it again!

The Itch

Well it has officially started.  The itch to get back on the saddle and ride the trails hard.  Although I have ridden sporadically over the winter, it just isn’t the same.  Riding on ice and snow can be fun; however it is a lot of work and the falls hurt(and occur often)!  When you have a nickname like endo, you can imagine how those rides went!

Today was in the 40′s and was the perfect day to get back out there.  I even got up early and thru down a quick 20 minute warm up through neighborhood, followed by a tune up.  Got some air back in the tires after some low pressure winter riding, lubed the chain, adjusted the breaks, and tweaked the rearderailleur (annoying task).  Next step was to load the old death trap up and head over to the trails.

Problem was, decided to do a little lunch and shopping with the wife, and you guessed it, never made it back in time to ride!  I didn’t get the itch scratched!  I think I only made it worse because now I have to wait until next weekend to give it a shot again!  Oh well, it will feel all the more better when I finally get er done!