Crossing Over

Near the end of the mountain bike season I decided I was going to try my hand at cyclocross.  It just seemed like some pretty gnarly racing action.  I was not disappointed...

The Bike
When I started riding bikes a couple years ago I went low end and spent too much money upgrading until I finally replaced everything by building race-ready bikes from the frame up.   So for cross I rationalized that I would save money by going high end from the start and bought a Trek Cronus CX Pro through the Bike Line race team deal.  The bike was pretty sweet right out of the box but the wheels were heavy and the Avid Shorty 6 canti brakes were spongy.  A used set of Edge 68 tubulars w/ DT190 hubs - both w/ Tufo Primus cross tires already glued - solved the wheel problem.  The brakes were replaced with TRP's EuroX Carbon and the difference was amazing.  The Edge wheel/tire combo shaved off 1.5 pounds and the brakes shaved another 1/4 pound.   After the mods the bike weighed in at 16.5 pounds!  Sweet.  The SRAM Rival groupset is the middle value line but it's snappy and reliable and I'm liking it.  For now.  I took the XTR pedals off my Lynskey mountain bike and I was race ready.  I got a lot of compliments on my bike setup at the race and it was cool to see what everyone else was riding.  Just like MTB races, there were a wide range of bikes from full bling to full ghetto.  And yes, I got passed by some full ghetto bikes during the race.  I did notice that TRP canti brakes were on a LOT of bikes and I can see why.  Love those brakes.


What exactly happened in my life that I wound up wearing
a pink skin suit at age 43?  At least my bike is rad.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Smith.

Bad Health
Around the time I was putting the bike together (July) I suddenly started having bad problems with pain and swelling in my hands and feet.  I mean real bad.  At times I couldn't even open a water bottle let alone change a tire or ride a bike.  Two months of doctor visits and blood tests and everything came back negative.  Finally a rheumatologist figures out I have "psoriatic arthritis".  43 years old and I have arthritis.  Supposedly laying dormant all my life...and it came out swinging.  Awesome.  It's going to be two or three months before I work through the progression of light to heavy meds to figure out what sends the disease into remission.  Meanwhile I usually have a couple days a week where I feel good to ride...or race.  So I'm just trying to stay positive and assume by end of year I'm back to normal.  Phil Mickelson has pretty serious psoriatic arthritis and he wins golf tournaments.  He has to take an Enbrel shot once a week.  If that's my future...fine with me.  Whatever works.  Meanwhile, I missed two weekends of cross racing at Nittany and Charm City because I wasn't healthy enough to race.


Looking nervous and ready to puke at the starting line.  Shit is about to get real.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Smith.

Lining Up For My First Cross Race
The Whirlybird race was coming and I could tell by Friday morning that I might feel good enough to race on Saturday.  Only problem being I was not in race form.  I'd been riding once or twice a week and had a few stretches where I didn't ride or exercise at all for 3 weeks at a time.  I kept telling myself I was here to learn and to not worry about being competitive - my goal was mid-pack and to get some experience.  Yeah, right, sure.  I'll be happy with mid-pack.  I was registered for the Cat 4 men's open class.  The "C" race.  Beginners.  Yeah, right, beginners.  Sure.

I was in the 5th or 6th row because I had registered pretty early.  The race was full so there were close to 125 riders.  40 or 50 in front of me and 75 or 80 behind me.  I've been in 10 races since I started cycling 2 years ago - all mountain bike.  I've had no experience with road or cross racing.  I've never ridden in a group road ride and I know nothing about riding in tight packs.  The gun goes off.  Baptism by fire.  It's total madness.  The bikes are way too close.  Bikes are swarming around me.  Elbows bumping me.  Rear tires cutting across my front.  What the fuck you maniacs!?  I am hammering hard and still 10 or 15 bikes have blown past me on the opening straightaway.  Okay, shit is getting serious.   Is this how you boys like to play?  I feel myself switching from being scared to being pissed off.  Hey, I can be a dick too.  The first switchback is coming.  I take an aggressive line toward the inside even though I can sense a front wheel alongside my rear.  "Easy dude", I hear.   I get out of the saddle to accelerate back to speed but still they are swarming around me.  In my head, my subconscious is clicking off the tally...started with 40 in front of me, now 50, now 60.  Damn man, time to stop the hemorrhaging.  That is when it really occurred to me that I was in an open class.  I start to notice 25 and 30 year olds all around me.   And they don't look or ride like beginners.  Shaved legs the size of tree trunks.  Jesus.  Hey, no excuses, I tell myself.  Show these boys!  My heart is pounding out of my chest.  I am full of nerves. 



Cat 4 start.  I'm way back in that mess.  Probably haven't moved yet.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Smith.

Carnage
There is a short little hill climb up a paved road coming out of the prologue.  I love hills and I love climbing.  I get a bunch of spots back going up the hill.  At least 5 or 6.  Coming off the pavement back onto the grass I saw it happening in slow motion.  A hard left through the grass was coming up.   Something told me to get far right...this was looking like a clusterfuck.  They were going way too fast going into that turn.  I heard it before I saw it.  "Ugh" from someone and "Fuck" from someone else.  Crunch and more crunch.  Then a rear wheel going up high.  The rider is going over the bars.  I could have reached out and touched the wheel.  It glances off my shoulder as it's coming down, swinging around violently.  Something or someone kicks out of the tangled mess and knocks into my rear wheel...it skids my rear tire to the right...it helps me make a perfect slide through the turn.  I never came unclipped.  Wow, that was lucky shit.  I take a quick glance back.  It's total carnage.  At least eight bikes and riders are tangled up.  Some on the ground some straddling their bikes struggling to get free.  Riders are trickling through on one side.  We are only one minute into the race.

Gracefully navigating the barriers.  Like a gazelle.  Not.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Smith.

Settling In
I was relieved to avoid the crash...but more because it forced a separation and now there were no riders trying to swarm around me.  Now I could focus more on the riders in front than defending from behind.   From here on out it was a lot like my mountain races.  Settle in, get myself up to my max breathing and max heart rate and do the best I can with what my legs could give me.  Nerves started to calm a little and I started picking off riders in front of me.  I mean, I got passed by some riders too, but I was happy with the small number of riders passing me and how strong I was feeling passing guys on the straights and on the short hill climbs.  I think I got passed by maybe 8 or 10 riders throughout the race...but I got around 20 or 30 in that same time as well.  At one point I was trying to chase a rider down going up a paved section that ends in a hard right down a grassy hill...I called out, "coming through right side", and made the pass entering the turn.  Someone in the crowd called out "Nice pass man. Smooth!"  Another cool thing about cross racing...more people watching...cheering.  Very cool atmosphere.

Looking out over the course at Bensalem High School.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Smith.

The Finish and Lessons Learned
I lost a couple spots on the final sprint because I didn't realize we were on the last lap.  I wondered why these guys were out of their saddle blowing themselves up with 2 miles to go.  I assumed we had another lap because my computer showed 35 minutes and the race was supposed to be 40 minutes.  But it turns out that was the last lap.  I was later told they ring a bell when you come through the start finish to signal last lap.  Anyway, it's hard to imagine being happy with a 47th place finish but I was totally stoked.  I learned a lot about cross racing and bike handling in 35 minutes...and finished a little better then my goal of mid-pack.  I washed out on an off camber section at one point and lost a couple spots gathering it back up.  I also got passed a couple times coming out of the barriers so obviously I need some work with barriers and the dismount/remount stuff.  I'm not yet sure if cross is going to be a win or fail in terms of placing well once I'm back in shape, but it was a hell of a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the next race already. In my book cross racing definitely qualifies as a gnarly ride...dude.

Trail Spinners Fair Hill Classic

Race #6 in the series and I finally found the podium!  My first podium - I will be smiling for a week!  :-D

 

Cat 2 40-49.  3rd place in a field of 36.  Billed as a 20 mile race but came up as 17.5 on my GPS.  Fields are getting smaller compared to first few races but, again, all but one of the regular "fast guys" showed up to race so competition for me wasn't going to change much - it was going to be another tough day.

 

Rock You Like a Hurricane

I felt tired all week so I didn't pre-register for this race.  It was going to be a game time decision.  With a day off work Friday, (after the epic last show ever by the Scorpions and righteous meet and greet), I had plenty of time to rest and relax.   By the way...the Scorps were kick ass.  Some of the first songs I learned on guitar were Scorpions tunes - they are a bit cheesy but I dig a lot of their tunes and I have a soft spot for the different guitar duos that set the standards for stadium rock in the 80's.   They are awesome.   

Great seats for the last ever Scorps concert!

 

Bad Boys Running Wild

By Saturday I was feeling a little better so I did a road spin to see how I felt and to wake up the legs.  I threw in a few sprints to get some pain going.  Felt good.  Race was on.  I felt really good overall this morning - I slept good and ate a good breakfast.  Once again my legs felt like rubber waiting to stage but I could tell it was just nerves - I'm always nervous for some stupid reason.   I think it's getting better as I meet more guys and we chat it up at the line.

I got a terrible spot during staging - there really is an art to staging.  I came out of the gate around 20th but I wasn't overly concerned...the prologue includes at least a mile of double track.  This is a point to point race so no laps - the prologue just means the course passes by the spectator area after about 3 miles.  Working through traffic on the double track was tough and I went into the single track around 10th or 12th.  I've made friends with some cool guys this season including two of the fastest guys in my class.  I was glad to see Scott Slimm as I picked my way through the prologue and then Dan Vickery passed me.  I figured if I stayed with these guys good things would have to happen.   We were chatting it up a little and I think that set me at ease.  Suddenly the rubber legs were gone and I just felt strong...like I could ride through everyone.  I had Superman legs.  This happens sometimes on training rides.  I was more than stoked.  Scott made a mistake and I went around him and got on Dan's wheel.  I heard Scott crash behind me about a mile later...but I would see him again near the end of the race.

I followed Dan through the prologue and we emerged in 7th or 8th or so.  Dan was a real technician...picking through slow SS traffic and our own class as well.   I stayed right on his wheel and piggy backed on almost all his passes.  I was going pretty hard for the whole race so a lot of details are pretty foggy.  At some point on a climb we passed good old John Bobb...the 220 pound downhill wonder that descends like a runaway train and ascends ...well, not so fast.  But fast enough to place top 5 routinely and kick my ass in 3 races this year.  Dan and I talked about this after we passed him and Dan knew the drill as well.  It wouldn't be long and John would be buzzing our tire on a downhill.  It took him a while but he was back.  There is a section of killer downhill that leads to a right turn and more downhill that runs along the Elk River before the course takes a turn into the Up Crackhead Bob section.  John was on my wheel.  There is almost no passing in this area with a cliff on your left and steep rocks on your right.  I have to do better about not letting guys on my wheel get in my head.

 

The Zoo

There is a flat rock positioned to let you ramp or jump up over a big root a little before you turn up to Crackhead Bob.  Today it was in a different spot.   It was moved to the right maybe a foot...right in the middle of the trail.  "So what," I thought..."I always launch off this rock."  I have no idea what happened but suddenly I was laying on my side and John Bobb was running over my wheels.  Shit.  I hopped up pretty quick.  "Haven't we done this before I said".  John laughed and pushed on by.  I jumped on my bike but the chain was dropped.  I jumped off and fixed it.  I lost a spot to John and one other...and I no longer had Dan's wheel.  Fuck.  Fuck, fuck, fuck.  Having Dan's wheel was working really well.  I got a little negative.   I found myself all alone on Crackhead...passing SS'ers and the tail end of the younger classes.  I started daydreaming and would catch myself just thinking about shit...different rides, other stuff.  I was not focused.  I had lost Dan's wheel...I knew where Dan was heading - to the front.  I thought I might catch John Bobb because of all the climbing on Up Crackhead.  But John is so good at technical bike handling that he was gapping me.  I had him in sight for awhile but when I came out of Crackhead I actually had a guy from my class burning my wheel.  He stayed behind me piggybacking on my passes for the next few miles through the Five Bridges and South Park sections.

We were now in trail sections that I know well and really like.  On Five Bridges and for most of South Park I was pretty solid.  I would lose the guy on my wheel whenever there was a little climb but then he was back.  I wish I was faster on downhill.  Just going to take time I guess.  I crash enough as it is.  I really didn't know what position I was in at that point...I kind of thought I was close to the top 5 - but I was actually more like 9th or 10th at that point.

I made a mistake and hit my bar end on a tree near the end of South Park.  The guy behind me got around.  I had traffic to pass coming out of South Park but managed okay and I could see the guy ahead.  There is a short but steep climb headed back to the double track away from South Park.  I caught the guy there and blew by him like he was sitting still.  I was just flying up this climb.  I realized I still had the Superman legs - they were feeling just awesome.  Nice!  Then I saw David Fitzpatrick ahead.  Now my spirits really lit up.  I had caught David...definitely one of the faster guys in our class.  I gotta be in the top 5 right?

Dynamite

Four days earlier I had taken 2nd Overall on the Strava segment for Roller Coaster.  I like the climb and I know how to handle it.  David was leading me into Roller Coaster.   I passed David in the first 200' before the inital tight switchback.   I was gone.  I looked back once and he was nowhere.  I caught up with Jim Thistle with Action Wheels that I seem to be racing all the time.  I couldn't get to him before the end of Roller Coaster.  I don't know the trail names very well, but there is a steep double track downhill through a creek then straight up a 10 or 12 degree climb on double track.  It leads up to the start of Drunken Sailor.   I always do well climbing this in training rides.  I caught Jim and passed him coming up that climb.  My Superman legs were still feeling invincible.  I was getting my second wind.  Maybe I was outlasting these guys.  I wonder what position I'm in?  I gotta be top 5, right?

I worked through Drunken Sailor without incident and the Sport course then takes you back across the Elk River and toward a section called Two Fields - it pretty much signals 4 miles to go or so.  On my way to Two Fields I hear, "Left side".  It's Scott Slimm.  He comes right around me climbing up.  Seriously?  I hadn't seen him since the Prologue. 

 "Where have you been?" I said. 

 "Chasing you, man.  You're killing it today." 

 "Well, why are you passing me then?", I said.
 "Just come on."  He said.

Blackout

I started to get on Scott's wheel.  Uh oh.  The Superman legs weren't responding.  Oh shit.  I think about this for a minute as I grind my way up the climb...Scott is riding away.  They were so fresh five minutes ago!??   I think about this.  Shit, when was the last time I took a drink from my Electrolyte Fizz?  Oh man, way back after Five Bridges.  I had opted against the pack today and the trails were too technical to reach for the bottle.  Same for the Gu pack in my shirt pocket.  Gotta make it to Two Fields.   Fortunately Scott was not familiar with this section...and it is pretty technical.  You can endo in heartbeat coming through the downhill section that leads to the Two Fields climb.  I almost caught Scott starting the Two Fields climb but there was no way I was going to close the gap let alone pass.  My legs were screaming and I was maxing my heart rate.  I start chugging from the Fizz bottle and chased it with some water.  I let out a big burp and then I heard, "Nice, dude" as Jim Thistle went by.  Shit.  When did he get his second wind?  At the top of the climb I grabbed a cup of water from the aid station and chugged some back.  Now David Kirkpatrick went by.  Shit.

I was feeling pretty positive just a few minutes ago and, somehow, that feeling was kind of carrying over making me feel like this was not a big deal.  "I got this", I thought.  "These guys have to have blown themselves up running me down - I was busy recharging with Fizz and water and they were killing themselves up this hill.  Meanwhile, Scott Slimm had all but checked out.  I didn't think I would see him again.

Now...I have no idea how fast 1/4 bottle of Fizz and a few gulps of water can really restore...whatever it restores in your body.  But by the bottom of the downhill that follows the Two Fields climb it was either confidence or Fizz or pure will.  My superman legs were back.  I took David on the first climb.  Now we were doing long rolling quasi double track climbs back to the start/finish.  I know these trails well.  I took Jim on the next climb...and was stoked to see John Bobb up ahead spinning his cranks like 120 revs per minute going up a steep climb.  You cannot imagine the feeling of accomplishment I had at that moment.  I knew I was going to overtake John and I knew I was going to hold him off.  I went by John and wisecracked through my gulps for air, "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll crash in a minute."  Now I know that is extremely bad karma but it was pretty damn funny at the time...given our history in races.

Coming Home

As I crossed the field to the last bit of singletrack that leads to the doubletrack finish I saw Scott Slimm entering.  He looked like he was soft pedaling and unaware of my approach.  I stood up and got myself spun up as fast as I could then got back in the saddle and found a good gear to really mash it.  I went by Scott just rolling.  There was probably no way he could react.  He shouted something congratulatory which made me feel really good.  I came out on the blacktop road just flying.  I was riding scared.  I didn't know if John Bobb or David or Scott...or whoever was back there.  But I wasn't going to look...I was going to go as hard as I could go.  I was out of the saddle now, sprinting hard.  I just kept going...up over the bridge.  I was running out of air...I felt a little suffocated.  I didn't care...only 150 more yards and I could collapse on the grass.  I saw a rider up ahead.  My class?  I mashed harder and I could tell I was going to catch him before the pavillion.  It was going to be close but not that close...as long as he didn't look back.  He looked back.  He got up out of his saddle.  He was going to be too late.  I went flying by him into the pavillion and through the finish a couple bike lengths in front of him.  The spectators must have thought I was a crazed maniac.  Everyone was just dragging ass back in and I was coming through like I was being chased by Satan himself.

It was a good thing I made that last pass work...that last pass was for position.  The guy was in my class.  I won my podium spot by 1.136 seconds.  Kick ass!

I have two more races this season to try for a win...but I don't really care.  Winning this 3rd place....reeling in 5 fast guys with 2 miles to go....that was just awesome.  It will be hard to top that experience.  The four guys behind me were all within 20 seconds of me.  To once again quote Fatmarc, "Racing is rad."   It totally is.

Strava ride.  I got the Extreme Sufferfest rating again for keeping my HR pegged.  Guess that's what it takes.   http://app.strava.com/rides/13476156



Finally!

 

Why does the 3rd place finisher look so much happier?  He might be a little nuts.

 

The Thursday Ride

Last Thursday I joined the Trailspinners for their Thursday night advanced ride out of the Fair Hill North Appleton lot.  I was a little apprehensive because I'd never ridden with a large group and I wasn't sure how fast these guys would be going.  Or whether I would be able to keep pace.  The Trailspinners post info about group rides on their Yahoo Groups message board and the post said nobody gets dropped so I figured why not. 

I got out of work 20 minutes later than I wanted and of course traffic was jammed up.  The Yahoo post also said rollout at 5:30, be prompt.  Well I rolled in at 5:15 and hustled to put my gear on.  I wasn't expecting to know anyone but I got to meet Fatmarc and Shane, a couple guys that I really only knew from their online posts on Strava.com.  Actually I met Shane last year at the one and only mountain bike race I have ever run at Bear Creek Resort.  So Fatmarc was leading and we rolled out at 5:30 sharp as promised.  I wasn't quite ready - my Strava app on my phone wasn't running so it took me a minute and suddenly I was pulling out last out of about 12 guys.

The 10 guys in front were just gone.  The guy in front of me wasn't quite that fast and when we got to a right turn, where the group ahead was just about long gone already, he let me by.  I didn't see him again.  I'm not sure if he was just there with someone else or realized these guys were flying and this was not for him.  As it turns out there was another guy behind me - I just didn't realize it until later - but he turned up at the top of the hill later and that was our group for the night.

I eventually got shuffled up towards the front and found myself following the lead 3 or 4 for most of the night.  I was doing okay holding my own and had a great time testing my legs and bike handling skills against these guys.  But these guys were riding fast.  Real fast.  In fact on two hill climb segments they were going fast enough to take the King of the Mountain honors on Strava.com.  But really these guys were just awesome all around riders.  Fatmarc showed us some cool trails that don't get ridden often and the new route for the Bike Line race over on the Little Egypt side.  It doesn't stay light out too late yet so Fatmarc brought us back to the lot by 7:00.  We had ridden, I mean hammered, 14 miles.  It was an awesome night weather-wise and the ride was equally awesome.

I'm already plotting my early exit from work for this Thursday...and the next.  Because the Thursday ride is truly, a gnarly ride dude.

Okay Maybe An Intevention is Required

When I heard there was going to be a bike parts swap meet in Newark, DE on March 17th for mountain bike riders I thought sure, I have 5 or 6 things to sell.  And they are big ticket items so it should justify the $20 vendor fee.  Count me in.

So I started cleaning out the garage.  And the basement.  And the shed.  And my closets in the house.  And tearing down one of my bikes that never gets used.  And there was some good news and some bad news.

First the good news:  In all likelihood I was going to have some serious cash in my hands after the swap meet.  But the bad news is...that I might just have a problem that only a mountain biker intervention can solve.  I don't just have 5 or 6 extra things to sell.  I have DOZENS of items.  And serious ticket items too.  Here are some photos of some of the just some of the items as I laid them out in preparation for pricing and transporting.  Mind you I've only been in this hobby for 23 months and there are still three full bikes hanging in the garage that are not being sold.  Yeah, maybe I have a problem.

• Fuji 19” Carbon Hardtail Frame w/ Headset – (For 26” Wheels)
• Trek 19” 4300 Series Hardtail Frame – (For 26” Wheels)
• Fox Transition Dirt Jump Helmet – Camo
• Countour HD 1080P Helmet Cam
• Fox Baseline MTB Shorts 2010 - Black
• Pearl Izumi Canyon Short - Black
• Yakima Raptor Aero Rooftop Upright Bike Mount
• Fox F29 RL G2 Fork
• Ergon GP1 Lock On Grips
• Lizard Skin Peaty Lock On Grips – Silver
• Lizard Skin Peaty Lock On Grips – Red
• Fox ’09 MX Ride Jersey
• Bontrager Race X Lite 26” Wheelset  1660g
• Shimano XTR FC-M970 Crankset 2010, 175mm,  44-32-24
• Shimano XTR RD-M972 Long Cage Rear Derailleur
• Shimano XTR FD-M971  Top Mount Bottom Swing Front Derailleur
• Shimano XTR FD-M971  Top Mount Bottom Swing Front Derailleur
• Shimano XTR ST-M975 / BR-M975 Integrated Shifter & Disc Brake Set
• Selle Italia SLR Flow Carbon Saddle, Vanox Rails, MTB, 181g
• Lynskey Titanium Carbon Seatpost 31.6 x 400mm, Zero Setback  225g
• Ritchey Pro Carbon Seatpost  31.6 x 400mm,  Setback
• Ritchey Pro Carbon Stem  90mm x 6deg
• Ritchey Pro Carbon Riser Bars  20mm rise, 31.8, cut to 610mm

Come on down to the Newak Fire Hall tomorrow and get some gear.  I'm sure you'll find the stuff you need to have a gnarly ride, dude.

Rode Hard and Put Away Wet

I've been riding my bikes a lot so they've been taking some abuse and needing a lot of maintenance.  Now, up until the past week I had enjoyed some pretty good luck in terms of equipment issues (or lack thereof).  In fact I went something like 4 or 5 months without any flat tire issues which is just about unheard of if you are laying down the kind of miles I have been, (60 to 80 mountain miles per week).  But alas, all good things must come to an end.  Here are the issues that have surfaced in just the last couple weeks with my two main bikes:

• cut the sidewalls on 2 tires in 2 consecutive rides
• drive side bottom bracket bearing went bad
• rear brake lever developed a leak and is pulling air into the hydraulic system
• headset developed an annoying creak
• geared bike developed a clanking noise in the drive train

Support Your LBS?
I will save the solution to all these problems for a future post but I would like to take a minute to talk about local bike shops.  I've mentioned in previous posts that I buy a lot of bike parts from online retailers and from eBay and every now and then I feel a twinge of guilt for not supporting the local bike shops more.  The problem is that I have had mixed results.  Some of these shops have employees that are simply incapable of picking up on the fact that I am not the average Joe, (okay, that's confusing since my screen name here is AverageJoe, but you get what I'm saying).  I'm saying that I have developed some decent bike mechanic skills and some of these guys get it and some do not.  So the guys that don't get it talk down to me or feed me BS and don't seem to understand that I see their BS.  But, in a moment of weakness I tried a different bike shop and decided to drop BOTH of my bikes off to service some of the above problems.  What the heck, I'm a busy guy and this could save me some time.  Well, for one bike the kid just argued with me that I didn't really have a problem until I wheeled the bike out and loaded it back on the Jeep.  Like a dummy I brought the other bike in and left it there with instructions for them to diagnose and fix the clanky drive train.  He told me to pick it up on Wednesday and I thought that was not bad.  Well, I called yesterday to see if it would be ready be 4PM in case I could get out of work early for a ride and he said, "no, we meant next Wednesday, check your ticket."  Sure enough the ticket showed a week and half.  I said, screw that, and went and picked up my bike.

Henry's Bicycle Shop

So I resigned to fix the drive train myself and worked on the bike that night.  And I thought I had it fixed.  But when I hit the trail after work today the clanking noise was still there.  I rode along thinking about this and it finally occurred to me that I had not checked the cassette.  I stopped abruptly, hopped off my bike and checked the cassette and, sure enough, it was loose.  Real loose.  And cassettes require a special tool.  Riding on too far could cause more damage to my rear hub.  I thought about this for a minute while I rode on through the trails amid the insufferable clanking.  Henry's Bike Shop!  I read recently read that Henry's Bike Shop had re-opened.  Henry's is right off the White Clay Creek trail system in the Polly Drummond Hill shopping center.  Matt, the new proprietor, was there and he fixed me up real quick.  I told him I didn't have any cash (I left my wallet in my truck at the trail head).  Matt said, "don't worry about it man, this one's on the house."  We talked shop for a minute and I discussed some of the other ailments from the list above.  Matt had sound advice, made a lot of sense to me and he's won my business for life.  I am totally psyched to have found a bike wrench that I like and feel good about dropping my bike off.  I mean, he fixed the problem in like 90 seconds that the other bike shop said would take 1 1/2 weeks.  Awesome.  Matt and Henry's Bicycle Shop are, yes, exactly....totally gnarly dude. 

Vanity Check

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm using the Strava app on my iPhone to track my rides and post the GPS data to the Strava website.  Strava has been a huge motivation for me from a training standpoint because it allows me to compare a few key things about my riding habits and ability:

1. How often and how many miles I ride compared to other riders.
2. How fast I am able to complete "segments" compared to other riders.

And this was really the main point of my Measuring Stick post on February 28, 2012 - trying to figure out how I measure up to other riders. 

But to expand on this a little more, segments are created by Strava users.  They are just "segments" of a longer overall ride that somone tracked with their GPS.  Most often they are tough climbing sections but they can really be anything - downhill runs, long segments of many miles, whatever.  Then, as other riders ride the segment as part of their ride one day - and post their GPS data to Strava - their name will be shown in a list for the segment with a numeric ranking based on their elapsed time.

So the other day I saw a friend of mine get a KOM, (King of the Mountain or fastest time), for a particular segment.  Hey, that's cool.  Go, Shane, go.  Well, I hadn't ridden that segment with my Strava app so I decided to get out there and give it a try - see if I could ride it faster than Shane.  I had the day off today so I did a 25 mile training ride and headed for the "David English Trail" segment early in the ride while my legs were relatively fresh.  I hammered it with all I had and then went on with my ride.  I wouldn't know how I did until I was done with the whole ride and uploaded.  I could have stopped on the trail, ended the ride, uploaded it, etc. but it wasn't that important to me.  Or so I thought.

When I got done with my ride and my bike was loaded on the Jeep I sat in the parking lot at the trail head doing the final edits on my iPhone to upload the ride.  When it was all done I noticed there were no "Achievements".  "That's impossible", I thought.  I had to have at least clocked a top 10 or something...I was hammering up that hill!  Well, to make a long story short, I had clocked the fastest time on the David English segment but Strava was not showing my achievment!  It was some kind of glitch.  Strava is like a Facebook News Feed...it shows your ride along with all the other rides posted by people you are "following" and people that are "following" you.  Well, there was my ride at the top of the feed but no achievements.  And I was a little surprised at how disappointed I was.  I guess I thought I loved the app because it allowed me to see how I measured up but apparently I also love the app because I get to show off my achievements.  Here's what I mean:

On these rides you can see that the Strava feed shares my "Achievements" with the world. 

But on my ride today....no achievements!  So sad. (With sarcasm.)

So, other than the few of you that read this blog, I Guess I will be the only one that ever knows about my KOM!  Oh well, one thing is for sure.  I had a totally gnarly ride today...dude.

Ramble On

Last night my wife Jenny and I went to see Van Halen at the Wells Fargo arena in Philadelphia.  This is the fourth (or fifth?) time I'm seen Van Halen over the past twenty some years and Eddie rocked this one better than ever.  Just awesome.  And with David Lee Roth fronting the band again...even better.  The opening act was Kool and the Gang.  Yeah, I know...."wha?"  But to me it makes sense.  Still odd, but makes sense.  Three other friends scored tickets as well and they all said the same thing, "my wife is totally excited about Kool and the Gang".  Kool and the Gang is pretty cool no matter what music you like so this was a win win.  Good night out.

Discovering Iron Hill
So what does this have to do with mountain biking?  Well, I used the late night out as an excuse to burn a vacation day on Tuesday and do a little mountain biking.  The plan was to learn the 2011 mountain bike race course at Iron Hill Park in Newark, DE in hopes that the 2012 race course would be similar and give me a little experience.  Problem is I had never ridden any of the trails so I would need to navigate myself around with a GPS map of the race course that I found on the internet.  The last few times I did something like this (learn a new trail system) it was a pain for a couple reasons.

1. I am using an iPhone as my GPS tracking device.  It's cold weather season so I am wearing long fingered gloves and every time I stop to check the map I have to take off one of my gloves to navigate the touch screen.
2. I don't have a handlebar mount for my iPhone so I have to stop and pull it out of my pocket.

Unfortunately I only solved for the first issue for the ride today and the ride today was yet another reminder that getting the GPS on the bars will be a huge help.

Here is the GPS course I was following for my ride today:

Iron Hill MASS Race Course 2011 at EveryTrail


Here's the course I plotted as I got lost every five minutes (need that bar mount!).  I ended up cutting a tire after 1 1/2 laps so I will need to finish this discovery another day - I had a few wrong turns on the first lap.
Discovering Iron Hill at EveryTrail


Hi Tech Gloves
When I was in the bike shop the other day I spied a pair of riding gloves that had a conductive patch sewn into the index finger of each hand - specifically for navigating touch screen mobile devices.  The pair I bought was made by Cannondale and the product name was simple "Classic Long Glove".  I paid $25.00 for the gloves.  They run small so I ended up buying a size XL and there still a bit small.  (I usually where size Large).  While the gloves worked great for navigating the touch screen I didn't like them from a comfort standpoint.  They had stitching on the top across the knuckles in just the wrong spot and it was very uncomfortable.  I think there may have been a defect in the left glove because the stitching looked bigger and it was only uncomfortable on the left hand.  These are also the first pair of biking gloves that didn't have a velcro strap to tighten at the wrist and, consequently, they kept riding up toward my palm.  Not good.  And finally, by the end of the ride the stitching that held the conductive fabric on the right finger had come undone and was flapping loose on one side.  So, in my opinion, epic fail on the Cannondale gloves.  Good idea poorly executed I guess.  Here's a graphic and link for the gloves from the Cannondale website.  I would post a photo of mine but they are getting washed.  They were on a gnarly ride...dude.

Cannondale Classic Long Gloves