Trifecta

Marty had a great plan of trying to ride the "Trifecta" as it's known in West Michigan...ride the Cannonsburg State Game Area (SGA), Cannonsburg Ski Hill, and Luton all in one "sitting". I had the availability Saturday afternoon to ride, so that we did. It was a great day, full sun mid-50's. It rained a lot on Friday, but there were surprisingly very few muddy spots (so I was a little disappointed), but still enough muck holes to get a little dirty.

I hadn't ridden the SGA for probably 2 years and I was definitely out of shape last time I was there. (not very good memories) This time was different. Trail was in good shape (and so was I), there are some technical drops and long-steady climbs. Overall, lots of roots I noticed. Nothing much to note here.

So, onward to Ski Hill. As suspected, we had to ride on some roads to get between all the trials. The roadie in me, had me taking charge of the hills like no body's business. Felt good pounding the pedals on the roads.

We looked for a rumored "back entrance" to the Ski Hill from Egypt Valley road and eventually found it. Very new trail, it was soft, hilly and overall a leg killer. I had to granny-gear it most of the way. I was swearing under my breath about taking this trail instead of the roads around to the front of Cannonsburg. Well, it didn't last long and before we knew it we were on the regular trail. I haven't ridden Ski Hill in at least a year or so either. The climbs are long and not steep, but painful none the less. They just seem to keep going and going and going. About half way through, I was starting to lose my focus and was failing to keep my line in some technical areas. I was using my forearms to keep me from bouncing off of trees, several of them were wacking away at the tips of my handlebars. It was also around this point in the ride where I discovered that I had little to no use of my front disc brake. It wasn't doing much of anything. I guess its time to bleed the line. I was lucky and escaped any traumatic damage.

Next was Luton and we were going to have to battle the hills on Myers Lake in order to get there. I used my "extra weight advantage" to fly down the hills and let momentum carry me the first third of the way up the hills, find the right gear and grind out to the top. Then repeat no less than 5 times. At this point I was starting to lose Marty, so I stopped and waited maybe 15 seconds or so for him to catch up at the light. I took lead in our 2-man paceline all the way to Luton - we were flying. Anywhere from 18-26mph....on mountain bikes. Was feeling good. Found our way to Luton and both of us didn't start feeling the pain till Red Loop. Its the one to push you over the edge, if that is where you are at. And we were there. Of course, not being babies, we survived just fine. Rode all the loops without issue. The road ride back to Marty's house just a few miles from Luton, was good for me, more painful for Marty I think. I was big-ringing it all the way there. Flying. On such a great ride, I had to empty the tank.

Overall, a GRAND day for a mountain bike ride with one of my best friends. Three hours pain, sweat, swearing and best of all...muddy smiles.

Morning of No's

Another perfect morning for riding. Temps in the mid 50's, overcast, no wind. Rode Luton, 2 laps.
No crashes.
No stopping.
No mechanicals.
No granny gear.
Feel fantastic, could have rode another one.

Challenger, Luton, Challenger

Nothing special to report. Rode with some fellow Rapid Wheelmen last Wednesday evening on the Challenger ride. It ended in thick darkness, good thing I brought my light. Early on I had trouble with the Garmin. Later found out that the cadence/speed sensor was sliding all around so once that was fixed I was golden.

Next was Luton x2 last Saturday am. Rode one lap by myself, then lap two with some fellow RW Dirty Team Racers. One was a full suspension tandem piloted by Dave and Mary. They are good operating that thing. There wasn't anything they couldn't get around or over. Fun to watch. Felt good and wasn't terribly wasted afterwards. Start temps were mid 30's, and two hours later it was almost mid 50's. Great morning for mountain biking!! I did skip the yellow loop on the first lap because I wasn't sure I had time to meet everyone in the parking lot. Turns out I could have cleared it easy. This coming weekend, I hope to pull a full 2 laps with no break in between.

Last night was another Challenger ride. Lots of wind and fast speeds. Spent most of the time trying to draft, but also did a few pulls up front. Seemed sluggish at times, but overall, still felt good after a good 30 medium-hard miles. Spend most of the night riding behind "snot rocket man" (Troy I think his name was). He blew snot rockets out 5 times over the course of the ride. The first one caught me off-guard and he let them loose so I got hit with his spray. From that point on, I stayed back a bit. I was going to say something to him, but didn't know him very well. It was kinda rude, but whatever...it was still a good day to ride. He was a mountain biker turned roadie, so we had some things to talk about, trails and whatnot.

2012 Lowell 50 Spring Edition (28 miler)

It was a cold, brisk morning for a bike race. Not quite freezing temps, but mid-high 30's. With a slight breeze and 13-15mph movement, it would seem lots colder.

I started my warm-ups cruising up and down Covered Bridge Road with my head sock on under my helmet but even under the light cadence, I was starting to heat up, so wisely I took it off before race time. There were many Wheelmen in attendance racing, both race team and regular club members, so that was cool - showing our presence in team colors. I'm learning (and retaining) a lot of names now.

I tried positioning myself near the front of wave two (28 mile riders) instead of near the back like usual. I guess before, with starting near the rear, I like to think I'm avoiding conflict and a potential crash. But I realized, it's actually worse back there. At the front at least you can keep up and get less slingshot/rubberbanding action of the peloton in regards to speed. It's a rush riding with (actual) fast riders for at least the first couple of miles. After the first climb I was passed by (seemingly) everyone. Again, like last week, at least I never got off the bike to walk even one step of the race. (I hope I can start soon to not make this an "accomplishment" and just a normal thing.) HA

Within the first 5 miles, I tried latching on to several pacelines in the first paved section (yes, it happens in mountain bike races too). I just couldn't hold on for the long haul. Kept getting dropped. So, like every other race I've been in, I usually end up riding the course by myself with no one, nothing to battle except myself and the wind. If anything, it gives me time to think, time to talk myself into pushing harder, time to take fluids/gels. I have a really hard time finding someone close to my pace of riding during events like this (slow with erratic periods of crazy-fastness).

I was leap frogging a guy wearing Freewheeler Bike Shop gear all day. We should have worked together, but we were still too opposite. He on a cross bike, too fast on the paved flats, me on my mountain bike too fast on the gravel decents. He walked up hills, I slammed the granny gear most of the time and every so slightly pulled away. Beat him by a minute or two. In the end we met up for a bit at the finish line, he told me he was trying to keep a hold of my wheel, but couldn't do it. That made me feel good at least. (And no, he wasn't some 350 lb gorilla riding a 50 lb steel Walmart bike!)

Overall the race was fun, so a couple of positives came out of the event. I certainly don't go out to win anything at these things, but to gain experience, fitness and friends through participating. Again, nutrition was spot on, fluids good. Feet and extremeties warm. Just gotta work on continuing to lose weight and eat better in order to gain speed. It's a daily battle for myself, really wish I could get that together. I don't understand counting calories, it shouldn't be that hard. Something I have to learn I guess.

I was around 10-12 minutes off my time in last fall's race, which I guess is not too bad considering I had 6 months of decent mileage and riding under my belt. Still more work to do. Lots of it.

Time to get in some road riding and mileage soon and will probably sign up for my first Time Trial on April 15.

Official Results:
2:00:28
18/22 riders, Men age 30-39

I had (actual) fans Saturday! It was great to have them there.

(sorry it was so cold guys.)

There was an actual finish line this time. Complete with timing chips, etc. I was pretty tired at this point. I had been hammering away for the last few miles straight hoping to finish strong. There were a bunch of photographers near the covered bridge on the way back that should have gotten some stellar shots of me rocking the Blue Bomber at high-speeds in aero-position. Hope they turn out.

China Sucks

So, I know all of you know better than this, but never, ever buy a bike that proudly displays the "Made in China" sticker on the frame for yourself, your kids or a loved one. And for the love of God, don't even buy one for your closest enemy. I know that some may be produced under "tight control of standards" by well-known US companies, but many of the rest of them are just flat-out junk.

I decided to do a co-worker a favor last night and give a once-over of his Made-in-China-bought-at-Meijer Schwinn Tourer bike. He's really gotten into the sport and loves the exercise, and we chat often about cycling. However it appears he's also one of those guys that has never once oiled the chain or adjusted anything since his purchase last August. But still, good for him for loving every one of the 650+ miles (according to his odometer) he's put on it so far. But now I'm going to have to tell him, it's time for an upgrade.

His wife is going to hate me.

I spent two hours on that bike last night and it's still not dialed in like any decent bike should be. Almost every bolt needed tightening. The stem wasn't even straight and true with the fork. (of course, this could have been built by Mikey, the pre-pubescent zit-faced high-schooler working at his minimum wage job assembling bikes with no cares in the world.) Or he WAS in an accident a few weeks ago and probably never got back to straightening it.

Anyways, I swear every time I squeezed the brake levers, they'd move somewhere else out of line. Every pull resulted in a different reset position. It was driving me crazy. Of course, I don't even want to talk about the insane limitations on being able to adjust the gears.

I know he will appreciate the work put in, but man it was brutal.

Now, I know, even the cheapest of bikes has their place in someone's heart (I've had my share of them as a kid), but for cryin' out loud, if you can't help it, don't ever put one of these things in your garage. I was actually amazed that when I rode it around last night giving it it's last check, I felt like a circus monkey riding in a show. I don't know, it could have been my outfit. I guess I'm just used to bikes that fit much better and have a decent geometry about them and good quality parts.

Of course, that all comes at a cost, but having that experience last night, makes me really appreciate what I have and just reaffirms (for me anyways) that I'm willing to work that extra weekend or graphic design job in order to afford a better ride for my wife or kids.

By the end of this, I was very disappointed in the Schwinn name and what I experienced.

 

And for that, I say "China...you suck."

2012 Barry-Roubaix

I was super excited going into this race. My first "official" race as being part of the Rapid Wheelmen Team. Also a bit nervous since I had only been back on the bike for a few weeks since being out of commission for awhile, but excited nonetheless. I knew I wouldn't be winning anything, but wanted to ride well enough to be happy about it.

The most riding in one "sitting" I had done was the 28 mile Recon ride of this course just the week before and we took frequent stops. I was pretty blowed up.

So, anyways I ended up pretty happy about my overall performance (never got off the bike except for the last sandy section which is pretty unrideable anyways), and never lost my head. Was good with hydration and nutrition, so I think I am confident in how to prep for races going into the future. Good thing it's very early in the race season so I have some time to get more miles under me.

Not so happy about overall time and place, but I guess it could have been worse. I could have been one of the 24 mile rider chuckle-heads out there walking up the paved hill leading to the finish. At least I wasn't that weak.

Time: 2:45:12
Place: 120 out of 129 in my age group

So, put this in the books as my first (completed) MTB race. Fine.

One row of cars with racers preparing. If you look to the left of the red guy in the road, those are "daa germannzz"... or as Remus put it "dicks". They parked right next to him and wouldn't give him the time of day, nor move out of the way when he needed access to his car. Funny.

Wave 3 view from the cluster. It was a cluster too.

The Three Musketeers.

Here you can see me actually finishing in THIRD place. (the pros finished their 62 miler at the same time I was finishing my 36 miler. FAST! At least I got to see them finish up close and personal.)

Memory Tour, Sturgis edition

It's picture time. (this is the longest blog post to date, sorry...)

I had taken Blue Bomber with me to my parents this weekend. I kind of knew which destination I wanted to reach (out towards Marty's parents house) because there were some good hills to climb there, but then I got sidetracked a bit on my way back through town. There were some areas of Sturgis that I ended up visiting for nostalgia's sake so half the ride was an urban trek into the memory banks. Enjoy...

Funny map. I was all over the place, including rail road tracks.

This is a park entrance (used to be privately owned) right next door to Marty's parent's house. Marty and I used to go sledding down the (then) dirt drive in the winter time. It was fast and the curve at the bottom was a fun challenge.

Lloyd Edward Stemen. Above the mailbox in that field, my brother still has a tooth out there that he lost while we played football in the snow. This happened during the 46-10 routing of the New England Patriots by "Da Bears" in Super Bowl XX.

This was actually what kicked off the accidental "Memory Tour". Miller's grocery store, an institution in Sturgis and where we did our weekly grocery shopping is going out of business. Signs in the windows say "20% off everything". That's it. Done. Corporate America ran her under, Kroger, BigK and Walmart taking the business away. Although, it is hard to be sad for them. The store hasn't changed in the least tiny bit since I was 5 years old. Lots of memories in that place for me. Low ceilings, narrow aisles. The best.

$4 gas got me thinking about this place. The old gas station we used to fill up at. It's been closed down for years (maybe 15-20), but I can still remember mom filling up the ol' Bonneville while I stared out the window at the sign advertising the price per gallon: $0.75. Big time back then. We'd fill up on Thursdays because the price would always jump a penny or two for the weekend.

Off to the High School. I was interested in seeing what the ball field looked like. The irony here in that this is where they hide the school's trash cans for the winter. The field was a disgrace, the worst I have ever seen it.

This is the view from my old station, first base. There used to be dirt base paths to/from home plate. I will never gather why they would get rid of those. Look at all the weeds in the dirt. The field is probably only 2-3 weeks from being used for HS baseball. By now, we'd have the field dialed in. Putting in hours of "practice" dedicated to making sure everything was edged just perfect and everything smooth and clean. Our field used to be the most well kept of all the fields in the county, including the Community College. Apparently no one has that kind of time any more for tradition. Sad.

Patti's old house near the tennis courts. Looks almost identical to what it did 20 years ago. Hard to imagine we started dating the fall of 1992.

This was another mind-blower. It has been 11 years since one of my closest childhood friends, Clay, died in a motorcycle wreck on July 4, 2001 racing home from work that day to make it to a family July Fourth party. He never made it there. It was at this point I realized that I had travelled right where he died on my ride earlier today. I still remember the last time I saw him. We were taking family pictures outside the church on our wedding day. I saw him drive by, I presume checking in on me. He wasn't invited as we had drifted apart in our separate ways. He would be in the accident just more than a month later.

R.I.P. buddy. Hopefully things are just as warm, bright and shiny where you are as they were on this March day here on Earth. Too bad we never got to enjoy a burger and beer to talk about man-stuff together. You shaped my life in more ways than you can imagine. We got in just enough trouble together to make being kids fun and memorable.

Right across from the cemetary is Dead Man's Hill. This used to be THE place to go sledding in the winter. I thought many things were bigger in my mind than they really are today because I was such a small kid back then. Nope, not here. Still intimidating. I couldn't ride down the steep sides on my bike. Too scared.

Bob James, a neighbor of ours where I grew up on the lake owned this store. I think it was called Sturgis Meat Market. I still remember going in there and smelling the raw meat in that place. Bob would come out to greet us kids wearing a white apron just covered in bright red blood. Looking inside, the place was a wreck. Some sort of ceiling/water damage, tiles and insulation crap strewn everywhere. This was one of those instances where the place seemed bigger in my mind.

Ahhh...the Strand Theatre. Still operational, I will take my kids here someday. I saw Saturday matinee movies like E.T., Pinocchio, Dumbo and 101 Dalmations here. Also, the first "adult" movie with my Dad, The Naked Gun 2 1/2. Ha ha When Whitney Houston died some memories of days gone by came back. Not that I actually cared that that crackhead died, but she did help me get my first

kiss during the 1992 film The Bodyguard here. I remember it so vividly. So...thanks Whitney.

You're still a crackhead though.

My first school. Park Elementary. Went here for kindergarten and first grade. Peered inside. Doesn't look like they use it any more. Everything inside though looked just like it did 30 years ago though. I still remember those porcelin drinking fountains and fixtures. I'd like to actually get in there one day to poke around.

At this point I decided to ride some railroads. Which was scary. Lots of sharp things to poke out my tires. I ended up safe, but ran across this. WTF!? Never seen something like this before.

Rode maybe a mile or so in the soft railroad bed. Kinda fun. Probably do it again.

Took my time riding...looking for "artifacts". Nothing good enough to keep.

Cool shot of where I had been.

What the H could possibly be kept in the locked "treasure box" at the base of this?