Great Day to Ride!

So it is storming outside. I am not missing a ride because of some silly wind and rain. Oh, but I do not want to be ostracized by the mtb community who surely are policing the trails to capture any deviant wet-trail riders, so I dust off the road bike and off I go.  Damn! Not even a mile away and a mechanical!  Got something metal stuck in my rear brake. Off the bike, take off pad, clean it up and reinstall.  Damn, now the wheel is rubbing. Sucks fixing a mechanical during a ride.  Sucks even more when it is pouring rain.  Screw it, I will just get a better workout.
Decide to use the rear brake sparingly (in the pouring rain) and stay close to home just in case.  Ended up with 40 miles (See Strava to the right for the map/stats, though it is just off) while never venturing more than maybe 2 miles (as the crow flies) from my house.  Good ride, good hills, good workout, good times!

 And FWIW I ran into four mountain bikers who said the trails were great.  Next time screw the trail police, I am riding trails damn-it!!!

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HELP!  Trying to choose a name for this bike.  I do like Acronyms, so the two leaders are TIT (Titanium is Tremendous) or DEB (Do Everything Bike).  Any others?  Let me know.

OUCH, That's Gonna Leave a Mark!

WARNING, GRAPHIC PHOTO'S BELOW 

Wait until just before lunch to view.

Here is the culprit. It tore me up!

So I have heard this saying that life sometimes gets in the way.  Well, when it came to riding, that was rarely the case when living in NC, but living in CA has been a different story.  With us being gone for seven years, it seems like every other weekend we are visiting friends and family, or they are visiting us.  Add to the mix a house that needs a lot of work and BAM! Life just got in my way, and my riding time has suffered.  So, the last thing I needed was an injury to take away further ride time.  Welcome Murphys Law.  So while I am building a deck, I accidentally put a 7/8 inch wood boring drill bit through the soft part of my hand (between the thumb and index finger. While I do not recommend doing this, if you are hard pressed to put a hole in your hand, apparently that is the spot to aim for.  Luckily I only nicked the bone in my thumb and did not sever any tendons or ligaments (always confuse the two). When it first happened, it was gory.  I could see the bubbles from the fat layer and I could see deep into my hand as the skin was ripped away from the tissue underneath.  The photo was taken in the doctors office after the bleeding had stopped and I had been given some numbing shots.  I tried taking a picture in the car as I was driving myself to the doctors, but strangely it did not come out well.  So to make a long story short (I know, too late) I messed up my hand, got 13 stitches (a tetanus shot), and was knocked out of riding for three weeks (though I did do an easy road ride with the stitches, just don't tell my doc.).

 

        

 

My First California MTB Race

The TBF (Total Body Fitness) 50 Mile MTB Race was held in Granite Bay Beach (Folsom Lake), It was a fast flowy 12.5 mile course (x4) with nice elevation and some decent natural rock garden obstacles (plus some soft sand obstacles) tied together with some double track and a bit of paved road.  For my NC friends, I would compare it to a blend of 286 and Warrior Creek with at least one tough single track climb and double track climb that might be comparable to something at Dark Mountain.  Unfortunately I have been sick for a while...first a sinus infection, then some nasty head cold, so basically this ride kicked my butt!  Only one ride in the two weeks leading up to this and it was a 40 mile road ride (Auburn to Colfax and back) that I barely finished.  Still, I paid for the event and I was itchin' to get a feel for the racing culture here, so off I went.  I rode hard my first lap, letting the momentum of the race help carry me (1:07); the 2nd lap I settled into my pace and rode within myself (1:10). I realized I had a serious lack of strength so I focused on spinning hard and going as fast as I could on the flats and downhills while I struggled on most climbs and walked the one steep double track climb as it was just too steep and loose leading to instant spin out. Lap 3 (1:13) was mostly like lap 2, other than a stop to take a whiz off the trail and cramping beginning with ~4 miles left.  The last lap was a constant fight with cramping legs, but I gave it all I had and finished it in 1:11 with a total time of 4:42. Ended up coming 7th in Single Speed (don't ask how many SS riders were in the race please), and if I would have been in the 40+ group, I would have been 23rd (again, don't ask how many riders were in the category please).
So what did I learn? There are fast riders out here, and a whole lot of em at that. Sure, I was slowed by illness (constantly blowing and spitting snot out throughout the race), but I rode pretty well and would have likely been mid pack in previous races. Out here I was that guy that a few people clapped for at the end of my race..."Oh, look at the short, old, bald, kinda chubby, special needs guy finishing...good for him...way to go buddy!"  Am I discouraged?  No, on the contrary, I am motivated. I need to get my butt into shape.  And as always, I start tomorrow!

Feeling like crap at the start of the race...

Feeling even crappier during the race.

Somethin's Gotta Give

Every few months I post about trying to lose weight.  Unfortunately, I would like to do it by exercising/riding more and eating what I want because I like to eat.  O.k., I really would like to loose weight by getting full body lipo, but that is not an option...so I guess I should watch what I eat and excercise more.  Sounds easy enough until human nature kicks in...and for me that means craving anything and everything fattening and unhealthy.  I can eat well for a while and drop 3-5 lbs. pretty quickly.  But then, out of nowhere, I have a couple donuts, some fast food, a sundae at Leatherby's, and BOOM! 5 lbs back on.
Case in point: Friends are visiting a few weeks back.  What to do for dinner?  In-N-Out sounds good, so does Weinerschnitzel...how about BOTH!  Yeah, this one even disgusted me evertime I thought about it...for about two weeks; but then it started sounding good again. I don't thing there is any hope. :(

More meals like this and I will need more than Jenny Craig, I will need a cardiologist!

This is what I had the next night to make up for it...I healthy salad, loaded with cheese, bacon bits and ranch dressing. ;)

Tough Ride!

Made up for last weeks DNF with a 34.5 mile ride with over 5k feet of climbing.  Actually felt good going up the last two miles of climbing toward the end.  Maybe I am finally starting to get my Auburn legs. :)

Lesson(s) Learned

 Joined a group of riders for what was to be a monster ride last weekend.  A guy (Paul) was having his 50th birthday, so he wanted to ride 50k (not here to argue, why not 50 miles? Sure, it can be done, but with the beer this guy was putting down pre, during an post ride, and with the climbs around here, 50k was going to be a feat).  At least a dozen riders set out for this monster ride that was going to consist of up Stagecoach, through Auburn, back down to the confluence via Manzanita, up Clementine, Connector, FHDL, Connector, Culvert, Confluence and then beer.  I was pumped.  I knew there would be riders I could hang with, so I was looking forward to this one.  Then it happened.  ~10 miles into the ride I flatted.  Tore a sidewall on my Maxxis Ikon.  I had been meaning to replace this tire for the last month...waited too long.  No problem, I will throw in my spare.  Oops, no boot and nothing to use as a boot.  Plus my spare (that slightly bulged out of the tear)...the same spare that I always cinch tight to my seatpost with an awesome strap, well it had a slow leak. Doh!  Attaching the tube to the seat may be a good idea for races, but when on training rides, put it in the pocket or pack. So I was done...well, I was done after a long walk back to the car. Lesson(s) learned.

Ouch!

Out for another awesome Wednesday night ride with the Bicycle Emporium crew...a new guy to the group ride shows up on his brand new bike...le'ts call him Jason.  Jason is a cool guy who is working hard keeping up on the climbs like a champ.  All is going well until we get to a steep gorge that required hiking down, crossing a rocky stream and hiking up. the other side.  A number of us had already crossed, and some were in the process of crossing when we heard a yell, combined with the sound of falling rocks, snapping branches and rustling leaves...followed buy a thud.  Jason had fallen down the steep ravine to the river bed nearly 40 feet below.  Rather than go into too much detail, lets just say we got to him quick as we could and were relieved to find he was not too badly hurt.  A ton of sticker bush scratches, a bruised leg, and a bad headache (and likely a concussion).  We helped him up to the trail and a few people stayed with him the 2 miles out to a road where a truck was waiting to get him up the hill.  So all is well it would seem, then to top it off, I got a 2nd wind going up Stagecoach (2 mile doubletrack climb) and surged ahead of a bunch of guys that are clearly better riders than I.  I never am one to try and show anyone up, but I could not believe my pace on the SS as I had fallen back, then caught everyone...so I just kept it going to the top of the trail and the extra 2.5 miles back to the shop.  It was cool to get some props from the other riders for my climb...good guys, strong riders...I just had a good climb (honestly did not know I had it in me).
Anyway, the lesson learned here is to ALWAYS wear your helmet, and you even when tired, just keep pedaling and good things may happen (that is kinda my riding mantra).

The outer view of Jason's helmet...yeah, it saved his skull for sure.

You can see where his helmet broke in four places from the impact.

Nothing to do with riding, but here is the honey I was hanging with this weekend.  Wood never looked so good!