From 26 to 29 to 29+

O.k. so having two single-speeds might make sense to other single-speed specific riders out there, but to most it's just crazy talk. I find living here in NorCal, some trails really are better off ridden with gears (especially in the sandy crushed granite of Tahoe).
Questions:
I can't afford a new bike outright so...

• Do I get rid of the SIR9 or the One9?
• IF I get rid of the SIR9, because the One9 is a SS only frame, the new bike will have gears.
• IF I get rid of the One9, the SIR 9 could be geared and the new bike a SS.

Why keep the One9? It is much lighter than the SIR at ~18.8lbs. The bike has seen the podium in a number of races, most recent being a 3rd place finish at the Coolest 24hr.

Why keep the SIR9? It can be run either SS or geared. The steel frame and fork provide a noticeably more comfortable ride over the One9. I can get more money for the One 9 (especially the I-9 wheel set).

Decision? Good-bye One9. You have served me well, and I will never forget you, but don't fret, most of your parts will get good use on my new frame.

The 29+ Titanium Carver Gnarvester. Gonna build up a light-weight, big tired, rollin' machine!Yeah Baby!!!

photo from carverbikes.com

Getting Back Into It

News Flash:

• When you are in your 40's it is easier to gain weight and harder to loose it.
• When you are in your 40's, taking several weeks off of riding causes you to loose strength, endurance and speed. It takes maybe twice as long to get it back. Add a 15lb weight gain and it makes it that much harder.
• Duh!

Finally, starting to drop some weight and finally starting to feel stronger on the bike. About time as I am way behind last years pace with some big events coming up quick.

Been riding Hidden Falls and Auburn, and though missing some time while sick, I have finally started getting on the trainer once a week and that in itself makes a huge difference (physically and mentally).
Starting to feel really motivated again...maybe all I need to push myself over the top is a new bike???

 One of my favorite places to ride, Hidden Falls. Over 20 miles of looping single-track with rolling elevation only ~10 kilometers from home. The longest sustained climb is the steady one mile switchback climb up to the parking lot. Other than that, there are several decent climbs but none more than a kilometer and only a couple that make your heart and lungs hate you  (Deer Trail and Turtle Pond).

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...Just Not In That Order

Everyone wants 'The Bad' first: Getting injured AND getting employed has put a cramp in my conditioning. I was in the mid 160's for the Coolest 24hr Race. Just four months later I have gained back all the weight I had lost and find myself back to being in the mid-180's.

'The Ugly' reared it's head on a training ride as I try to get back into shape after being off the bike for several weeks nursing my knee injury. On a short, slow, easy ride at Hidden Falls, with a bunch of weekend warriors I hit bottom. I did not feel great in the morning (GI issues) but was excited about getting back on the bike so off I went. The ride was going o.k. but I started feeling hot and fatigued though it was not really hot and I had only ridden maybe 9 miles. We came to the toughest climb in the park (Deer Trail), a steep gravel/dirt road that goes up maybe .6 miles or so. I have two of the fastest times on this section including a surprising strava KOM. There would be no trophies today however. I began plotting up the hill, slowly. I was suffering. less than 3/4 the way up I had to dismount and start to walk. I just did not have anything. After a minute or so I sat down and tried to drink but instead ended up projectile vomiting whatever was in my stomach (mostly gatorade). So, I was not processing any liquids. Great.
Ultimately I ended up cutting the ride short, but on the last climb up to the parking lot (another former KOM, now 2nd out of 226) I ended up having to walk and ended up with more, violent, projectile vomiting in front of a family with two kids. I apologized as they walked by, rode past them, dismounted and hurled some more...and apologized again.
I feel fortunate to have made it home dehydrated and feeling half-dead. Cest la vie

The Good is that I have ridden several times since then, with the last two or three rides feeling stronger and the legs recovering better and better. I do still have all that weight to lose, but work is hosting a biggest loser amongst the employees this January. So I will just focus on riding and eating and hold off loosing weight until I can win something! Now if that is not being the biggest loser, I don't know what is.

Let It Snow, Let it Snow, Let Us Ride!

Yes, Snow in Auburn. Seems like as good a time as any to test out the cold weather gear. Mikey and I set out with thoughts of riding the whole enchilada (or at least to FHDL) but with the thick snow and mud that we eventually ran into (not to mention the freezing temps) we only made it through less than half of the connector trail before turning back. I will say that having a SS did make for a challenging ride in the snow, though the 2.35 Nobby Nic tires with ~18psi rolled and gripped surprisingly well.
The best part of the ride? My knee felt fine, my toes and fingers did not freeze, the scenery was amazing and I was able to ride the two miles up a slick stagecoach trail with no problems at the end of the ride. Note that due to conditions, it took almost as long to get down stagecoach as it took to get up. Yes, starting to get my legs back...now if only I can get my waist back. :p

First Time at Annadel & Rockville...Ouch, My Knee!

Took the drive with my buddy mike to Annadel State Park near Santa Rosa to meet up with a local mtb group for a ride on some new-to-me trails.  Riding the rigid SIR 9, I ended up with over 15 miles of some good riding with ~2000 feet of climbing, but unfortunately on the final decent toward the parking lot, I had to hit the brakes to avoid someone in front of me who had done the same, and I started to go over. I instantly grabbed the tree next to me to keep from completing the low speed endo, but instead when I dropped to the ground, my foot came down between two good sized rocks causing me to twist and slide a bit down the side of the hill. Then end result was a bit of swearing and a sore knee. I thought I must have struck it on something do to the sharp pain, but no blood. Uh-oh. We would all rather deal with a flesh wound that will heal quickly as compared to an internal wound that could mean surgery.
I tried to walk it off, and even stopped by Rockville and road several miles there. The knee pain shot up with any twisting motion (like unclipping) so I avoided that and finished the ride.

As I am writing this long after the fact, I can now tell you that I limped around for a couple weeks until my insurance kicked in. Eventually an MRI showed I have a slightly torn meniscus (who doesn't) and a severly sprained MCL. There was evidence of fibrous tearing but no 'rip' so rest, PT and all should eventually be well....though this knee hurt all the time before this (always the right knee for some reason) so cest la vie, life goes on!

Climbing Mt. Rose

Much like the Flume Trail is a 'must ride' for mtb'ers visiting Tahoe's North Shore, If you are a roadie (which I am not) then Mt. Rose is also a must ride. This ride involves a steady climb ranging from 5-9% grade for ~9 miles. The views, if you take time to enjoy them, are stellar (duh, it's Tahoe) and the fact that your elevation gain from ~6000' up to 8900' makes this even more of a HTFU challenge.

Vista Point a few miles from the start of the ascent.

I happened to be staying in Dollar Point, just outside Tahoe City, so my 2nd day there I woke up early, grabbed my 22lb road bike, and headed out toward Highway 431 (aka Mt. Rose hwy). It was my recollection that the ride from Tahoe City to the start of the climb was a relatively flat spin around the lake. I was wrong. There were plenty of short little ups here and there to get the blood flowing. I was really uncertain how much effort to put out as I was worried about bonking. A couple years before I did 30+ mile lollipop loop mtb ride from Mt. Rose around Marlette Lake and back. I felt the elevation and bonked hard late into the ride. I was able to finish on the saddle, but felt like crud. Still, I wanted to HTFU so when I hit the base of the climb, I shifted to a comfortable gear (34:24) and decided to SS the rest of the way, as this is more my comfort level. One thing I should point out is that when I started the climb, I initially thought it was 6 miles, not 9. Also, I like to play head games with myself, so rather than hoping the climb comes to an end around a bend, I tell myself that I need to get ready for a longer, steeper section. Well, this was fine until I realized I passed 6 miles with no end in sight. The whole time I felt like 'I got this' as I was never in any danger of bonking and felt pretty darn good. When I passed 6 miles and realized that I may have between 1 and 3 miles left, I was glad I kept the pace easy, though ultimately I could have pushed harder.

Made it to the top baby!

In the end, I made it to the top with no issues, took the obligatory photo under the 'Summit' sign and then headed back.
Ouch my hands hurt! I like long steady climbs...especially on the mtb. What I do not like is fast bombing downhills on a road bike (don't mind on the mtb). I am just not use to this bike and don't really trust it, or myself like I do on the mtb. I rode those brakes all the way down the mtn. eying spots where I could crash or streets to roll up when one or both brakes fail. I refused to get over 30 mph and kept changing hand positions as they were killing me! I eventually made it down and cruised back to the cabin for a 40 mile ride. Two weeks later, I hop on the road bike and my hands are still killing me. They hurt more after this ride than after my 24hr mtb ride. 
Next year I will have to up the goal to a 100 miler or a ride around the lake. I have until then to get my hands in 'brake shape' and maybe improve my courage on descents so I don't brake as much (but I doubt that will happen).
Next purchase for this bike? Disc brakes baby!

Just beyond the summit, a shot of Nevada.

The El Dorado Trail: Folsom to Camino--And Back!

Due to being unemployed this last year I decided to skip both the Mendocino 100 and the Tahoe 100 this year. So I thought I should go out and do something just as hard, but instead I Rode the El Dorado Trail for a 2^nd time. I’ve Been wanting to ride the entire trail since I saw this thread, and I had some free time to git’er done, so I grabbed my wife’s bike (a.k.a. my backup bike), a beautiful, green, rigid SIR9 single-speed and headed out.

Parked at In-N-out in Folsom and after a quick trip through the bushes to Starbucks for a rest-stop, off I went at ~7:40 a.m. (forgot to check, but that’s close);  Placerville Rd to Payen to the trail. I recall that the first few miles were going to be kinda bumpy, but today it seemed like the first 10 miles were rough.

Naturally, there were occasions where I missed the trail and had to hike through some brush to get to it, or was forced to ride along the tracks for a spell until I could cut over to the trail, but all was well on the way up to Camino. I did not have a lot of time for the ride as I needed to be back in Auburn by ~5 so my plan was to stop as little as possible. I carried two bottles with 2hrs each of Infinite mix and 72 ounces of water in my pack. Thought that would be enough. Wrong! Anyway, no problems heading up to Camino. Navigated my way o.k. through Placerville and enjoyed the long steady climb up to the end of the trail (my first time past Missouri Flat Rd.). I made it to the end in just less than 4 hrs and enjoyed some of the fresh black berries and did a water check. I was down to 16 ounces of water and full bottle of Infinite. Not enough. Suddenly a bee started buggin’ me (no pun intended) and I realized I had forgotten my Epi pen, so I grabbed the bike and got the heck out of there.

This fence is the 'dead end' of the trail.

Fun (and restful) just coasting down to Placerville. Stopped at a gas station and emptied a liter of water in my pack and shared a liter of coke between my empty bottle and belly.

Definitely a faster ride heading back to Folsom. Stopped to return a call to my 72 year old mother who is driving her car across the US with her 80 year old friend (it should be a movie) and another stop to pick some needled out of my legs (I was getting tore up!). Still, all was going well…until that long bumpy stretch of trail. I did not remember it being so bad the first time I rode the trail. On the SS I am use to standing and pedaling for long stretches, but my legs were tired and it was hot. I decided I had to sit on the saddle regardless of the trail condition, so I gritted my teeth and took my pounding like a man. I noticed some birds circling overhead. I don’t know what there ‘caws’ meant, but I interpreted them as, “This guys not going to make it” and “I call dibs on his eyes…” so I stood again and picked up the pace. But now my rear end started to feel a bit squishy (my tire, not my butt you freak), but I pressed on.  I was almost to Payen and was not about to stop. When I finally crossed the RR bridge to and arrived at  Payen I saw that my rear tire was kinda flat. Screw it, I am going to press  on. Then after a couple minutes I noticed it was flatter, and I did not want to change it on a busier Placerville rd. So it was flat repair time, under the hot sun, on the blacktop, only a couple miles from my car. Thank God  it just needed some air. I pulled out some star thistle spikes, gave the tire a spin to seal the holes and it was good to go. Made it back to the car at ~3:20, in a total time of ~7:40.

Enjoyed a short break and a blackberry snack.

Now like many other riders, I Strava every ride. This was no exception. I saved the ride as usual and in several minutes the familiar trophy icon was present showing results ready. I pressed to see the results…and nothing. Unbelievable! My entire ride was gone. I mean, if a ride is not on Strava, did it actually happen? This has happened to me once before, but on a ride with my kids. I thought maybe I did something wrong. Strava also did not get all the data from the 24hr race a few weeks ago. I was (still am) pissed, sadden, disappointed and frustrated. I tried all the recommended tricks and ultimately put in a Customer Support Request, but I may need to accept that it is gone.  Oh well. I will wait to see what Strava support says, and in the end, I can manually input the miles, but I won’t get to see how I did on the segments, and I won’t get to make the cool new out and back segment that I was hoping for. I may just need to purchase a Garmin 510 (with my first pay check) and ride it again (next year?), but I am NOT looking forward to that.

Taken in Folsom at the end of the ride.

Star Thistle tore me up. Next time, long socks!

 

Proof of the ride. Taken after I realized that my ride may be lost in the the Strava-Zone

Riding time shown. Total time was ~7:40.

Averaged ~10.3 going up, and 12+ coming down for a total of ~11.3