Take Two

Take two was the same time as One, due to a broken spoke at the 2:10 mark. Had to drag my sorry ass back up Rt. 31 again, enduring the ride of shame to the xB and calling it at 2:25. When I told Wifey that I would be home about the same time as yesterday, I did NOT mean it so f*cking literally!! Oh well, better now than next weekend's SM100.

Oh well, got 2+ hours in the saddle, did some splorin' and had fun in the woods. What else is there? Beer, turkey ballz, and soccer (football) I suppose.... :)

Later.

Take One

I went to the mountain to ride on Saturday. Started out great, nice temps, little cloudy, then even a little sunny, then more clouds, then more wind, then darker clouds, then steady cool rain. I was 2:15 into the ride and just about to drop several miles down Auckerman when the rain came harder. I had to make a choice on whether to keep going or head back to the xB. Based on the fact that I had no idea how long the steady rain would last, I had no rain shell, and it would be a good 30+ minutes of climbing if I kept going, I aborted and headed back to the xB via Rt. 31.


When I got in the xB it said that the temp was 65. By the time I got home the sun was full on out and the temp was 80!! WTF? Oh well, now I have an excuse to go back to ride today! :)

Later.

Slow & Muddy

I wanted to do a short ride today since I want to get a longer effort in tomorrow. I thought about just doing a flat cruise on the rail trails for an hour and half, but just had no desire. So I headed over to Boyce before the rains came.

Sadly even know it didn't rain here in the Dubya-Oh, it DID seem to rain in Monroeville, so the trails were slick at snot. But I was happy to be riding some single track, kept it slower than my normal crawl, and just had fun trying to keep the rubber side down on the slick clay and roots. I'm always amazed at how much more I notice the amount of roots that seem to be perpendicular to the trail when its wet.

Coming up one small hill a low branch entered my helmet vent, I thought it would break. What almost broke was my freaking neck! JEEZE-LOUISE!! As I pedaled on the clouds got a bit darker, and it started to drizzle. No worries, I'm already wet and almost done, so I pedaled on. A little on I run into a dude doing some serious trail work solo. He had just cleared a major tree off the trail, but there was one more piece that was being hung up on a nasty vine. He had rope all looped around the tree, so I offered some help and we started pulling like two fools and could not get the vine to give up. Oh well it was a nice attempt. Cheers to the dude for doing all that work to clear the trail.

Short ride completed, I head back to the xB, get cleaned up and stop at the local six pack shop to pick up some weekend goodies. Then the skies opened up and pissed down rain. Looked like I got out of the woods just in time!

Time to enjoy some of those goodies I bought, hang with my two favorite people and think about a long ride tomorrow.

Later

Re-Rode & Re-Stung

As much as I would have liked to have made another weekday assault on the mountain, I used some self control, got some "business" things done today and then headed out to do my rail trail/road/crap road route, or at least most of it.

First I mixed up some homemade gel by combining a few scoops of CytoCarb II, some Elete, water, and dash of cherry Crystal Light (with a hint of caffeine). Turned out yummy, and did the job. I did the same thing yesterday with some orange flavoring, but used too much and it was bit overpowering. It wasn't orange gel, it was XTREME ORANGE GEL WITH LONG LASTING ORANGE FLAVOR! FLAVOR! FLAVORRRRR!!!

MY mistake today was not in the gel, but in figuring that if I was using the nice caloric pack punch in my flask, I could skip the calories in the bevies. WRONG! Should have mixed at least ONE bottle with some calories. Water and Elete wasn't cutting it to get me to the end of a full 3 hours comfortably.

Started off nicely rolling the r.t. on the Mamasita. After a few miles I duck down a rocky mile and a half or so stretch of double track that is "officially" a road on Google Maps, but in reality is a dead end service road with a gate. Sure there are POSTED signs up on sides of the trail, but WTF? It's on the map, and I've never seen anyone out there. Today as I approached the gate that has a space on the side to easily scoot around I NOT only noticed that a chain has been stretched over that space, but also there's an old dude fixing the no trespassing sign ON said gate. Hmmm. I was in a tight spot.

Options: Turn around? Ignore the guy? Wait for him to get snitty with me and then go f*cking ape shit on him? Or get all Eddie Haskell on him. Super polite, play dumb (not hard for me) and see what happens. I went with the Eddie Haskell approach.

"Good morning sir, mind if I scoot around the side here?"
"No, go ahead, you'll have to go around that tree though."
"Not a problem sir, thanks a lot, I appreciate it, have a good day."
"No problem, you too."

Hmmmm, not happy about the increased security presences (that would be the chain), but it's still doable, and the dude didn't give me any lip, so the poaching of the service road will continue until shots are fired, or I'm kidnapped by a group of meth head, deer hunting hillbillies, hog tied sodomised, and left for dead along a back road wearing nothing but a now assless pair of bib shorts.


After that, the ride was the ride. Nothing worth getting too in to other than getting stung by more insects. Not sure what the hell is getting me, but I'm covered in itchy welts. I think they're like biting flies. They get in my jersey and then sting, sting, and then sting again. FRIG!! Almost made me crash!

By the 2 hour mark I was realizing my mistake with the bottles, and decided to abort a couple roads and head back. Cutting out those road only really cut about 15 minutes off the ride, but it was enough to get me home faster and into the arms of a tuna salad sandwich.

Salt stains can turn black shorts into urban camo PDQ. Not sure why I was pumping out so much salt. I guess the salt in the 1/2 a bag of tortilla chips I ate with dinner last night had to go somewhere. I think I see Elvis in there!

Not sure what I have on tap tomorrow. I need to start some new pages for the mag, so I might try to do as much of that in the a.m. as possible. Save a low key ride for Friday a.m., and then some longer miles on Saturday.

My trusty old Kodak EasyShare CX7430 point and shoot digital continues to lay in a shat bed. Ever since my bottles leaked on it a few weeks ago it will not hold a charge. Even with new rechargeables. I paid $50 on eBay for it 3 years ago. It's my fave camera to use while riding. Why? Because it has a SUPER easy ON/OFF switch. The newer point and shoot digital camera I got a couple years back has all sorts of mega pixels and what not but SUCKS! The ON/OFF button is recessed. WTF? Have you ever tried to push a tiny little ON/OFF button with full fingered gloves on.

On top the ON/OFF thing, every picture comes out like crap (yeah, it's the camera! -ed.). The flash overpowers everything, every picture blurs, and "image stabilization" just ups the graininess of the pics. So if you wonder why my pics are even MORE monkeyed with than usual, it's because the original is so ephing bad, I have to do SOMETHING to make me want to look at the pics. Truthfully most of the wash out in the "salty" pic is like that on the original. P.O.S.!! Time to hit eBay to seek out another cheap ass EasyShare!

Later.

A Quick Escape

Since I turned out the work I wanted yesterday AND got some additional rest in the meat sticks I wanted to try to do the most I could, what what I have, when I could. So after B-Man went to school, I chamoised up and headed up to the mountain to play.

It was so perfect out today, it made for an incredible day on the mountain. Sun, nice temps, low humidity, and time in the saddle. Perfect. I didn't do all my normal stuff, didn't want to push the time thing, I mean I did NOT want to be dealing with any major mechanicals, and be miles from the car with a B-Man to pick up later in the day at school. THAT would NOT win me any Dad Of The Year awards anytime soon.

I did explore a forest road and a trail that I've been wanting to check out and got some info to file away in the Dirt Ride Spank-Bank. I still ended up with a just a hair under 3 hours in the saddle when I made it back to the xB. It was a good time, but I have to admit I felt a little guilty. The boy was in school, Wifey was a work, and I'm out riding my bike for 3 hours in the woods. I look forward to doing it again though, I didn't feel THAT guilty. Hey, I do stuff!! ;)

Once home it was a quick snack, shower and B-Man pick up. Now it's time to make some real grub, I'm about ready to eat my hand.

Later.

Lower Than Low Key

Yesterday off the bike morphed into today off the bike. B-Man started his first day of kindergarten today, and Wifey and I were both a bit caught up in making sure it all went smooth, worrying about how he would be and feeling sad because this is another big step for him and for us. So with all that on my mind, I really didn't feel like riding.

I did get a bunch of pages done for the upcoming fall issue of XXC, then chilled and played copious amounts of footie on the Wii. I went through the entire Premier League as Arsenal with only one loss. I think next year, I might just say screw racing and just play video games. Kidding of course. With the amount of work I got done today, and the fact that all went well for B-Man at school, I feel better about taking time to get a long mountain bike ride in tomorrow.

Looks like the weather is going to be pretty sweet for some miles in the dirt tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Time to chill some bottles, look at some maps, lube up the Dos and get some sleep. Hope to get back to some bike talk tomorrow, instead of blather on about video games and my not real job.


Later.

Mountains Of Motivation (and Lemmy)

I was looking forward to a trip to the mountains on Saturday, even though I had no idea how the trails would be after all of the thunderstorms the area got over the past few days. Even though I was looking forward to going, I found myself again, sitting around drinking coffee and feeling unmotivated to get my ass in gear. BUT I knew if I didn't ride, I would be a crank-puss all day and pretty much annoy anyone and everyone I would come in contact with.

So downed another cup of coffee, grabbed my bottles, bike, and chamoised up before I lost any motivation. Before I knew it I was in the xB hurling myself towards the mountains. Motivation came on as I hit the turnpike and I found my fingers spinning the iPod's wheel to Artists: Motorhead, All Songs.

Now all is good. I'm in the mountains, motivation is up, and the temps are cool(er). So let it begin....

The trails were muddy in places, but tacky overall. The forest roads were packed down pretty good, and I ran into a few riders that clued me into some other single track trails in the area. Nice to know there is so much left to explore. But that would be another day.

I took Auckerman Road down the mountain to avoid the muddiest horse trashed parts of Mountain Streams. On the way down a chunk of rock flies up, cracks me in the shin and cuts me. Nice. I have the muddies, most horse shit covered trails to ride yet and I have open cut on my leg. Hello gangrene.

My only goal today was to go back to my pace for riding the climbs and not push gears that will just tire my legs and back too soon during a race. I pushed my pace at the 101 and paid for it by the half way point. So I'm going back to my slow and steady technique. I achieved that goal today. I have been a few minutes slower on the climbs, but when I got to the top of the two biggest climbs of the day, I felt fresher.

So 3 hours in the saddle later, I was glad I found the motivation to get my ass to the mountains. Once home, it was a quick trip to the store to get the fixings for some Cheezy Mexican Rice & Bean Nacho Bake, and some porch time with Wifey, B-Man, and a Hop Devil or four.

Good week in the saddle. Taking today off, visiting with my Dad and getting B-Man ready for his first day of Kindergarten tomorrow. Not sure who is more nervous about his first day, me or Wifey? 'Cause I'm pretty certain that B-Man is not that nervous at all. ;)

Later.

Continued

I continued my Thursday ride where my Wednesday ride left off and added a bit more. So it was more limestone, more double track, more back roads, and more pavement to get a nice 3 hour ride in. I will say that a 3 hour ride that was 60% pavement with knobbies seemed like a really big mistake at about the 2:40 mark. But it was exactly what I wanted/needed. The rain, dampness and humidity continues to be a daily occurrence here in my little corner of the W.S.E. But no complaints riding it what felt like a fecal smelling greenhouse felt good, in a sticky, sweaty, nasty sort of way.

Glad to be taking today off the bike. Need to get a bunch of stuff done, and taking time to ride all yesterday morning did not help my productivity. Not sure what riding the weekend holds. The WPA area has been getting pounded pretty good the past couple days with storms, so not sure what the conditions on the mountain will be like. I guess I'll just wait and see.

Later.

Back At It, On It, Whatever...

Today, like Monday, I got my ass chamoised and out the door before I allowed myself to become overwhelmed with a non existent mental "to do" list. On tap was some miles on the Mamasita via a variety of surfaces- Limestone, rock, dirt, gravel, pavement, etc.,

I think I've been on my road bike like once in the past 3 weeks. I've been doing just about everything on my mountain bikes. If I'm only going to be riding for 2 to 3 hours I figured I might as well make it harder. Yeah, yeah, at times as I whirled along on the pavement I could almost hear Aaron's ridicule, and sense the disspointment from the roadies of the world, for riding a mountain bike on the road, but I worried not, for I find myself deeply immersed in the Tao of Gerry (minus the talent) and am feeling the love for riding my 29er in most every sitch.

I've been starting and ending most of my recent rides on our local rail trail. It's funny because I see some of the same characters every ride. There's the hobo that sits at the picnic table, there's the shaved headed 400 lb. dude (I kid you not, but good for him!) on a cruiser that matches his car, the 6'4" skinny as a rail, mullet headed meth head dude I see walking along the trail, and lastly my favorite dude... A dude that I affectionately call "Ned Overend's Grandfather".

"N.O's.G." sort of looks like Ned, rides a vintage mountain bike with like an early Rock Shox Judy on it, and is always in a full vintage early 90s mountain bike kit. We pass going opposite directions at about the same time, every time I ride, and as he passes he always rings the bell on his bars. Seeing him never fails to make me smile. The bell, the bike, the kit, his age and his enthusiasm. It all works together to make those last few miles to the finish a little better. Thank "N.O's.G.".

The only downfall to today's ride was the fact that I KNEW I was going to be in the saddle two to three hours, yet I only took one bottle of water, one bottle of CytoCarb/Gatorade, and NOTHING else. So needless to say, 80 degrees, 90% humidity, 38.5 miles, and 2:35 later, I was ready to drink river water and eat mud. I'm an idiot.

Hope more of the same tomorrow, but with more fuel and less idiocy.

Later.

Busy?

The past day or so I feel like I've been doing a million different things and getting nowhere. I didn't even get a ride in today. Where I succeeded yesterday, I failed today. I was chamoised up, had my bottles filled and then aborted to do the overwhelming feeling that shit needed done. WHAT excatly I HAD to get done, I'm not sure. Ug!

I did take the time to get all the horse shit off the Dos Niner and get the Mamasita looking spanky. I did notice my first scratch on the Mamasita. Makes her look tough, yet still sexy. Like a nubile Mexico City hooker with a scar. OK, I'm not sure that's all that sexy.

The rest of my non Dad time was spent TRYING to organize some XXC stuff (blog post, pricing a possible promo item, and planning #4). Dad time is actually really nice. Things will be changing a bit next week when B-Man starts kindergarten. Yikes! To put a selfish/positive spin on that he is looking forward to it, and it will free up a bit more time for me to work on the mag AND up my ride time, just in time for the off season. Unless I take up Cross? ;)

Got a nice box of Elete the other day. I picked up some Elete at Pro Bikes not long after the Leesburg Bakers Dozen this year, and just love it. So to get a box of flavorless, non cramping goodness was awesome. Thanks.

Keep in mind two things. A. Elete seems to work for me, you might hate it. and B., Advice from someone who consistently finishes as far off the podium as I do MAY or may NOT be a wise decision on your part.

Man, I can NOT get in the temperature zone. A/C on and I get too cold, A/C off and I sweat like a fat man's taint. Eeesh, it's not the heat.... it's the f*cking dog ball humidity.

Time to go sweat all over myself.

Later.

Mental Constipation

This morning I was having mental constipation. My brain was frozen like a Wisconsinite's colon. Get it? Wisconsin... all that cheese....constipation...? Oh 'cmon!!! I tried and tried, but I could not get my mojo going for my ride OR much of anything else. I got some work done on one of my other blogs, readied some bottles, found some bibs and a jersey for my "supposed" ride, but I still just sorta futzed around the house. Road? Trail? Rail trail? 'Come on dude, times-a-wastin'! The sun is getting ball dropping hot!! Shit or get off the freaking pot!! I knew I needed to get going, yet I continued to futz.

OK, maybe I should just abort? Do some more work, write some e mails, maybe look for a job? Ah f*ck it, where's my iPod??? I'm just gonna grab the Mamasita, and pound out a quick rail trail ride. Maybe listen to some of that music that I keep downloading from eMusic, yet never get around to listening to.

Success! Out of the f*cking house! OK, a tempo ride on the rail trail was not my first choice of rides or things I wanted to do today, but beer at 9 a.m. while not unheard of, is frowned upon by both society and Wifey's alike. My second choice would have been an all you can eat Mexican buffet, but not only are there none around here, my steadily climbing BMI made me think better of it. So I figured if I want to enjoy things like Hop Devils, Mexican food, and life in endurance racing's mid pack, I better put forth at least a reasonable facsimile of a ride.

Just before I entered the rail trail parking lot I thought of two things. The first thing was the sign I just saw before making the right turn that said "Boston, PA, named after Boston, MA". Yeah, no shit!! THANKS! The second thing, was- "Oh EPH! I left my head phones on the couch!!" Grrr! Doing a rail trail ride without head phones CAN be done, but it is NOT recommended. But here I was, at the trail head with an iPod and no earphones. Frig!

I figured, I'm here. I need to get a quick workout in, so earphones be damned. I started out, and unbelievably I soon found myself in a Zen like state of peace. I was amazed. This is a rail trail along a "not so scenic river", with some "not so scenic" scenery. I'm on a mountain bike made for MOUNTAIN BIKING. Single track, dirt, mud and rocks, not limestone! Why am I feeling this way?

I had no idea? But I just went with it, because it felt good. The sun was warm, my legs were waking up, and I cruised along nicely just taking in the sounds of my tires on the limestone and my breathing. I thought about life, about goals, about the good and the bad things that have happened over this season of racing, and about where I want to go on my bike in the future. Most of all I thought about how damn glad I was that I took a 105 minute dose of the mental laxative that is riding my mountain bike.

The rail trail could have repaid me for my past ill words of it with miles of boredom. Instead it gave me the gift of getting out in the summer sun, riding my bike, thinking about life, and feeling like I'm riding and enjoying life, not escaping it. I needed that. EVEN if it was just the rail trail.

Later.

Mountain Trail Goodness

After a week that saw me mostly riding on my local roads and rail trails, I was anxious to get on some real dirt. Better yet some real dirt in the mountains.

I pretty much had my normal loop planned. By "normal" loop I mean the one that was my standard last year, and the one that I did with Don, Aaron, and Brad earlier this year, but have not done again since. I haven't done it that often for no other reason than I was experimenting with some other loop options. I did add some extra Lookout Loop single track in, so my time was a little slower, but anytime I can add more dirt in, it's a bonus.

The only drawback (pardon this rant) to the ride was the conditions on the low parts of Mountain Streams trail. 95% of the trails on the mountain were bone dry. This trail had deep mud pits from horses pounding the trails with their 3 ton asses and hooves after the rains.

Nothing against the horses (although at times on Mountain Streams I would have roasted one over a spit in a second), but DAMN! Mud bogs filled with hoof prints, shit, and all the disease that comes with a pool of baking mud/shit is not that fun. Mountain bikers are encouraged to stay off the trails after the rains, we're forbidden from riding in places like Roaring Run and yet the horse people tear the shit out the trails. I'm all about multi use, but what the eph?


Truthfully, there are parts of the trail that are in need of bridges and/or drainage. Easier said than done though, since the bridges can't be the simple homemade bridges you often see on your local single track, they need to stand up to the weight of horses, riders, etc. Given the fact that our great state (or commonwealth) is considering CLOSING state parks, etc., I don't see them dumping money into trail bridges anytime soon.

Anyway, sorry for that small rant, because the ride really was titz! There were times I realized that I was pedaling along with a grin on my face. Plowing over the spider web of roots with the Dos Niner on Lookout was particularly fun and the downhill of Mountain Streams was ass puckering as usual, but still damn fun. There was a funny part climbing up out of the North Woods trails towards Tunnel Road when a HUGE gang of pheasants/quail/grouse whatever took off beside me. The result was me letting out a scream of "HOLY SHIT!!", raising my heart rate another 100 beats, and nearly dumping breakfast in the chamois!

Climbing up Camp Run was slower than usual. The heat was pretty intense, and the road is really deteriorating. The gravel is super loose right now and there are ruts everywhere, so I had to do more sitting and spinning. Standing was hard to do without spinning out on the loose gravel. As I climbed a few friendly hillbillies on quads came towards me. They asked what was at the bottom of the hill. Without stopping a yelled "381!" over the sound of their quads. They thanked me and continued on. 10 minutes later they would pass me coming up the hill. One dude half jokingly asked me if I wanted a ride up the hill. It WAS tempting, I will say that. But I just waved him on.

Finally made it up CRR and to the xB. 35+ miles, 4+ hours, a shit load of climbing, 2 bottles of CytoCarb II/Gatorade, 1 bottle of water, 1/2 a flask of Hammer Gel (leftover from a recent race), a Snickers bar, and God knows how many gobs of muddy horse shit later.

The ride felt great. It was nice to do the full loop again. I did spy some trails off of Mountain Streams that I would like to 'splore someday, and I of course continue to think of new options to the loop. Better giddy up! Only a couple months or so left, before the weather up on the mountain could turns cold, wet, and snowy. Yikes!!

Taking today off the bike, gonna chill and get ready for another week.

BTW- I want to add get well wishes to friend and XXC contributor GNAT (Jason). Dude crashed on Friday, separated a shoulder and did some bone wreckage to his arm. Hang in there Jason!

Later.

The Hair of The Brother of The Dog...

Got out on the Mamasita for more of the same of what yesterday brought, but in reverse and different, but with the same result. The result of course was a good workout on the bike and another 2:30/35 miles in the saddle of my mountain bike.

Shit was still gray, foggy and nasty looking here this morning. That was of course up until my ride was OVER. Temps were cool, but it was so humid I was still sweating like an Amazonian freak of nature. Once the ride was over the sun was out and things go nicer (of course). But a ride is a ride, is a ride, is a ride. Legs worked, calories spent, brain in good condition (or good enough).


Took XXC to the FaceBook nation today. So you can become a "fan" if you choose. Or not a fan. I really wish they would come up with that on FB. "Jason is now NOT a fan of John Mayer".

Time to eat. Freaking STARVING!!

Later.

Moist and Chewy Riding

Took yesterday off the bike and off the blog. I realized Monday night that I had been on the bike in some form or another for 5 days in a row. Yes, some days were harder than others, and many folks ride just about everyday, but not this kat. I know my limits, and I know my limits have limits that are limited by the limits that are imposed by the Royal Council of Physical Boundary and Limit Setting (NOT affiliated with Snyders of Berlin OR those bitches at Snyders of Hanover).

This morning was sooo freaking dank and gray. It really looked like it could rain at any second, but there was no rain in the entire tri-state area. It was freaking humid though! As I described in an earlier FB comment- it was like a vadge-tastic voyage to the center of the Amazon! YIKES! I think I got jungle rot on my chamois bits.

You know you're in PA when... Wet crap roads, hills,
and a case of Keystone Ice on the side of the road.

The ride was good though. It was a variation of a road ride that had a twist of ghost road double track, a hint of rail trail all atop a generous helping of Mamasita. After riding my road bike on Monday I expected to feel sluggish on the road with the Mamasita, but NAYYYYY!!! NAYYYYY I SAY!!!! I actually felt better on the 29er than I did my road bike on Monday. Part of that was rest I'm sure, and part is that I just dig it. I've been riding my mountain bikes for so much of my riding the past month or so, they just feel right. I'm sure it will pass, but I'm diggin' it. Epecially since I'm digging into the mental/physical reserves in an attempt to pull a SM100 finish out of my ass in a month, and I need all the help I can get. So roll 'em big and fat I say! (I guess I said "nay" a few times back there too.)

So a nice 2:35 of saddle time and good ride was had. This was of the first rides I had in a while where I could almost feel myself grinning at times, even at the end. On Monday I was day dreaming of the rides end. Today, I was sad to stop, but happy it felt so good.

Moist and chewy? Sort of like today's ride.

And I thought having "Ride and Smile"
on the ass of my Salsa bibs was funny.

It's been a busy couple of days, I've been working on a couple features for the next issue of XXC and I have a couple of new blog posts up over on the mag's blog. I've also been busy reworking the XXC logo. I've come to hate the current one. I made a couple of mistakes and some bad choices and now every time I look at it, my ass gets chapped! The new logo is not a HUGE departure, but I like some of the options I have for one and two color printing (for possible promotional items) and options to write the name out. Unsure whether it will debut sooner or later, say season "two". Part of my wants to get it out there "sooner", 'cause who the f*ck knows what will go down in the coming months. Uncertainty, not a fan. But I am a fan of the new logo. ;)

Later.

The Stream of Zeus & That Sucking Sound

Another day of dog ball heat here in WPA. This now makes 3 hot days this summer and 2 days in row. I would use the term "heat wave", but it's currently raining (surprise, eh?) harder than the exit stream of mighty Zeus himself, and temps are to be back in the 70s tomorrow, so me thinks I can shelve my fears of turning to steamy pile of dog feecus anytime soon. (Edit: the storm is pretty much over and streams of sun are shining through the darkness. Looks UBER cool. Still looks like Zeus might dick slap us again soon though).

Yes, the plans to melt into a pile of dog doo can be shelved, but that doesn't mean that I didn't FEEL like a pile of dog doo during my road ride today. The heat and humidity were brutal, even at 9 a.m.. I felt like I was riding with a glue filled Zip-Loc bag over my head (NOT that I would know what that feels like). Damn, I was spent by the end. Lets just say it was a three bottle ride, and I had two. It felt good though. Or at least as good as near dehydration can feel.

That sucking sound....

By "sucking sound" I do not mean the groans, vurps, and grunts I make during a bonk as I race my way to a mid pack at best finish, or sounds emanating from a computer, with a fast download speeds and fresh "content". I mean the audible sound of me being ssssssssssssssucked into the book I'm currently reading.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, has sucked me in hard. The books been out for a while, but I just never got around to reading it. I won't get completely into the book or anything, this is a bike blog (sadly), not a book club, many of you have surely read it, and I'm only 1/4 of the way through it. For me it sort of picked up where books like Fast Food Nation and movies like Super Size Me ended, but with a deeper look at the "hows, whys, and what the f*cks?" of what we eat and don't eat here in America.

Anxious get further into it. Also anxious to read Pollan's more recent In Defense Of Food. But I gotta get this one done first. Which given my attention span (even though I sucked in) could take me 3 months.

I guess I should to try to go squeeze a few pages in before I get distracted by shiny lights or cartoons or something.

Later.

A Dog's Nuggets

Today was like the 2nd hot day of the summer. We ACTUALLY got to close to or just above 90 degrees! I wanted to get out for a short ride today, but I owed owed my Dad a visit with B-Man. Usually that means a nice road ride on some rural-ish roads. But I wasn't into the idea of a road ride in 90 degree heat. So I delayed my departure time and took the Mamasita down to the hell trail for a spin and then onto the road for some climbing before things got too steamy. It was only like a 27 mile ride, but it was nice to get out, blow the stink out of my legs, and beat the dog ball heat by a bit. The warm temps felt good.

Today I did some climbing on some roads that I usually find myself descending on. The climbs were good, still doable in the big ring, and were pretty low traffic today. Just me and whirl of my knobbies on the road. Vrrrr, vrrrrr, vrrrr, vrrrr. I need to get me some slicks for these rides. That is one of the downfalls (maybe the only one) of running Stan's. Once the tires are on, you're kinda of a slave to them for a bit. Having said that, I wouldn't go back to tubes for anything. OK, there are a few things that I would go back to tubes for, but that's a WHOLE other blog on a WHOLE other "only $6.99, will not appear on your credit card statement" type of site. I'm KIDDING! EEESH!!

Hope to up the riding this week. Especially since I finally felt mentally recovered enough from the Wilderness 101 to register for the SM100 today. That week delay cost me like $25, but it was worth the time to get my head on straight and refocus on my goal for the season. I think after the SM100, it will be Iron Cross and then done. Then it will time to think about next year... Think REAL hard about next year!

Time to chill.

Later.

The Anti Race Ride

As indicated on yesterday's blog post, as the day progressed I got less and less enthused about getting up a 4:30 a.m. to drive to Big Bear to race 50 miles, the week after a hundie with an epic bonk. Not sure why I was even entertaining the thought of racing? All I need do is look at the race I had at the Wayne Ultra back in June (Jesus, I can't believe it was that long ago!). I was running on fumes as I recovered from the Lumberjack. I've always had the rule of not racing the week before or after a race. But I ALMOST let myself do Big Bear just to do it and see some friends. While it would have been nice to see my friends and ride some great trails it wasn't get up at 4:30 a.m., pay $60 worthy.

So what did I do since I petered out on the race? I opted to get some rest, hang with B-Man while Wifey got to the gym for a class she wanted to take, and then head up the mountain for some single track. The ride was great, and I felt pretty good, but I will say at the end of the ride I was really glad I didn't race.

I parked on 31, headed over to Seven Springs, did the course (at least 97% of it) and then on the way back hit Jones Mill and Lookout for more mountain single track. The trails were in great condition, and it was fun to ride. The race course seems to have a few new little trails in before the climb up the slopes. Not sure why, since the climb is already as slow as a constipated turd. I was happy that I really didn't do or have to do the climb since I was taking the gravel road back to the North Gate.

I have to say a couple sections of the loop are getting harder- The double track climb on the first half of the course has always had a lot of loose rock, but a really wet summer with lots of downpours have REALLY loosened up the chunky rocks. It was on this climb that I thought I saw a snake laying across the trail. But I ALWAYS think I see snakes across the trail and usually they turn out to be roots or sticks. But I slowed down and THIS time it WAS a snake. Just a big black snake, but a snake none the less. So I tossed a couple stick in its directions and it slithered off.

The newer single track at Seven Springs is fun to ride, but I'm glad I won't be racing on it this year. Really hard to get any speed on it. But it makes for a fun ride in the mountains, I will say that. Since I did the second loop first and the first loop second it was a climb to the top on the service road and then pavement down to the gate and back towards 31. Took a new steep gravel down hill off to the right on my way back down Fire Tower. Ended up just being a gas well road and then I had to hike a bike back up. Frig! Then I went down Jones Mill and Lookout. They were both in great condition and horse free today.

I originally planned on doing more over at North Woods and Mountain Streams, but thought that 2:40 was good enough for a recovery week ride. I was happy to see that adding in Seven Springs with my other loop, will or should easily give me a nice 50 mile ride. That will be another day though. For now I was happy to enjoy the single track, get a little bit of a "soul" ride in, and in the coming week start focusing on lengthening my rides and build back up for the SM100 in September.

Hope the folks had a great race down at Big Bear, but I don't regret not doing it. In fact I'm super glad I didn't. Because 25+ miles felt like plenty today. Not sure I had ANOTHER 25 in me.

Time to chill, have a Dogfish Head Indian Brown (AKA The Best Beer In The World) and think about some food.

Sorry for no pics, but my camera and it's new batteries don't seem to want to hold a charge for longer than 1 minute lately.

Later.

What The Heck Friday

I got out for a short spin today on the Mamasita. Just something to prep the legs for either racing at Big Bear in the a.m. or heading to the mountain to ride. Earlier I was all about doing the race. But as the day and night goes on, I have a few beers and I realize the stress I went through during last week's race, I'm thinking that NOT getting up at 4:30 a.m. and NOT racing 50 miles is the way to go. Especially since I'm about to drop nearly 2 bills on the SM100 and doing better at that race is WAY more important to me right now. I just don' see any value right now in dong the race tomorrow. If it started later, and and I hadn't just bonked like a noob fueled on the fat man fart gas, I would be all over the race. But there is just not any real value physically or mentally for me to do the race. So, as of 9:00 p.m. I am aborting. Let the backlash begin!

So time just to chill and stop worrying about whether I'll make it to Big Bear on time in the a.m.. Gonna hand with Wifey and B-Man, drink a beer an watch Bee Movie. I love that freaking movie! Yes, I'm not completely comfortable with parting with my "hipster cred."

So I leave you with this....

What is Josh Tostado doing in the pic from the Wilderness 101?

Is he...

A) Looking for his keys that just fell betweenst the bridge planks?
B) In the beginning stages of a head stand?
C) Mocking the photographer by farting in his general direction?
D) Proving that even Pros can go down on slicker than snot bridges?

Those bridges were damn slick. I of course tip toes over them like an Nancy Boy.

Later.

When "Good" Is Good Enough...

I didn't have much on tap today. It was my fist day on the bike since the 101 and I just wanted a short and sweet ride in the dirt. That was easy enough. The trails were in pretty good/not bad condition and the legs felt pretty good. I had no interest in a long ride though. Just something to remind my legs of their purpose. Done.

I have to admit it was hard getting too into the ride, or even TOO into blogging about a ride after I read the news over on FatCyclist.com. The news is sad. I admitted to Wifey earlier that in the past year I hardly ever read Elden's blog. Not because I thought he and his blog weren't funny, poignant, and filled with purpose, but because I wasn't emotionally strong enough to read about how strong he and Susan were. I had gone through a lot of similar things with my mother and her M.S. as I was growing up. I couldn't read it. But I checked in now and again to see how things were. I was saddened today to learn of Susan's passing. My heart goes out to Fatty and his family. I can only hope that his words and Susan's strength through this illness has brought to light the horror that is Cancer.

And on that note I say good night. Time to think about things beyond the bike and thank God for the distraction that is life on two wheels.

Later.

Checking My Head

I've been off the bike for four days now. I needed it after my physical and slight mental meltdown at the W101. It was hard for me to wrap my head around the the idea that despite feeling great for almost 70 miles, eating gels, drinking water, taking in electrolytes, and doing all the things that I was "supposed" to do, my body would just shut down and say "nope, no more."

I admit a lot of my mental deflation was ego. I love doing these races, I have not expectations of "winning" or placing, but I've pulled some good mid pack finishes in the past, I had hoped to do that again and I was reduced to feeling like noob and a boob. I mean I was just getting used to my permanent mid pack residence, and NOW I'm in the BACK of the pack trying to beat the Broom Wagon! Yikes!

I just can't seem to get my head around the fact that as cyclist/athlete I'm supposed to IMPROVE not get worse. I need to come to grips with the fact that maybe I AM doing OK for someone who just turned 38, only rides 7 to 12 hours a WEEK, is currently about 7 pounds overweight, and has no real "inherent" talent. What do I expect? You get out what you put in and right now I feel like I'm just not putting that much in to it, so I sure as hell can't expect that much out of it.

At the beginning of the year I was motivated, putting in longer hours, eating better, resting more and was less stressed. In other words I WAS putting in the time and effort both on the trail and road. Now here we are in August, the weather has been wet and soggy for 90% of the summer, most of the time my local trails are slick with mud, overgrown with weeds and a pain in the ass to get to due to Pennsylvania's habit of CLOSING roads whenever they want to do construction that never yields any real result. I have less than 11% motivation (according to my internal auditors) to ride on the road for my hours on the bike. So I went from hours in the teens in the spring to struggling to get 10 or 11 now. I need my mojo back. Who took it? If it was you could you please return it? No questions asked, I won't flip out on your or turn you into the Five-0. Just give it back!

While I can't say that I've got all my mojo back, I can say that the desire to race has creeped back into my noggin since Sunday when I thought to myself that it was time to stop this racing facade and just "ride". I'm inching towards doing the Big Bear Ultra on Saturday just for the chance to ride 50 miles of dirt, and inching closer towards the SM100 in September. I had the goal to get in 4 hundies this year. Right now I have 3, so I guess I can put in 100 more miles. But before I get back to 50 and 100 miles, I'm just looking to get back out for a couple hours of time on the bike tomorrow.

Finally got around to cleaning up the Dos Niner from Saturday's 101 mile love fest. All looks good except for my head tube. I had a multi tool in the side net of my Mountain Feed Bag. One part of the tool pushed through the mesh and proceeded to rub the paint down to the Scandium right above my Pepper head badge. Frig! It's like having a zit on the tip of your nose. Poor Dos. Poor, poor Dos....

Nothing worse than "bag rub" during a race.

I had ANOTHER follow up with my Doc about my (former) DVT today. The Doppler from the other day continues to show some tiny clots in some superficial veins, but no DVT, and NO new clots. So while I do have to continue to watch it, and go back AGAIN in 3 months, I can continue to stay off of blood thinners, and bleed happily whenever I crash.

OK, so now that my 4 days Xtreme self loathing is over I can get back to just my normal everyday self loathing and some riding. I did ride with B-Man for about 1 mile yesterday, but not sure if that counts towards "hours" or not? I know it counted towards fun outside with my son, and I know that's the most important.

Later.

Wilderness 101 Ride Report

I waffled for weeks on whether to do the 101 race or not, but I ended up pulling the trigger and registering a week ago. With the monsoon that all of PA got on Friday I was of course regretting my decision.

Once I pulled into Coburn Park and waited for B. Schmalzer and K-Aho, who were lost in the mountains somewhere, I started to feel a little better, and once B&K actually arrived, followed soon by Steve-O, Young Sam, Rob, Chrissy, Jake, etc., and we set up camp, I started feeling much better and more relaxed about the race and the weekend.

After a night of hanging out talking bikes with all these folks, I crawled into the back of the xB for a pretty good nights sleep. The next thing I knew it was 5 a.m. and I was stumbling around trying to shove some breakfast in my face and get ready for the race.

There were a TON of racers on the starting line at 7 a.m.. Some BIG names, some no names, and everyone in between. The rolling start down the streets of Coburn looked reminiscent of shots from the Pro Tour with a mass of multi colored jerseys, helmets, and bikes in one undulating mass of human velo-ness. It was super cool to watch.

Rolling out of the alley during the start with JR on my left.

We made the sweeping left onto the forest road and the first climb of the day and I settled into a nice middle ring pace. I passed JR, the OBR, and a few other friends as I made my way through the field. The legs were feeling really good and I was stoked.

OK, now for the rest of this report I ask you to please use the attaced Wilderness 101 Jason Suck-O-Meter as your guide-

ONE: Just as we crested the first climb and started down a bit I saw Pete W. So I hammered down and hooked up with him. We seemed to be keeping a similar pace and I started what would be me pulling Pete for the next 50+ miles. Pete did some work. Oh wait, not he didn't! ;) Kidding sort of. My legs were feeling great and I was happy to be cruising along with someone, even if I was doing ALL the work! Pete jokingly claimed team tactics, I claim a lazy Pete. Or is that a smart Pete, knowing not to blow it during the first 60 miles and a dumb ass Jason NOT knowing how to not blow it during the first 60 miles of a race??

TWO: The general rule of the time Pete and I spent together was that I would hammer up the climbs and then he would then descend like a nut and I would try to follow his line as best I could. On a down hill after Aid Station #1 I was flying down a narrow ribbon of wet trail at close to 30 mph, and still could not catch Pete.

THREE: At Aid Station #2 Pete quickly grabbed some stuff and said he was going to "roll slowly up ahead" while I got my drop bag shit, and to catch him on the climb. Pete's idea of a "slow roll" is MUCH different than mine. But I did catch him just as the lonnnng forest road climb kicked up. It was at this point that the hot sun decided to break through the clouds and misty fog of the a.m.. Just in time to enhance the suffering of the climb.

FOUR: Once we crested the top, we then turned onto a nice long rocky single track decent. Again, Pete lead the way, picking some nice lines and his progress only being held up a bit by riders in front of him. Towards the end he did pull away a bit. But I'd find him again up ahead.

FIVE: I would again catch back up to Pete on the ensuing climb and again we would hammer up the climb together. I believe it was this climb that we encountered a dude dressed like a Trojan warrior dancing around whilst his son banged on a bongo drum. They had messages spray painted on the road just like the Tour, etc., It was really cool and I'm sure the dude had no idea how motivating and fun it was for the racers. Rock on Trojan Man. Rock on.

SIX: The rocky and rooty climb up out of Aid Station #3 was where I experienced the first signs of cracking. But I was able to stay within yelling distance of Pete for the most part. That was until we hit the descent. Then dude just ripped it.

SEVEN: I was starting to crack, but hanging in there. Pete and I ripped off 60+ miles quickly and I was totally geeked about my chance of besting my 9:48 mark in '05. This was the first time that I started llllonging/lust for an Aid Station.

EIGHT: When I got to Aid Station #4 I was hurting, tired, and my stomach was starting to get the signs of revolt. I drank a cup of Coke, a hand full of Pringles. I looked over and saw a group of riders who were throwing in the towel. It looked VERY inviting and I did take a minute to think about DNFing. I KNEW that the remainder of the race was gonna hurt. I went out hard, wanted to push myself and was about to pay the price for that effort. With only 26 miles to go I figured "what the f*ck how bad could I get??".

NINE: How bad could I get?? F*CKING BAD! On the climb up out of Aid #4 I was vurping up the Coke and Pringles. It tasted SOOO freaking bad. I made it about half way up the climb, put it into granny and eventually started walking. I was cooked, and sick. F*CK!! Not now!!! I had nothing. I was praying for a MAJOR mechanical to end this. Where did it got wrong?? I was eating, drinking, taking in electrolytes, but then my body just shut down. I went from having one of the best races of my life to the worst. I would ride a bit. Walk a bit. Ride/walk/ride, etc., etc., Along one section of trail I stopped to let two riders by and take a breather. Just as the ride approached we heard the warning rattles of a Rattle Snake. YIKES!! It was off the trails somewhere, but the rattle was enough to get me back on the bike, at least for a few hundred yards.

TEN: I could not believe how lllllong it took me to get to Aid 5. Again, I sat and thought about ether ending my race OR putting my head under the next bike that rolled through the Aid Station. I was hurting BAD! Again, where did it go wrong?? I wanted to quit so bad. Just to be done with it. But I just could NOT bring myself to DNF with only 12 miles to go.

ELEVEN: At this point I thought that maybe ending the race as the aid station would have been the best move. I could barely ride a half a mile without stopping. This was maybe the most miserable I have ever been on a bike or in a race. And I have sucked HARD at a LOT of races!

I could not believe how long this final climb seemed!! Folks that I member blowing by like they were standing still 40 miles ago were now doing the same to me. I was beaten down and humiliated. But there was no way to quit now, so I knew I HAD to finish. I FINALLY made it to the top of the climb and new I could cruise downhill at 30 mph to the final section of unrideable (to me) single track, and eventually the finish.

TWELVE: I bombed down hill at 30 mph to get to that final stretch of hike-a-bike, old rail road bed, tunnels and eventually the finish. During those last few miles there were a few stops to dry heave and think about chucking myself in the stream flowing next to me.

I got passed by a few dudes on the black ash trail along the river, I would catch them just before the final tunnel. As luck would have it, one of the dudes had a small light and guided all 4 of us through the tunnel. Thank you Small Light Dude! The light really showed how many big chunks of rock were in the tunnel. How the f*ck do boulders get inside a tunnel?

Anyway, after the tunnel the group of four or five of us hit the road that lead to Coburn Park. I made no effort to pass any of these guys. They worked hard, and I saw at least two of them crash on the rocks just a few miles back, they can have whatever placings were up for grabs. I was just happy to finish the f*cking race and be done. While I was happy to be done, I had NO joy crossing the line. It was the 2nd most anticlimactic finish- ever. The only time I ever felt worse crossing a line was back at Seven Springs a few years ago, when I only did four laps in the mud, but refused to DNF. But this one was damn close.

I was so far off of my finishing goal and feeling so horrible that I could care less where I finished. I know I sucked, I don't need to see the official numbers to tell me how much. Like the Lumberjack, if the 101 was The Wilderness 60 or 71 I would have been gold! I felt incredible during those first 50+ miles. But these are 100 mile races, not 100K races. Maybe I'll just say the early part of the race was me being Pete's "domestique." I got him to single track fresh, so he could put the hammer down. My work was done. I just had to beat the "broom wagon", Ha!

I think my recent finishes are a good indication that my training rides need to be longer. 3 and 4 hour rides need to get longer. Suffering is part of endurance racing. That's part of the mystique and the allure of it. Pushing yourself. I love that part of the racing, but consistently cracking so hard in every race is making me rethink my goals, and racing in general. How many more times can I crack and still have any motivation to try again??

I will say once I showered and got some food, I forgot about the misery completely. The actual race is just one aspect of an event like the 101. There were so many great folks to hang out with, and swap accounts of the race with. You realize that everyone suffered, it was just a different degrees of suffering.

While even though it would have saved me $25, I could not bring myself to register for the SM100 last night. The memory of my most recent suck fest is too fresh. I need a few days, a few beers, and maybe some high powered live stock tranquilizers to help me forget before I do something like register for another race.

Later.