Weekend MTB Rides

[Artista]

Thanks Keep in mind that I live in a coastal area that's rolling, not mountainous. Also, the trail system that I use my singlespeed at most often (including yesterday) isn't terribly technical.

For me, singlespeeding is another way to introduce some variety into my local trails and to get stronger in the process, all while feeling like a kid again. Believe me, I have a full-suspension geared bike for the hiller and more-technical rides!

You're still a bad@ss

[indysteel]

Ugh; I should have listened to my gut and stayed home. DH and I couldn't hit the trail until about 10:45 because I had an eye appointment first thing in the morning an hour away from the park. By the time we started, it was already terribly hot and humid.

I didn't feel great during a short road ride we did yesterday, so why I thought today would go any better, I don't know. I started to overheat about halfway through. It was rough going from there. At several points, I really thought I might throwup. We finally made it back to the car and I forced some food and hydration down. Catrin and Limewave, to the best of my knowledge were at another trail and I was originally planning to hunt for them. But I really just wanted to go home.

I cannot wait for this heat wave and drought to end.

[Catrin]

Indysteel, sorry to hear you were feeling so bad - it was HOT and this level of heat is just brutal - my body appears to tolerate trails much better than roads in this heat but hot is hot. We got started shortly after 10 on Limekiln. There was a 6 year old with us so we took a good number of breaks along the way and at the turn around. We finished about 11:15 - which is pretty good time for ~5 miles, especially with all of the breaks.

I had my first half-azz endo. I am not sure, but I think I got distracted by something on the edge of the trail that I didn't remember and wound up grabbing a handful of front brake while, of course, riding at the odd dip in the trail. Unsure, but that is the only reason I can think of why my bike stopped moving and I didn't

It wasn't a full going-over-the-handlebars but I did get airborne and landed on my right side. As I fell there was a shooting pain across the middle of my back and I made enough noise that Limewave and the other woman we were riding with heard me and came back - at that point I was taking up the rear.

My language would have made a sailor blush briefly at that point for which I apologized - I don't ordinarily talk like that, especially around children. I took my time getting up to make certain nothing was broken (there wasn't), and while I will have some spectacular bruises later I think - and I may have strained my right pectorial (muscular soreness/slight pain in my right breast), there doesn't seem to be any real damage. Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!

The rest of the ride after that was great and I am pleased with how I did. There are certainly somethings I need to work on - one-legged drills on the trainer will help my climbing I think - but I am comfortable riding solo next week assuming I can work out all of the soreness that will likely come

Oh yes, and I managed to ride the entire trail in the middle chain, last year I wasn't quite fit enough to leave the granny

[indysteel]

Owie, Catrin. I sure hope you're okay. Did you hit your head at all?

On a happier note, my pedals came today. They're prett cool! Not so sure about the shoes though. My toes went kind of numb. I might try the Karvers after all. I have to get the Guides cleaned up to return them if possible. They're just a little dusty.

[Catrin]

Owie, Catrin. I sure hope you're okay. Did you hit your head at all?

On a happier note, my pedals came today. They're prett cool! Not so sure about the shoes though. My toes went kind of numb. I might try the Karvers after all. I have to get the Guides cleaned up to return them if possible. They're just a little dusty.

I think my head/neck are fine - don't think I hit it - I wound up on my side so that was a blessing. That was part of the reason for my colorful language, I remembered the LAST time I had a hard fall - but there doesn't seem to be anything more serious than perhaps a slightly strained muscle. Time for a nice long hot shower now - I wanted to get home before the heat of the day.

Hopefully you won't have any problems trading the shoes, keep us posted on how things go. I have somewhat narrow feet myself, and every ride tells me I need to do something different with my feet.

[solobiker]

No riding for me for several weeks due to back issues. It flairs up every so often and puts the breaks on pretty much everything...except for hiking. Grrrrrr. It makes work as a therapist quite challenging. I am enjoying reading about all the fun you guys are having though.

[Catrin]

Weekday mtb camping vacation felt like the weekend

My crash last Thursday when testing to see if the laws of physics were still operational had consequences... Wasn't sure if bent boob and bruised muscles would allow me to ride but took Jamis Dakar and gear just in case

Monday: no riding, didn't even consider it - 1.5 hour mtb trail hike instead.
Tuesday: TRIED to ride the road inside the campground. Uhuh, riding position too painful, 3 hour mtb trail hike instead.

Wednesday: 4 hour mtb trail hike (mixed with pruning sticker vines that stick out over the trail) AND succeeded in riding a 1-mile beginner trail without pain, repeated it and finished with pain. End of riding for Wed.

Thursday: Back to beginner trail - no pain. Rode it twice Rode another trail connected to it - no problem - even better! Rode a portion of a trail connected to that one up to the road and took that back to my car. Wooot! An entire 4-5 miles when I could barely tolerate 2 miles the day before.

Wait, it got better than that After an hours break or so for lunch and rest, I took my bike to Limekiln - I love that trail and can't say why since it's tried to kill me a couple of times - and rode THAT one with no problem or pain. It is an out and back that is just under 5 miles combined. The trails were so dusty that every part of me that wasn't covered with clothing had dust/dirt by the time I was done. Even the inside of my ears and the holes on my HRM watch strap! It was fun, but man-oh-man do we need rain.

Boob is still a bit bent, muscles still a little tender, but I rode close to 10 miles today on the trails and I will take it I am also figuring out that roots and rocks make me far less nervous than those dratted switchbacks, but I did make some progress on that today. I decided I don't like the North Tower Connector for those familiar with the park, I think because it has more climbing than the other trails I can ride. I need to pay this trail more attention. I walked more on that trail today than I've done in a long time - which seems odd because the NT Loop is easier for me and I would have thought that to be the more difficult trail.

[katherine]

With the kiddos camping with their grandparents I rose to the occasion, and may have overdone it (just a little bit). I did 70mls of the Arizona Trail in the Flagstaff area, which is really gorgeous. Lots of aspens and ferns, elk, the tiniest chipmunks I've ever seen and a gazillion butterflies.
Gotta say, I'm pretty darn exhausted today (I'd post pics, but for the life of me can't figure out how)

[Artista]

With the kiddos camping with their grandparents I rose to the occasion, and may have overdone it (just a little bit). I did 70mls of the Arizona Trail in the Flagstaff area, which is really gorgeous. Lots of aspens and ferns, elk, the tiniest chipmunks I've ever seen and a gazillion butterflies.
Gotta say, I'm pretty darn exhausted today (I'd post pics, but for the life of me can't figure out how)

70 miles on a mountain bike is darned impressive!

[indysteel]

Weeeeeeee! DH and I rode 17 miles today with six friends at Versailles State Park I'm southeastern Indiana. While several in the group were familiar with the trails, and one guy was very familiar (and a great guide for us), DH and I had never ridden them. What a blast!!! They were challenging in parts, but it was mostly flowy singletrack. The hardest section is called Cliffside. As the name implies, there was a streep dropoff. That combined with an off camber trail made it pretty scary. Our "guide" suggested some us walk...so I did. The other hard section is called Creekside. It's about 3/4 mile of nothing but rocks. I was behind my friend, Kim, and I just followed her lead. Fairly constant pedal pressure. Weight off the front. And I did it just fine, along with some rocky hoglike. My climbing technique is getting much better in terms of getting on the nose of my saddle and making smart gear choices.

I really started to appreciate the adages I hear quite often to trust my bike and to trust the trail. It was just a really good learning experience, in part because our friend, Scott, often coached us through some tricky parts. He lives in Cincinnati, so I hope to meet up with him at this park again. He and his buddies--two of whom are certified instructors--often ride in Brown County, which is our usual spot.

Anyway, I had a great day on the bike. I'm all smiles!

[Catrin]

So glad you had such a great time there Indysteel! I've seen a portion of those trails but not much of them.

I returned to my usual trail today and wound up riding it 3 times out and back - which translates to about 15 miles, perhaps slightly under. The first time was with a new riding buddy and that went well. There were, however strong storms here yesterday and on that first ride out/back ride we had to deal with several downed trees. By the time I returned after lunch they had been removed

Lots of sticks and brush on the trail and a couple of times a long branch wound up in my wheel spokes but I stopped immediately, no damage done. Great ride, and the mid-80 temps were just awesome! My partner had to return to town after our first out/back but it was far too nice a day to call it quits before 12, so I pulled out my lunch cooler for lunch and headed back to the trail

[indysteel]

Sounds like a good day! I hope you're feeling more positive after today's ride!

[Catrin]

Sounds like a good day! I hope you're feeling more positive after today's ride!

It was a great day, and yes, I am feeling much more positive. Now I am in a position that I can get out more often to the trails I will be doing so I just haven't been able to get to the trails very often this summer because of this and that injury - which does make it difficult to progress.

[luv2climb]

I've been a bad girl! I haven't gone on a mtb ride since my Fleming Meadows ride in April. The encounter with the equestrian kind of turned me off to mountain biking for a while and I concentrated on road cycling instead, with plenty of climbing, of course.

I thought my recent San Francisco steep climbs on my folding bike would prepare me for steep mtb climbs, but as always the mtb stuff is more difficult than any road climb. The good thing is, for some odd reason I climb better at high altitude. I have no idea why but it's always been that way ever since I got serious about cycling in the early 90s.

As a result, I didn't suffer as much on climbs as I usually do on mtb rides. Even though I love to suffer, it's good that I didn't suffer too bad on climbs on this ride. I needed plenty of energy to navigate my hardtail Trek Wahoo through the incredibly technical singletrack on this famous trail.

This is in the Tahoe-Donner area of the Sierras, near Truckee, CA. I had a bit of trouble finding the trailhead at first. I climbed on pavement on Donner Pass Road from I-80 to the summit. While descending that road I finally found the dirt road turn-off to the snow laboratory. It was a long dirt road climb to the actual trailhead.

This may be the hardest mtb ride I've ever done. I think I set a personal record for dabs, stall-outs, and hike-a-bikes, both up and down! . Most hike-a-bike sections were very short, except for the stairs. There's no way in hell I was about to attempt those on a hardtail!

I rode more conservatively than I normally would, but this was my first ride on this trail. Also, I'd rather ride out of there on my bike, not in a helicopter. The owner of the store I bought snacks at after my ride told me that there have been people helicoptered out of there after they attempted stuff that was beyond their ability and got injured.

Hole-In-The-Ground by freighttraininguphill at Garmin Connect - Details

In spite of my non-daring ride, I did manage to find enough footage for a video.

As with all my videos, this one is 100% natural sound. This means the sounds of effort are clearly audible on climbs and technical sections, so be forewarned!

Hole-In-The-Ground MTB ride - YouTube

I rode the trail in a counterclockwise direction. Here's the start of the singletrack.


Hole-In-The-Ground trailhead (counterclockwise) by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Views from near the top of Andesite Peak. Normally I try not to stop on climbs, but this view was just too good to pass up!


view from Andesite Peak by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

view from Andesite Peak 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

End of the singletrack, right before the dirt road.


Hole-In-The Ground trailhead (clockwise) by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

The following weekend I checked out another trail. This one was much mellower though. It's the Sly Park trail that goes around Jenkinson Lake, near Mormon Emigrant Trail (Iron Mountain Road).

After pushing my bike up a short unrideable section, I got stung on the back of the leg by a yellowjacket when I sat back down. It must have landed on my shorts or saddle while I was off the bike.

Twice when I yielded to hikers, they noticed the cameras and commented.

This loop doesn't have a lot of climbing, so I added some by exploring other legal trails after I was finished.

Here's video of the Sly Park loop. It's the quieter helmet cam footage this time. The chest-mounted GoPro recorded the entire ride with no sound, so that footage was useless. I formatted the memory card and the camera has worked fine ever since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlmtc4sZ62E

Here's a nice steep fire road I found that leads to one of the dams at Mormon Emigrant Trail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTwOsqVzRI8

[limewave]

We camped at a park South West of us and had ample opportunity to mountain bike Saturday and Sunday. These trails are well maintained and have some fun technical sections There is one section of big whoop-de-doos that I had forgotten about--selective memory I guess. They are very 'rideable' but I'm not used to them and my heart managed to lodge itself in my throat during that section!

I did most of my mountain biking with the kids. The trails at this park have lots of loops so you can easily add sections or take short cuts. There's a nice 1-mile section rated "difficult" that is relatively flat other than the whoop-de-doos that has some log piles and other small technical features. The kids LOVE riding this section--they call it the roller-coasters. We'd ride it over and over and over again. The funny thing is how great these kids are at the technical stuff but they just don't have the strength and endurance to ride other sections that are "easier" but have more climbing.

I was also able to introduce my 8 year old niece to trail riding. She told me that this was her Second Favorite trip of all time and that mountain biking is her new FAVORITE sport! Mission accomplished!

Oh, and we all stayed up very late to watch the meteor shower Saturday night. We saw quite a few small ones and one that was absolutely brilliant!