MapMyRide Stats

About 20-30 miles into the early summer of 2012, I starting using the GPS app MapMyRide to record my rides. About mid-summer I switched to Strava. Before I switched, I racked up 110 miles offroad in 41.99 hours over 17 different rides (not sure why the stats show 17 different rides, but only 14 came up in the image below).

A quick review of my stats from previous years readily reveals that even in the half season shown above, I'm doing WAY more biking than in recent years. So awesome and we LOVE Midway.

After leaving the house at 8:00pm, I was still able to ride up the Barrels and get back down to the car before dark. I love this town! The trails were dry as a bone and I rode a coworker's Kona Coiler. I actually like it. It ascends pretty OK, hooks up great in the corners, etc. What sucks on the Coiler? The stupid Hayes Nine disc brakes. They squeak, they don't work well, they require tons of maintenance, etc.

Dutch Hollow Trails, Midway, UT

OK, it looks like I'll be posting a lot about these trails. I had just a little time today after work before the sun went down and I really wanted to sample "The Barrel" trail. I rode up the "Cottontail" trail to the lower portion of the "aqueduct" trail, up that, and to the top of the "Barrel." It is rated "most difficult" but since it is a smooth trail that merely has a lot of whoops and banked turns, I would rate it much lower. It was a real blast though. The Specialist LOVES that kind of trail (since it mimics a dual slalom course to some extent) and it was so fun to just let it fly. Total mileage tonight was probably less than 3 miles, but it was a blast to be back on the bike again so soon.

Dutchman Way Trail, Midway, UT

Although my left crank arm is about to fall off (the spindle hole has been rounded out a bit so it gets loose after about 5 minutes of riding) I took my first ride up into the Dutch Hollow trail system in the Wasatch Mountain State Park. The weather was fantastic and although the trees were all still bare, it was quite scenic looking back over the towns of Midway and Heber and over to Mt Timpanogas and the Uinta National forest. I started at the Dutchman Way trailhead and headed up into the canyon. The trail is not a lot of fun for the first mile or two since the horses have really "pocked" up the trail with footprints that make for a seriously bumpy ride. Eventually, trough, the trail changes from the pockmarked solidified mud to sandy washout to a nice winding single-track through the scrub brush. Right as it was starting to get good though, the trail dead-ended into a gravel road (Dutch Hollow Road). I figured the road would eventually intersect another trail, so I headed up the road. It never did hit another trail, but after a mile or so, the road was steep enough and rough enough that it was similar to a double-track trail anyway so it was OK. The whole ride was a slow grinding climb, but when I finally ran out of water (need to get myself a new hydration reservoir for my pack) and turned around, it was a great downhill run with jumps, ruts, and when I finally made it back to the Dutchman Way trail, the curves were great fun and the rough trail was no problem since I was hovering over my seat anyway.

Later in the day, the kids and I invited their cousins and my BIL Mark over for a hike and we hiked back up into the same Dutchman Hollow trail system. We walked down a few other trails that I am SUPER excited to ride. I have to say, these trails are world class and they are within riding distance of my house - how cool is that! Here's an image from the hike with the kids to give an idea of the views:

Slickrock Trail, Moab, UT

We ran down to Moab and met with some old college friends (Steve and Krista S.). Since we both had lots of kids, Steve and I just had a short time to ride - we did the Slickrock practice loop and then rode into the trail a short ways and back. We messed around for a good bit on a couple of the obstacles and had a good time. The trail was fantastic (as always).

Too bad we just had a cell phone camera - I think we need to go back with a better camera and get some shots for the wall of my office at this spot.

Midway, UT

So - we have moved to Midway UT. Tonight I rode from our house to the Dutch Hollow Trailhead at 40.544958,-111.453031 (on Google maps). It looks like it is almost exactly 3 miles each way. So that will count as my first ride of 2012. A couple of notable items:

- At the trailhead itself, there was still too much snow on the road to ride up anything but a very slight incline

- I saw a herd of deer that were totally unafraid of me in a field on the way out and also on the way back. I rode within 20 feet of them and they didn't even move.

- I saw a couple of bull elk (that are always hanging around right in that area) and they were quite a bit more skittish than the deer

BTW, I just installed the following new parts on the Specialist: Primo Tenderizer pedals, brake and shifter cables, rear derailleur, chain, cassette. It shifts pretty good, but I still need to get a new derailleur hanger.

Austrian Mt. Biking

I think I now know why hiking seems to be more popular in Austria than Mt biking. The "mountain bike" trail we rode today was a gravel road. It would have been nice if it had been even double track, but no, it was just a gravel road. Parts of it even had access by motorized vehicles. It was suspiciously similar to riding up a regular old forest road in the US. The difference was the fantastic views.
I started out with Winter and Jessica, but the initial climb was a death march and Winter soon was unable to continue so Jessica generously offered to take her back to the house while I continued on. Thus the photos are all self-photographed except for the last ones at the lake (where a nice Austrian lady served as photographer.)
By the way, I just about killed myself today - I am not as young as I once was and I was really sucking wind today. I could make excuses all day long about how the air is thinner and whatnot, but in reality, the mountain just kicked my butt (and so did the saddle on the rental bike). Tomorrow is going to be painful. Lovely views though!

Hoge Bergse Bos (Rotterdam)

Today I hit the trail at Hoge Bergse Bos (translates to "high mountain forest" and I would say that all three of those words are probably hyperbole in terms of the extent of the height of the "mountain" and depth of the "forest") just to the North of Rotterdam for a bit of a mt bike ride.

The trailhead is here: Google Maps of Parking lot

The trail is surprisingly nice, but it has the same "feel" as a Texas trail in that they wind the trail around so much (in order to fit a longer trail in a smaller place) that you are often riding within just a few feet of where you just rode a few minutes earlier. I rode a couple loops on the trail and took pictures the second time through:


This is the lookout point at the top of the "mountain":
Some old ladies were nice enough to take a picture for me (although it took about 7 times for the lady to figure out how to get the camera on the iphone to work)
The view of Northeast of Rotterdam and the zevenhuisplas lake:
Looking over the top of the "ski resort" towards downtown Rotterdam:
And looking a little off to the west of Rotterdam:
And looking back towards Zoetermeer:
There was a lot of really nice singletrack and quite a few short (but fairly intense) downhill sections where they have installed stair steps to prevent erosion. So you have to keep on your toes.
They even have some modern art (if you can call it that) mounted out along the trail:
This is (apparently) a replica of the top of the Matterhorn. Apparently it can be climbed inside or out. Below it is some sort of ropes course base camp:


And my ride for the day - my father in law's Cannondale. I really appreciated the fact that he loaned it to me (since I left my Ellsworth in Texas) but I should have approached the trail with a bit more caution. My Ellsworth descends like a (insert analogy to something that is very stable and very very fast and very very reliable) and so I attacked a downhill section too aggressively way too soon (before I was really "tuned" in to the new bike) and I cased it something fierce - I mean I did a full on faceplant where I was picking weeds out of my teeth, nearly broke my nose, trashed the visor on the helmet, and scratched up my forehead. It could have been really really bad if it weren't for the fact that the spot of earth that I attacked with my face was nicely covered in grass, stinging nettle and thistles. If it had been a rock garden, I would almost certainly be in the hospital doing reconstructive facial surgery right now. My neck is majorly tweaked and I feel like a major idiot for going at that downhill like I was on my own bike. Oh well, live and learn right?

Intervals w/ Winter (Texas)

We hit the "Arbor Hills Nature Preserve" today (Plano, TX). It was unkigiuash, Me and Winter. It was Winter's first time taking a bike on an offroad trail and the totally amazed both me and unkigiash. She did the downhills, hit the corners, mashed pedal up the hills and only had to walk a few times (she really needs a bike with gears). How do I know she loved it? She kept "whooping" and "hollering" and yelling "mother nature."

Here's some action stuff.

The trail was a 2 mile loop and was just the right amount for Winter.

The motherland (Colorado)

We pulled an overnighter out to Colorado (Fort Collins area) to hang with our old Outdoors Unlmtd friends. The kids went to sleep in the Suburban in Texas and woke up in Colorado. Mt. Dew and sunflower seeds pulled us through.

My friend Steve and I did a short local run (short is good with the shape I am in) and there was a REALLY nice BMX/dirt jump/obstacle course at the halfway point. We stopped and messed around for a while before moving forward. I rode my other friend from OU's mt. bike since he couldn't come out at the last minute. It was a nice new Specialized Stumpjumper and while it felt strange to be on a new bike (especially one that is set up so very differently from my Specialist) it was great to get back out again and the Stumpjumper is a worthy substitute.

This is a double teeter totter that is cable actuated so that as you roll up the first section, the second section becomes horizontal - then you roll onto that and the cable resets the first section at an angle - a really cool design that adds some challenge to the obstacle as a result of the additional mass that you are working against as you roll through it. I had to hit the brakes at the highest point of the ramp, balance and wait as the mechanism worked through it's range, then proceed forward and pause and balance again to wait again, then proceed.

Steve on one of the elevated balance sections:

And yes, those are some SWEET dirt jumps in the background. Lots of fun and made me wish two things: 1) that I was riding my Specialist and 2) that I knew how to really ride dirt jumps. I couldn't quite get the flow and kept hanging my rear wheel on the flat sections of the table tops. Oh yeah, and I came up short on huevos to try the bigger of the jumps.

Busiek State Park (Branson, MO area)

My brother Josh and I trekked out to Busiek State Park (from our lodgings at Table Rock Lake) for a ride this afternoon. I had read reviews indicating 1) that the trails were kind of busy and that 2) the trails were very technical. Half of that was true.

The trail we rode (the red trail) started out with a nasty technical climb (made nasty by bread loaf boulder and tons of loose rock - presumably from horse riding) and after a while turned into some real nice winding singletrack along a beautiful forested ridge. It was great riding - except we kept having to back track and "explore" the many spurs that came off the main trail because the trail was so poorly marked that it was not immediately apparent which were the spurs and what was the main trail. In fact, at one point, we decided to jump onto the silver trail and thought we had done so. But after riding for probably a mile or so, the trail just kind of petered out and we ended up bushwacking around until we got back on the main trail and backtracked back to the red trail.

I'm sure if we were to ride it again, we could follow the main trail, but for a first timer to this area, the trails simply were not marked well enough and there were too many well-worn spurs.

The horseflies weren't too bad, the scenery was great, the single track rocked and the downhills were intense (again - due to the many boulders and loose rocks covering the trails.)

We had a great time and probably rode somewhere around 4-6 miles (including all the diversions.)

PS - with the sale of the house scheduled to go through on Aug 31, plans for the HH100 have been (lamentably) aborted. Why is it that I can never seem to get geared up for that race?

This here's the only shot we got of me:

Back - On The Road

So it has been a rough (lot of) months in terms of riding. But this past week, I broke down and started training for the Hotter'n'Hell Hundred at the end of August in Wichita Falls. Boy howdy have my standards been lowered. I used to ride the best trails in the world moments from my home and now I have settled on training for a road ride - it is pathetic.

It does feel good to be on the Ellsworth again. Even on the road, the Specialist is a fun bike to ride. Last week I posted a 10 miler, then a 15 miler and this evening, I did a 19 miler. The temperature is high, but I have been evening rides so it isn't that bad. The HH100 will be in the middle of the day in August though, so you can bet it will be tough.

Gravel Road

Did an out'n'back totaling a whopping 3 miles with Sterling in tow on the trailabike up our road. It's pathetic that little trips like this actually count since I have been riding so little lately.

Robbers Cave State Park (Oklahoma)

There were a few reports online indicating that there was mountain biking at this park, so when the wife suggested we go there on vacation, I packed up the bike with high expectations. Unfortunately, the park staff were only able to point me to about 1/2 mile of "bike trail." I never did try that trail and decided instead to try the "Mountain Loop" around the lakes. I can't say that was a good idea, but it was interesting.

The trail started good and was well marked with paint on every other tree....that is, until there was no paint on any trees anywhere. This scenario played itself out several times before the ride was over. I would not recommend this ride to anyone due to the fact that there were several sections that were not ridable by any skill level - they were sections where I had to shoulder the bike and scramble up the hillside. Coming down was exhillarating with 'chest on the seat' action. THe trail was also poorly maintained with respect to fallen trees and overgrown vegetation. I saw no other riders/hikers at all on the trail.

I abandoned the ride about half way (having exhausted my time alotment backtracking over and over again to find the trail) by taking a horsetrail shortcut back in between the two lakes. This trail was much easier to follow and is obviously used on a regular basis by horseriders. I still wouldn't recommend it though due to the loose large rocks on the trail intermixed with deep sandy sections and the potential to spook a horse coming down the trail.

Overall, I don't think the section of trail I rode was more than 2-3 miles and I did manage to include one major "tactical dismount" coming down a very technical and steep switchback.

Beach Ride in FL

I guess this qualifies as offroad riding.  I slogged out approx 12 miles of beach riding on Alligator Point in Panacea, FL last week on Thursday.  Wow!  That is a mega-workout!  That 12 miles actually had my muscles sore the next day and it has been quite some time since I last was sore from riding - good times.  I rode right on the shore line within inches of the surf to stay on the "hardest" sand and it worked quite well.  There were only a few places where the structure of the sand was too low to support my weight and I really had to push to keep momentum.  There were also a few moments with the trailabike on the beach:

Tractor pull

We celebrated Sterling's B-day early on Sunday with Grandma & grandpa. We gave Sterling an Adam's Trail-a-bike and he seemed happy with it, but since it was Sunday, we didn't go for any long rides or anything and he really didn't mention anything about it until today when he asked if we could go for a ride today after school. I told him yes and tried to slip out with him incognito, but Ginger is always quick to notice any furtive activity around the back door and sure enough, we were busted. She came out in tears knowing that she was getting ditched - it was too much and I buckled. The result:

This bike is currently set up for Jessica (women's saddle, low seat) and I just went ahead and rode it as is...ouch! With the saddle being that low, it was a killer on the knees and apparently my keister is not well-suited to women's saddle design. After viewing these pics that Jessica took, I think Sterling's seat was too low as well. I'd figure we prolly rode a couple of miles (maximum) in an out and back, but it was real punishment.

The seat post on the Trek (pictured above) is a 26.9mm diameter and my Ellsworth has a 31.6mm. That seemingly insignificant difference makes it so that I need to order a new collar for the trail-a-bike to get it to work on my Ellsworth. After today's ride, I can tell you that I will be ordering that part very soon. I want to try to take Sterling on a real trail or two - once we get him a good helmet.

Back to Erwin Park

Is this getting monotonous?  Last night, I slipped in a loop at Erwin Park in Mckinney, TX again.  Things there are starting to feel a lot more 'comfortable.'  The little drop that pops up to surprise you when you round a corner - no longer a surprise.  The little climb that catches you in the wrong gear - ready for it.  That tight corner that pretends to have a smooth exit, but actually has a small sapling growing right in the exit path - ready for it.  

The trail itself was in fine form.  No dust, no mud, just a hardpacked dirt that must resemeble what it would look like if there was a concrete singletrack path going through the woods.  I passed a single jogger and saw only one other mountain biker who started a few minutes after me and pulled into the parking lot as I was leaving.

This was my first ride in over a year on my old Marzocchi fork and dissappointingly, I beleive that it will never be the same.  I have been riding a Rockshox Psylo for quite a bit while I worked on getting around to taking my Marz into the shop.  I finally got it into Plano Cycling and Fitness where I was glad to hear that it needed only to have it's oil changed.  They did that, but it is still the same.  It feels as though the damping is only working at about 1/2 capacity - just a big spring on the front of the bike.  I have to admit though that I still like the Marz with its extra inch of travel better than the Psylo.  Unfortunately, it looks like I'll be looking for a new fork here...it will be a Marzocchi.

Intervals

Being stashed away in a hotel hundreds of miles away from my bikes, I was forced to put in some miles on the dreaded excercise machine that pretends to mimic cycling.  You know the type - the ones they put in cheap exercise rooms that rarely get used?  I'm not sure who designs these things, but the seat was gigantic and applied pressure in all the wrong spot while simultaneously impeding free movement of the legs by putting pressure against the very back of the leg just below the buttocks.  

OK - that last paragraph was a bit of a downer...  On the upside, I was able to log a few "miles" and the interval setting on the machine at least added some variety and challenge to the routine.  The machine somehow calculated my speed at an average rate of somewhere around 20mph - just don't ask me where the come up with that.  It was also certainly nice to be able to watch TV while riding.  It sort of changes the whole couch-potatoe thing that is normally associated with TV watching.

Pathetic

In a rather pathetic turn of events, I have not been on a single ride since the last post.  The good news is that I just finished the removal of my "temporary" Rockshox Psylo fork and the reinstallation of my cherished Marzocchi fork.  At least the next ride will be pleasantly cushy and smooth.  One other thing of note is that I had forgotten how having that extra inch of travel (the Psylo has like 3.5" or something and the Marzocchi has more like 5" really changes the geometry.  I can now also look forward to more comfortable high speeds as the change the head tube angle switches things up for me. 

Finding a pace

I rode Erwin Park in Mckinney, TX a few times over the last few weeks and since I am now blogging about riding, here's the report:

Trail: Erwin Park - Mckinney, TX

Estimated mileage: 16 miles (8 miles each time)

Trail Report: Dry as a bone and very well-cut/maintained.  Passed just four riders and two hikers.

Notes: Shoulder checked two trees on the first ride and only one on the second, so apparently I am getting better?  Loved this trail the first time I rode it and by number two, I was still having fun, but I received a glimpse into the (not so distant?) future in which I was so tired of this short little trail that I was road riding.  Heaven help me....  Overall, it is a fun trail and there are at least 3-4 places where you can actually catch air on a little rise or something.  The "drops" that are often claimed to exist on this trail by over-exhuberant mtbikenewbies are actually roll-ins into creek bottoms, none of which exceed a height of 40 feet (being generous here.)  The adrenaline rush comes purely from the potential to collide with a tree as you pick up speed and then run straight into one of the many sections of trail that are bounded by trees growing just distant enough to allow a handlebar to pass, but without a very large margin for error.  For me, this is the qunitessential Texas trail; 8 miles of trail packed into a 40 acre? park with endless bends, unnecessary (but fun) switchbacks, dropping into and climbing out of small creekbeds and generally meandering around in sweet pointlessness.  The objective is to ride - not to get somewhere.