Happy Friday

And yet another work week draws to close. They seem to be getting away from me, but that's just the way it is, right? This was a good week. We had a great weekend last weekend with a spectacular day trip to the Kingdom Trails and then busting some clays on Sunday. Also had a good solid mix during the week. I actually really appreciate and enjoy the regular, scheduled order of the work week. I often struggle with vacation weeks due to their lack of structure.

Monday was a nice, rainy, low key day. Tuesday we did the NEBC Junior Development Cycling Team weekly group ride at which there were exactly zero crashes or injuries; small steps. Wednesday night was the MTB time trial championships of the world at the CBTT, also know as the "how badly can you handicap yourself in a TT" race. Last night I went over to the Thursday night Hanscom ride put on by the good folks at CRW. The ride was good and with very tired legs from the TT effort the preceding evening, I suffered at the hands of Gary J., who was in very good form. Today I need to work some, or pretend to anyhow, do some bike work at lunch (like build up a new 29er full suspension frame I got for Cathy) and then some of the Junior Team are going to converge on the local MTB trails for what is sure to be mayhem.

The weekend weather is looking mediocre but we have plans to head back up to the Kingdom Trails in the morning and get in another stellar day of riding the best that the region has to offer. Looking very forward to this once again. It has been a good week for sure and there is no sign of it letting up. Life is good!

3:02

Three minutes and two seconds. That is an eternity when it comes to competition or any type of racing. That just happens to be the difference between my best time this season at our local cycling time trial, the Charlie Baker Time Trial that our club puts on in Concord, MA, and the time that I set last night.

The difference is that my best of the season was done on a full carbon fiber time trial bike outfitted with full aero fittings like a carbon fiber deep dish front wheel and matching full disc rear wheel and 23c tubular tires at 130psi. I was also wearing a skinsuit and an aero helmet. Last night, however, I was riding my full suspension (not locked out), carbon fiber 29er race MTB with traditional alloy spoked wheels and my 1.95" racing knobbies at 65psi. It is decidedly not aero. I was wearing a normal jersey and bibs and a normal helmet.

Oh yea, and I also got run off the road by a boat. Some douche pulling a boat got his truck past me, but couldn't get by Cathy when a car came the other way. He then decided to come back over into me while I was still beside the boat. I slammed the brakes on and went into a pavement cutout (had the right bike for that for sure), narrowly missing the big traffic barrel they had setup. He then wouldn't pass Cathy so I came back up along side of him on the right, pulled out in front of him, behind Cathy and passed her, then moving back to the curb. The dude wasn't impressed but WTF!? You can't just run my ass off the road with your crappy boat and then expect me to wait because you don't have the skill to drive the thing.

This bike just looks fast. What am I doing wrong?

If the three minutes and small change seems reasonable, maybe the average speed differential is more telling. The difference was between 27.03mph avg on the TT bike compared to 23.7mph avg on the MTB. Yes, that is more than three mph difference but logic would seem to suggest the difference should be bigger, right? I would certainly expect it to be as this is about as extreme a disparity as one could muster this side of riding a tricycle as a comparison. If I look at the comparisons for others, lets take Cathy for instance, who is a much, much better TT-er than I am, the disparity is much more pronounced with a near five minute and near 5mph difference week over week, TT to MTB. That, to me, seems like a more reasonable number.

This bike is fast, at least for an MTB on the road.

I realize that the MTB is my best discipline by a long shot and I am certainly the most comfortable on the MTB. Clearly this is translating to riding the MTB in general, in any circumstance. Maybe I should just slap some slicks and aero bars on it and see what happens. regardless, these leaves me pondering just exactly what the F I'm doing wrong on the TT bike. Is there some unlocked potential gain, hidden there in the god forsaken discomfort of that torturous TT bike?

I really hope so because I haven't made any gain in years. May be time to break down and go see Armand. We have been thinking about it for Cathy anyhow, who is looking for 21 seconds in order to knock none other than Karen Smyers out of the top 3 record times at the CBTT. Yes, Cathy is legit and deadly on a TT bike, as many unhappy men who get 'chicked' by her weekly can attest to. I on the other hand ...

A Very Good Day

This past Saturday, Cathy and I decided to forgo racing or any such nonsense and do a mountain bike day trip up to the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, VT. We hadn't had a chance to make it KT all year and were very excited to go. The weather forecast for Saturday was near perfect and so we made the call. A 6:30AM departure would get us there in good time.


I needed to stop off in Lyndonville, just a few miles from East Burke, at my brother Chad's barbershop in order to drop off a mountain bike I'd gotten for my nephew. We did so and sat around for a bit listening to and occasionally participating in the rural barber shop conversation. Barbershop conversation is basically the same everywhere, usually centered on the weather, politics or sports. Not super in-depth or too thought provoking but often heated or passionate. It was good to catch up, if only briefly and to also get a familiar haircut. Until I was about 35 years old, my brother and father (also a barber) were the only ones ever to have cut my hair. It was quite literally nerve racking experience when first I went to a local barber, not all that long ago.

We arrived in East Burke and found a parking spot behind the Pub Outback, who have some of the best onion rings on the planet as well as a great beer selection. As we looked to the car beside us we noted the familiar face of Doug, who it turns out was up for a day trip with a buddy as well. Like minds I guess. Doug's plan involved lots of climbing, big surprise, and an extended trip out to East Haven to the old radar base. That involves another mountain climb, similar in scope to that of Burke Mountain.

Cathy and I planned to stay local but to make a bid for all of the main areas, which include the mountain road to Camptown, Dead Moose Alley, the slopeside trails to Pinkham Road, Magill and Moose Alley. RT114 to Burnham Up, Red Tail and Kirby Connector. That was the morning's plan and we nailed it all. Most everything was in very goods shape. I did note that Dead Moose is taking a beating and isn't nearly as much fun as some of the other trails. Also, the lower part of Burnham Up was great but when we started to level off, the trail was pretty muddy in spots and pretty gutted out. They have been building boardwalk to beat the band but it seems it may be a loosing battle in that particular area and they will be forced to bridge it all. A daunting task and a massive consumption of resources.

The last time we were at KT, nearly a year ago now, they were working on a new slopeside trail. I think it is called Dragonslayer (it's actually Knightslayer). Starting this year, Burke Mountain is doing lift service on the lower lift that takes you from the base to mid Burke. The trails that they have designed and built for the lift served gravity crowd are absolutely incredible. They are also absolute terrifying if ridden properly and no place for a skinny little XC bike with low handlebars and high saddle height. I was wanting for my Yeti 575 but really wished I still had my Intense M1. Regardless, I had my very nice but wholly inappropriate 29er XC bike. This left me basically with no business being on those trails. As such, we quickly played through and headed for some more appropriate terrain.

Once we finished up on the Kirby Connector, which has recently and unfortunately, been logged, we took the Kirby Road back to town for some lunch. Bailey's Country Store (now called Bailey's & Burke) is back in business and providing very, very good eats. We had the typical for us, Thanksgiving on a roll sandwich and topped off the fluid stores. From there it was an afternoon of the really good stuff on both sides of Darling Hill. To loosen back up after lunch we opted to beeline back out RT114 to White School trail. Feeling a little bloated we rode gingerly along the trails, winding our way back to the Darling Hill Road, a paved climb with small stretches in the mid to upper teens, grade wise. Nothing brutally hard but you feel it.

The West side of Darling Hill affords incredible views of the valley beyond as well as the Willoughby Gap. This is, IMHO, one of the nicest and most picturesque places in VT if not all of New England. This area also houses a treasure trove of the best that KT has to offer in terms of new school XC trails. You hit the trails one after the other, each having a slight feel a flavor of their own but also weaving nicely together into an incredible ride. Our staple is Loop, Poundcake, Fenceline, Bog Meadow, Pastore Point/Loop, Coronary and back up to the top of the ridge. Then we traverse on Bemis to get to any of the multiple, totally excellent descents back down the ridge. This time, we found a new trail that had been made and decided to give it a try. This was in addition to Tap & Die and Tody's Tour and was named Troll Stroll. This trail was incredibly well laid out, with good flowing sustainable turns and elevation gains that made use of the descending momentum you had accumulated to make small cross gains painless. This maximized your time on the trail. I can say without a doubt that this sets a new benchmark, at least in my opinion coming from a true XC standpoint.

At that point in the day things were getting a little blurry. Cathy had been a trooper and humored my numerous ascents and trail choices but was starting to grow weary. We chose to hit only the best of the rest, which meant no climb back up to hit Tap & Die and then again for Tody's Tour. Instead we hit River Run to Webs, climbed up Violet's Outback to Sidewinder. Sidewinder is a must do. It is short but very sweet, a true roller coaster ride on two wheels. The KTA folks have reworked it a bit as well so it is ready to go. We then climbed up out on the switchback trail and tool in Old Webs, before making our way up and out of the West side of Darling Hill, over to the right side. There are a ton of trails on this side of the ridge as well but we opted to make a fairly direct route back out via VAST, veering off course only to sample Leatherwood and Kitchel.

We finished up back at the van happy with the days adventure. Along the course we had racked up 45 miles, just shy of my outside 50 mile goal but well over my 40 mile minimum goal. We had also accumulated about 5k of climb. Not bad. Clean the dirt and mud off, hit the Pub Outback for a drink and some o-rings and shoot for home. A very good day. So good, we are planning to do it all over again this coming Saturday.

That Time of Year

Where indeed does the time go? I know that is cliche but it seems, somewhat, appropriate at this moment. As much as we struggle, time just seems to slip between our fingers, eluding or escaping our grasp. It's getting to be that time of year already. The time of year when it is getting dark a little earlier than in its ever so brief, extended breadth, we seem to have gotten used to. The time is now such that you return home from the evening's ride in the waning light. Last night was the first time this year that I'd really noticed it.

After finishing up my first venture back to the CRW Thursday night Hanscom ride, I hung out after and chatted with buddy Gary J. at the parking lot. I peeled off to make the 5 mile ride home from there at about 7:45PM and it was really starting to get dark. By the time I got home I could barely see, albeit I did still have my sunglasses on to protect from bug strikes.

After sunset last night the temperature also dropped markedly. Now that the air is much drier than in recent weeks, the air temperature drop when we lose the sun results in a crisp clean and cool air. Passing through a couple of hollows while turning a nice relaxing pace, I found myself wanting for my arm warmers. It was a welcome change from the recent, tropical weather we have had.

Last night we opened all of the windows in the house up and also slept with a fan in the window. It was down right chilly even with all of the blankets and a down comforter on the bed. I love that feeling. I'm one of those people that likes to sleep in the cold. The A/C just doesn't get it cold and crisp enough and the air gets stuffy. Last night was perfect sleeping weather.

We live in New England so we all know what is just around the corner; change. That is why many of us choose to live here, the underlying promise of familiar and welcomed change. As summer winds down we look very forward to visiting old friends, places and activities that we haven't seen in nearly a year. Once old activities will once again seem new again. It is this type of variety that keeps life interesting.

It's nice to have the 4 distinct chapters of our year consistently and neatly presented to us. Sure, some times the chapters can seem shorter or longer from year to year but they never fail to come, at least, not yet. Lets hope it stays that way.

Hodges Village Dam(n)

Last weekend was the annual Hodges Village Dam Root66 USA Cycling MTB race out in lovely Oxford, MA. Oxford is sort of in the middle of nowhere yet just a stones throw from Worcester. It is a gentle 45 minute drive for us, either via the Mass Pike or RT495/290. The venue is literally at a dam and the terrain is around a pond that also serves as a flood control area. The terrain is rolling and is based primarily on bombed out old moto trails and access roads. Not a terrible picturesque area but the type of place where a hoard of mountain bikes racing in foul conditions really doesn't have a whole lot of impact. This is one of the few properties where motorized recreational access is still allowed in the start, or at least it used to be, very recently.

This is the 4th year in a row that I've participated in this race and, knock on wood, I've always had pretty good success there. Part of the attraction is the proximity and convenience, part is that this is the MA state championships and part is that the course actually suits me fairly well with lots of fast power sections and rocky, rooted, bumpy junk that has full suspension written all over it. I've had some epic battles as well, possibly two of the best ever, like last year against Alec Petro and the year before against JB. I've also raced in some of the most epic conditions ever at this event, such as two years ago when full sections of the course were literally under 3' of water. This year turned out to be surprisingly even more epic than that year. Hard torrential rains the night before followed by a steady driving rain the AM of the race led to standing pools (not puddles) of water as well as streaming torrents of runoff in multiple sections. In at least two places there were deep moto created whoops that were totally submerged under 16" of water, but each also had one extra deep whoop where you sunk literally to your ass. The force was enough to almost stop you and launch you over the bars. There was even one access road that was completely flooded and had so much water flow that you were literally riding upstream against a current. The real kick in the middle was that the under surface was sandy, making it double extra miserable.

I sat on the line in the driving 68 degree rain, shivering uncontrollably, waiting for the start. Off the line the pace was hard with Steve Witkus from the Bikeman team, whom I raced against earlier this season at Winding Trails and narrowly managed to stay ahead of, laying down a monstrous pace. I followed and tucked in behind him, waiting to see how well he made out once we hit the first rocky section, as he was on a fully rigid bike that he had only put gears on for the this race. The sprint out of the gate seemed to have take a toll and when we hit the rocky stuff about a half mile in, I passed and drilled it. Into the first muddy turn the lack of traction afforded by my Specialized Renegade minimal tread tires became abundantly evident. A two wheel power slide and foot dab let me know that I was going to need to ride this like a slippery cross race, run straight into the corners, aiming for the berm on the edge and use that for the turning. That seemed to work just fine and the tires were fine otherwise.

The pace remained high the entire first lap and I made it around in just under 30 minutes for my best lap of the day. Lap two I settled in and tried to maintain a comfortably sustainable pace. This ended up being a little too comfortable I think as it was just over 31 minutes. Unsure of how much time I had on the competition I tried to pick in a little in order to be more consistent. At this point in the game I was in a steady stream of passing racers from other fields. Shortly into the lap on the flat access road of the first section I swung right through a deep puddle to make a pass. After completing it I notice the rear tire had flatted, almost instantly. I was sure that I hadn't hit anything so have no idea what caused it. All that I knew was that I had to get it fixed. Ugh! Pull to the side of the trail, remain calm, there goes the guy I just passed, shift up in the rear, unbolt the wheel, more people I recently passed, pull the Camelbak and gloves off, grab the inflation device and tube, pre-inflate the tube manually, pull the old tube out, check for thorns, replace tube, oh crap, there goes Steve, seat the bead, hope the CO2 works, yes, it worked, add a second CO2 cartridge to get higher pressure, fumble getting the wheel back on, fumble getting the 12mm through-axle in, shift back down, pack it all pack up, wet gloves back onto muddy hands, we're off. Not a record by any stretch but not too bad. I'm guessing it was about 2.5 to 3 minutes total downtime.

Now the fun begins. Chasing like a maniac to try and get the minute and half or so back on a guy who is now drilling it with the surge of adrenaline and optimism gained by having seen the nearest competition essentially dead on the side of the trail and now they themselves being at the head of the race. I hate this game, that being the frantic, racing for your very life type of riding. You tend to make mistakes, you tend to ride poorly, you tend to go too hard and you tend to blow up as a result. Ha, I was right and did all of those. The other pain is that you get to be an annoyance to the same people twice as you pass them again. Of course, now we are in the narrower and more technical section of trail where passing is more difficult, and so it was. To cut to the chase, I fumbled through the third lap, finally regaining some composure on the final lap. The rain had stopped and the standing water was subsiding, leaving sticky mud in its wake. The humidity was also starting to rise as was the temperature. Time to get this thing over with.

At that point I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Steve had punched out and I was never going to see him again. I was bringing in a steady stream of racers from other fields but could tell it wasn't going to be enough when on the long straight after the start I couldn't see, or at least make out, Steve up ahead. The reality is that gaps are deceiving. On the road, a couple bike lengths is often not close-able. Offroad, 20 or 30 seconds can be made up pretty quickly. That straight section probably afforded a 20 second vista into the future. Just before the narrow bridge crossing I caught Cathy. She was moving very, very well and having a great ride, About a mile after that, it was was great relief and some disbelief that I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Steve ahead. Calmly, I closed to within 20 yards and sat, recovering a little bit, squished down a Powergel, drank and waited. In the final rooted and rocky stuff before breaking out of the woods and onto the sandy access road, I closed the gap tight. On the road I waited a bit to see how Steve looked physically then attacked as hard as I could. No response was given so I kept charging as much as I could. Running scared I kept the pace steadily high while trying to ride safe and smart. In the end it worked and I managed to cross the finish line ahead. Other than the flat, a good solid race.

As an aside, this was an excellent course for my new this season Specialized Epic Expert carbon 29er. Though the 29er format can be a challenge at courses with a lot of climbing due to the extra rotating mass or in a ton of tight twisty technical stuff where a 26er just handles more crisply, it is absolutely incredible how much smoother it is through the bumps and rough stuff. It also rolls really, really well on the flats. I noticed this in a big way on a long solo MTB ride this past Friday where I was able to carry lots of speed with less perceived effort than expected. Despite a few initial issues the bike really seems to be dialed in now and I am really happy with it. The suspension is working great, a vast improvement over the older Epic design which I had previously. I did manage to chew through another complete set of rear disc brake pads this race. Despite that fact and also having a prong of the pad spring catch the rotor and bend itself into a pretzel, the wheel spun freely with little drag. This is more than I can say about Cathy's bike. She suffered horribly on the last lap but finished strong. While cleaning the bikes I noticed that he rear brake was dragging really bad. To the point where there was no free rotation at all. Examination revealed that the pads were worn out and on one side, the rotor had worn nearly half way through the steel backer plate. The spring that keeps the pads separated and away from the rotor, had been worn in half and two of the 4 prongs were gone, completely, rendering it useless. I'm guessing that meant an extra 25 watts of constant power required just to turn the wheel. No wonder she was spent. Most people would have given up but not her. Hardcore.