Toasty...

There's really no other way to put it...

I'm totally burned-out...

My legs feel like drift wood...

I'm having muscle pain that has nothing to do with a hard workout, its strain, it feels twingy like a pin prick or a sharp itch that you can't scratch...

I just want to ride my bike for fun, and sometimes I don't want to ride it at all (gasp!)...

In light of my charred countenance I've not so secretly decided to forgo racing Bear Creek (WTF!?!)...

I'm not totally disappointed with that decision either, as I was pretty burnt last year too, raced anyway, and didn't really have that much fun...and almost lost the series...

I'm going to ride less, climb more, and try to remember that blissful time last winter when I liked riding my bike...

...until December 1, then it begins...it has yet to be defined exactly, but it will be something...

I better hurry up and recover.

-Ronaldo

Impatient Motorists of the Greater Kimberton/Poenixville Area That Have Ears to Hear Let them Hear

Hark! Ye angry wielders of cell phones, I am but a humble road cyclist. And although we together are nothing but fore sworn arch enemies battling over the right most two feet of the limited and most covetous asphalt of our fair local roadways, I implore you...

No matter where you are headed nor what persona of impatience you assume when behind the wheel, regardless of your destination or the time in which you have to get there, nothing is more important than my life, health, and well being. I realize that the 10 extra seconds it takes you to reach the next stop sign and/or traffic light is almost too excruciatingly painful for you and your, what would have to be severely atrophied brain, to tolerate; but stop for a second and weigh the freaking alternatives. What is more important, getting to the next mandated stopping point during your trek to nowhere 10 seconds sooner, or allowing a fellow human being to retain his life and enjoy his health? Get some freaking perspective.

As a cyclist, I have the right of way. I know, I know its a harsh reality, but its true nonetheless. There's a reason for that too, its because I'm more vulnerable than you and your 5,000 lb car, moron. I know we live in a world of cretinous ignorance, where instant gratification and "your way right now" principles rule the day, but use your head. The next white-trash hill-billy pulling a wooden trailer with a rust-bucket pick-up that runs me off the road, or toothless dirty-hippie that screams expletives at me from behind the wheel of her gas guzzling SUV is going to get a windshield full of whatever debris I can find on the side of the road at the next mandated stopping point they're in such a rush to get to.

People suck,

Angry Ron

Michaux...

Sunday started bright and early at 5:00AM (Campbell, next time the Sport race is scheduled before the Expert/Elite race at a venue that is 3 hours away, you're on your own). Kathleen, our weekend house guest Campbell, and I woke up extra early on Sunday , piled into the weekend mobile and headed as far west as I've been in a while to race the fifth race in the MASS series, the Long Pine Classic at Michaux. Geography note: Michaux is west of Gettysburg, just sayin... The Long Pine Classic was sponsored by Fast Forward Racing, a junior development team, in the hopes of raising enough cash to send the team to Colorado for the Junior National Championships. Read this next sentence imagining that I'm not typing it with any malice, anger, or ill will. If Fast Forward Racing needs to raise funds for next year's junior development team, I will gladly pay them twice the entry fee for Kathleen and I for the next five years if they'll agree to not have this race ever again. Needless to say, I did not enjoy myself. Its not entirely the race promoters fault though, I had a bad day (my worst yet actually), and I was riding a new bike (an aluminum bike which was a rather harsh and bumpy reminder of why I've ridden steel bikes most of my mountain biking years). It wasn't a total loss. It was a beautiful day, Kathleen won the Elite women's class yet again (she's building herself a nice little racing nest egg this summer), Campbell also saw his first win in the Sport Senior II category, and though I "gave up the ghost" ~6 miles into the 23 miles course I managed to pull off a distant 3rd (very distant - first and second took me for 10 minutes). We also enjoyed a nice lunch at an Irish pub in Gettysburg where Kathleen and the waitress treated Campbell and I to a 10 minute dissertation on the upkeep and pitfalls of maintaining curly hair. Now we know and knowings half the battle...looking forward to Fair Hill this weekend.

Centrifuge of Fun...Riding in Circles in Marysville, PA

Kathleen and I traveled up to Marysvill, PA this past weekend with the team for the second time this season to participate in visitpa.com's Mid-Atlantic Super Series Mountain Bike Festival Weekend. The event is put on by Mike Kuhn and the fast boys of the visitpa.com team. We weren't originally planning on going. We're focused more on the cross-country events this season and as an endurance event we didn't have this on the "calendar", but the Neshaminy XC race was cancelled on account rain, so we decided to give it a shot. I'm glad we did. I want to thank Mike Kuhn, his wife (who has to be the most patient and accomodating soul), his inlaws the Oesterling's (probably where Mike's wife gets her patience and accomodatingness from), and the visitpa.com team for organizing; letting everyone camp, race, and live on their property; and helping organize while simultaneously giving us regular guys something to shoot for, respectively.

The event consisted of a night time trial (solo or team), an endurance event (9-hour solor or 12-hour team), and a short track race. All of which were a lot of fun. Kathleen and I decided to sign up as a team under the Dos Coed category. There were only two other teams singed up as Dos Coed but we figured it would be fun anyway. Packing the car was interesting, but we got it all to fit. We headed up in the early afternoon Friday set up camp in TLR's tent city, got our pit set-up for the next's days endurance event and kitted-up for the night tim trial. As a Dos Coed team we had to ride together as the last finisher's time counted. I was a little nervous about his event, the 6.5 mile loop was ridden with log-overs, low-hanging branches, and was very tight and twisty; I was worried about Kathleen going too fast trying to keep up and getting injured on one of the obstacles. I worried for nothing, she did great. I rode ahead and called out obstacles and encouragement as best I could and she did everything she could to stay on my wheel. We rode the fastest Dos Coed time even with me flatting twice and her falling once, and Kathleen's time (although not scored that way) was the fastest women's time.

The endurance event started at 9:00AM solo riders would ride for 9 hours, relays for 12. It was a Le Mans start so I chivalrously volunteered Kathleen to lead-off. I have enough trouble not rolling my ankle in running shoes. If I had lead off our 12-hour relay could have been over in the first five minutes. Our decision turned out alright. The other Dos Coed teams did the same thing so that the evenly matched members were riding together each time. The loop consisted of an 8-mile backwards hybrid of the night time trial loop. We began by each turning in single laps for the first three laps. Then Kathleen tired so I turned in two doubles, after which I was almost completely cooked, so Kathleen stepped it up and a double of her own. I did the final lap by headlamp in the dark. I wasn't sure what to expect from the relay and had no notions of how we would finish, but it was a lot of fun. We batteld with the single-speed boys from Beans Bike Shop, the fast chicks from Human Zoom Pabst Blue Ribbon and Judd and Melanie from Gripped Racing. We turned in 13 laps total in just over 12-hours which was good enough for teh Dos Coed win, and third overall with only to Dos Men teams of visitpa.com guys in front of us. We were really shocked about the third overall as neither of us checked the results board all day. Kathleen has been in the money a couple of times this season already, it was cool to be there with her this time.

Start

Campbell, Kathleen, and Bill prior to the start

Some more of the TLR crew at the start

Waiting for the awards

Dos Coed podium (the other couple is Judd Milne and Melanie Swartz from Gripped Racing)

I've never done a short track race, but have always been curious. Bill Showers describes them as fast...and painful. They're basically an anaerobic nightmare you can't wake up from for 30 minutes. The race consisted of a 1-mile fast and flat loop, 30-minutes on the clock, do as many loops as you can. I loved it. It was like being on the track in highschool running the 800 meters again. I got spanked to seventh place by the Expert A guys, but finished at the front of the Expert B guys. Still had a blast though. Fast and short is not Kathleen's cup-o-tea so to speak but she held in there and finished the race third...out of three...

Waiting for the short track start

Still waiting

Slippery gravel corner

Lean

All in all the weekend was awesome fun. Hanging with the team, meeting new people, suffering with the other racers and just riding along.

Can't wait until next year.

Ron

My Wife is Fast!!! (and Sweet)...

See Ktown,

See Ktown ride,

See Ktown ride faster than most experienced male riders I know,

See Ktown win her, "I'll try the first Sport race of 2009 and see how it goes then maybe I'll bump up [race]" by more than three minutes,

See Ktown place second in her first Elite Women's race,

See Ktown win her second Elite Women's race,

See Ktown admitting that she was briefly a horrible, horrible sandbagger,

See Ktown unselfishly buy blinds with her race winnings (truth be told as much as I like the blinds, they're really for her, not "us"),

he, he, he...

Ronaldo

Vitamin D Feels Good...

Its finally sunny today...for now. The sun is out and it feels good, but I find myself constantly checking the horizon for the inevitable black rain clouds. My handy-dandy weather channel desktop updater (getting my weather from a "faceless" entity somehow makes it less frustrating when its wrong 90% of the time) is predicting partly cloudy skies for most of the week with isolated thunderstorms 2-3 days this week. Hopefully this will be one of those 10% instances where the meteorological shamans at www.theweatherchannel.com are correct. In any event the partly cloudy skies should give the trails some time to dry out. Which will be nice for this weekend's Mountain Bike Festival in Marysville, PA. I'm not exactly sure how to prepare for an endurance event like the 12-hour relay. But there will be plenty ofLoweRiders there to help out all around so it should be fine.

We'll see...

Ronaldo

I Just Waved At Noah...

The weather "mystics" were calling for scattered thunderstorms today (Saturday), and so it rained for eight straight hours. It wasn't just drizzling for eight hours, it rained...with intermittent periods where it poured. The meteorologists' [what a freaking joke that occupation is] magic eight balls must all be on the fritz lately, and by lately I mean a little period I like to call 2009.

I'm going to start gathering woodland creatures in pairs...just in case...

I'm starting to feel like the little girl in "All Summer in a Day."

Remember that story from elementary school?

Man the rain is messing with my head.

Ktown and I are talking about moving to Seattle because its sunnier there.

Ronaldo

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

...come on back another day, which, if the first six months of 2009 are any indication will undoubtedly be a Wednesday since it literally has rained 90% of 2009's Wednesdays. What is the deal with rainy Wednesdays?!? If the team ride wasn't on Wednesday night I obviously wouldn't care much, but it is, so I do, and so it rains...every...single...Wednesday. Maybe we should switch the team ride night to Thursday to see if the black cloud of ride ruining rain repositions itself righteously on Thursday [alliteration cha chacha...]. Actually it pretty much rains all the time in Southeastern PA now. I must have missed the memo, but apparently southeastern PA is currently Seattle, weather wise anyway. The team didn't even try to ride last night. We made the decision fairly early on to forgo the ride in favor of going to Sly Fox for dinner. Ktown, Campbell, BShow, Newbie Jim, and I had a nice dinner. The Keeb, his lady friend Kim, and a couple of their friends showed up later. The evening was still fun, if soggy.

Looking forward to sunshine and dry trails,

Ronaldo

One Less than Originally Intended

Last night, I forwent a ride with some of the guys from the team at Wissahickon and opted instead to ride with the lovely K-town at Marsh Creek.  I was tired from my lunchtime ride but conditions were almost perfect and K-town was excited.  I just got my 29er back from the shop and was feeling pretty good.  K-town was killing me as she was fresh and has been bouncing around lately with excitement due to her recent return to activity from 7-10 days of being on the DL list (Dr.'s orders).  The ride was fun and basically uneventful until I tried to ride the only log ride Marsh Creek has to offer.  Not to be boastful, but let me preface this by saying I've ridden this log without incident several times before.  Obviously, that was not the case this time.  I approached the log thinking, "This should be fun, I haven't ridden this log in a while, it looks clean, the approach is smooth, should be no problem."  On the log I was thinking, "Nice work Ronaldo, this log is in the bag, you've kept your momentum up, no slips, first try, nice job."  These positive thoughts were immediately interrupted by my face and chest meeting the log with enough force to knock the wind out of me.  I haven't had the wind knocked out of me since I was a kid, I don't remember it being such an unpleasant sensation, but it sure was unpleasant.  

I wasn't hurt but my bike did suffer a casualty.  I broke the rear brake lever.  So, I finished the ride with only a front brake.  Riding a single-speed with only a front brake is an unusual sensation.  You need to keep your momentum up (because you only have one gear), but not too much (because you have one less brake than originally intended and you don't want to become a permanent fixture of that tree).  Overall the ride was great and riding with 50% less braking power wasn't too weird.  By the end of the ride I didn't even notice except for the downhills, flats, corners, rollies, jumps or anywhere where there were roots, rocks, mud, or dirt.

Ronaldo

Its Been a Long Time...by the way I Hate March

To all of my endearing fans, my humblest and most sincere apologies for not posting for more than a month.  And since I am the only one that follows this blog regularly my apology is hereby accepted, and further I plan to buy myself an ice cream later today just to show there's no hard feelings.  

I also apologize that this blog post concerns something that pisses me off (again I hereby forgive me).  Those of you who know me won't be surprised and will read this post without so much as a second thought because you know that most things, if not all things, tend to piss me off, or at the very least ruffle my feathers.  What, you may be wondering, is this thing that is so infuriating that I should call it out specifically from the underlying background of irritation that is the world around me?  In a word...March.  

That's right March.  I hate March.  If the day of your birth happens to fall within this cursed month I feel for you I really do, but I can't help the fact that your parents were bored in June.

What is the deal with March anyway?  Its a winter month.  No, no wait its really a spring month.  But wait no its really a winter month, but with sun that's not really warm, and the nagging possibility for below freezing nocturnal temperatures.  The flowers are starting to come up and the trees are budding, but there's still the outside chance that it could freak snow like a foot, and then melt the next day.  March is by its very nature frenetic at best.  

For a Pennsylvania mountain biker who is trying to sharpen his fitness for the commencement of the racing season in April, it sucks.  We just got over ~six months of dreary winter weather.  I'm suffering from cabin fever, tired of riding the trainer, and looking to shed some layers.  I want to ride my bike in shorts and short sleeves and not have to worry about being blown off my bike, off the road, or into oncoming traffic, but I can't because March can't make up its mind about whether its the commencement of spring or the last hurrah for winter.  The wind alone is enough to make me put my road bike down until May.  It may just be me but I don't enjoy pedaling as hard as I can to go downhill.  Aren't downhills for coasting?

Beware the ides of March,

Ronaldo

5-Minute Recap of the Last Two Weeks

Ready, set, go...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 some members of Team LoweRiders (TLR) met some members of Cradles to Canes at Marsh Creek for that rare unicorn of winter night rides, the snow ride. Conditions were pretty much perfect, and even better when I realized that lower tire pressure may make turning and climbing much easier and therefore much more fun. Great fun was had by all. Pizza, wings, and beer at Foster Boys after.

The following weekend Campbell, K-town, and me rode Fair Hill and White Clay. We met JMatt, BShow, one of his college buddies, and couple of his friends for a 3-plus-hour tour of Fair Hill on Saturday. And unlike that most famous 3-hour tour we didn't get lost...almost. We have finally learned a decent loop at Fair Hill that is long and includes most of the good trails that Fair Hill has to offer. And it only took us a year to learn it.

Sunday, Campbell, K-town, and me went to White Clay and rode almost every trail that the park has to offer. We now know this place inside and out...pretty much.

Trainer, trainer, trainer...

The following Wednesday it rained/iced/sleeted like three inches of bullet proof crap which just recently melted...for the most part.

Trainer, trainer, trainer, treadmill (What the!)...

This past Saturday no riding (or fun for that matter) was had because K-town's car brokedown on Friday night (its still at the shop), and my car brokedown on Saturday afternoon (all it needed was a battery). My father came to jump us (thanks Pop!), and Campbell and I changed the battery in a parking lot.

Sunday, Campbell, K-town and me attempted to ride the nearly half century we did a couple of weeks ago. K-town and I both flatted and eventually had to call my lil'bro Matt to come and bail us out (Thanks Bro!). My family is awesome...really, really, awesome.

My other lil'bro Josh comes home today from Joshua Tree. Hopefully there will be one good day of weather while he is home so that we can get a ride in. I'm sure he'll try to drag me out to a climbing gym or some other similar nonsense.

Its now Tuesday February 3, 2009 and its currently snowing on top of the bullet proof crap that didn't melt over the weekend.

Trainer, trainer, trainer, treadmill, Spring...

Ronaldo

Out with the old, in with the new

The time has finally come to set aside the things of the past and move on to fresh beginnings.

My helmet and I have been through a lot. It's the first helmet that was truly mine and mine alone. We've enjoyed college rides in Vermont, trips to California, and my first official MASS season to name a few. Though the padding was lost years ago, it smelled, was ugly, and didn't really fit properly ever, I didn't care it was my helmet, and it has brought me through many a scary and precarious fall, "safely".I have much to look forward to, a grueling season of expert racing, a spiffy new bike (known as the "Tanginer" by my beloved teammates) and finally, freaking FINALLY a brand-spanking new helmet.
It's shiny, has pads, doesn't smell, and comes complete with a new fangled adjustment thingy so that it actually fits.
It really is the simple things in life...
Kat

Its Colder In PA Than Its Been In Quite A Long Time...

...so of course in true Harding fashion (i.e., The natural forces of all Harding's lives are controlled by one pervading law...Murphy's...it has its pluses and minuses.), I awoke this frigid morning to a temperature of 4 degrees fahrenheit and two flat tires on my car, two!?! Picture me in my Guinness Stout pajama pants, orange crocs, and sage down coat staring at my rear tires as if dumbfounded. Kathleen had already left for work, I missed my carpooling buddy by 15 or so minutes, and I don't own an air compressor (Idiot!!). I contemplated "working from home", but truth be told I had too much to do today to get away with that. So I slow rolled the car to my mechanic who is thankfully just ~2 miles away and replaced both tires. They probably should have been replaced last March during my inspection when I replaced the front two but my mechanic is a nice guy. So now I'm rolling with two brand spanking new tires on the front and relatively new (i.e., 10-month old tires in the rear). Now all the car needs to be ready for the winter trip (to which I'm sure I'll be requried to drive) is new rear brakes and a new battery. It hasn't been cranking too strong lately and its really, really cold in New Hampshire. Cars are such freaking money pits!!!

Hoping for a fundamental shift in the culture of this country that will allow me to afford a house within a plausible biking distance from work,

Ronaldo

Dreary Pennsylvania Winter Weather Leads to My Recent Love Affair with Coach Troy Jacobson

I’m a mountain biker, but due to time and seasonal trail contraints I do most of my training on the road. I also own a trainer, but like most avid cyclists I despise my trainer. My hatred for static rear wheel trainers and rolling trainers alike is a bottomless pit of loathing and abhorrence. Prior to this year I considered trainers to be the dainty tools of fair weather riders, and would only hang my head in shame and not ride outside (on the road) if it was torrentially down pouring, sleeting, there was snow or ice actually on the roadway, the wind was enough to knock me off of my bike or into oncoming traffic, and/or the temperature was sustained below 15 degrees F. During the 2007/2008 winter, I thought that trainers were for riders who lived in subarctic or arctic areas where snow was prevalent more than 180 days a year and riding outside during the winter not only was no fun, but presented a liability both to one’s safety and sanity. I looked down my proverbial nose at people who could ride outside but voluntarily chose not to because it was too wet, too cold, too windy, or their winter bike was in the shop.

I have changed my mindset somewhat for the 2008/2009 winter. While I have toughened my dedication to cycling for 2009 I’ve also simultaneously softened my approach. I don’t need to ride if its only slightly raining, I don’t need to ride if its only blowing sustained winds of 17 mph and only gusting to 25 mph, and I don’t need to ride if its only 17 degrees F (I’ve raised my road riding temperature threshold 10 degrees to a balmy 25 degrees F). You may ask, what has caused this change, this apparent softening, this base erosion of my previous training habits, after all for the bargain basement price of $639.99 I can own an Assos jacket (and bibs for an additional $450.00) designed for riding in temperatures from -7 degrees to 4 degrees, is waterproof yet breathable, dead sexy, and capable of girding me for riding in any inclement riding conditions mother nature could throw at me? Enter Troy Jacobson and his Spinerval workouts.

My buddy Chuck has for years told me that Spinervals provided a way for him to stay sharp throughout the “off season” (Chuck lives in Seward, Alaska, if we were to look at a year of weather in Seward, Alaska I’m fairly certain we would conclude that there isn’t really an “on season”). Anyway, chuck would laude the difficulty level, power generation, and overall conditioning that the Spinerval workouts would provide. He told me that he couldn’t finish the first Spinerval workout he’d tried, an important tidbit (that I unceremoniously ignored) as he is an endurance racer. He “enjoys” 24-hour races, 100-milers, and other such insanities. I’d say "yeah, yeah...Chuck", and tell him that if I wanted to live like a hamster, I’d round out my house’s hallways, build a giant wheel in my bedroom, sleep on wood shavings, or buy a treadmill.

However, I recently succumbed to the peer pressure of two fellow teammates, dusted off my trusty loathsome trainer, and met them for a training session. At the momment, I figured what the heck, I’ve already ridden once today, how hard could it be, at least you’re riding with people you can talk. In retrospect there wasn’t very much talking. We popped in Spinervals 1.0 – No Slackers Allowed and spent the next 50 minutes thrashing our legs into pulp. I was able to do all intervals as instructed (barely), complete the workout (again barely), and I didn’t throw up (threes a charm now, barely). Since then I’ve done two more Spinerval workouts. I don’t admit being wrong easily, especially when it concerns Chuck, but I hereby stand corrected. Spinervals are great and they make the trainer not only bearable but transform it into a winter training asset.

In light of the recent change in my training mindset that allows me to avoid the weather and still ride hard, I’d like to thank Coach Troy Jacobson for the extremely hard interval workouts that make me feel like I’m on the high school track team again, and for the quasi knock-off, eighties glam band elevator music that numbs the conscious mind (while piercing the unconscious mind with the equivalent of an acoustic ice pick) making the tough intervals that much easier. Here’s to you Troy.

Cheers,

Ronaldo

Holiday Break Numero Dos Ride Report

Mountain Bike Tour of the Tri-State Area

In my earlier mountain biking years my riding buddies and I (i.e., Chuck and Dan) rode one place primarily, French Creek State Park in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Sure we would occassionally take the shorter trip to Marsh Creek and ride those (then) greasy, overgrown, hive inducing (for me anyway) trails, but given the necessary 3-hour block of time required to get a decent ride in at French Creek we would always opt to go and thrash our rigid, trash-picked mountain bikes, sans helmets (our heads were a lot harder back then), on the jarring technical trails of French Creek. And while I do still love me some Turtle Trail or Millers' Point riding, I've ridden French Creek enough for 5 mountain biker's lifetimes. So, when I find myself with 4 or 5 frozen days, as I did recently during the second half of my 2008 holiday break, I (and subsequently those who are with me) are more inclined to go elsewhere for our riding fix.

The 2008 racing season opened my eyes to all of the other wonderful "local" places there are to ride in the immediate tri-state area (Editor's note: tri-state area refers to PA, MD, and DE, NJ is not nor will ever be listed in the tri-state riding area for one very simple yet pervasive reason - Jersey blows. Sad but true, sorry BShow.) In light of this, K-town, Campbell, and I, along with other occasional team riders including BShow, TStrauss, Camden, Double D, and Nick Cappriotti, rode all of the "other" (i.e., not French Creek, Marsh Creek, or Downingtown) riding locations worth visiting within a 1-hour drive (the list is pretty short and includes: Fair Hill, Wissahickon, Brandywine, and White Clay/Judge Morris/Middle Run).

New Year's Eve at Brandywine (Delaware)

(Pre-rant disclaimer: I have yet to see the good riding that Brandyine has to offer. I'm told its really good if you know where to go.) New year's eve, K-town and I decided to wait around all day for Campbell to get done working before riding Brandywine in the afternoon/evening. In retrospect this was totally retarded. It seemed like a good idea, given that Campbell works literally 6 mintues from the Brandywine trail head and he "knows" the trails, and that K-town had ridden with Campbell and BShow at Brandywine a week previous and came home with a positive report. She's really nice, bless her heart. Those who know me will tell you that I'm not nice at all. Case in point, the Brandywine ride totally sucked. Campbell was detained at work past a time that made sense for us to wait for him, so we soldiered on without him. K-town lead with fuzzy trail knowledge from the ride the week before. To her credit she did great recreating the ride that Campbell had constructed previously. It was the trails/loop/ride that sucked. It consisted of thirteen miles of 95% gravel path, paved road, farm road, and open field trail. Picture mountain biking across the frozen Siberian tundra, that was Brandywine. The 5% percent of single track that we did ride was okay, but not great, and certainly not worth the hour drive to the trail. You'll have to slip me a roofie and shanghai me A-Team/BA style to Delaware to get me to ride Brandywine again without video proof that the trails don't totally suck. I was left questioning why anyone would ride there more than once. It wasn't a total waste though as I ran into a guy who told me about a Fair Hill ride the next day.

New Year's Day Fair Hill Ride - Maryland Awesomeness Revisited

I can't get enough of this place lately. We've streamlined our driving route so that it actaully takes less time to get here than to French Creek. I feel like I've been missing out not going here more over the past few years. Campbell, K-town, Double D (who is actually a severely flat chested guy), and I met up with the DE Trail Spinners. The group slowly split apart until it was just us and Chris (a.k.a. Possum). The ride was essentially a guided mountain bike tour of the best that Fair Hill has to offer. We rode long and hard. Possum was great. He's fast and knows the trails backwards and forwards. We need to learn this place. Its too good not to ride more often.

Virgin Trip to Wissahickon

Like Brandywine I've heard good things about Wissahickon but my experience was limited to a single trail run two years ago. So, the day after new years K-town, Campbell, and I met BShow at Valley Green to see what Wissahickon has to offer. BShow has ridden at Wissahickon a couple of times but none of us really know the trails. 10 minutes in I was gearing myself up for another Brandywine-esque disaster. We started from the Valley Green parking lot, crossed the river, and headed west on the north side of the park. A mile in we hit a dead-end and turned around and headed east. From there we essentially just took whatever direction we felt like at each crossing. We eventually made it to Rittenhouse Town 4.5 miles in and were feeling like we were tired of milling around without a known loop. But behold!!! From out of nowhere as if descended from heaven Nick Cappriotti (who rides Wiss literally everyday) came rolling out the woods. We hooked up with him for the remainder of the ride and ended up doing an awesome 15 mile loop. We'll definitely go back. We finished up with good eats and beer from the Manayunk Brew Pub. Awesome.

Sunday Group Ride at White Clay

The riding area collectively known as White Clay is ridiculously awesome. Its like the moutain biking Garden of Eden. Its not particularly challenging and doesn't provide the greatest workout unless your hauling, but it is the most fun you'll have on a mountain bike...guaranteed. Again, K-town, Campbell, and I hooked-up with members of the Guy's Racing Team, the DE Trail Spinners, and other TBR/TLR riders including Camden, Patton, TStrauss, Collina, and Tommy O, and went for one of the most fun 2.5 hour rides you can expect this time of year. The name of the game at White Clay is how fast can you go without touching your brakes or wrapping yourself around a tree? Sweet, just plain sweet.

That's enough,

Ronaldo

Holiday Break Ride Report

Nearly Half Century with K-town and Campbell

The Saturday following Christmas (and the awesome Fair Hill ride) was marked by more rain, lots and lots of rain. So we opted to eat instead of ride. Sunday the temperature reached a record high of 62 degrees. 62 degrees!?! Winter in PA this year was held in November. I blinked and missed it. Needless to say (I would hope anyway) all of the local trails were off limits. The trails were way too soft to ride, and besides I'd rather not dedicate the afternoon following the ride to cleaning both my and K-town's bikes. Just like my oven allergy, K-town suffers from a hose allergy.

So, after church *gasp* (Yes, K-town and I still attend church on a regular basis) K-town, Campbell, and I left our house on our road bikes, rode through Coatesville *gasp* (Yes, we ride through Coatesville its only 4-5 miles or so and some of the most beautiful roads in Chester County are located just south of Coatesville. Don't worry there were only 4 or 5 shootings that day.), and headed south through Unionville, East and West Marlboro Townships, Lenape, (not in that order) and back. We logged ~46 miles total which was awesome since K-town's longest previous road ride was ~30 miles, Campbell hasn't ridden in like three weeks, we Jerry-rigged K-town's road bike together 10 minutes before riding, and it looked on the verge of raining all day. All considered it was a great ride that I'm still feeling today despite the mild pace.

I think I started to fatigue before both K-town and Campbell. I was so hungry that by mile 35 my plum color Bontrager bar tape was starting to look quite appetizing. Maybe the pace wasn't as mild as I thought.

During my next little block of holiday break it looks like the ground may be frozen for one whole morning. Yippee!

Ronaldo

Holiday Break Ride Report

Maryland Awesomeness

The Friday after Christmas the temp was just far enough below freezing to make the trails at Fair Hill rideable. K-town, Dan Dix, BShow, our buddy Cory from Oregon, and I met at the Appleton Road parking lot at 9:00AM, pieced together enough singles to cover the out of state parking tariff (Thanks Dix), and headed out on the trails that we "know". That is to say we followed the first Fair Hill MASS race course, than attempted to navigate as much of the second Fair Hill MASS race course as we could remember until we got lost. Which was fine.

Each time we go to Fair Hill we go in full knowledge of the fact that at some point in the ride we will turn down a sweet section of single track that we "know" only to find out moments later that we are "lost". Most times we know exactly where we are just not how that particular trail relates to anywhere we've been or where we'd like to go. Which I suppose is the essence of being lost. And of course, whenever we get lost there's always as many opinions as riders as to how to get wherever it is we're "going". This particular Friday we opted to take an amalgam of the opinions at each unfamiliar trail head, banking on our collective trail "knowledge" to guide us back to the cars. It paid off...eventually.

Anyway, the first ~2.5 hours was filled with rolling, awesome, singletrack. Around 11:30AM the trails were beginning to thaw and we started to head out, which was difficult considering we had only a vague sense that the parking lot was somewhere behind us and slightly to the right. 45 minutes later K-town was in the midst of a full on bonk which is understandable since she fought to keep up with the boys (who were hauling for the better part of the day) against her better judgement for 20 something miles (Expert Women here she comes). 3.5 hours in we had found a familiar trail that would be a short 1-2 mile jaunt back to the parking lot , the trails were thawing (i.e., thawed), and we were beginning to flirt with our status as good trail stewards. When we all got back to the lot we were greeted with no less than 5 SUVs with 4 or 5 riders each just heading out. Apparently they hadn't gotten the memo (or been able to read the sign that prohibits riding in wet or soft conditions) about riding on wet trails only when they are frozen.

We finished off the ride with lunch from California Tortilla and Dunkin Donuts coffee. K-town stopped shaking from hunger and exhaustion half way through lunch and we headed home. Not a bad Christmas/Holiday ride. I only wish that winter would actually stick here in PA so that we could do it more.

Ronaldo

Monsoon

Apparently December is monsoon season now here in southeast Pennsylvania. So I'll be spending the day wrapping presents, tracking down sponsors, and making fun of Campbell as he attempts to sign up for this blog.

Ronaldo