S: 20,700 yds - 5hr 2min
B: 249.67 mi - 19hr 31min
R: 29.15 mi - 4hr 3min
Total: 28hr 37min
The last 4 weeks has been rather nice. Wake-up
times for the first 10 months of the year were usually between 5 and
5:30 am. In the last 5 weeks, I don’t think I’ve ever woken up before
6:30am. It’s been great! I've done some baking, some eating, some good beer drinking, some traveling, some light training, and in general just whatever I want:
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| the bluff of Shades Mountain at sunset via bicycle |
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| pumpkin bread, ready for the oven |
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| pumpkin bread, final product |
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| Houston at sunrise |
Training over the last month has been pretty non-existent, which
is how it should be for at least some portion of time after a tough season. After almost a year of grinding at the millstone,
it was time for a break. I’ve enjoyed the copious amounts of free time
that I now have at my disposal, although admittedly it does get kind of
boring sometimes. To ease my boredom, I did what any rational person
would do: buy a new bike. Per this simple formula n = c + 1, where n is
the number of bikes that one should own and c is the number of bikes
that one currently owns. In all seriousness, however, I’ve been
thinking about buying a mountain bike for a long time now. Intense peer pressure at work to buy one has been going on for the last 5 years.
Although I’ve always thought that riding dirt sounds fun I have just
been putting it off, telling myself that I’m too scared and that there
was no need to potentially kill myself on the trails. However, as the
years have gone on I’ve been getting more and more of a desire to try
some new things in the world of endurance sports so I finally decided to
pull the trigger on a Specialized Stumpjumper hard tail 29’er.
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| new addition to the collection |
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| all shiny and clean, for now |
I
feel like I possess a decent amount of knowledge in the realm of road
and TT bikes. I can install or remove pedals, cassettes, cranksets, wheels, and I can make somewhat successful tweaks on both the front and
rear derailleur. But mountain bikes are a whole different story.
Hydraulic disc brakes, front suspension, wider wheels, handlebars,
chain ring and cassette size, what’s good and what’s not in all these
areas…everything is just different. This made the decision making process slightly
overwhelming, but luckily I’ve got some really good friends…a number of
bike mechanics, long time mtb’ers, and people that have been around the
industry for decades that were willing to answer the bazillion questions
that I had. After finally pulling the trigger, it was time to get on
some dirt! Now, I have known all along that I’m pretty much a wuss when
it comes to cycling. Over the years, I’ve become pretty comfortable
riding in pelotons and such on the road, but the thought of riding on
very narrow singletrack on rocky, rooty, and loose/uneven terrain really
scares the crap out of me. I’m always thinking of the worst possible
thing that could happen, and it’s just plain scary. On the road, I have
no problem riding in groups, bombing down hills at 50 mph (at night even), or laying the bike down in a
sharp turn, so that kind of tells me that I just need to get some miles
on the trail and everything will be fine.
With
that being said, for the past 3 weekends I’ve taken the mtb out to Oak
Mountain for some dirt ridin’. Ride #1 was slightly terrifying, and by
that I mean it was the most terrifying thing that I have done in quite
some time. New bike, new terrain, trails I’ve never seen…it all
culminated in this feeling of complete vulnerability. Frank Gable (a
fellow engineer at work) agreed to meet me out there and show me the
ropes. We started out on the lake trail (very wide) and that was good.
I was uncomfortable, but mainly because I didn’t know how fast I could
safely ride or how fast I could take turns. Next we did the rattlesnake
trail, which is a windy singletrack with some rocks and roots and a
couple of logs. Frank would stop before the technical sections and let
me know what was coming and that helped out a lot. It has come to my
attention that knowledge of the trail can make a huge difference! After
doing the rattlesnake, family, and Mr. Toad trails, we decided to do
the first part of Jekyl and Hyde, which is roller coaster of ups and
downs with the way out being a nice climb. This was great and I felt
fine on the way out, but on the way back was a different story. At that
point, the day started to set in. I was getting very hungry, it was
getting dark, and I was losing focus (note to self: don’t play 18 holes
of golf before your first mtb ride). I found out first hand that losing
focus on the mtb is not a great thing to do. I crashed 2x on the way
back. Both were at very slow speeds and were not serious at all. Both
times my wheel just barely got off the trail due to lack of focus and I
went down. All in all in was a good ride and I learned a ton.
The
next weekend I headed back out to Oak Mountain for ride #2. I decided
that I would just hang out on the lake trail and get more comfortable on
the bike. After 3 out-and-backs on the trail I was 100% more
comfortable on the bike and was completely comfortable going much faster
than my first ride. It was awesome. Ride #3 took place the next
weekend. I started off on the lake trail (did it 2x) to get warmed up
and “get my bearings”. By then I was ready to get off so I headed to
the rattlesnake trail. It was MUCH easier than the first time and I had
no issues besides having to walk up 2-3 rocky spots. Next, I did the
family trail and Mr. Toads. By then I was about ready to be done riding
trails but then I decided to head up the Peavine Falls Road climb on the
road, just to get some extra time in on the bike and enjoy a good view. It's a nice 20 minute climb (on a mtb at least) with a sweet overlook at the top.
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| top of the Peavine Falls Road climb |
So
far, riding the mtb has been awesome. I’ve learned a lot in only 3
rides and I think getting out of my comfort zone on the bike has been
good for me. Maybe one day I’ll do some mtb races, but I am planning on
doing Southern Cross in February; it’s a 50 mile cross race with 6,680 ft of climbing in the north Georgia mountains (starting in Dahlonega,
GA)…what could be better!?? I especially like the write-up for the course description:
Hard. There will be steep climbing, descending, a couple mean run-ups, and a handful of barriers. Do not underestimate the difficulty of this event. The weather, if nasty, can add another element of difficulty. The course mileage is ~50'ish with the largest percentage of it on gravel roads. There will be one TOPEAK support/aid station. You bring your supplies (MUST FIT IN ONE GALLON SIZED ZIPLOC BAG OR SMALL COOLER- NO SPARE BIKES OR WHEELS) if you want to use the drop and we will transport them to and from the aid station. We'll also have some basic fluids and snacks there (typical Aid station food) as well as a Joe Blow pump, a workstand, and some Topeak tools. There may or may not be a mechanic available to help so don't rely on that and be prepared to work on your own bike.
Sounds like it's going to be a blast! Who knows…if I improve enough over the next couple of months, I might even
try out some Xterra races next year as well…we’ll see.
