Saturday I spent at the "Wipe Fest" ride here in Eugene. The "Coasties" (a group of mtb riders from Florence and nearby areas on the coast) wanted to come over and ride Why Pass with the Disciples of Dirt. The request was to ride every trail in Why Pass, and we did just that!
Everyone arrived around 9am, and the weather was looking great, even though the forecast was for thundershowers. It was about 50 degrees when the relatively large group of 28 of us started out. By the end of the day it had warmed up to a lovely 66 degrees. I actually wound up wearing knee warmers, a thin wool long sleeve base layer and thin long sleeve jersey on top of that most of the day, and was perfect. The trails were mostly dry and tacky, and conditions overall were stellar.
With the large group we stopped to regroup a fair bit, but the nice thing was there wasn't a huge disparity in skills, so the wait was primarily due to the effect of nearly 30 people in a group. As we saw on short sections, like "Green Velvet Elvis", as the front end of the group was finishing the loop, you could still see the tail end of the group.
On one trail, we stopped to have a couple guys do this pretty sweet drop. It wasn't too big (3' at the drop itself, although Isaac and Erik were probably dropping a good 6' by the time they landed below. Isaac was on his dirt jumper and really flyin it, crossing it up, almost went for a bar spin and the whole deal. The crazy part is that shortly after these guys were landing it, they had to slalom through two big trees, and then another one right after. There were some VERY close calls! Bob gets some big cheers too, as he pulled this thing off on his full rigid fixie! Yes, fixie! Nice.
We finished off with one of the best descents in the place, and Bob and I rode the final log ride, or specifically, he rode the first part, not sure about the second, and I rode the second part. Super fun. I need to work on that first part, but it's a bit sketch to me so far. At the end of the day, we'd ridden 20.5 miles of singletrack, with almost 3 hours of ride time, and having been out on trails for 4.5 hours with a great group of people. Awesome day.
Update: picture thread has started on MTBR.
May 2008 Archives
On Thursday, my wife joined me for my second trail run, and her first. We did a different set of trails in Eugene's Ridgeline system (the entrance off Blanton). I really liked this one. It's all singletrack, has a couple steep spots, but is just a really nice environment. We saw a few other folks out running as well. This run went much better for me. Less pain on my knees on the descents, and just overall was easier for me. I think I knew more about what to expect.
I'm finding that I'll have to work on/figure out water. I took a handheld bottle again, but barely drank anything. We ran (and walked) for about 50 minutes, and the weather was much cooler this time (in the 50's). I suspect that if I do runs that are under an hour, I may be able to get away with not taking water. But, I fight this at a core level, after so many years of riding, and having experiences running out of water, and knowing how important fluids are, etc. What I probably want is a mini water bottle, maybe 10 ounces. I've seen that I think Nathan Sports or Ultimate Direction makes that size bottle, but haven't seen a handheld holder (so far I'm not interested in a waist belt/pack or backpack).
On the flip side, I realize that as I get better, and can actually run for 45 minutes, an hour, or more, I will probably want/need to consume more water.
Speedgoat just released their 2008 Pink Bike charity raffle. Tickets are $10 and benefit breast cancer. You have a chance to win the kick ass, all pink (well, just about), Niner Jet 9 they put together.
Yesterday yielded an excellent, fairly large (for me) road ride. I had to be out of the house for the morning while the pest service was convening war on the carpenter ants that have come around. Initially I thought the guy only needed us out for 2 hours, but then he said 3. So, I grabbed an extra bar, and set out on the road.
At first I thought I'd dressed too warm. It was supposed to be a rainy day, and my various thermometers said 56 degrees, so I had tights on, thin wool base layer and a thin long sleeve jersey, jacket in back pocket. Right as I set out, it was totally sunny and my cyclometer thermometer read 70 degrees! Eeek. Weather held, but the temp on the cyclometer did drop, and things were fine.
I rode out and did my first climb up McBeth, weather was ideal. About 10 seconds after reaching the summit it started to rain lightly. I proceeded down Fox Hollow which is a fairly long and fast descent. Within a minute, it was raining hard, and the temp had dropped a bunch (down into upper 50's). At this point I pulled over and donned my jacket. I was glad I did, as the rain just got harder and colder, and it was stinging my face, etc. Quite the turn of weather.
Of course, by the bottom of the climb, the rain had calmed down, and it was real light. I kept cranking and knew that to be out 3+ hours I'd need to refill water, so headed towards the "town" of Crow. Crow amounts to a few houses, a gas/convenience store, and a combination middle school/high school. But hey, the gas station always has gatorade or something.
By the time I got to Crow, I realized I was into it pretty good, at 32 miles and just shy of 2 hours. I for some reason thought I was only half way, so figured I was in for a pretty big ride, which was cool. I hadn't done 60+ miles in a long time. I nabbed a 32oz Gatorade, and a 12oz V8, and some of those junky peanut butter-cheese cracker things. It was noon, and I was hungry, even though I'd had a bar and a gel (but a light breakfast). Refilled bottles, drank the V8, ate the crackers, and carried on.
Turns out I was actually exactly 2/3rds of the way through the ride. The roads back went fast, and the total mileage turned out at only 48 miles. I was glad to be back earlier as I needed to get back to work, but was bummed it didn't turn out to be 60+ miles and 4 hours. Still, a great ride, and I had good weather for most of it, mostly just that one descent that took the bulk of the rain, which was fine. Recovered very well, and don't feel the ride this morning, nice!
Somehow I got the crazy idea that I should start trail running. I don't really know what sparked it, possibly Andrew Skurka's feats, or having moved to Eugene which is running crazy of course. I do think after my wife and I hiked Spencer Butte a week ago, that maybe she'd like to do some trail running and such as well. So, I propsed the idea to her, and she was game. This led to a quick bit of shopping to pick up some shoes and shorts, etc. I had done a bit of research, but we'll see how it all works out.
Today I got out for my first run, although unfortunately my wife couldn't join me. We'll go together on Thursday. I headed over to Ridgeline park, at the Fox Hollow trailhead, where I ride my bike sometimes. I know the trails there, and figured the upper loop might be a good starting point - not too long (I hoped), and reasonable ups and downs. I figured I'd do a loop and that'd probably destroy me, and I'd come home...
I started out by walking for about 8 minutes to get warmed up, see how my shoes felt, etc. Then I ran. Or, um, I call it running - my form leaves a lot to be desired I can assure you. I found I could run for several minutes, then needed to walk, run again, walk, repeat. I did the top loop in 22 minutes. I don't know how many miles it is, maybe 1.5? When I was done, I felt pretty decent actually, and decided to do another.
My legs, just above the knees were hurting a bit from the descents, so I on this lap I tried to run as much of the flats and hills as I could, and walked most of the descents. I cut 5 minutes off my first lap time on the second lap, and decided that was it for the first time out. Didn't want to overdo it, and knew the spots above my knees would probably be hurtin' a bit.
A few key learnings:
- I didn't hate it! I feared this, as I have NOT liked running in the past. I was a really great sprinter growing up actually, but never liked distance stuff. So, this is a promising start.
- The descents are what hurt the most for me. I'll have to watch this, and I may not try to do too heavy of climbing/vertical until I'm more conditioned to it.
- I do need one of those water bottle hand wrap/holder thingies. I just held a plain cycling water bottle, which was ok, but it gets kinda slippery with the sweat.
- I feel my stride is terrible, and that I run rather flat-footed (or at least the foot "landings" feel that way). I suspect I need to lengthen my stride a bit (on trail that seemed to help), generally improve of course, and also, maybe work my arms more. Need to learn more here! Recommendations/advice much appreciated!
- My shoes worked well (Salomon XT Wings), and the shorts were quite nice (some Adidas ones). So, other than the water bottle, I think I'm good on gear.
- I'm ready to do it again. As I sit here this evening, my legs are a bit sore, but I plan to go out on the road bike tomorrow and ride that out; will be interested to see how that works out.
Yesterday evening I went to a presentation at my local REI here in Eugene, OR, by a woman named Jude, who along with two friends rode for 3 months in Patagonia, essentially from Buenas Aires to Tierra del Fuego. She talked and told some stories, and showed a slide show. She also has a blog that she wrote during the trip:
http://overtheandes.blogspot.com/
I haven't had a chance to read all of the blog, but see that it has some of the same pictures, and many more stories and so on. It's a really amazing trip. They did it totally seat of the pants, or as she called it a "SOPA" (Seat Of Pants Adventure). What that boiled down to was the fact that they didn't plan squat. They basically packed up their bikes, some clothes and gear, and flew down there, unpacked their bikes, bought a map, and just started riding. No set plans of any kind, no routes known ahead of time, bought and carried food along the way, etc.
They have some great pictures, and some of the scenery is amazing. Also, some insane conditions at times, like this:
http://bp3.blogger.com/_heWRvjK67EM/SAFZfQOHnjI/AAAAAAAAAQk/8-pVXDViw_A/s1600-h/P1080855.JPG
They do have some riding experience (varying), and Jude is/was a bike mechanic (her last day was yesterday) as well as she's a cycle touring guide. The youngest woman was 20, and Jude is 25 I think.
Pretty cool.
p.s. one funny thing that sticks out to me was how Jude said she never eats mayonnaise, but on the trip, to get calories, and in part as its what they could get at times, they were wolfing down mayo - including putting it on cookies!