A Lazy Update

I'll admit I've grown weary of writing about every ride I do. However since this blog is more personal riding journal, I thought I'd write down a few points/ideas before I forget them.

Earlier this week I went riding with Corby on the Coto/West Ridge route. Did the ride on the new singlespeed and had a pretty good time. Some of the climbs were a bit tougher than I thought they'd be, but overall nothing I couldn't handle.

I'm not sure what it is about the new bike, but I really enjoy the downhill feel on it. It's one of three things, or maybe a combination of them:

1. Lighter frame (4 pounds lighter than geared bike)
2. Longer stem
3. 2.3 tires as opposed to 2.1

I'd like to figure it out because I want to move that kind of feel over to my main bike.

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Yesterday I did a ride I've been wanting to do for a while now. It's called the "Whiting Ranch Grand Tour". It covers just about all of Whiting Ranch in one big loop.

My goal was to try to keep up with Matt and Andrew by pushing hard, but I'm not sure I succeeded. I was in front for half of the trail, which just means that I was setting the pace. What that really means is that they might have wanted to go faster but I was in their way. Ha.

I got beat by a good minute or two up Mustard and Dreaded. I'm so tempted to bust out the excuses, but really there are none. More riding and more training is the cure.

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I'm leaving for a vacation soon and I'm a little worried about my fitness dropping a notch or two. I'll be gone for 10 days and who knows how I'll be after I get back. When I got back from Thailand earlier in the year I wasn't feeling the best out on the trails. Then again I was pretty sick.

Either way I'm looking forward to the two big events coming up in May and June (Toad Festival and The Traverse respectively). It'll be fun to get out and start training with the guys again. Good times.

Another One Bites the Dust

We'll keep this short.

Went out to Whiting this morning before work and banged out Mustard on the new singlespeed. First attempt = success. It took me 2-3 minutes to calm down and catch my breath after getting to the top, but I made it. Cleared every obstacle too on the Live Oak lap. Riding the new bike makes me work a _lot_ harder for every climb, but getting up each hill means something to me again ... which is nice.

I also uploaded some more pictures of the Noble ride, so you can go back a post or two to get the link to that album.

Last note ... I weighed my two main bikes and the Specialized came in at 28.5 pounds and the Kona came in at 25 pounds. Scale wasn't that great, so I'd say they are about 4 pounds apart. Amazing what a difference 4 pounds makes when you're climbing.

Kona is Hawaiian for Pain

Yesterday I went out to do Blackstar on my singlespeed, and all I can say is: OW!

I really wanted to go to Beek's on the new bike because I figured it would be a good challenge and good training for getting faster. The plan was to go after my nap on Sunday, but the nap went a lot longer than I thought it would.

To seal the deal, Corby got a new bike yesterday and also wanted to try it out on a familiar trail. So we scheduled an after work ride, each of us on our new bikes.

The start of the ride was fine. The flats kind of suck with a singlespeed (SS) because I can't go as fast as I normally would. I just end up spinning around really fast without really going anywhere.

I didn't really feel a lot of resistance until after the first switchback. Right before the "speed bumps" on the first climb was where I first started standing. I think I stood almost the entire way from the bumps to the second switchback. I was so happy to get to the flat section after the second switchback. My breathing was pretty heavy and my legs were starting to burn pretty bad.

From that point to Hidden Valley I was suffering big time. I had to stand almost the entire way because I couldn't push the gear while sitting. My lower back started to hurt because I'm not used to standing so much. I also can't remember the last time my legs have burned so badly. The bike really worked my quads to death.

I have to admit I thought of giving up right before Hidden Valley. I've been riding a lot for the past year or so and the idea of turning around on a ride at this point is almost unthinkable. I never turn around. The only reason I was considering it was that I felt like I was going to pass out with all the energy I was putting out.

When we finally reached Hidden Valley I started to feel better. I don't think I said one word to Corby on the entire ride up to Hidden Valley because I was too tired to speak. Hahaha.

Riding through Hidden Valley let me recover on the flats and the ride up to the rock formations near the top was great. I don't know if the grade was easier or if it was because I had warmed up, but the second half of the climb was quite a bit easier compared to the first half.

The very last section to the gate was tough, but since I knew I was close I really pushed and made it up ok. My time wasn't too hot at 1:04, but I figure that was due to going _really slow_ on some sections.

The trip down was awesome. The bike feels pretty amazing on the fire roads going down. Even though the front is rigid, the trip down felt great. The 2.3 width and a little extra PSI absorbs a lot of the bumps.

All in all I'm proud to have done it, but it was very difficult for me. I'm looking forward to spending more and more time on the new SS to get my fitness even higher. I need to get faster somehow!

(Note: Corby set a new personal best for gate-to-gate time and for overall time. He did the entire ride in his middle ring, which is a big deal. Congrats Corby!)

Noble Canyon

The group (minus Corby) on "Big Laguna":



This past Saturday four of us took a trip down to Noble Canyon. Noble is somewhere around Cuyamaca and Julian, which is maybe 40 miles east of San Diego. It was a long trip, but well worth it.

Noble has a reputation for being pretty technical, and it didn't disappoint. The rating on GeoLadders was 8.3 out of 10, which is the same rating that Joplin got. I had read some posts on some forums about the trail and all signs pointed towards rocky, technical descents.

To the ride ...

We ended up getting down to the trailhead a little past 9AM. We were all surprised after looking at the directions that the first 10 miles were going to be on the _road_. Needless to say we were all a bit bummed to spend almost half of the ride on the road, but whatever ...

The first 3 or so miles of the road in were pretty killer. The sun was out and in force causing me to sweat a ton. It reminded me of riding last summer in 90+ degree weather. I think everyone in our group was expecting something a bit milder to start and so I think we all were pushing a little harder than normal. Also I forgot to mention three other riders were out and had started before us and we wanted to make sure we passed them.

It was funny because the leader of their group was a girl, which meant we had to pass her "with prejudice". Matt and Andrew both blew her away, but I was nice. I just came up along side her and then gradually passed her. Haha.

We eventually came to a stop on the paved section and waited to see what the plan was. The other group tried to talk us into doing a variation of the trail we wanted to do, but we declined.

The road section went on for quite a while, but it was actually pretty interesting. Being in a new environment takes away a lot of what would otherwise be a boring 10+ mile road ride.

When we reached the campgrounds at the top of the climb we saw a truck full of storm troopers (mountain bike talk for downhill riders with shin guards, full face helmets etc.) getting ready to ride down. This made me a little nervous. I couldn't help but wonder what the trail was going to be like if some other guys were riding with body armor.

The trip down Big Laguna was pretty uneventful. The trail was nice and the scenery was pretty amazing. I kept waiting for some nutso technical section around each corner, but never hit it. I wish I had gone a lot faster down this section.

Eventually we hit the start of the technical riding with about 4 miles left. The anticipation had been killing me, so I was glad to finally see some more challenging riding.

I don't really feel like writing a ton of boring prose today, so I'll bullet point the highlights of the tech sections (in order of importance to me):

- Matt cleared ALL of "Stairway to Hell". This was a really, really impressive thing to witness. The picture I have does not do it justice, but it gives you an idea.

Stairway to Hell:



- I crashed going about 0.5mph on a rock. I ended up going over the bars and landed on my hands and knees. My left knee hit a rock really hard and drew some blood. I felt cool riding the rest of the ride with blood coming down my leg. Makes me look tough.

- I cleared 95% of a pretty rocky/technical section. I walked the first 10 feet and had to put a foot down once, but otherwise rode all of it. It was a pretty long part of the trail and reminded me of Joplin a little.

Rocky Section:



- I spit on Andrew because I didn't realize the wind was blowing into him. Hahaha.

- I rode with my seat down for the last 2-3 miles. This helps me so much on more technical/steep riding. I feel pretty good when the seat is lower.

Me climbing on a lowered seat:



Rolling over a log:



All in all a really fun ride. We ate at Frosty Burger after the ride and had some good conversation on the way home. I really love taking this all day trips to places outside of Orange County. Hopefully there will be quite a few more before the year is over.

Here is a link to the pictures from the ride:

Noble

Singlespeed Experience

Yesterday was the maiden voyage of my new singlespeed. I wanted to take it to a trail that I knew pretty well with moderate short climbs, so I ended up at Peter's Canyon. Matt, Andrew and Corby also came along to ride a few laps.

The plan was to ride one loop, then trade bikes with Matt so he could try it out.

The gearing on the bike was a little tougher than what I wanted, but that's ok. I was hoping for a 32-20, but ended up with a 34-20. Singlespeeds that are already built up and ready to go are really tough to find.

I went to 3-4 different shops before ending up at The Path in Tustin. They had a great selection of singlespeed bikes and I ended up buying the Kona from them.

Anyways, enough about boring details ... TO THE RIDE! ...

The bike was making some odd noises on the way to the trailhead, but I'm chalking most of it up to the "breaking in" phase of a new bike. I need to tighten one or two bolts and tighten the chain tension, but other than that I think the noises were fine and normal.

The gearing felt really good up until the first serious climb. I was stuck on some of the flat sections going a little bit slower than I would have liked, but it was still fun. I noticed right away that when I'm in a lower gear on a flat section that my pedaling is very choppy. It's not a smooth motion all the way around at all. Hopefully riding the SS more will help my cadence and technique.

I was prepared for two climbs and the first one didn't disappoint. I made it maybe up 5% of the climb before coming off. Hahahaha. It was a miserable failure. I knew I'd have to stand to make it up, but I just couldn't do it. When I went to stand I had no momentum going into the climb and so I pretty much stood, came to a stop and unclipped. At that point it was useless trying to start again.

Going over to Big Red was a big odd as the rigid fork in the front causes every minor bump and drop to be felt to the max. You really FEEL everything. My head kept bouncing all over because it feels like riding off a 3 foot drop and then landing hard on the bike. It's that kind of an impact even on little things.

The climb up Big Red was the opposite of the first climb. I fell way short of my expectations on the first climb and way exceeded my expectations on the second climb. I only made it about one third of the way up Big Red, but that was a lot farther than I had expected to go.

I ended up walking the rest of the climb and finished the ride just fine. It's worth noting again how rough it is riding on a rigid fork. I'm used to riding a hard tail, but riding rigid in the front is pretty crazy. Hopefully I'll get more used to it.

The second note is that my chain come off on one of the climbs. What the heck? It's a SINGLESPEED! Chain problems aren't supposed to exist. I guess I just need to tighten the tension for the chain and I'll be fine.

The last note is that I let Matt borrow the bike on a second lap around the park and he cleared Big Red. Yeah, yeah. I have nothing more to say about that. Hahaha. I was riding his bike behind him and I was pretty impressed. It is not an easy thing to do at all and yet he did it. I'm starting to wonder what he can't do.

This is for Andrew ...

It's a picture of me when I first started biking.

Two things to note about the picture.

1. I have a gut and about 20 more pounds on me. Yikes.
2. For some reason it looks like I'm "excited". I think the shorts were just really baggy or something. Hahaha.

... and Kona makes three

So I bought a new bike yesterday. It's a Kona Unit rigid singlespeed.

Stock Picture:



Actual Bike:



I wanted to spend around 500 bucks on something for my existing bike, but then realized I could buy a totally NEW bike for that price. The catch is that the bike is a singlespeed and it's rigid. Rigid just means that it has 0 suspension.

I'm pretty excited about it because it adds a new dimension to a lot of old trails. It's going to be a challenge to climb up hills that I normally have no problem with. The gearing is 34-20, which is pretty tough for me.

Then again a tough gearing is kind of the point. I want to get stronger, faster and more handsome and this bike will help me accomplish two of three. That's not bad, right?

Quick Update

Well we've reached the end of the first quarter of 2007 and I'm happy to report that I came in well over my goal of 500 miles. This means I'm on a good pace to finish at over 2,000 miles for 2007.

If I get over 2,000 miles with a few months to spare for the year, then I'll reset my goal like I did last year.

In other news, I'm in the process of buying a new bike. I say "in the process of" because it's being worked on in the shop and I'm waiting to go pick it up.

I'll have pictures of it in the next few days with some details. I actually got money back this year on my tax return and figured I'd spend a small amount of it on something fun. It's not an expensive bike, but it should prove to be a good time.

Last note is that I signed up for two more big rides. The first is a charity event called the Toad Festival, and the second is a race called The Traverse.

I'll post more about the bike and the big rides later.

First Ever "Riley Races"

I got Troy to finally show me around the Coto Valley Loop about a week ago, and in the middle of doing the ride we came across Riley Wilderness Park. I knew there was a GeoLadders route for 9 points in Riley, so we ended up cruising around for a few minutes so I could cross it off my list of trails to do. The total time was probably around 15 minutes.

After I finished the ride I thought, "Man ... it would be fun to race that and see who could get the fastest time."

Well this past Saturday (3/31/07), Matt, Andrew and I did just that. We did the Coto Valley Loop (which Matt and Andrew hadn't done) and then did three laps at Riley. The Riley loop is only 2 miles, so three laps is nothing.

I'm going to break this post up into two parts at this point. The first part is "The Race" and the second part is "The Drop".


THE RACE:

Those that know me know that I'm pretty competitive. I don't like to lose and I don't like to not even come close to people I'd competiting with. So much so that I used to not compete with people if I knew I was going to lose.

When I did Counting Coup, Matt and Andrew beat my time by about 30 minutes. I could come up with a laundry list of excuses why I'm 30 minutes slower, but none of them hold any weight. I would say I weigh more than Matt, but Andrew weighs more than me and he still destroyed me. I would say my bike weighs a lot, but Andrew's bike weighs more. I would say I eat like crap, but so does Andrew. Hahaha. My excuses all worked before I met Andrew! Haha.

Anyways the plan on Saturday was to race Riley and see who was the fastest. I honestly thought I had a shot at getting the best time because I can push myself pretty hard. I have no problem pushing until my heart explodes or my legs fall off. I'll ride till my head gets dizzy or my legs flood with lactate acid. I was hoping Matt and Andrew wouldn't match my tolerance for pain and I could win based on gutting it out.

I took Matt and Andrew through Riley for a pre-ride so they could know the course. It took us 13:54 to ride through at a casual pace.

Matt went first for the race and both Andrew and I were shocked at how fast he went out. I was thinking it would be amazing to see a time under 10 minutes and Matt didn't disappoint. Matt finished with a time of 9:20. I remember looking at the stopwatch and laughing because I just couldn't believe how fast he did the course.

Andrew was up next and he didn't really want to compete. Hahaha. Maybe he was trying to set the expectations really low. I tried to talk him up for racing and he finally gave in and took off. Once again I remember thinking that Andrew had started pretty fast.

While Andrew was out racing the course I tried to pick Matt's brain on how to race the loop. Matt said he did the entire thing in his middle ring, but I didn't think I was going to be able to do that. He also said he locked out his rear suspension for the entire loop, which he thought might have hurt him.

Andrew came in at 9:15, which was pretty amazing. Matt looked like he was going to puke after his lap and Andrew was shaking like a leaf. Haha. It didn't bother me though. I knew I'd suffer, but I mean come on ... it's only 9-10 minutes of pain, right?

My plan was to push, push and push some more. We were only going to race one lap (originally I thought we could do 2-3 and improve our times gradually) and I wanted to make it count. I wanted to manage my heart rate though so that I wouldn't push too hard and have to stop totally in the middle of the course.

I went out pretty slow in retrospect. Both Andrew and Matt said they went out really fast and regretted it and I think I took that advice and it made me go pretty slow at the start. I also rode "pro-pedal" style for the whole first climb. Next time I'll ride the entire course locked out for sure.

The first thing that went wrong was my breathing. I was taken back in time to running the mile as a kid. I remember running and having my breathing freak out. I always had asthma as a kid, but I'm not sure if my heavy breathing was from the asthma or something else.

Anyways my breathing was screwed up. I was breathing really, really hard and I would point to that as the limiting factor for the entire race. My legs were strong. My arms and upper body were strong. My lungs were weak.

As a side note - halfway up the first climb I heard a rattlesnake in the bushes.

On the way to the second climb I was trying hard to do two things. I wanted to recover (get my heart rate down) and I wanted to gear up to maximize the downhill sections. Unfortunately I geared up way too high for a little uphill section and ended up practically doing a trackstand as I tried to pedal and get the bike moving again.

Once I got to the second climb I was still breathing heavy, but felt a bit better. Again I think I took the first part of the second climb too easy. I was pacing myself and not giving it all I had.

I hammered as best I could up to the top of the second climb, geared up as fast as I could and flew down to the finish line.

10:30. That's right. 10:30. Over one minute slower than Matt and Andrew.

Ugh.

I'm not sure what I need to do to close that gap, but I need to do something. My average heart rate for the race lap was 185 beats per minute, with a high of 219 beats per minute. 219 is insanely high for me. I rarely hit 190 on a ride, and my max is supposed to be roughly 193. Hahaha.

I think my short term solution is to ride more and ride harder. I need to break my leg muscles down a bit more to get them built up stronger. Also I need to do more "sprinting" on the bike to get my breathing and heart rate under control. I've never been a good sprinter, so I need to work on that.


THE DROP:

I'm going to try and keep this short since the race took a bit longer to type up than I thought.

"The Drop":



Somewhere around Chiquita Ridge, near Tijeras Creek, there is a singletrack that goes up on a ridge that parallels the fire road. It's pretty fun and then it ends abruptly in what I keep calling "The Drop".

I've walked down this section twice on previous rides always wondering if Matt or Andrew would ride it. I remember riding with Troy and he walked it, so I knew it wasn't anything trivial.

Anyways we finally got to the drop on Saturday and Matt - true to form - rode down it like it was nothing. Andrew got a little psyched out because I had made a big deal out of it, but eventually he rode down it like it was nothing as well.

It was a lot harder for me. Hahaha. I have been to this section twice already and both times felt like it was over my head. I ended up approaching and stopping 3-4 times before hiking down and telling Matt and Andrew I wasn't up for it.

On the ride back Andrew quoted from my blog. Hahaha. He said that he remembered reading somewhere that "I should go for more downhill stuff since I have medical insurance". It took me a second to realize that I had written that. Once it hit me that he was quoting _me_, I turned around and did the drop.

I had to drop my seat and it took me 4-5 approaches, but I finally did it. It felt pretty sketchy at the beginning, but the rest was cake. It's just a bad feeling to go from almost totally flat to a steep down angle. It feels very odd and unnatural.


Overall it was a pretty fun day. My legs felt great after since we only rode about 20 miles. Next weekend we'll have to put in more mileage for sure.

One final note ... the previous best time for the Riley loop was 12 minutes, which was held by Troy. Hahaha. TAKE IT TROY! Even I beat that time! Ha.


Me finally doing "the drop":