98.1

98.1 is not a new radio station, it's the mileage from my Memorial Day Weekend. Ok, ok the number is padded just a little bit. I took Friday off of work to go riding, so it's 98.1 miles in four days, not three.

Still, that's a lot of riding for me in the span of four days.

Friday I drove up to the Santa Ana River Trail (SART) to do some exploring with Matt, Mark, Troy, Mark and Andrew. I had been on this trail about a year ago and I know my buddies are sick of hearing it - but it was the scariest trail I had ever done. I really wanted to go back and conquer the fear I had.

I was able to get my fear about 90% under control. I rode very slowly on the turns with exposure (in other words cliffs) and took my time on any section I found to be particularly scary. The thing that makes SART so tough in some sections is how narrow the singletrack is. You have to stay right on it or over the edge you go.

There was one section that I walked both in the up and down directon. The reason being was that if I tipped over the edge I'd have fallen maybe 50 feet into rocks. Lots and lots of big jagged rocks. I'm sure I would have been fine, but it wasn't worth the risk.

So with my fear 90% conquered I can cross SART off of my biggest fears list. Which leaves the list as follows:

RYAN'S BIGGEST FEARS
1. Being alone forever
2. Spiders
3. Snakes
4. Clowns
5. Clowns dressing like spiders
6. Emo music going out of style

(Ok so I wrote down 0 of my biggest fears, but whatever)

Pic of the group minus Mark on SART:





Ride number two was a quick out and back in the Coto/Casper's area. I went with Matt and Corby and had a pretty good time. I decided to keep with my theme of pushing on the bike and I was happy with the results. I really enjoy pushing myself and the lack of cramping lately has made it easier and easier to do.

Highlight of ride two was catching two guys on the ride back to the car. I saw them finishing a climb right as Matt and I were starting the climb and I turned to Matt and said "Thinking what I'm thinking?" ... he said "Let's go get 'em" ... and we were off. Hahaha. Feels so good to catch people.


Ride three was the hardest, for obvious reasons. I had enough time to recover though, so I didn't suffer as much as I thought I would. The ride was on Monday morning and went from Blackstar to Santiago Peak. It was around 44 miles with almost 7,000 feet of elevation gain. The mileage is about right for The Traverse, but the climbing is 1,000 feet off.

I felt pretty good for the entire ride and that made me really happy considering I was pushing pretty hard in some spots. I set new personal bests to Beek's and to the top of the Motorway. Of course that made me pretty happy.

The average speed was 9.something miles an hour, which is excellent for me on a 44 mile ride. The paved section back to the car probably skews the metric considerably, but I'll take it. I've been feeling stronger and stronger on the bike and I'm hoping I've finally figured out how to push hard, not cramp and then recover for the next ride.

Let's hope race day goes as well as Memorial Day did.

Blackstar Motorway Ruminations

To "ruminate" means to "to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly". It's just a better word for "thoughts" ...

Did Blackstar-Motorway Tuesday night and had a good time. I tried to stay up front as best I could and I think I hung in there pretty good. I couldn't catch Jerry (then again who can) and I couldn't catch Matt (who was trying to catch Jerry), but I did manage to barely beat Doug to the top. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

I rode with Doug (dwhouse on GeoLadders), Jerry, Andrew, Matt, Scott and Steve. I've been trying hard to stay up towards the front in group rides and I think it's paying off. I'm not sure though. I can think of legit excuses for each guy that I beat. I mean for heaven's sake Steve was riding a SS 29'er after recently doing a DOUBLE CENTURY road ride AND a 24 hour SOLO ride. Who would expect him to finish ahead of me?!

Beyond that I got a personal best of under an hour to Beek's. I was pretty excited about that for maybe ... 3 minutes. Then I realize I still suck and the feeling passed. If and when I do it in under 55 minutes ... then that'll be a cause for celebration.

I will admit that after meeting Doug for the first time and finding out he races in the sport class, that I was trying to keep pace with him. Even though he wasn't racing, it makes me think I could race sport somehow. I mean I was right there with him the entire ride. That means I could hang, right? Maybe, maybe not.

Overall the entire ride took me 2:47. That's 8 minutes faster than my previous personal best. I was pretty stoked about that. That's an average speed of 9.2mph I believe. Very fast for me.

I stopped and realized the other day that recently I've been setting personal bests all over the place. Feels like every ride is a new best. That just proves the hard work is paying off.

The final note is that I have two races coming up in June on back to back Saturdays. The Traverse and then 12 Hours of Temecula (where I need to ride for 6 hours). Riding with other guys that race has got me thinking. I'm going to be looking into racing Rim Nordic later this year. They have a race coming up in June or July, but that might be too much in one month. I am seriously considering racing Sport in the second half of the year in Rim Nordic to see what's up.

I'd go out and race Beginner, but I think that would be too easy? Plus I'd feel embarrassed telling people I raced "Beginner". Sport is so much sexier.

Last thing ... I saw this picture online and thought it was funny:



Hikers and bikers have a natural animosity towards each other much like cats and dogs. Sometimes we get along fine, but for the most part there is some under-current of mutual dislike that runs at a very low level.

Still nothing compares to the shared hatred horse riders and bikers share. Freaking horses.

Bike Shop Pinball

Just a quick post to express some anguish over local bike shops ...

My bike has been in the shop a lot lately and it's getting old. The worst part is that no matter what shop I take it to I feel like I have maybe a 50% chance that the bike is going to be returned in good shape.

So I figured I'd do a quick run-down of the local shops I've been to and the problems I've had.


Two Wheels One Planet:

I took my old Trek hardtail there once and that was enough. I think I took it in for some drive train work and it came back in _worse_ shape compared to when I took it in. The shifting was horrible when I got it back and it convinced me to NEVER take ANYTHING to that shop again.

I just remember dropping the bike off and the mechanic in the back was some old Mexican guy that looked like he just crossed over from Tijuana. I remember thinking, "_He_ is the main guy? He looks like a coffee farmer, not a bike mechanic!"

RYAN SHOP RANK: [ 1/10 - I feel bad giving them a zero. ]


The Path:

I've only had one bike experience at The Path. I bought my singlespeed there and while they did a good job with the new chain and new free-wheel, it was a little concerning that when I picked it up, the stem was loose and the handlebars were far from perpendicular to the wheel.

It took them 15 minutes to fix it for me.

I'm constantly in awe at how bike shops can give me a bike that is so obviously not ready to go. This seems to happen over and over and over.

RYAN SHOP RANK: [ 7/10 - Service ain't the best in the store, but they kept in touch on the phone and know their stuff. ]


Rock and Road (Mission Viejo):

This is the place I've been to the most. It's funny considering how much time I spend in that store that I still feel like I'm giving them a hard time. The other day I ended up standing by the service area waiting for help for maybe 15 minutes before I had to go approach someone.

It's really annoying to see 6-8 people mill around aimlessly ignoring you. Why should I have to approach _anyone_ when I'm the only guy in the store?! Whatever.

The real meat is the bike work. I'm willing to put up with mediocre service (they are always mediocre at best) if the bike comes back good. Heck, I'm even willing to pay more, if the bike would just come back _good_.

Most recently I dropped off the bike on a Saturday and got it back a week later. The reason? They put my bike in a closet and forgot about it. Then when I come to pick it up they roll out someone else's bike. Oops!

Mistakes happen, but they seem to happen more often at Rock and Road. The thing that bothers me the most about this shop is the lack of communication. If they say they're going to call you, chances are they aren't. Especially when ordering a part. I'm still waiting for a call about my new clips for my shoes. Hahaha. It's been 6 months now? Haha.

Overall my experience has been positive concerning the condition of the bike after a repair. I need to start requesting mechanics in the same way that guys request a barber when getting a haircut.

RYAN SHOP RANK: [ 6/10 - I'm tired of the one guy that gives me dirty looks when I come in. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Also please listen to me when I talk about repairs I want and then do them. Don't listen and then scribble nonsense no one can read later. ]


The Bike Company:

This is starting to become my favorite shop. They screwed up once recently on me, but overall it's been good. It's such a small shop that every time I go in I'm usually the only guy there. The big problem though is the "outsider" feeling and the fact that if there is someone else in the shop, it takes _forever_ for someone to help me.

Having said all that, the last 3-4 times I've dropped off my bike, it's come back in great shape. I still have the problem of a mechanic writing down gibberish, but whatever. I mean how hard is it to listen to me and then write down intelligent notes that someone else can act on?

I can just imagine a mechanic getting the slip for my bike and reading this:

"AKSJDKS BRAKES JAHH"

I mean what does he think when he sees that? "I'll just mess with the brakes I guess"

RYAN SHOP RANK: [8/10 - I'm a little pissed I asked them to look at my drive train and they did nothing, but otherwise they've been a lot better than the other shops.]



Overall my two biggest complaints are quality control and service in general. I can put up with being talked down to. I can put up with arrogance. I can't put up with not being talked to at all. Lots of shops suffer from this.

Quality control is the other issue. I mean how hard is it to _ride_ my bike before giving it back to me? Or having a peer review to make sure the guy did the right work on my bike?

I guess the lesson here is to learn how to do the work myself so I don't have to depend on other people to keep my bike running well.

Ugh.

The Traverse and Training

I have to admit I've been really lazy lately with the blog. I always want to post lots of pictures in each post to make the posts more interesting, but man it's a pain to include pictures. I have to re-size them for the blog, upload them and just ... bleh.

So last week I did three rides.

1. Singlespeed to Beek's
2. Singlespeed halfway up Maple Springs, Matt's bike second half of Maple
3. THE TRAVERSE

Beek's:

The ride to Beek's was easier than the previous SS ride I had done on this trail. I had to stand a lot, but I made it to the top without stopping and even set a personal best time of 1:00. I really think if I push hard I can get it down to maybe 55 minutes on the geared bike.


Maple Springs:

The second ride of the week was pretty tough. My bike was in the shop (thanks Rock and Road for ignoring my bike =/) and so I was stuck with the rigid SS for Maple Springs. The whole point of the ride was to stash water at Four Corners for a Traverse pre-ride.

I guessed that it was going to be hot on Saturday and so I thought it would be a good idea to store some water for the halfway point of The Traverse. I ended up carrying a full gallon of water on my back all the way to Four Corners.

For the record a gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds. That's a lot of extra weight on my poor back.

I made it all the way up the pavement on my SS with the water, but maybe half a mile past where the pavement ends I had to stop. My heart rate was a constant 190 and I felt like I was pedaling under water. I just couldn't take it anymore.

I traded bikes with Matt and finished ok. Well if by "ok" I mean almost getting hit by a white truck on the way down. Also if "ok" means riding a very bumpy trail on a rigid fork. I will _never_ make that mistake again. My arms were not designed to be shock absorbers. =(


The Traverse:

This was a tough ride for me. The mileage is something around 45 miles and the elevation gain is over 8,000 feet. It's roughly the same dimensions as Counting Coup, but I would argue tougher.

Troy showed up to join Matt and I, which was a pleasant surprise. I was worried that Troy and Matt would compete to stay in front the entire ride, but they didn't. They waited for me at various points and we stayed together for the most part.

The pace was slow and I was fighting cramping in the first 45 minutes, but managed to stay cramp free. I think the cramp pills I take help a lot to stave off the damage.

I had been on every part of the course except for the climb from the top of the Motorway to Four Corners. I had come the other direction plenty of times, but had never ridden it in reverse.

I must say that section of the course is by far the worst. Maybe that's just because I've never done it and didn't know what to expect. Maybe it's because it must have been 90+ degrees outside when we did it. Maybe it's because it has some pretty steep and loose climbs. For whatever reason, that section _sucks_.

Halfway to Four Corners from the Motorway I realized I had broken a spoke in my rear wheel. I thought I was done, but Troy and Matt called me a wuss and so I finished the ride with the broken spoke. I ended up getting the entire wheel re-built after the ride at The Bike Company since it had almost 3,000 miles on it. We'll see how that shakes out.

Unfortunately a few miles before Four Corners we discovered that Troy had broken his frame. It's the first time I've ever been on a ride when someone has broken their _frame_. I feel bad for Troy because I think if I had to vote for the worst bike luck out of every rider I know ... Troy would win. If there was an American Idol that was about bike luck instead of singing ... Troy would get the most votes.

We ran into Junior and Frank at Four Corners and took a much needed break before parting ways with Troy. I have to say I'm impressed by Frank. I remember the first time I rode with him at Whiting and he was in the back of the pack. But the guy just keeps riding and it's amazing to see his progress.

From Four Corners nothing all that interesting happened until Upper Holy Jim. Matt and I saw a ton of hikers and other riders, but nothing super noteworthy.

The trip down Upper Holy Jim was awesome for me. It was probably the best descent I've ever had down UHJ. I cleared some stuff I hadn't even tried on previous rides and got through it feeling relaxed and safe. I'm learning to be decisive and relaxed on descents. Ride what you can ride, take a chance or two, and walk what feels bad.

Matt and I ended up stopping one time between the bottom of UHJ and the top of Trabuco to rest. The rest combined with food and water really helped. I really think the heat is what made this ride so difficult.

The ride down Trabuco was also very good. I was surprised since I was obviously feeling spent after 5 hours of riding in the heat, but it was awesome. I felt very confident and never felt in danger of being out of control.

Overall it was a tough week of riding capped by a pretty brutal Saturday ride. If the weather is better for the real race, I think I'll be ok. I just need to drink even _more_ in the heat and make sure I eat solid food instead of a "gel only" diet.

The total riding time was about 6 hours, which isn't bad, but isn't the best either. The average speed was 7.6mph, which is pretty good for me on such a long ride. I'd like to get that up to 8.0mph, but we'll see.

Race day is going to see me just wanting to finish. I have no goal for time or placing.

Toad Festival

I've been really lazy in posting lately. I think I've done over 100 miles on the bike since my last post and just haven't felt like writing about it. Not to say interesting things haven't happened, I've just felt like keeping them to myself I guess.

This past Saturday I did the Toad Festival for the first time. I had heard about it last year and it sounded like a lot of fun, so I figured why not.

The event is always billed as a strictly fun ride up Holy Jim and then down Trabuco. Along the way you play games like rolling dice, throwing horseshoes and darts. You also look for plastic toads on the side of the trail as you ride and then you get points for the games and toads that might earn you a prize.

It was awesome to get to the event and see so many guys I've ridden with before. I know I'll miss a name or two, but I saw Andrew, Matt, Troy, Mike, Hal, Frank, Junior and maybe some other guys. The more you ride the more people you meet. Go figure.

Anyways once the ride started I knew I was in for a bit of trouble. The lady at the start kept saying "It's NOT a race", but it sure felt like a race to me. Hahaha. Maybe I was just tired from riding earlier in the week but I felt like I was constantly playing catch up with Matt, Andrew and Troy.

I found it hard to match their pace. My heart rate was just too high and I was starting to fade by pushing. I had an especially hard time at the very bottom of Holy Jim where the trail is steep, technical and often times requires a hike-a-bike.

Getting onto Holy Jim proper was much easier for me as I could ride 95% of it instead of walking sections.

We got to the top of Holy Jim to find a dice game. (By the way I drew a freaking 4 in the card game at the bottom of Holy Jim). I think I rolled a 5 with the dice. Two dice for a 5?!? Horrible.

The top of Holy Jim was pretty hot and we only rested maybe 10 minutes before shoving off. I was amazed at the Warrior's Society guy that was right behind me at the top of Holy Jim on a singlespeed 29er. I hope I didn't piss him off too much by not letting him by at the end. We were almost there and it's singletrack so I didn't think he'd mind being behind me for just a minute or two.

The next big concern for me was "The Wall". I've seen it called that on a few messageboards. Even though it was hot and I was tired "The Wall" wasn't so bad. The only other time I had ridden to Trabuco I had to walk maybe 5% of this climb, but this time I cleared it all. It was a little loose and kind of steep, but nothing bad. Very doable.

After the big climb to Trabuco I was just trying to catch up to Matt, Andrew and Troy. Right before getting to the horseshoe game/root beer float stand I cramped in my right calf. Not just a small twinge either. A full on lock-up-can't-move-the-muscle cramp. I decided to ride through it though and didn't get off the bike to recover. I'm proud of myself for that.

I just realized that we played horseshoes at the top of West Horsetheif. Well done. Haha.

The root beer floats were awesome even though I sucked at horseshoes. I brought my Lactaid pill so I was able to digest it just fine. Haha.

The trip to Trabuco wasn't bad at all. My legs recovered from the cramp and I was able to push a bit more. Without cramping I think I could have done much better in this section. I've been working on standing on the bike and hammering more and this part of the trail is definitely condusive to that riding style.

I got a 32 I think at darts at the top of Trabuco, which was pretty good.

The big story of the day was Andrew eating it at the top of Trabuco. I guess he was going pretty fast and he hit a patch of pine needles and wiped out. He scraped up his knee pretty bad (needed two stitches), but was able to finish the ride. First time I've ever seen the guy fall. Haha.

The trip down Trabuco was uneventful outside of Andrew crashing. The trail is a lot looser than I remember, but it's still pretty fun. I actually ended up passing 3-4 guys on the way down which is always a shock for me. _Me_ passing someone on a _downhill_. Haha.

The BBQ and party after the event was pretty awesome. Then it went on for like 3-4 hours which turned it from pretty awesome to pretty frustrating. Apparently a few guys didn't finish the ride until around 2PM and we all had to wait for the raffle etc. because of them. Lame.

Still, the El Pollo Loco food, the demo bikes from Bionicon and the company of good friends made it more than worthwhile.

Definitely need to do this event again next year.

Some pics I like from the ride:

Darts:


Root Beer Floats:


Andrew (Little did he know he'd eat it on Trabuco!):


Me and Troy:


Part of our group:

Mind Games

Yesterday was mind game day. Andrew had posted a scheduled ride for a docent guided trip through some Irvine Company land and so I signed up. Matt, Corby and Mike were going to be there too so I knew it would be a good time.

The trail started out of Irvine Park and went back near where Coal Canyon is. It was all fire road and the scenery wasn't the best, but it was still fun.

The real reason I'm writing a post about the ride was that mind games were going on.

Any time you get together a bunch of guy riders to do a ride, you get competition. One guy goes out fast and another tries to match him. Before you know it lots of guys are racing to try and beat each other.

I'll admit I'm very vulnerable to this kind of group mentality. I love to compete and love to "win". Once we started the first climb I saw Matt and Andrew take off and decided to try and keep pace.

The entire ride I ended up trying to keep up with Matt and Andrew and trying to hold off anyone else that was behind me. Even though the guys that were there weren't that great, it still felt good to push and bury a lot of guys. My heart rate was pretty high for a handful of the climbs, but I just kept pushing.

The on-going theme lately has been to push and I was pretty content with the overall effort.

The next set of mind games was at Anaheim Hills-Weir Canyon. Mike, Andrew, Matt, Corby and I decided to do this trail after the docent led ride because the first ride (12 miles) wasn't enough for a Saturday.

My mind had started to wander while riding the second trail because I didn't eat enough the night before and because it was hot outside. It sucks being on the bike and not being able to focus that well on anything.

I remember stopping a few times at the end of different climbs and feeling light headed. I was pretty careful not to ride too hard in the heat because I didn't want to pass out or do something stupid.

The last set of mind games on the second trail was going down Chutes. I ate it last time on this section and so I was a tiny bit worried about going down the section where I fell. Ended up riding down it though without incident. The only part of the trail I had to walk was the drop in to what I consider "Chutes Proper".

All in all it was a nice day of riding, but the heat was more of a factor than I'd like it to be. It makes me worry a little to think that The Traverse might be held in similar conditions. I'm going to have to train carefully for that kind of a ride considering the heat.

Final Notes:

- Cleared all three B's, but was breathing REALLY HEAVY after the first two
- Cleared almost every climb in Weir Canyon ... frustrating to miss the big one (95%)
- I've developed a restless left leg. For some reason during my down time my left leg feels SUPER restless.

Whiting Luge Redemption

Yesterday I went on a quick Whiting-Luge ride with Corby and Matt. I really wanted to ride faster and push more than I normally do. That was the goal. Quite a while ago the idea of just _finishing_ a ride stopped being interesting. Of course I could finish. So the new question was: How fast can you do it?

I've come to realize that on most of the rides I go on I don't push myself very much. I think I've reached a certain fitness level and I tend to keep myself at a certain pace on every ride so as to minimize pain and suffering during and after the ride. That's great if my goal is to stay the same. Obviously I want to grow.

I think I haven't been pushing hard lately because I had learned not to. I remember going to Peter's Canyon once and pushing as hard as I could up Big Red. I got to the top and was sick for 20-30 minutes. I had gone too hard and blew up.

Also I can think back to training for Counting Coup and fighting cramps on every single ride. Turns out that was a function of my huge saddle, but it stuck in my head as a consequence of pushing too hard.

So all that said, I think I need to push harder more often. I have a good saddle now, I know how to take care of myself nutritionally and I think I'd rather blow up because I pushed too hard instead of not trying.

The reason for this post is that I was inspired yesterday but what was a fairly fast pace for me on Whiting-Luge. I pushed and didn't fall apart. I didn't cramp and I feel pretty good today - the day after the ride. It made me want to try harder more often.

We'll see how things go.

Blackstar Seatpost FRUSTRATION

All my friends know I'm not a big night rider. It can be fun, but I really have to be excited about either the trail or the training experience to go. It's just so hard to come home from work all tired and then go riding for 3 hours in the dark.

Anyways enough whining about night rides ...

I decided to go do Blackstar-Motorway last night with some buddies and even though I knew I'd get worked (they are _all_ faster than me), I knew it would help me grow as a rider.

About 3/4 of a mile up the Blackstar climb my seatpost imploded. I went over a very small bump and came down on the nose of my saddle and one of the bolts that holds it on snapped and the seat just fell off the bike onto the trail. Ugh.

I tried to fix it, but couldn't. Even Andrew with his amazing bike skills couldn't bring it back to life.

So I packed up the seatpost and the saddle and rode back to my car without a seat. That was a frustrating experience because my legs did not like standing up on the bike that much. You have to keep the bike in a really high gear to maintain balance and that makes it harder to pedal. Whatever.

Today after work I'm going to go buy a new seatpost. Hopefully a black Thompson seatpost. At least I'm able to trade my ugly silver seatpost in for a cool black one. Hahaha.

Old Camp Night Adventure

I got home from my 10 day vacation on Monday and when I checked my email at work I noticed a thread from Matt and Andrew concerning a Monday night ride. I had a huge itch that needed to be scratched, so I told them I was in.

Adding to the excitement was the fact that I had dropped my bike off to get serviced at The Bike Company and I knew it would come back in great condition.

Long story short, it was a pretty good ride. Andrew couldn't make it, so it was just me and Matt, but it was still fun. We rode through Whiting during late afternoon and then finished in the dark doing STT-Old Camp-Luge.

I was a little nervous going down Cactus and the Luge since I hadn't been on the bike in a week and a half, but both turned out just fine. I also got a chance to see the "new Cactus" at Whiting. I still don't know why they diverted the trail and put up a freaking _FENCE_ to block off the old trail. So lame.

Highlights of the ride include seeing a ton of fog roll in over the mountains, which is pretty creepy at night and seeing a skunk on the side of the trail. Also there were these strange birds that would sit in the middle of the trail and not move until you almost ran them over. And lizards. Lots of lizards on the trail.

I was worried about pace because I had been gone for 10 days and had just stepped off the plane, but it ended up better than I thought it would. I beat my personal best time of 3:00 and did the entire thing in 2:49. That should make me happy, but it doesn't. Lots of riders I respect and want to be like do the ride in 2:30 or less. Still so much work to do ...