Saving Time and Money

So as per my last post, my front brakes were toast. The level would go all the way to the bars and no amount of pumping the brakes would result in pressure.

I decided to fix this myself. I've been a bit gunshy in doing repairs because my last attempt to replace the drive train on my own resulted in a catastrophe. But in order to save time and money I figured I'd man up and give it a shot.

It worked out well. I bought a bleed kit for 20 bucks and a wrench for 8 bucks and after about 30 minutes I had restored the front brake to working condition. I also noticed my front brake pads were totally gone on one side and so I put on some old pads that still had quite a bit of life in them.

Super stoked to have fixed it on my own. I did some other repairs and work on the bike and I'm hoping that I can turn the bike into something that I enjoy riding again. From time to time the repairs add up and it becomes a chore to ride the bike because it isn't performing well. When things are good though, it's a joy to ride.

Sometimes things are as easy as you think ...

Postman Ride

From Blog Pictures

US Post Office Creed: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat of day nor gloom of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

With Vision Quest on the horizon, the rides have taken on a postman quality. Doesn't matter if it's raining, or hot, day, night ... all of it is up for grabs.

I was sort of hoping on Saturday morning that someone would make the call. The call that says "Ride is off. It's too wet." But the call never came and so Matt, Andrew, Mark and I ended up riding in the rain and mud.

The trip up Holy Jim wasn't too bad. Andrew and Matt ended up fixing my drive train problems and that was pretty awesome. We ran into a large group of hikers going to Saddleback and a couple girls in the back of the group made some comment about liking the view as we rode by. Too bad they weren't all that attractive.

The top of Holy Jim was not fun. It was cold and wet and almost everything I was wearing was soaking wet. I had brought another pair of dry gloves that I was saving for later in the ride, but opted for using them at the top of Holy Jim because my hands were too cold.

Riding over to Indian wasn't eventful and the descent was similar. Nothing really exciting.

Going back up Indian was ok. It was sunny in Corona and the ascent was kind of a disappointment because we went from dry and sunny to cold and wet. The bottom of Indian is always a bit of a struggle for me, but by the time I hit the upper part I start to feel good. No different on Saturday.

At the top of Indian Mark had gone back to Holy Jim and I ended up waiting for Matt and Andrew to finish the climb. It was raining at the top and it took a little bit of convincing, but I managed to persuade Matt and Andrew to do Trabuco with me.

The ride over to Trabuco was kind of miserable. Cold, wet and hard to see on every descent. No point using glasses because my warm breath and the mud made it very difficult to see.

We saw a few hikers out which was surprising. The trip down Trabuco was not the best. I had started to shiver and my front brake completely died about a quarter of the way down.

Finishing at the cars I realized that this was probably the muddiest and dirtiest I had ever been after a ride. It took about 6 hours to finish and it took me almost two hours to clean the bike after the ride. Ugh.

I'm happy though that my cold didn't get worse on the ride. Not sure that it added a lot to my fitness, but at least we rode a little more rather than a little less.

After the ride I was stoked to try a new Italian place near my house. I went in and got a small pizza for 8 bucks. It was _SO GOOD_. Also while I waited for the pizza, the hostess went into the back and brought out a free meatball for me while I waited. That was pretty awesome.

Strike Three

I'm sick again. This is the third time in less than two months that I've come down with something. Seems to be a mild chest cold right now, but I woke up this morning with my voice shot. The cough isn't too bad, but it's not good either.

I really don't get how I can be sick all the time. Haha.

Last week went so well until Saturday. Rode about 115 miles in a week, which is a lot for me. Set two personal bests and really drained myself.

It didn't help to be out playing broomball until 3AM and then riding 40 miles the next day. That caused me to be totally exhausted for most of the weekend. On the plus side I got to descend Trabuco at night for the first time.

Hopefully this week is a bit easier. I need to catch up on sleep. I also need to prepare for a big ride on Saturday by resting (which doesn't always mean sleeping) and eating appropriately.

50 Mile Ride might be the same weekend as Ultra Quest. =( I hope it isn't. I want to do both.

I Love The Path

Just a quick note. I'm so happy with The Path right now.

I got a 25 dollar AMEX card for Christmas as a gift and as it turns out I needed a new seatpost clamp and new grips.

I bought a new Hope seatpost clamp for 30 bucks and new grips for 5 bucks. The grips are the same ones I have now, except they are a little used. Just a little bit of dirt and grime, but otherwise in good shape.

I'm just so stoked to get good parts at decent prices. I'm pretty positive Rock and Road wouldn't have had the part I wanted _or_ it would have been insanely expensive.

Planning on stopping by The Path more often - especially considering their generous selection of used parts.

Mayor of Bonktown

From Blog Pictures

(I was so weak and frustrated that Andrew pushed my bike for me while I walked.)

Finally some pictures!

This last Saturday was the worst bonk I've had in quite some time. I'd put it up there with the first time I ever did Blackstar-Motorway and the first time I ever did Harding-Motorway. It was terrible.

The planned route was Blackstar-Troy Lee-Eagle-Motorway, which I was very excited for. I made it down Troy Lee ok and then on the ascent up Eagle I fell apart. I had started to space out while riding over to the bottom of Eagle and unfortunately I got to a place physically that was not easy to recover from.

The problem was that I made an incorrect diagnosis of what was hurting me on the bike. I knew the riding was harder than normal for me, but I figured that was because I was a little out of shape. I didn't think it was because I was sick. So I pushed harder to work myself back into shape. What I was really doing was burying myself deeper and deeper as the ride went on.

The bonk was so bad that I stopped talking. I'm known for talking a lot and you always know something is wrong with me if I'm not talking. Things are _really_ bad when I stop laughing at jokes. Both of those things happened Saturday.

Thankfully Matt and Andrew saved the day. Matt rode back down into Corona with me and Andrew finished the ride and then drove back to pick me up. There was no room for Matt in Andrew's car so he had to ride back up Skyline to get to his car. Haha. Sorry dude!

I suppose this is just another lesson to learn in regards to mountain biking. I thought I had most things figured out, but I need to be more careful in the future with how my body is feeling. There is a difference between healthy fatigue (from training hard) and unhealthy fatigue (from being sick, neglecting food, water, sleep). I now have a better idea of what unhealthy fatigue is like and hopefully I'll be able to _not_ ride when I feel it set in.

The last few days I've been feeling better (recovering from stomach flu) and the generous amounts of fluids, food and sleep are making me feel stronger. I plan to ease myself back in on Thursday night and Saturday during the afternoon. Hopefully by Sunday I'll be feeling good and can do a bigger ride on Sunday after church.

Another picture from my week long bonkfest (from Wednesday):

From Blog Pictures

(Walking my bike in the snow. Should have been riding! Haha. In fairness everyone but one guy walked the section I was walking.)

Poison?

Bleh. I was really excited for the New Year's holiday and then it happened. On Tuesday night I slowly lost my appetite and eventually developed a fever before going to bed. I had planned on a lot of bike riding for Wednesday and Thursday since I had both days off work and I somehow got either food poisoning or a stomach flu.

I woke up at 5:45AM on Wednesday and ended up doing Holy Jim-Trabuco while Jason, Troy and Brian did a San Juan super loop. I wanted to do the super loop but I was feeling way too weak to actually finish it when I reached the top of Trabuco.

I was very lucky that a few guys were climbing Trabuco and clearing out the downed trees on the trail. I had to hike through a few areas at the top, but nothing too bad. It should all be very rideable now that the trail is cleared of trees (thanks to the group of guys with saws).

The ride overall was pretty rough for me. I'm not sure how much of it was me being sick and how much of it was me being out of shape due to a really inactive December. Either way it wasn't pretty. One of the the only bright spots for me was clearing the last switchback on Holy Jim, which I rarely do. There was a group of hikers sitting down right at the apex of the switchback and so I felt I had to make it to show off a little. Haha.

When I got home I found a tick trying to burrow into my right hip area. I'm guessing I picked him up when I was hacking my way through a tree on Trabuco. He didn't come off easily. Took a few tries to yank him off of me.

Thursday wasn't that much better. I went to Aliso with Matt and did a short loop around the park. Up Meadows, down Rock-it, up Cholla, down Mathis. First time middle ringing Meadows, so that made me feel good mentally. Made me feel pretty bad physically though.

I really wanted to be out longer on Thursday, but I started feeling chills and a cold sweat, so I figured that after 1:40 I should call it quits. Frustrating to have so much time free during the a day and I can only manage a little under two hours on the bike.

The plan now is to rest and eat as much as I can before Saturday. I'm still feeling sick to my stomach, but my appetite is slowly returning and I'm doing good as far as catching up on sleep.

What a way to end the year. Haha.