Riding Hot

It is done - I have completed my BSN (that's a highly respected nursing degree to you). Oddly enough I received my "post-dated" diploma and grades before I was done...what's up with that??? Oh well I'm not going to worry about it any. To celebrate I decided to ride my bike (gasp!) - yeah it's been some time since I've put some serious miles on, except those infrequent times I rode to work in Pullman at B&L Bicycles only to have the SeanMan pull my fat ass nearly all the way. Thanks SeanMan, so what if you've shot my ego all to hell, I really appreciated the wheel, the pain, and the reminder that mortality happens when you don't ride for a month (that's a lame excuse).

So I did a hill climbing road ride rode late yesterday afternoon for about 2 hours in scorching heat (101-106F according to my fancy bike computer). The pavement was like riding on Rice Crispys (air bubbles seem to form in boiling tar). OK the ride was good and I thought I was ready for what I really like - a long dirt-road MTB ride. This morning I took off planning to do a loop up the South Fork around to George Creek (I estimated it to be 80-100 miles), but I got 30+ miles into it and decided no way was I going to make it - I could feel early signs of heat exhaustion setting in and even though I was slugging down the water I was becoming dehydrated (hard to imagine that 100-degree temps can do that). So nearly at the top of the climbing I turned it around and headed home. That's when the real problem presented in the form a 15-20mph headwind making the lower canyon like standing in front of a blast furnace (which means it was dehydrating me much quicker than before). I stopped several times and jumped into Asotin Creek just to cool off. By the time I reached Asotin (56 miles down, 5 more to home) I was very well done, miserable, and had to stop in the park and just cool down for an hour or so. The place looked like Gehenna (that's Hades or Hell to you)... ...and it smelled like it too with the spew of that stinky-assed Lewiston pulpmill drifting in the winds...enough to make me puke! And I did (another sign of heat exhaustion) - Hello partially digested peanut butter! It tastes almost as good coming up as it did going down - YUM!

I limped the last 5 miles home, took a cold bath to cool off, took a 8 oz. dose of the miracle drug for exhaustion & nausea (Coke), then layed around waiting for my stomach to settle so I could rehydrate. Oh yeah, Donna (that's the love of my life) was not happy with my condition either...I got a well deserved ass-chewing for my Hot ride - there's more than one way to get rid of my fat ass I guess.

SS and Toads

Went for a ride today on the new SS, a rigid (as in no suspension) Gary Fisher Rig. This bike is sweet on the long back-road rides I like to do.

It was a nice morning for ride up both the North and South forks of Asotin Creek by way of Cloverland Road. I even took in some wildlife viewing along the way...

No Control

I have no control over boxes showing up at my house with bike parts in them. I have no self control over seeking out and buying new bikes. I'm beyond addicted to say the least.

For some reason another Gary Fisher Rig SS (that's a single speed) showed up at my doorstep. This one is being built up rigid (as in no suspension) just so I could punish myself for buying it. Now if only I had time to ride...I'm finishing my last 160 hours of clinical requirements for my nursing degree. The goal is to have these hours done by the end of June, which means I have little to no time to ride...this means I have no control of my life yet either...

Gears & Suspension = Weird

I was up in Moscow for a job interview at Gritman Medical Center. Wow, what an awesome place and to say the very least I decided that this was a place on the top of my list to work in the future. After a most outstanding interview I decided to shed my tie and slacks for some bike shorts and jersey for some pure single track bliss on Moscow Mountain. Baloo, my new Lenz Sport geared, full suspension bike was in the back of the Subaru waiting patiently. First though I unwound after my interview with a super yummy (extra large) cinnamon roll and coffee at the Moscow Food Co-op . Soon after I hit the trail and found that gears and full suspesion felt really weird after my 24-rh race event riding single speeds the previous weekend. It felt much harder to pedal and it was way too cushy it seemed. Baloo needed some riding (besides my SS bikes are still trashed with mud-yuk from the race).

Since I had never done a full loop on the Headwaters trail I decided it would be fun to do it in one complete run. Zoom-Zoom...Fun is an understatement for this trail and after 5-miles I was spit out where I started with a big smile. The Moscow Area Mountain Bikes Assn (MAMBA) deserves huge kudos for making and maintaining these super awesome trails. I ventured back up and did Cave Trail and several others before I jumped back onto Headwaters for my final decent back- yes, it was another thrilling twisting ride down. By the end of the ride some 30 miles later the suspension still felt weird, but much appreciated. The gears were still odd though.

The interview - let's just say that the following day I got a phone call and Moscow is definately in my future...

255 Miles of Single Speed Insanity

Yep - that's right I put in a total of 255 miles on single speed bikes this past weekend. Most of that mileage was done as part of a competitive 24-hr race in Spokane put on by Round and Round. In the past I have done this race as part of a 5-person team on a geared bike, but this year for some insane reason I decided to do the event solo on my single speed. The end result of the race for me was 4th place after riding 210 miles with a total ride time of 17-hr 54-min during the 24-hr period in adverse weather conditions. The other 6+ hours were spent mostly on letting my very upset stomach right itself on 2 occasions. I figured out the part of my nutrition plan that was causing my puky feelings after the 2nd near trail-side puke and excluded the product. After that I was riding well again turning consistent lap times. Rain was a factor at times since it turned parts of the course into a fun mud-yuk slip-n-slide...perfect for a single speed (hard on all those poor geared bikes).

This event was only a trial for me so that I would know if this kind of mountain bike race was for me and to find out if my nutrition plan would hold up. I learned that junk food (potato chips and Coke) are saving graces for me when my body is trying to violently up-chuck at the thought of anything labeled as a "sport" or "endurance" nutrition.

I went to this race totally unsupported and ended up with more people helping me than you could imagine. Twice in the early morning I had hot pancakes waiting for me at the end of a lap - the people at this event were totally awesome.

In the end the ouch factor is not as bad as I thought it would be after I was done. My butt suffered on this rock-infested, bumpy course - that means my ass hurts. My hands suffered a bit also, but not bad. Nothing was bad though since I went for a "recovery" ride with some good friends from Sandpoint the following day - for some reason we had to ride the course again, but at a "leisurely" pace (on a SS that means nearly normal pace). This recovery ride along with 2-preride laps on Friday and the race gave me a total of 255-miles on the SS this weekend.

You think this is insane? I'm looking for another 24-hr race to do this summer (maybe this time on a geared bike).

The Insanity of 2 Single-Speeds

I made my Gary Fisher Supercal into a single speed (that means it has only one gear) bike last night. It's super light and ready to fly...well as fast as a single speed will fly that is.
But, wait that means I now have 2 single speed bikes...hmmmm
What's up with that??? I know nothing, I'm not telling, you'll just have to wait and find out...although I do not think you will suffer nearly as much as I will over this insane scheme I'm working on. Hahahaaahaaaaa....

Baloo

Baloo is a one of my favorite blue colored Disney characters...like how many blue Disney characters are there??? I don't know and don't care all I know is that Baloo is famous to me for singing a song about the Bear Necessities...a song that never seems to leave my twisted mind.

The bear necessities for me includes bikes - lots of bikes, never enough, always looking, highly obsessed with a bike addiction that I can't turn off. Please, would someone turn it off! I change (buy-sell) bikes faster than a Chameleon changes color... I freely admit I have a cyclogical disorder, but I can say that the SeanMan is much worse than I am about going through bikes so there is still hope for me. My obsession is mostly with 29er mountain bikes unlike the SeanMan who has a generalized bike habit.

Recently Baloo "showed" up in my bear necessities bike collection... That's all you get to see for now...there's nothing else to say here except how can one person ride four (as in 1, 2, 3, 4) mountain bikes??? SeanMan you got an answer to this?

Deer Flats

OK so it's been a while since my last post...I've been busy doing things...you know - like riding my bikes! I've been putting in some sweet longer rides - my favorite thing to do when I have time away from school or whatever. Mountain bike rides are a giga-zillion times better than (yawn) road rides, but then again after a few rides on my road bikes I am reminded of why mountain biking sooooooo much better. But wait...I admit I like road riding (gasp!)...but only when the road goes verticle.

Today I decided to ride my oh so cool Gary Fisher Supercal (that means 29er mountain bike to you and it means a fun ride to me - Thanks Gary for making this bike for me). Today's destination was to a place called Deer Flats - actually it was a total accident that I arrived there after taking a wrong turn. To get there it's about 40 miles on the dirt (riding the bike of course - only a real dork-o would drive) with an elevation gain of about 3800 feet. Deer Flats is adjacent to Anatone Butte overlooking the Grande Ronde valley (a 3000 foot drop) with the snow covered peaks of the Blues in the background - breathtaking and worth every mistaken pedal stroke to get there.

The odd thing is that Deer Flats is not flat and although deer were there they were not on a flat - figure that one out??? The wrong-way was mostly clear of snow, but I did find some near the top (which those of us that ride mountain bike know is just more fun added to the adventure at hand)...I almost feel bad that road-toads never get to experience this much fun.

This is about the smallest of 10 or so patches of pure snowy, mud-yuk fun!

Looking NW

And finally looking SW over the Grande Ronde Valley

Embrace the Wind!

While some whimper, whine, and snivel about riding into headwinds I typically embrace it. I have found a few others out there that are as odd as I am. For example there's one insane Iowa boy, Jeff Kerkove (that's Mr. 24 to you) who thinks it's a fun time to time trial for 70 miles or more into the wind - talk about ouch! He's not the only Iowa nut that rides into the wind for a fun training session - did you see Iowan Jason McCartney (Team Discovery) smokin the field in the recent Tour de Georgia? He commented that wind training in Iowa is good.

Just to show my love for Washington wind on Saturday I did a 60-mile sprint ride (that means fast and often painful) with 30 miles of it into a 15mph head wind (that means even more painful if you want to do it fast - uh what does slow mean again?) and the ending 30 into crossing headwinds. The hard part is finding distraction from the pain while maintaining good pedaling technique - hmmm

Whoa where did that distracting image come from? How about something bike related...

Stupid car just about hit me...Grrr!!!

Think happy thoughts (and I will fly)....

Nice! (The "Twisted Shifters" - my buddies from last year's 24-hr race - Thanks guys!) Now how about some motivating happy thoughts....

Yeah, baby now that's what I'm talking about...the spoils of fitness...

60 miles later in 2hr 50min...what wind? The next day the Dos Niner ran a 42 mile sprint ride on the local backroads into more "training" winds. Embrace the winds with a smile.