Mixed Surface Overcast Wandering

Overcast days are my favorite to get out for a ride.  There's nothing like an early spring, chilly, and sun-less Saturday morning to keep many inside while I'm out on the road.  This morning was such a morning and I rolled out the driveway unsure of where I was headed.

This way looks promising!

I did have it in mind to go see if Shreve Lake looks any different, as it was drained over the winter due to a dam issue.  There's no fun in just riding straight there so I ventured out Wilderness Road past the peat bogs.

Bonus: gravel.

A turn here, a turn there... I enjoyed the quiet morning and waved to a couple farmers out plowing fields.  They know spring is here even if it didn't feel like it this morning.  I stopped to retrieve some dried apricots and cashews from the pocket of my wool jersey and ate up while some sizeable horses looked on.

Pitstop.

Eventually I made it to Shreve Lake.  It really didn't look any different than the last time I swung by, which is to say it looks rather strange.  Interesting to see the structure that fish must have been hiding around.  I wonder how many fisherman, with future vision, have mapped out the shallows for when the water and fish are back.

Still a drained lake.

No sense in taking the direct route home either.  I rode up the hill into Shreve and headed for some more gravel.  Coming back through the swamps I was impressed by a pair of blue winged teal that flew right in front of me at shoulder height.

It was nice to be out and about on two wheels.

OMBC Race Photo

During the race Saturday I remember seeing a photographer in the first rock on the state park loop.  As I rode by I thought a couple things:

1. I wonder if and where I may find his pictures online after the race?

2. I wonder how stupid of a face I could have been making as I passed by him and heard the camera snapping.

Fortunately, I easily found Butch Phillips Photography from the OMBC web site.  Even more fortunately, I didn't look too odd in the picture he posted of me. :-)

Racing.

OMBC Mohican Race Report

It's a first for me.  I've never done an OMBC race but decided to give it a go at Mohican, the second race of this year's series.  So far this year I have ridden at Mohican exactly zero times and only been on a mountain bike twice, for about 3 total laps at the Knob.  But on the positive side, I've been consistent on OCC rides and have felt pretty good. Trail riding, however, is a lot different than the road.

Trusty steed, except all those dropped chains.

Ten minutes after noon, when the expert riders rolled out, I lined up at the start line with the sport riders.  We were in for a full lap plus the trails/roads to get us to from the Mohican Adventures start line.  Shortly after leaving the start line we hit a gravel, steep uphill piece of singletrack and the bunch clogged up.  Off the bike and pushing but we were going again shortly.

Though I didn't want to go out too hard I think I may have.  I was passing riders in the first five miles only to later be passed by them.  Maybe do that different next time.  At the start line I had eaten two thirds of a Cliff Bar and I finished eating that five or six miles in.  On the downhills to the covered bridge I was feeling bold and was flying along pretty good.  I passed a couple guys on the downhill.

Crossing the covered bridge I sucked down half a GU and then started the climb. Maybe it was the aggressive downhill, but I didn't feel able to attack the climb like normal.  More likely, it's a lack of trail riding.  I felt like I really had to monitor my pace not to pop.

Coming into Trailhead B I felt pretty decent thanks to keeping it in check up the climb.  I refilled a bottle with some ice cold water.  It was the warmest day of the year so far and I was feeling it a little. I poured a bottle down my back and it took my breath away.  A handful of dried apricots and cashews gave me some good flavors.

From Trailhead B to the mile 19 crossing I was going pretty good. Unfortunately I dropped my chain about the second or third time of the day.  Something's up with my drivetrain as my 1x10 was doing quite well last year.  The Type 2 rear derailleur was doing it's thing but not today.  I dropped the chain at least four times.  The cost me five or so minutes I suppose, but I didn't get too rattled by it.

After mile 19 road crossing I sucked down another half GU and kept it truckin' best I could.  I felt like I was either going really fast or really slow, depending on terrain.  My bike handling was pretty good today.  I was keeping off the brakes and cornering well.  Some of the hills bogged me down a little.

Coming down to the campground I let a guy pass me just before a switchback only to see him crash right in front of me.  I cornered through on the inside line and he said "I'll follow you, I've never ridden here before."  Yeah, good idea.

As we crossed the bridge to campground my chain dropped again and rode away.  That one sucked as I would have liked to push to the finish with him.  After the section of trail along the campground I popped out at the start of the State Park loop.  Hmmm... I really had no idea how the race finished from here, but soon found out.

We went part way up the opening climb before branching off to the Mohican Adventure property.  There was a super punchy exit I was not at all prepared for and ended up hike-a-biking with several other guys.  Then there were a bunch of gravel roads, a sharp right I missed and had to circle back for, and some other varied gravel campground roads.  There was more racing in the campgrounds than what I expected but now I know.

I cranked down a gravel road to the finish line and crossed 2:40:XX after starting.  Cool!  My goal was to be less than 3 hours and I thought 2:45 would be a good challenge, though I had no idea how much the additional trail beyond the State Park loop would add.  I was mostly pleased with my effort and it was a perfect day for a mountain bike race!

A Lap of the Amish Country Roubaix

The Holmes County Fairgrounds at 8:30AM was the meeting place.  From there Ryan and I did a lap of the Amish Country Roubaix gravel road race course.

Rolling countryside.

Leaving the parking lot, it was in the mid 30's and the skies were clear.  I declared a beautiful morning was ahead of us.  We enjoyed sunny skies and warming temperatures.

"Gravel" road with most of the gravel

washed away this winter.

As expected we frequently consulted the map to find our way.  There was a good selection of gravel/dirt roads with some good climbs thrown in.  None of the climbs were the "break your soul" kind of climbs like we've found on some other rides, but I'll bet racing this course is tough.

Off the beaten path.

A little past halfway of the 50km loop as we started up a short hill I heard some drivetrain grumbling.  I shifted a few times and it seemed to cease, until a short distance later when my chain disconnected.  I looked down to see a chain wrapped around my cranks with both ends draping on the road.  Oh, this is not good.  First thought; "uh-oh, I didn't bring my multi-tool with a chain tool on it!"

Upon inspection it seemed the quick link had un-linked.  After a futile search for the missing half of the quick link we decided Ryan would ride back to the car and I'd walk, roll, and sulk.  And then...

 Okay, not on the course but we really

wondered where this double track headed

so we had to explore a little bit.

Cresting the hill we had just come up I saw a Soupcan Jersey or two!  Jason offered up his multi-tool, the same model I left laying on my work bench, and my chain was fixed in short order.

Kevin, Sally, Jason.

We finished the ride with Jason, Shawn, and friends.  Soon encountering the longest climb of the route, a road climb. We strung out while headed up, then regrouped, and had a good ride to the finish.  It was a nice morning for a ride and I was glad to pedal the second half instead of walking it!

NAHBS 2015 - part 4

Here's a final post from my visit to the 2015 North American Handmade Bicycle Show.  Once again, it was my first time to attend this event after following it in media for the past five years or so.  I was excited, overwhelmed, and inspired by the display of all things bike.

Beyond the tangibles, everyone I met was very friendly and eager to chat.  Many times I was five, ten minutes into a conversation about nuances of a bike on display or talking riding style and local trails, then finally stumble on the question of, "oh, where are you from?"  I was always amused to learn my new bike friend was from Fort Collins, Southern California, Idaho, Atlanta, and beyond.  I quickly learned I was the local guy who only traveled about five hours to the show.  No matter, we were all there for the same fun and passion of two wheeled, hand crafted machines.

Now the final batch of pictures...

I lined up to head down an outer aisle and found

this tough looking 29er from Savvy Cycles. 

With thoughts of wood framed bikes brewing in my head

from stops at previous booths, it was good to talk to these

guys.  "It's strong as any bike, I huck it off jumps all the time!"

There's some CNC work going into these frame members.

A fat tire bike completed their wood frame collection on display.

Following are some bikes from the New Framebuilder tables. These are single bikes on display from builders that are not yet making a large volume of frames.  Next time I attend the show I plan to spend more time researching the new builders before attending, and it will be interesting to talk with them and understand how they got started and where they think they're headed.

A very well executed fattie from Wiseman Frameworks.

The Kansas City Bike Collective had a cool booth

with several artisans displaying goods, including

Andrew and his custom frame bags.

One of my favorite bikes of the show is this

one from Vibe Cycles of Boise.

It was a pleasure talking to Dave and hearing his path

to becoming a frame builder.  He was eager to explain the head tube

junction, paint, and other fine details on this bike, the Knarr.

Julie of Pedalino Bikes and here fillet brazed frame on display.

Lots of artisan touches on this bike,

an impressive display of craft and function.

Here's some more fun from Peacock Groove.

Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to talk details.

Matter Cycles had some really nice bikes

on display in the back corner of the showroom,

including this blacked out cross bike.

I enjoyed talking with Collin about the development

of this bike, the SlayRide.  This bike just calls to be

ridden... slacked out and short chainstays.

Another one of my favorites from the show is

this Black Cat Bicycles cross bike.

I have followed Todd's builds the past couple years and

I favor his understated yet intricate graphics as well as

the matching forks and stems on his builds.

I enjoyed talking with Todd and learning more about

his approach and inspiration for bikes like this.

A great display of his stem work.

A KickStarter campaign has brought back

Fat Chance Bicycles.

Another Yo Eddy on display, this one with some

squish up front and a dropper post.

Four posts and nearly 100 pictures later, I've failed to capture the display that is NAHBS.  Sorry, you're just going to have to attend in person.  Even then, you will wake up the next morning, like me, thinking "oh man, I missed checking out Alchemy and ___ and ____ and ___... and I never looped back around to talk to Eric Noren!"

It was a grand experience and I look forward to another show within reasonable travel distance for me.  Next time I will research the builders even more before attending and have a little more of a game plan before walking in.  Ah, it's going to be the same overwhelming experience no matter what.  I'll call that part of the fun!

And a final thought for next time... I will save up and bring at least $100 to blow on t-shirts.  ;-)

Nearly everybody had decals and soft goods.  I bought

a Shamrock Cycles shirt for my Irish wife, a NAHBS jersey

and shirt for myself, coffee for my buddy Ryan, and a bunch

of decals for my basement workshop sticker door!

NAHBS 2015 - part 3

So many impressive bikes to see...

Oh, I love orange and here it is on a very cool fat bike

from Inglis Retrotec. This bike went on to win the

best mountain bike award.

Tough as usual to photograph orange bikes, it looks

a different color from this angle.  But, from this angle,

the twin top tube is visible. 

A nice cross bike from Retrotec on display.

 This offroad bike from Sycip caught my eye with its

twin, vertical top tubes and seat stay bridge.

A coupled cross bike from Sycip.

Moots!  I was excited to look these over as I remember

seeing a couple of their road bikes in the past.

Now this was unique.

 This booth from Mosaic was nicely put together.  I wanted

to check out their bikes just cause the light was better.

Oh yeah, their bikes were really well done too!

Way down at the end of an aisle, Moonmen bikes.

They have a unique style with the BMX style handlebars.

 Boo Bikes uses bamboo to make it happen.

 Diggin' the front and rear racks.

When I first saw this I thought one of Groovy Cycleworks

bikes had been misplaced, due to the paint job.  Looks fun!

 Columbus is an Italian manufacturer of tubing.

 This was typical of my visit, I was walking by the Dean booth

and paused for a pic of this mountain bike.  The presenter

was friendly and pulled the bike out for the picture.

After getting excited about the wood frames earlier in my

visit, for some reason I didn't spend much time checking

out Conner Wood Bicycles.

The bikes looked great!  I just got in a hurry to keep

moving after snapping several pictures.

This mountain bike looked ready to rumble.

 I've checked out Shamrock Cycles work via

the web in year past. Excited to see this booth!

 A super clean looking road bike.  I like it.

 A bling, bling striding bike!

 Very crafty.

 Lots of time went into this paint and it won best finish.

 This one from Shamrock was eye catching as well.

I don't know the builder of this one,

but it looks like a sweet utility ride to me.

Okay, one more post and another twenty pictures or so will conclude my trip report.