Ellen = 1

Today is Ellen's birthday!

KT and Jessica made a very nice cake.

 Girls like new clothes.

 The birthday girl!

Ellen's Backseat Ride

KT requested a tuneup on her hybrid bike in hopes of taking Ellen out for her first ride in the bucket seat.  Each time I lift this ChroMo Jamis bike into the work stand it's a shock to the system.  I'm not sure how much it weighs, but it's a bragging point when my homemade workstand dutifully holds the bike without complaint.

Gunked up chain cleaned then lubed,

brakes and shift systems adjusted.

Short FD Ride

On this Father's Day I thought about an afternoon ride at the Knob but the incoming weather changed my mind.  I headed out for a short road ride instead.

I was not sure which way to head and

the dummy in the background was no help.

At first I was going to stick close to home, thinking rain was eminent.  Somewhere along the way I pulled a u-turn to extend the ride while thinking "it's not raining yet, may as well ride further."  I ended up riding down Prairie Lane road which is flat as a board but the scenery is somewhat unique.  About the time I got back on my short loop route it started raining.  Oh well, the rain felt pretty good on this sweaty, humid day.

Some of the lowlands intersected by Prairie Lane.

Ryan's Fork

Turning our attention to bike maintenance, Ryan and I did an overhaul on his mountain bike fork.   The fork is about six years old which was enough reason to strip it down and at least change the oil.  I do not believe he's had any problems with it other than thinking it felt soft of late.

 Into the work stand and off with the fork.

On my first motorcycle I did a fork seal and oil replacement job but never on a mountain bike. I've always wanted to get inside a suspension fork and see what's going on in there.  As it turns out there's a lot more going on in the bike fork than there was in my moto fork.

Getting inside a Rock Shox Reba Dual Air fork.

We tore it down, replaced the fork seals and wipers with new Enduro seals from Real World Cycling, and replaced some o-rings too.  The instructions from the SRAM web site were pretty thorough as well as the instructions from RWC.  Keeping the parts organized is an important part of this job. 

 Ellen was on hand for some help and QC inspection.

We reassembled the internals and proceeded with oil filling.  There was only one major spillage but we'll pretend that didn't happen.  However, the stain on my workbench may make it a tough cover up.

 Not the best angle for a picture, but i was supposed

to be holding the fork, not taking pictures.

With the fork back together and the air chambers pumped up we reinstalled the fork.  There was no trail testing today but as far as we could tell it was ready to go.  I think Ryan will have some playing to do with the rebound adjustment and maybe the positive and negative pressures, as we set it back to the default settings.  It was a good project and now I'm motivated to figure out what preventative maintenance I should be doing with my fork.

 While we were working on Ryan's fork

Daniel built "Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse".

For Grandma

After declining health in recent years my grandmother passed away.  While sad to lose a loved one, I am thankful for her faith and the trust she placed in Jesus for her eternal salvation.  Grandma has shed her failing body and mind for the majesty of heaven!

This morning Ryan and I set out for a lap at Mohican, in remembrance of my Grandma.  It was a beautiful day of sunshine and warm temperature.  I had swapped the Maxxis Ardent tire from the Karate Monkey to the front of the Paragon, looking for a different feel than what I've been getting from the tubeless ready Bontrager tire.  My theory continues that the tubeless ready tire has heavier and stiffer sidewalls than a typical tire.  Being that I still run tubes, I think this causes a lack of feel in the tire from heavier sidewalls reinforced by tubes.

Going up.

While packing for the ride I debated whether to bring the camera or not.  In an instant I envisioned a picture of Ryan going around an uphill, right hand switchback on Mount Doom, so I brought the camera.  There are two places on the climb with the uphill corner matching my vision.  We stopped at the first and I snapped a couple pictures.  At the second such corner I stepped off the trail looking for an angle and realized someone else had trampled the area.  I looked down to check my footing and found a cell phone on the ground.  I flipped open the cell phone and it powered on, and into my jersey pocket it went.

After the rock garden near mile 20 we stopped at the boulders for a prayer in honor and memory of Grandma.  It was a nice place to pause and think of her.

 New hike-a-bike technique I'm working on.

A little further into the loop we stopped to admire the steep hike-a-bike  from the  Mohican 100, it's a good one.  Ryan took a picture of me from the side re-enacting the slog.  I was thankful not to be hoofing it up this hill today.

Going up?  Not today, but I did a week ago.

On the drive home I pulled out the cell phone and powered it on again.  Low battery, not surprising.  I browsed the contacts and attempted to call Dad.  "This phone is not registered..."  A little snooping in the sent/received texts turned up an address of the owner who must have dropped her phone while.. hiking?  Mountain biking?  Trail running?  So, I will put the phone in the mail and maybe Tiffany will get back with me about how she lost her phone, I'm curious.

It's been back to back to back to back weekends of effort.  Double lap at Mohican, roofing project, Mohican 100, and a lap today.  I think I'm ready for some R&R... or maybe some short road rides.

Aid Station 3

Some pics from aid station 3 at the Mohican 100, courtesy of Ryan.

First Mohican 100k

Thursday night I registered for my first Mohican 100k and the preparations began.  I gave the Paragon a thorough cleaning and checked it over pretty well.  Then I worked on filling some drop bags, though I had little concept of what they should contain.  A phone call to Ryan gave me some good ideas and I zipped the bags up.

Friday night I loaded the car with gear and bike, ready for an early morning roll out.  I was out the driveway about 6:05.  Heading south on SR3 I was in a caravan of bike-toting vehicles.

There must be a mountain bike race up ahead.

I parked at Mohican across the road from the finish line and geared up for the day.  After picking up my race packet and handing over my drop bags, I joined a mass of riders pedaling the bike path to the starting line.  As I joined the mass of colorful apparel straddling bikes I heard someone say there were 691 riders registered this year, a new record.

Convenient parking, the finish line is just

behind the tree in the center of the picture.

 

I never did hear a gun shot or announcement to start the race, but I clipped in when everyone else did and starting rolling when the wheels in front of me moved forward.  We were off.  The road out of town is a good hill but in short order we were to the top and turning left.  After a little bit more road it funneled down to enter the woods.  At this point we came to a dead stop and stood there for 60 seconds waiting for the log jam of riders to clear.

From leaving the road to reaching the singletrack of the state park was on private property, most of it, I believe, belonging to Mohican Adventures campground (race headquarters).  The rain from the previous day made for some particularly muddy sections.  There were a couple hike-a-bikes, partially due to steep muddiness and partially due to the clog of riders.  I was glad to reach the familiar territory of the state park trail.

The next 8 to 10 miles were going well for me.  At one point I shouted back to the a rider behind me asking if he wanted to pass.  He said, "no, this is great following your lines!"  I informed him it was my local course and I only live 20 minutes up the road.  He replied, "perfect, I'm from Colorado and have never ridden here before!"

 

Near the road crossing in the Discovery Forest I couldn't understand why I was flooding in sweat.  It was rolling down my face despite the 51 degree temperature at the start.  I was still wearing arm warmers but didn't feel too hot.  Strange.

 

After a little crash on the switchbacks leading downhill to the covered bridge, I stopped at the bridge to suck down an Espresso Love Gu.  I had felt some unexpected twinges in my quads leading up to the downhill section.  I also downed a couple Endurolytes.

 

 I figured sooner or later in the race I would experience muscle cramps in my legs.  Well, I was really disappointed to be experiencing them already at the beginning of Mount Doom.  I started doing the math in my head and came to the conclusion I was only 1/3 of the way into the race with two cramped legs.  Okay... how am I going to survive this?

Aid station 1, at the second MTB trailhed, I ate a bananna, PB&J quarter, more endurolyets, and refilled my Camelbak with Heed.  I decided to back down and really pace myself through the fern forest in hopes of recovering.  Somewhere in this section I also realized that my bike handling skills had gone to mush.  Why am I not able to corner?  I stopped and let several blasts of air out of my front tire, which I had filled to 24 psi this morning, and suddenly gained some confidence on the damp terrain.

Up until the giant hike-a-bike I was getting passed rather frequently.  I wanted to ride the pace of my passers but decided to control my efforts knowing there were plenty of miles ahead.  Then we reached the hike-a-bike.  Ryan had previously pointed it out to me, but looking at it compared to pushing a bike up it are two different things.  It was a slog, an intense slog.  Prior to the race I had thought hike-a-bike sections would be a relief to the legs after riding.  This one was not and cramps were threatening as I joined the line of riders pushing bikes up a hill in the woods.

From our position of higher ground we rode horse trails, mostly downhill and mostly muddy, to the crossing of SR97.  There were some interesting water bars to navigate.  On the other side of the road we reached another hike-a-bike.  This one was not as steep but full of large rocks.  At some point in here I believe we left the state park / state forest property.  Suddenly we came out of the woods and a race volunteer was pointing us down a road while announcing, "about 5 miles to the next aid station, all road!"

I cannot distinctly remember the road section at this point.  I'm sure there were some hills, as there were hills on all road sections.  Somewhere along here I realized my Hydrapak was empty.  I had been sipping often and had taken more Endurolytes throughout the off road section.  Despite maintaining an okay pace on the road and not feeling the pending cramps anymore, I still didn't feel so great.  Thankfully the aid station 2 appeared up ahead.

The aid station volunteers are great.  They have spotters up the road who radio your race number to the aid station.  When you pull up to the aid station your drop bag is brought to you.  Station volunteers are checking with every rider to see what they need, offering to refill bottles or hydration packs, or fetch some food.  We were well cared for.

I spent longer than expected at this aid station trying to bring myself back.  I ate several pieces of watermelon, a banana, a Hammer Gel, Endurolytes, beef jerky, and drank half an ice cold Coke.  I stretched my legs and back for a couple minutes and then got back to it.  The finish was not getting any closer.  Before leaving the aid station I received text messages indicating KT and the kids as well as Ryan and the family would be at aid station 3.  Nice!

On the rolling and sometimes steep roads between aid 2 and 3 I was feeling much better.  I was starting to pedal a harder, faster gear.  Finally.  For several miles I was passing riders.  We turned onto the climb behind the Wilderness Course and started up the big gravel hill.  I felt okay going up the hill but never dared to stand and attack it.  I just stayed seated and rode steady.

At the top of the hill we turned onto the singletrack of the Wilderness Course.  I knew there would be a lot of down hill sections from here.  It was going okay at first but before long I realized my brain was not processing the trail fast enough.  Combine this feeling with my fatigued arms and I frequently checked my speed to ensure I stayed in once piece.

We passed through the Tree Frog Canopy parking and I knew we were closing in out aid station 3.  I looked forward to seeing the family and friends.  A couple stream crossings, a short hike-a-bike, singletrack, and a lap around an ag field delivered us to aid station 3.  Daniel and KT were waving for me and Ryan and family were nearby.

It was great mid-race break to share stories with Ryan, he could certainly relate having done the race several times before, and visit with the kids.  Daniel, Mr. nothing-gets-past-me, said "Hey!  Why is there a sign on your bike!?"  After some food and chit-chat I saddled up.  Rylen gave me an awesome double munchy wave to say goodbye.  Before leaving the station I raised my saddle about half an inch.  In retrospect, this was a good move to change up the way my legs were working.

Back at home, Daniel likes the race plate.

Riding up Wally Road I was thinking about the big climb on Valley Stream Road, just ahead, but even more so I was thinking about the final 5 miles of singletrack.  Based on my lackluster ride through the woods at the Wilderness course I was actually dreading the final stretch of singletrack.  But, one thing at a time.

Pedaling into the Valley Stream Road climb I saw a couple riders ahead.  They were walking and I was getting closer as I continued riding.  As I just about reached the closer rider the road kicked up and I realized I was going the same speed pedaling as he was walking.  Off the bike again, I walked until it flattened out a little and then jumped back on.

Somewhere on the road section en route to SR3 I heard someone yelling from behind.  I turned my head to see Mr. Suppan come by.  He was doing the 100 mile race, on a single speed, and we were riding side by side 8 to 10 miles from the finish: that's strong.  The road flattened and I tried to lend a wheel.  A few moments later the road turned up and Jason drove into his pedals to singlespeed up the hill.  Meanwhile I downshifted to spin and once again wondered how the final single track would go.

 

Shortly after  Jason went up the road a rider appeared on my left.  A woman's voice said "hey, good job!  Keep it up!"  The black numbers on her race numbers told me she was also a 100 mile rider.  I would later learn it was pro rider Amanda Carey, the eventual winner of the women's race.  Pretty cool, I appreciated her encouragement.

Aid station 5, at the entrance to the state park, was full of supportive volunteers.  They handed me a peeled banana, gave me a Hammer Gel, and announced "five miles to go!"

Starting up the final mile of state park loop I was feeling sloppy with the bike again.  I pulled aside and let some more air out of my front tire and let some out of the bike too.  Maybe it was mental, but it suddenly felt like a different bike.  I proceeded to feel pretty good in the woods and was cornering much better.  Before I knew it was time to turn off the state park loop and enter into Mohican Adventures.  I knew the finish line was close!

 

We popped across the campground road and turned onto a little township road.  I saw the parking lot and my car in the front row.  Finish line in sight!  I was pretty excited, if not slightly overwhelmed, to cross the line.  I heard my race number and time of 8:05 announced over the PA system.  A race worker handed me my Mohican 100 beer mug.  The PA announcer came on again to say my name.  Cool.

 

 The finish line!

 

After a shower, some BBQ chicken, celebratory beer in my celebratory beer mug, and hanging out with the Soupcan racing and OCC guys, I headed home thinking "wow, I did it."

I think I earned it.

First and foremost I'd say this race was a huge learning experience.  Having never done a mountain bike race before and having never ridden a mountain bike more than 50 miles, the Mohican 100k felt like an accomplishment.  I was pretty disappointed to be cramp crippled so early in the race and have to moderate my pace for so long.  But at the same time, I'm thankful to have fought through it and kept the pedals turnin' to the finish.  I'm also thankful for no mechanical issues, though I do regret not dropping pressure in my tires sooner.  The encouragement and camaraderie out on the course and after race was pretty cool too.

First time 100k finisher.

To the Parade and Back

Sunday was a true day of rest after the roofing project.  I lost 8 pounds in the last couple days, certainly all from sweat.  Thankfully today is Memorial Day and a day off work.

So... there's a little race called the Mohican 100 coming up.  Am I going to do it for the fist time this year?  I think so but I have not registered yet,  Thursday is my deadline.

With the roofing project behind me, I headed out

for a little road ride.

The event of the day is the Memorial Day parade in Shreve.  We have taken Daniel to this parade the past several years and this year would be Ellen's first.  I decided to ride down to Shreve and meet the family for the parade.

Onward... to the Mohican 100?

With my chosen route it took me a little over and hour to get to Shreve.  I found everyone and took up a nice shaded spot along Main Street.  It was the start to another hot and humid day but the crowd was still out for the parade.

Front row seats.

After the parade I took another one hour route to get back home.  It felt good to be pedaling after all the bending over and roof walking.

Roof Complete

Saturday morning brought some more helping hands, Dave and Zeb joined in on the project.  While the rest of the guys got to it on the roof, I worked from below.  As project KT and I wanted to install a new bathroom fan as the old one was weak.  I cut a hole in the roof to access the attic space and made what seemed like 15 trips between the roof and bathroom to install the new fan.

Bathroom exhaust upgrade in progress.

Meanwhile, the shingles were being laid.

By lunch time we had worked our way most of the way up the back of the house.  The only valley on the roof was flashed and complete, we were past the roof penetrations, and it was hot, really hot.  The shingles were soft and easily damaged if walked on too roughly.  They were sticking immediately upon being laid.  After lunch we finished up the last several rows of shingles and got off the roof before inflicting any more damage.

Once again, having so many helping hands was a blessing.  We were nearly done and decided to finish up installing cap shingles and ridge vent later in the day.  About 5pm we headed back up for the final touches.  Wow, it was a lot of work but we got it all done in two days and an evening, and the new roof looks great!

Capping the hips.

Nailing caps onto the ridge vent.  Ten minutes after

this picture the roofing project was done!

Laying the New Roof

Jim, Ryan, Dad, and I began work right away Friday morning.  We finished installing the underlayment and cleaned up the flashing around the chimney.  Within ten minutes of being done and ready for the shingles, the delivery truck showed up.  Good timing.

Sure beats carrying them to the roof!

 38 square of shingles for our "little" roof.

 Next up was replacing the roof boots, including the one on the incoming power mast, and laying down the starter shingles.  With measurements made and chalk lines snapped, we began laying shingles.

 Nice to have a licensed electrician on the job site.

Keeping them straight.

 

Covering it up.

It was hot work.  The temperatures were close to 90 and it was challenging to stay hydrated.  Every time I thought I was thirsty I'd chug a bottled water.  We went through a lot of bottled water.

By the end of the day we had covered the north and south hips as well as the entire front side of the house.  The job was over 50% done by my estimation.  Falling asleep tonight will not be hard.

Raise the Roof

Our roofing project began tonight with the arduous work of stripping off the existing shingles and felt paper.  The dumpster was delivered yesterday to the driveway.  After work my crew arrived to get down to business.

Filling it up.

Ever seen a wheel barrow used on a roof?

The goal was to have the whole roof stripped before the sun went down.  Thanks to the nine of us working away, we got 'er done.  For peace of mind I really wanted to have underlayment on the whole roof before calling it day.  We had the underlayment down on all sides but the front when we ran out of light.  It was about 9:45 when we called it a day.  Many thanks to the all the helping hands!  It would not have been possible to get as far as we did without them.

Nice, sunny skies to work beneath.

 Daniel came up to check out the work.

The desired outcome, a full dumpster.

Mohican: my first double

While I have not registered for the Mohican 100 it's still in my mind to tackle it this year.  Last night some motivation kicked in and I planned a long mountain bike ride for this morning.  The thought was I better prove to myself I can ride a mountain bike for a longer distance without breaking.

At 6:05 this morning my alarm sounded and I set my plan into action.  Start the coffee maker, put on clothes I set out last night, grab food from fridge, pour coffee, and out the door at 6:20.  My bike and gear were already in the car.

Morning light in the parking lot at Mohican.

The plan was a loop at Mohican followed by... more.  How much more?  That was the question.  I wanted to ride two loops but was not sure if that was doable, having never ridden more than a single loop.  After eating two eggs, a banana, and finishing my coffee I hit the trail at 7:02.

I love riding in the woods in the morning.  The low angle light and damp forest have a great effect.  It was 45 degrees when I left the car with arm warmers installed.  I eased into the ride thinking this was the first of two opening climbs today.

At the first road crossing I stopped for an Espresso Love Gu.  I continued to drink regularly as I rode onward.  At the covered bridge I stopped for some almond and cranberry trail mix I had packed along and it was then time to climb.  I rode steady up Mount Doom and soon reached trailhead 2 where it was time to lose the arm warmers.   In about 2:50 I finished the first loop feeling a bit fresher than usual.  Conserving where needed, attention to food and drink, and back stretching seemed to work well.

Throughout the ride I snapped quick pics for time

markers, none of them particularly interesting.

At this point I knew I was headed out for some more.  Back to the car for a Cliff bar and refill of my hydration pack.  And here was a mistake, I only had water for the refill and not enough to fill my hydration pack.  I drank 70oz of diluted Gatoraide on the first lap.  I'm guessing I only had 40oz on my back as I started the second lap.

A met a couple other guys who were out riding laps in prep for the 100 miler.  Chris and I started our second laps about the same time.  While I was hoping to ride at least through Mount Doom, Christ was planning to ride "3 or 4" laps today.  That's tough.

The second lap was off to a good start.  I stopped again at the first road crossing for another Gu and seemed to be slowing in pace.  Chris caught up to me shortly after this and gave me some good hollerin' to keep working.  It helped as I picked up the speed until the covered bridge where I realized I was about out of water.  Uh-oh.

I hung back on the climb wondering how this would play out.  The temperature had risen, a good climb was coming, and I had no water.  I decided to ride very conservatively up the climb and either bail out at the next road crossing or hope to find someone else with water to spare.

At the first road crossing I was doing okay, though the temperature was noticeably warmer.  I continued on and reached the second trailhead.  Fortunately I found water and decided at this point to continue on, at least to the road crossing at mile 19.  I ate a hanful of dried apricots and clipped in.

By mile 19 I was feeling rough.  My legs were starting to cramp, probably from the prior dry stretch.  I made the choice to ride it out and complete the lap even if pedaling in low gear, and this I did frequently.

 My legs were far from fresh the last five miles,

but thankfully not this far gone.

Back to car I was a little ragged but not broken.  The car indicated 86 degrees outside, that's 41 degrees warmer than it was 6 hours and 15 minutes ago when I first left the car.  Full blast A/C, a chocolate shake, and foot long sub cooled me off and put me on a good path to recovery.  I came home and ran through the sprinkler with Daniel.  Well, he did the running and I just stood in front of it.

I was pretty satisfied with the effort.  Of course I wish I would have planned better with fluids on the second lap.  It was a good learning experience and memorable first 50 mile mountain bike ride.  I'm curious to see how the next couple weeks go.

C-dale Demo

While eating breakfast this morning I received an email reminding today is the Cannondale demo day at Mohican.  A demo ride sounded fun but a ride was not in the plans for the day... until two kiddos nap crashed in the afternoon and I headed south to Mohican.

Cannondale demo day, Mohican MTB parking lot.

Having never ridden a bike sporting a Lefty fork I was excited to see what it was all about.  The Cannondale guy eyed me up and pulled a carbon Flash 29er from the line of bikes for me to demo ride.  After a quick setup to fit the bike to me I headed out to ride the short loop.

Test ride #1: Flash carbon 29er 2.  $5000 of fun.

Link to Cannondale's web site.

I immediately noticed the bike was light and stiff.  Pedal strokes resulted in propulsion, no wasted flex detectable anywhere.  Most interesting to me was the feel of the Lefty fork.  Somehow it had attributes of both my Paragon's Fox fork and my Karate Monkey's rigid fork.  Like the rigid fork on the KM, it felt really efficient with no wasted compliance, and like the Fox fork it gave plenty of cushion as needed.

Fairly obvious why they called it a Lefty.

Coming down the last mile of the course I was having a lot of fun on this bike.  In addition to being stiff the carbon frame was soaking up the trail.  It was a softer feeling hard tail than I'm used to.  I arrived bike at the parking lot with a big smile.  I'd say that was the fastest mountain bike I've ever ridden.

Now the Cannondale guy wanted me to do a loop on the full suspension Scalpel 29er.  I mentioned not being too interested in rear suspension for the riding we do around here but was more than willing to take another expensive bike for a ride.

Test ride #2: Scalpel Carbon 29er 1.  $7600 of fun.

Link to Cannondale's web site.

Once again I tore out of the parking lot for a run of the short loop.  This time I kept my rear on the saddle as I bounced through the potholes on the way out the drive.  Yep, there's some squish back there.  At some point, after the opening climb was done, I realized I was riding it like a hard tail and focused on staying seated more often.  No doubt the extra suspension would have you feeling less fatigued after a long ride.

Full suspension, full of fun.

Back to the climbing, I tried to pay attention to how the Scalpel climbed.  It was also very efficient but I did feel some pedal bob from rear end a couple times.  It's just a different game on a full suspension bike.

Two short loops and $12.6k worth of demo bike later I headed home.  It was a good time riding bikes I cannot afford.

Disco Forest parking

This afternoon Ryan and I went down to Mohican for a ride.  To mix it up a little we parked at the Discovery Forest parking lot and started the ride from there.  There was no question what to wear, it was shorts and short sleeves weather.

 Food stop.

We caught up to a couple riders on the way down to the Covered bridge and passed a couple guys on break at the top of Mount Doom.  At trailhead 2 we stopped for some food.

Thankfully Ryan's head cold didn't

slow him down too much. 

To save some time we took the short loop connector and rode back to the Discovery Forest.  A young couple pulled in asking where to ride.  I was not too sure of their experience / skill level, so I directed them to the second trailhead and suggested they ride to the first road crossing and loop back on the road.  Hopefully they found their way and had a good ride.  It was a good day to be out.

Heading for the short loop connector.