Out and Back

Ryan and I headed down to Mohican for an eight mile out and back ride.  It was a busy day on the trail.  We saw quite a few trail runners and mountain bikers getting in some miles before the races.

Disappearing into the green.

I did a test run with no hydration pack.  My bottles were on the bike and tools in a seat bag.  I think this is going to be my plan for the Mohican 100 next weekend.  It was noticeable not having all the weight on my back and I think this will be a positive for 63 miles of riding.

While the bike/gear setup is looking good I am still concerned about my sore left knee.  It's been nagging me for a couple weeks now.  Icing every night, taking it easy, or taking it hard have not made much of a difference.  At least it's holding steady and not getting worse.  It didn't really seem noticeable during the ride today and hopefully does not detract from my race.  One week to go.

Two bikes on the roof!  It looks

so awkwardly cool.

Mohican Lap and a Half

After last weekend's stomach limited ride at Mohican, I headed down for another attempt at a long one this weekend.  It was the first trip wit the bike on the roof of the 3 instead of hanging off the rear bumper.  The most comforting detail was the sun at my bike on the way down.  I could easily see the bike was still on the roof and had not flown off.

A reassuring shadow.

I set out on a lap and felt okay through Mt. Doom.  Like last week I was cramping around mile 19.  This was not part of the plan but seems to be a reality of the race to come unless I can figure something out.  I do think I spent too much time pedaling seated in the beginning of today's ride.  Too much food at the second trail head also caught up with me, but I worked through that without much issue.  The cramps were the problem.

Back to the car after a lap I spent some time stretching and eating.  I refilled my hydration pack and worked up some motivation to head back out.  As I started a second lap, this time with the camera, I was thinking about some unique wildflowers I noticed on the way down to the covered bridge.  I decided I would at least ride that far and take a picture of them for KT.

I found the flowers and got the picture.

At the covered bridge I was really feeling junky.  Instead of Mt. Doom I took the road, which requires a pretty good effort even though on pavement instead of singletrack.  I jumped back on the trail to connect over to the second trail head.  Legs were dead, cramps were difficult to ignore, and this ride was turning into a slog.  I decided there could not possibly be a positive training effect in this condition and took the road back to the car.

This is how we roll now.

I was beat.  And hungry.  I stopped at the gas station and bought chocolate milk, a bag of cheese, and a steak.  Not a ready to eat steak but a seasoned steak to take home and grill.  It was delicious.

Recovery food, gonna need it.

Tubeless on the Paragon

For several years I have considered it and now, just a couple weeks before the Mohican 100, I have done it... no more tubes in the Paragon.  At lunch I went over to the shop and picked up Bontrager rim strips for my Mustang rims, Bontrager valve stems, and a bottle of Stan's NoTubes sealant.  Oh yeah, I splurged on an injector too.  Ryan had told me about the benefits of being able to inject sealant without breaking the bead on the tire.  He made a good sales pitch.

Ready to go tubeless.

I thought about taking some pictures of the process, but once I got started I just kept going to get it done.  I stripped my tires and tubes off the wheels and got to work stretching on the rim strip.  This took some effort but it went on solid.  And then... where are the valve stems?  Notice they are not in the picture above.  After looking everywhere I convinced myself I left them on my desk at work.  Doh, no finishing this project tonight.

Next day.

Walk into work, walk up to desk... no stems.  I decided they had to be in pants pocket from the previous day, even though I checked last night.  The suspense was killing me so I ran home for lunch, found the stems in the bottom, folded over tip of my pants pocket, and finished the job.

The beads on my Maxxis Ardent tires have always been tough to seat.  I used multiple application of dish soap water, my air compressor, and 70psi of force before having the bead fully seated all the way around.  "Ping!" as the bead seated.

Soap bubbles were popping around the whole circumference of the rim and maybe a little through the sidewall.  Was this really a good idea?  Per Stan's video instructions on the web site, I rotated and sloshed the tire.  I left each one sitting horizontally before going back to work.

Home from work, I found a couple places the beads were still not seated.  More soapy water, air out and air back in... "ping!"  Fully seated.  It also seemed no more air was leaking.  Tomorrow will be the first ride, hopefully they hold pressure over night!

Rack Attached

KT and the kids are gone for an overnight, so with the place to myself I got to work attaching the new roof rack system.

All the pieces and part laid out.

Attachment was very easy thanks to the factory mounting points on the roof of my Mazda 3.  Set the cross bars with Landing Pads loosely attached onto the roof, adjust for proper width and even bar stick out on both ends, then bolt it down.  It's solid.

Tightening the cross bars.

As previously mentioned in another post, I found a great seller on Craigslist.  He really took care of everything and included all the pieces, parts, and manuals.  In addition he gave me some advice about waxing the roof before installing the parts.  On his car this prevented any unwanted marks when the rack was removed.  I took his advice and laid down a coat of Meguiars NXT wax before installation.  You can see a reflection of the garage door opener on the ceiling in the pic above!

Of course I had to test it out with a bike carrier, so I threw one up there and lifted my bike into place.  The load and unload is very easy but may be challenging on top of my car unless you are 6' or taller.  Daniel is going to need to grow a little before throwing his bike up there.

Bike on the upper level.

Driving for a Roof Rack

Ever since owning the Mazda3 I have considered a roof rack.  Several times I looked up the list of Yakima and/or Thule components needed to make it happen and have choked on the high cost.

Last year I made my own standoffs and crossbars from wood.  They bolted into the factory roof mount points nice and secure but caused a lot of wind noise.  The intention was to attach a roof cargo tray not bikes on these rails, but I never used them.  It was a good attempt at a thrifty solution for a roof rack but it didn't work out.  Not to mention, I wouldn't have tried to mount a bike carrier on this setup.

Ever since my failed attempt I have checked Craigslist from time to time looking for a deal.  I finally found it.

On the road to pick up a rack, and more.

A guy was selling a Yakima setup that came off his Subaru.  Fortunately for me, the so-called "Yakima Landing Pads" that mate up the Subaru also mate up to my car.  Included in the sale were two "keep the wheels on" bike carries made by Inno as well as a third fork mount carrier also by Inno.  I called the seller and worked out a price for same day pickup.

Roof gear in the hatch.

Two hours of driving and I was loading the goods into my car.  Everything was in excellent shape, just as described.  I was glad to have found a good deal!  On the drive home I tried to think of ways to keep from driving roof mounted bikes in the garage; I have a few ideas.

Four hours driving after work,

arriving home in the dark.

Mohican Lap

The plan for the morning was to head down to Mohican bright and early for a lap or possibly two.  My ongoing stomach bug of the past week changed my plan and I didn't make it down there until 10.

Lush woods.

It was cool and there was a chance of rain but I thankfully didn't get wet.  I rode the loop and felt mostly okay.  As usual, I felt some cramping tendencies in the last five miles.

Who lost a hat?

Root surfing.

As figured, it was not going to be a double lap day.  Not eating much the past several days was not helping my energy level.  On the way back to the parking lot the Soupcan guys came by.  They had also ridden  lap and were headed down to the Wilderness Course, but my ride was done.

Soupcans heading out.

Hike at the Park

We headed to Wooster Memorial Park for a hike this afternoon.

Bridge pose.

Found a cool salamander.

Daniel had the same one on his shirt.

Flipping rocks, looking for creatures.

A quick learner, just like mommy.

Gravel Spreading

Daniel and I hooked up the trailer to Dad's truck and picked up some gravel to back fill around the window wells I dug last fall.

Good thing we have an excavator.

Ellen was helping too!

handyman

Daniel was once again my little helper buddy as we installed some new shelving in the hallway closet.

Getting some work done.

And he even brings his own tools.

2013 Spring Trip to Raystown 3

After a solid meal at Kelly's Korner last night we enjoyed soft beds.  I slept like a rock.  With the damp conditions and satisfied from yesterday's ride we decided to head for home.  Before leaving town we stopped into the local coffee shop for some food and drink.

We had Aeropress coffee which

was quite tasty.

For the trip home we headed north to I-80.  No Pittsburgh road construction detour on the return trip.  I think this northern route is the better way to go.  The drive home was nice and uneventful with some rain along the way.

Ready to roll out.

The kids were excited to see me and especially liked playing in the tent while I had it setup in the driveway to dry.  Before long I had the gear back in it's place and another satisfying road trip completed.  It was nice to have some time to chill out before getting to bed for work tomorrow.

My little campers.

Ellen found her own door.

2013 Spring Trip to Raystown 2

Sunday morning we woke up to some nice sunshine, but something was up.  As we ate breakfast there was an occasional gust of wind and then still again.  It seemed like a weather change was moving in.  I talked to KT and got a wet forecast for the afternoon and overnight.

Sunrise wakeup.

We heated up some porridge, made some coffee, and enjoyed breakfast before gearing up for today's long ride.  I tended to a squeaky rear brake and Ryan checked his crank arm bolt before we rolled out.

Breakfast is on.

Morning in camp.

The penalty for camping closer to the water is an uphill road climb to start the ride.  Last year we were right alongside the trail but had no view of the lake.  I would say the lakeside view is worth a small warm-up climb.  We were to the trailhead by the visitor's center in 7 minutes.

Heading out on the trails.

Today we would ride the east side trails, as many as we could and some more than once.  The flowing singletrack was great fun and the trails were in perfect shape.  Dirtfest was in a couple weeks and there were some crews out blowing leaves early in our ride.

Corners everywhere.

Some rocks to be found.

We found some mud too, but not much.

There was no route plan for the day, we just made it up as we went.  A couple hours into the ride and a rainy drizzle started to fall. We donned rain jackets, as much to stay warm as dry.  Ryan had an unexpected rear flat but his Stans sealant clogged the leak.  Some CO2 was needed to get back to pressure.

Redbuds were here and there.

Picture while stopped.

Some nice roots to look at while

Ryan is fixing a flat.

After about 4.5 hours of riding we were heading back to the start but decided to do one last loop.  On the outbound part of the loop I started having some unexpected handling issues, I thought it was slippery terrain from the rain.  On the inbound part of the loop I was really all over the place but still thought it was me.  A little further down the trail I realized my front tire was flat.  At least there was an explanation for my sudden inability to corner!

My turn to fix a flat.

No recurring tire issues and we arrived back to camp about 6 hours after leaving.  We were tired but not wrecked.  Hot showers felt good.  About this time we made the decision to pack up camp given the wet forecast.  Before leaving I had scoped out a couple cheap mom and pop hotels and we decided to visit one. Good to know there is a bailout option nearby if the weather does not cooperate.

The royal treatment tonight for the bikes...

and bikers.

2013 Spring Trip to Raystown 1

We loaded up the car and pulled out of Ryan's driveway with the sun in our eyes.  As we drove into Pittsburgh I made the statement that I liked the city, based on our view from the highway on this trip and our trip to Raystown last fall.  I was forced to change my mind, however, after an hour long detour through winding neighborhood streets and the ghetto.  There were cops at every intersection in the run down section of town.  First we thought they were there to assist the detouring traffic, but soon realized they were there to protect the detouring traffic.

Anyhow, we made it to Hudington, PA about an hour later than expected but had no worries because the day was ours.  We picked out a campsite at the Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds, this time down by the lake for some scenery.  Like our first day of arrival last year, we headed out for a couple hours of riding.

Ready to ride, until Ryan aptly pointed out I

had forgotten to put on mountain bike shoes.

Riding the west side side trails.

A view to our campsite on the opposite

side of the lake.  Note the red cliffs.

Enjoying the ride.

U turn.

Strange tree trail side.

Uphill U turn.

Back at the campsite we changed bikes for cooking gear and heated some beef barley stew I had made at home.  No real cooking this trip, we had prepared food to heat.

Back to our campsite.

With bowls of hot stew in hand we scrambled down to the aforementioned red rocky cliffs and ate our dinner at water's edge.  The sun was going down in front of us and made a nice sight.  Ryan busted out his loon call after we heard and spotted one floating out on the lake.  He was doing good and getting responses to his calls!

Eat and phone home.

Sunset on Raystown Lake.

Loon calling after sunset.