2013 Manatoc Experience

Ryan and I made it up to the Cuyahoga Valley for another Manatoc Experience.  It was a fun event to be hanging out and riding with so many other mountain bikers.  We did a couple laps of the course and a couple demo rides of Trek bikes.  A fun time.

 Overlooking the expo area.

 Getting ready to demo ride.

After a long wait for a guy in tube socks and 80's helmet to bring

back this bike in my size, I gave up.  Maybe next time.

the Manitoc Experience, my first

Once a year Camp Manitoc, up in the Cuyahoga Valley, is open to the public.  It's a Boy Scout with quite some acreage of wooded, varied terrain.  On the big weekend for mountain bikers, the trails are open for riding on Saturday and races take place on Sunday.  There is also a trail run and cyclocross race on Saturday.

 Ready to roll out.

Ryan and I arrived about 10 am to ride.  It's the biggest mountain bike crowd I've been a part of and was a pretty fun scene.  We parked in a field and geared up for our ride.  It was hot, like in the 90's hot.  The trail was fun.  I remember some good rooty sections, some twisty fun, and a punchy climb or two.  Nothing too crazy and just a fun ride.

 Mid ride photo op.

We returned to the car for some fluid and food replenishment before heading up to the "expo".  There were tents setup with vendors and bike demos.  We waited our turn and both took a spin on full suspension Specialized 29ers.  Ryan was on a $10k carbon fiber ride and I was on the cheap, $5k bike.  The demo loop packed in good trail variations and we got a feel for the full squish bikes.  Yes, you could blast over roots or rocks without much consideration for choosing a line.  And yes, it did not feel as efficient as my hardtail climbing or pedaling hard.  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of our test rides.  I'm going to blame it on not feeling well, I had been sick the previous week and was not feeling my best.

After hanging around a bit we headed out for another lap.  While zig-zagging through some trees I looked ahead to see Ryan stalled out.  Oh yes, his crankarm had once again dislocated from his bike.  A trailside repair had us going again in short order.

 Dislocated crank arm.

Somewhere past the halfway point of the lap my body protested in the heat.  I took a short cut back while Ryan finished the lap.  Oh well, I was glad to have ridden the first lap with energy given how I felt earlier in the week.  When we got back in the car to leave the temperature display said 96F.  On the way up we stopped at a gas station and I bought a gallon jug of water.  It was nearly gone by the end of the trip.

We'll have to put the Manitoc Experience on the calendar again for next year!  Good times.