It’s been a strange old time since I busted up my shoulder. I’ve become lazy! My rides are generally 10 miles or less and are far more social than significant training exercises. In short I’m beginning to feel old and fat! This realization has prompted me to start thinking about scheduling some races for the later part of the year to kickstart some “proper” riding.
In the meantime we (MLW and me) had a trip planned to the White Mountains in NH to do some adventure type activities (including a 15 k trail race on Saturday). Without the kids!! So on Thursday 28 July we set off to NH and set up our base at a smallish hotel in Pinkham Notch in the shadow of Mount Washington. The hotel was selected as it had easy access to Great Glen Trails activity center from where most of our activity would be based. First up of course was hitting thje trails on rental MTB. Well the brochure promised MTBing from beginner to “mud in your teeth extremity”. As so often is the case in life reality doesn’t quite live up to advertised hype. The Activity center is O.K. though the selection of bikes for rental was very limited – I was intending to ask if they had any single speeds available, but a quick scan round the shop as we entered lowered my expectations. “Do you have any bikes with spd pedals?” was my revised question. “No!” was the unrevised answer. Still the staff were friendly – and the guy behind the counter took me through the trail map. I asked about single track and he admitted most was carriageway. Bummer! He did say there were short sections of nice single track at the far end of the trails. Navigation was going to be easy as the trails were clearly marked and the junctions numbered – the lower the number the closer to the center – Easy peasey!
The bikes on offer were consisted of exactly one model – a Cannondale F4 – so we both chose that. MLW quickly discovered how nice her bike at home was. While in the shop we also splurged on some new bike gear and even got MLW a hydration pack – wasn’t planned but the old camelback sprung a leak at the last minute leaving little choice.
Heading out on the trails we hit the run course for tomorrow – all big wide carriageway and pretty boring a few grinding hills were the highlight but then we found ourselves at a junction – 40! Bugger me we were nearly the far end of the trails already and only a stones throw from the “Whiplash loop” promised by the guy in the shop to be "sweet singletrack".
Using my limited navigational skills and the trail map provided soon got us to the start of the trail. Very short but quite technical, I struggled with the plethora of gears I had at my disposal – exactly as I remember always finding myself in the wrong one – and the piddly 26 inch wheels. Still good if brief fun and then we were back on the carriageways. In much this fashion we passed nearly two hours. 
The scenery was certainly more spectacular than we are used to at Patapsco but the riding was not so good. The result was one of the most tedious rides MLW and I have taken yet perversely the best documented photographically as we took it in turns to ride and re-ride the short technical sections to take photographs of each other.
The rest of the day was taken with a “gondola” ride up Wildcat mountain to take in some pretty spectacular views (90 mile visibility isn’t something you get every day) and then a restful afternoon at the hotel nursing legs that were surprisingly fried by the carriageway riding.
Saturday morning and it was time for the second running of the “Black Fly in My Eye” 15 k trail race ( www.greatglentrails.com/Summer-Page-210.html).MLW decided that rather than hang around waiting for me she would also do the race – it is a three loop race so she could do one, two or all three loops (really aiming for two as a 10 k is the furthest she has raced to date) We are a relatively small group that gather in the activity center to collect our race numbers and T-shirt prior to the 10 am start. T-shirts for the first 100 entrants the race info said – and they had shirts left over! Small race, with about 50 solo runners and ten or so 2 and 3 person relay teams.
Just before the start news filtered through that there had been some “animal activity” on the course that morning – which turned out to mean they had to scare a black bear of the trail making up the second loop – could be an interesting day - MLW was somewhat unsettled.
Loop 1
The race sets of along the same carriageways we had biked on Friday! Boring but the steady grinding hills that sucked the life out of our legs on the bikes had a similar effect when running. Not exactly trail running though despite two or three short sections of singletrack. As a result the pace was pretty high and I eventually hooked on to the back of a guy in a red running vest who IMHO “looked like he knew what he was doing”. Try as I might I could not chase him down so we ended the first loop I was about ten yards behind him. This is when bad things started to happen! As we made our way through the lap/start/finish area my friend in the red vest tagged off to a colleague and stopped running. He was part of a relay team. This was a bit dispiriting as it suggested that perhaps my confidence and initial pace were perhaps on the high side. Well the gut who he handed off to set off like a jack rabbit and was out of sight within seconds leaving me all on my lonesome to tackle loop 2.
Loop 2
The path went across the road (behind the activity center) then bucked viciously upward on a very steep rocky piece of single track. After the too quick pace on loop one my legs and lungs very quickly waved a little white flag and I was reduced to what MLW describes as “power walking” but which I more truthfully refer to as “being to F-ing knackered to keep on running”. After a minute or so to gather myself the “power walking turned back into slow running and loop two was actually far nicer and more interesting than loop one. With the exception of a longish and steepish decent down a stretch of carriage road most of this loop was a mixture of hilly rocky singletrack and swampy walking trail. The whole of this loop (and the subsequent third loop) I did not see another runner the whole time.
Loop 3
By the start of loop 3 I realized that I was not going to catch anyone in front of me and as long as I just kept going I was unlikely to be caught by anyone. It has been a long time since I set off too fast in a race and had to just hang on but that is exactly what loop three was all about. Fortunately Loop 3 was like Loop one not Loop two and was a fairly mild mix of undulating carriage road and short sections of singletrack. Many of the bits I recalled from the MTBing on Friday. The only real surprise on the third loop was the stream crossing – not much of a surprise in itself but a Marshall warned before I reached it to be careful of the embankment. Wow, not so much an embankment as a three foot drop straight into the stream! Then directly after the stream was a 30-40 yard scramble up a very steep grass bank (with crowds gathered at the top shouting encouragement). Once at the top the was a short drag to the finish. I finally crossed the finish line in 73 minutes and change, good enough for 7th overall but still a full eleven minutes behind the winner – a thoroughly average performance that would certainly not have impressed Bill Rodgers, and I suspect wouldn’t even have impressed Roy Rodgers. Still good to get back to competing – even if the distance was short and involved running rather than biking. MLW as hoped finished two loops before calling it a day in order to preserve herself for further vacation adentures! Perhaps this was a wise choice.
Sunday arrived with very sore legs and MLW telling me off for running too hard and ruining the vacation. After a leisurely breakfast we decided to go on a short hike then perhaps go to look round a nearby town in the afternoon. Not quite how it turned out – MLW thought the hiking would be on carriageways like to MTBing but when she found they were very thin and sketchy rocky trails she got far more interested. So our short leisurely hike morphed into a three hour trek first to Lost Lake then up to Glen Boulder (a climb of nearly two thousand vertical feet). The boulder itself is above the tree line in the “alpine zone” and gave very spectacular views of the whole valley.
After kayaking on Monday (something neither of us had done before) it was time to return to MD and reality.
The reality being a burst pipe in the upstairs bathroom and a flood through the family room and into the basement – Hey life’s no fun if it’s too easy.
So I’m back and energized – hopew to be hitting the trails with renewed vigor and focus once the races for later in the season are finalized – thinking Shenadoah M100 and perhaps the JFK 50, we’ll see.
Cheers (keep it focused keep it fun)
Dogzbollux
In the meantime we (MLW and me) had a trip planned to the White Mountains in NH to do some adventure type activities (including a 15 k trail race on Saturday). Without the kids!! So on Thursday 28 July we set off to NH and set up our base at a smallish hotel in Pinkham Notch in the shadow of Mount Washington. The hotel was selected as it had easy access to Great Glen Trails activity center from where most of our activity would be based. First up of course was hitting thje trails on rental MTB. Well the brochure promised MTBing from beginner to “mud in your teeth extremity”. As so often is the case in life reality doesn’t quite live up to advertised hype. The Activity center is O.K. though the selection of bikes for rental was very limited – I was intending to ask if they had any single speeds available, but a quick scan round the shop as we entered lowered my expectations. “Do you have any bikes with spd pedals?” was my revised question. “No!” was the unrevised answer. Still the staff were friendly – and the guy behind the counter took me through the trail map. I asked about single track and he admitted most was carriageway. Bummer! He did say there were short sections of nice single track at the far end of the trails. Navigation was going to be easy as the trails were clearly marked and the junctions numbered – the lower the number the closer to the center – Easy peasey!
The bikes on offer were consisted of exactly one model – a Cannondale F4 – so we both chose that. MLW quickly discovered how nice her bike at home was. While in the shop we also splurged on some new bike gear and even got MLW a hydration pack – wasn’t planned but the old camelback sprung a leak at the last minute leaving little choice.
Heading out on the trails we hit the run course for tomorrow – all big wide carriageway and pretty boring a few grinding hills were the highlight but then we found ourselves at a junction – 40! Bugger me we were nearly the far end of the trails already and only a stones throw from the “Whiplash loop” promised by the guy in the shop to be "sweet singletrack".
Using my limited navigational skills and the trail map provided soon got us to the start of the trail. Very short but quite technical, I struggled with the plethora of gears I had at my disposal – exactly as I remember always finding myself in the wrong one – and the piddly 26 inch wheels. Still good if brief fun and then we were back on the carriageways. In much this fashion we passed nearly two hours. 
The scenery was certainly more spectacular than we are used to at Patapsco but the riding was not so good. The result was one of the most tedious rides MLW and I have taken yet perversely the best documented photographically as we took it in turns to ride and re-ride the short technical sections to take photographs of each other.The rest of the day was taken with a “gondola” ride up Wildcat mountain to take in some pretty spectacular views (90 mile visibility isn’t something you get every day) and then a restful afternoon at the hotel nursing legs that were surprisingly fried by the carriageway riding.
Saturday morning and it was time for the second running of the “Black Fly in My Eye” 15 k trail race ( www.greatglentrails.com/Summer-Page-210.html).MLW decided that rather than hang around waiting for me she would also do the race – it is a three loop race so she could do one, two or all three loops (really aiming for two as a 10 k is the furthest she has raced to date) We are a relatively small group that gather in the activity center to collect our race numbers and T-shirt prior to the 10 am start. T-shirts for the first 100 entrants the race info said – and they had shirts left over! Small race, with about 50 solo runners and ten or so 2 and 3 person relay teams.
Just before the start news filtered through that there had been some “animal activity” on the course that morning – which turned out to mean they had to scare a black bear of the trail making up the second loop – could be an interesting day - MLW was somewhat unsettled.
Loop 1
The race sets of along the same carriageways we had biked on Friday! Boring but the steady grinding hills that sucked the life out of our legs on the bikes had a similar effect when running. Not exactly trail running though despite two or three short sections of singletrack. As a result the pace was pretty high and I eventually hooked on to the back of a guy in a red running vest who IMHO “looked like he knew what he was doing”. Try as I might I could not chase him down so we ended the first loop I was about ten yards behind him. This is when bad things started to happen! As we made our way through the lap/start/finish area my friend in the red vest tagged off to a colleague and stopped running. He was part of a relay team. This was a bit dispiriting as it suggested that perhaps my confidence and initial pace were perhaps on the high side. Well the gut who he handed off to set off like a jack rabbit and was out of sight within seconds leaving me all on my lonesome to tackle loop 2.
Loop 2
The path went across the road (behind the activity center) then bucked viciously upward on a very steep rocky piece of single track. After the too quick pace on loop one my legs and lungs very quickly waved a little white flag and I was reduced to what MLW describes as “power walking” but which I more truthfully refer to as “being to F-ing knackered to keep on running”. After a minute or so to gather myself the “power walking turned back into slow running and loop two was actually far nicer and more interesting than loop one. With the exception of a longish and steepish decent down a stretch of carriage road most of this loop was a mixture of hilly rocky singletrack and swampy walking trail. The whole of this loop (and the subsequent third loop) I did not see another runner the whole time.
Loop 3
By the start of loop 3 I realized that I was not going to catch anyone in front of me and as long as I just kept going I was unlikely to be caught by anyone. It has been a long time since I set off too fast in a race and had to just hang on but that is exactly what loop three was all about. Fortunately Loop 3 was like Loop one not Loop two and was a fairly mild mix of undulating carriage road and short sections of singletrack. Many of the bits I recalled from the MTBing on Friday. The only real surprise on the third loop was the stream crossing – not much of a surprise in itself but a Marshall warned before I reached it to be careful of the embankment. Wow, not so much an embankment as a three foot drop straight into the stream! Then directly after the stream was a 30-40 yard scramble up a very steep grass bank (with crowds gathered at the top shouting encouragement). Once at the top the was a short drag to the finish. I finally crossed the finish line in 73 minutes and change, good enough for 7th overall but still a full eleven minutes behind the winner – a thoroughly average performance that would certainly not have impressed Bill Rodgers, and I suspect wouldn’t even have impressed Roy Rodgers. Still good to get back to competing – even if the distance was short and involved running rather than biking. MLW as hoped finished two loops before calling it a day in order to preserve herself for further vacation adentures! Perhaps this was a wise choice.
Sunday arrived with very sore legs and MLW telling me off for running too hard and ruining the vacation. After a leisurely breakfast we decided to go on a short hike then perhaps go to look round a nearby town in the afternoon. Not quite how it turned out – MLW thought the hiking would be on carriageways like to MTBing but when she found they were very thin and sketchy rocky trails she got far more interested. So our short leisurely hike morphed into a three hour trek first to Lost Lake then up to Glen Boulder (a climb of nearly two thousand vertical feet). The boulder itself is above the tree line in the “alpine zone” and gave very spectacular views of the whole valley.
After kayaking on Monday (something neither of us had done before) it was time to return to MD and reality.
The reality being a burst pipe in the upstairs bathroom and a flood through the family room and into the basement – Hey life’s no fun if it’s too easy.So I’m back and energized – hopew to be hitting the trails with renewed vigor and focus once the races for later in the season are finalized – thinking Shenadoah M100 and perhaps the JFK 50, we’ll see.
Cheers (keep it focused keep it fun)
Dogzbollux
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