New York, New York!

Well my recovery from the HAT Run was far quicker than anticipated. I suspect my absymally low level of fitness for the HAT actually prevented me running hard enough to do any real damage. Whatever.... by Sunday although a little on the achy side I was able to take a limite role in the inauguaral "Mommies Gone Wild" Irongirl triathlon preparation road ride. A group of six or so of the "Mommies Gone Wild" assembled at the Bollux mansion (I wish) and after some degree of tinkering with bikes (saddle heights, brake adjustments, tire inflation etc) we set off. I was on the faithful old fixie and took the "Lanterne Rouge" position. Turns out one of the girls hasn't been on a bike since she was 17 years old! And has never ridden a bike in traffic! Despite this after an initial dodgy start - which allowed the rest of the group to disapear out of sight never to be seen again - she actually made a really fine attempt. We didn't make it too far but she overcame the obvious terror she experienced at riding on a road with cars and by the end she was looking a far more accomplished rider. The rest of the group successfully completed the 12 mile hilly route taking in Homewood Road, Folly Quarter and Tridelphia Road. All good and lots of smiles on the ladies faces at the end.

All smiles after the inaugural "Mommies gone Wild" training ride

Since then mainly running in preparation for a potential bash at the Columbia Clydes 10 K run on 20 April. Babysitting issues may scupper this as MLW is away that weekend doing an adventure race.



Then last weekend we took a weekend away (sans kids!!) to New York! Bloody great - using Hotwire.com got a reasonable deal on a hotel on 42nd street (right by the Chrysler Building - which is probably my favorite building in NY). Did all the usual tourist things - too much eating/drinking, took in a show, walked all over Manhatten and even managed a jog around central Park. Got home Sunday night absolutely knackered - but still forced myself to take the "Tomac" Rockhopper out of a 1 hour "nightride" around Columbia (mainly bike trails but some bits of single track too). I need the bum on saddle time in preparation for Lodi. Haven't even sat on the Monocog for 3 weeks now. : (



Talking of Lodi - it is only a couple of weeks away and I finally committed the entry fee (solo SSer again). Could be interesting cos apparently there will likely be no rental lights this year so I will have to rely on borrowing units from non-participating friends. Ho Hum.



Oh well I best get out and do another run!



Cheers



DogzBollux

Mid-Winter Blues

The weather is really playing havoc with riding at the moment! I haven't been out on the trusty 29er monocog since early December! I installed the disc brakes on December 10 and haven't had chance to test them in earnest yet - BUGGER.

Biking has been restricted to a single road ride (back on the Cannondale R400). Fearing for my bonk-liability after the UK adventure I made sure I took plenty of calories (banana, power gel and blueberry breakfast bar). At 30 miles I made mayself stop and chow down. IN the end it was all gravy! Did the Columbia Tri-course then added on a section along Highland Road (216) as far as the APL and back! Finished off along Little Patuxent Parkway and the Mall for a 55 mile ride averaging 17.7 mph. Respectable but hardly earth shattering.

The real effort has been on the running front however - the race schedule for 2008 is taking shape (see below) and the first stop is the HAT RUN (www.hatrun.com). Now in it's 20th year and with an increased entry (to 450) only 44 places left as I write. Looks like 31 miles of fun, this will be my fourth running, I'll let you know how it goes.

So it's been trail running with Sean II at Patapsco for the last two Saturdays. Must say the trails look great and with a number of trees down over the Holidays I can't wait to get back and try the trails before the overzealous trail keepers and their chainsaws remove all the newly fallen fun! Then at night it's been the lonely road running to build the miles in the legs. Tonight could be interesting with the snow on the ground and a 1.5-2 hour run scheduled Ho Hum.

Hopefully this Sunday will be a go for MTB fun at Patapsco and there is even a slight danger of the night ride making a long overdue comeback next week.

DOGZBOLLUX 2008 RACE SCHEDULE (tentative)

Hat Run (50 km trail run) March 29 - confirmed
12 Hours Lodi Farm (12 hour mtb race) May 3-4
Wilderness 101 (101 mile mtb race) July 26
JFK 50 miler (50 mile trail run) November 22

O.K. so now it's getting silly!!!

Fun kind of week this one - started well with the usual night ride, just George and me so we decided to mix things up a bit. Started at the Park N Ride and took a slightly different entrance into the park. A nice steep section had me "over the bars" in the first 5 minutes - always good to get the mind focused early in a ride. Then George decided to take us on a magical mystery tour. Perfect! We rode/pushed the bikes up Bull Run (George on his Nomad me on my faithful Redline 29er Monocog). Then navigated some trails George confessed he always gets lost in, nice technical downhill sections, logs you name it! Bunch of new trails - smashing.



Then we headed down Vineyard and hit the paved path as far as the bottom of "Double Drop" from where we did our usual route in reverse - amazing how riding a route you know well but from the other direction makes it a completely different ride.



Great ride - perfectly timed as my Nite Hawk light completely burnt out just as we were making our final climb back to the cars, two plus hours of fun.



On Thursday we had a "film-night" at the Bollux residence to show 24 solo to the Sunday ride crew. Fantstic film, a must for all MTBers, take a look at the preview http://www.24-solo.com/trailer/. Much fun had by all, food, beer and a few laughs at the insanity of the 24 hour riders - Gordo is a kin hero! Is it just me or does Mark Hendershot look scarily like Gollum from Lord of the Rings?



Saturday had me venturing to Harper's Ferry to partake in some white water kayaking with Sunday crew regular Sean (he of the Irish cycling jersey). As complete novices we were assigned "duckies" and spend three and a half hours being inept on the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Fortunately as there's been no rain this year the conditions were nice and benign, "less white water, more shite water" was Seans assessment. So no getting wet except when we chose to swim a "rapid". Hard work mind as those white water duckies do not like going in a straight line so you end up fighting the bloody thing all day.



Sunday and the usual ride - good turn out with five of us there for a spin. Doug and I took the opportunity to scoot off the front to give us time to "perfect" riding the log at the bottom of the Belmont hill. Few goes each, few successes and a few falls (just as it should be). MLW is still coming on leaps and bounds in terms of technical ability - happily taking on some pretty sketchy downhills that have more experienced riders getting off to walk. She has even manged to get herself a riding pseudonym - apparently she is "Steady Eddy" amongst several of the riders - due to her ability to just keep going at a steady pace regardless of the terrain for hours. Nice ride - just shy of 10 miles.

It is this ride that is the topic of my ire! Now I'm a pretty easy going guy (honest) and I am happy to defer to the trail maintenance guys most of the time - without them yada yada........ But the buggers are getting far too bloody enthusiastic in their pursuit of the smooth trail. They've gone and removed the "much storied" Y-shaped log at the bottom of the Rockburn Park Trail downhill! Roger me sideways! That log has been there for over a sodding year - and yes to begin with it was a real bloody challenge, but like most things/people time had mellowed her and now she was just enough of a challenge to make you concentrate but never (well nearly never) enough to take you off. Perfect bloody log then - and now just another victim of the over zealous chain saw! Didn't just clear a route though but removed the whole deal! What gives! Leave us some obstacle guys.

On that slightly pissed off note I shall leave you - good riding, and may the perfect logs in your lives never be stolen from under your fat wheels.

Dogzbollux

Shenandoah Mountain 100 2007 (race report)

Well midweek reality really hit hard! I entered the Shenandoah M100 last Saturday is a fit of enthusiasm (possibly lubricated by a couple of beers) and was pretty psyched and excited right until Wednesday.


Then I did my usual night ride with George (and Todd joined to make up a happy threesome - oo er). Ride went spectacularly! Todd lead on some trails I'd never ridden - pretty technical and I had a complete blast, 10 happy fast miles. Enjoying the usual post-race libation and conversation turned to the SM100, both George and Todd were adamant that Shenandoah on a SS was a REALLY BAD IDEA! These guys know MTBing so I was spooked!


Well I hooked up with another friend also doing SM100 to travel down together and by the time we got to the Stokesville campsite the butterflies in my stomach were not so much fluttering but trying out advanced formation aeronautics! Having registered (including dropping a light to be picked up at feedstation 5 if I arrived after the 4:20 pm cut off) and got all our stuff nice and early I had a few hours daylight to make sure the faithful old 29er Monocog was in tip top condition for Sunday's adventure. Swapped out front brake blocks, cleaned the rims with rubbing alcohol and switched out the pedals that have been giving me aggrivation for the past two weeks and my baby was in the best shape she has ever been, and I was as prepared and relaxed as possible.



Early to bed (campsite was silient by 10:30pm - good job race director) and then early to rise, roused by gongs and fireworks at 5 am (bet the locals loved that). Stumbled round for a bit in the dark, it was cold but not too cold so just shorts and a summer jersey were spot on. A quick breakfast of begel and banana and soon it was 6:20 and time to head for the start to see if we could catch a glimpse of Landis and Eutough - No luck.



In the mirk at 6:30am the gun went off and the expected mad sprint got underway. The first few miles are on decending or flat asphalt, no place for a SSer when the packs adrenalin is peaking to bursting point. I was spat out the back like a bullet! Within about 5 minutes I was pretty much all by myself tootling along at about 15 mph, with the occasional late starter blasting past at about 25 mph! Bit disheartening. First tight lefthand turn (about 1.5 miles in) and some poor bugger already has his bike upside down by the roadside fixing a flat - it will be a long day for a lot of people.

The long (and I mean long) and short of the Shenandoah M100 is that it is a story of five climbs/decents that vary in length and intensity but follow a similar pattern. Paved flat, followed by paved incline which turns to steeper fire road, steeper forest double track then steep technical single track. Then sketchy steep rocky, rooty and loose decent turning into fast, fun sweeping forest single track. Few logs and water crossings thrown in for good measure to catch out anyone not paying attention.

In my estimation pretty much all of the course is ridable - if you were just riding a section of the course as a normal ride - but in the context of a 100 mile epic ride most of the steep technical inclines were "walk ups" for me. The decents were likewise perfectly ridable but their sheer length made them a challenge (especially on a rigid fork!) by the end of the decents my forearms and shoulders were just about cramping. Every section of the course hurt different bits of my body - lungs and quads on the climbs, calves on the hike-a-bike sections and shoulders forearms on the decents. Trick seems to be to try and stay relaxed and rest the bits that were not being tortured at that specific point.

The big climbs (34-39 miles and 65-80 miles) took their toll physically and mentally but the hardest climb for me was the short final climb at 92-94 miles. I thought it was all over! I was past the final aid station and cruising on the asphalt when - bugger me, the course took a right turn back onto steep fireroad! Absolute misery! As I crawled up this section I edged up alongside another rider. Trying to be cheerful I managed to pant out " Hi! How's it going, nearly there now!" The other rider turned his head to me and looked like a man only just holding on to his sanity! I wasn't sure if he was more likely to dive across and try to rip my eyeballs out or to crawl to the side of the trail, curl up into a ball and start whimpering about the "big nasty creatures" that were coming to get him. Either way I decided that I would shut the hell up and just ride - the guy was enjoying his own private, personal hell without my whittering.

After the final climb I was still sceptical about how far I had to go - little faith in the odometer which had played up a bit - and was being conservative expecting about another 4 miles. By now I had been on the road for just over 11 hours and was hoping to finish under 11:30 if I could hold it together. After the final technical decent which I was too tired to take slowly so I just let the bike go I hit a lovely sweeping double track section which was BIG FUN and allowed me to maintain a nice pace. Then suddenly the course swept into a campground (where people suddenly appeared clapping and shouting), over a couple of bumps and then opened out into a field! I could see orange tape and the Observatory - I WAS AT THE FINISH! Tears welled in my eyes as I made the final hairpin and glided to a halt at the finish line, 11 hours 17 min - slow but still far faster than I had feared.

At the finish I grabbed my "finishers" pint glass and drop my bike next to an older couple I say to them (nodding at my bike) "I'm not sure if I want to kiss it or burn it". The lady replies "well its seems to have done well for you today", I agree that is certainly the truth and head to find a beer keg - thus ended my conversation with Mr and Mrs Landis, parents of the aforementioned Floyd (who was lucky enough to sneak an early break from me and just pipped me at the line by 4 hours).

Afterwards there was great food, great beer (thanks to Old Dominion Brewery) and chance to mingle with the likes of Chris Eutough and Floyd Landis who were stars in that they didn't act like starts at all but just hung around with the rest of us mere mortals.

Big thanks to all the volunteers who were instrumental in making this a fantastic day, I'll remember it for a long time (even after the pain has gone away) and to quote "good ol' Arnie" I'LL BE BACK

Are we bored yet?

Following from my last post - the stats from my Thursday "return commute" on the fixie were:

Distance: 9.6 miles
Average speed: 18.6 mph
Max speed: 29.9 mph

Hum...... Might stop posting these kind of stats - bit boring really isn't it!

Anyway the weekend was blessed with the best MTB ride in ages. Took an early start Saturday and hit Patapsco from Landing Road at 7 am to get an hour in before the ladies joined us. Took it pretty aggressively - nice climbs, crossed the swing bridge and introduced Sean to "the House of Pain". Then rode to Patarini Hill and down the Buzard Rock trail (including the bit at the end that I normally bottle and walk!). As we were running late we ended having to carry our bikes from the road by the swinging bridge up to the waterfall on Cascade then back to meet the ladies. Then we took in the "long loop" HC side to finish with a respectable 14 miles. Hotter'n'Hell though! we all sweated buckets - all good fun. Only downer is the removal of the nice big log at the Landing end of Cascade - not wanting to second guess the trail builders but that log was eminently ridable and not a real obstacle to walkers so I'm a bit nonplussed as to why the old chainsaw had to come out on that one! There are places on the trails now where the "grooming" seems to be getting a bit too aggressive for my liking.

Next weekend it's going to be me, my trusty 29er Monocog versus the Shenadoah Mountain 100! Yes, I finally took the plunge and sent off my entry fee - MLW was all in favor though she doesn't know how much it cost! So planning is afoot for next weekends fun, leaving Saturday early afternoon - should be epic.

Hopefully have a couple of blow outs this week to keep things turning over (might even take in a night ride assuming I can conjure up some company). All this and my eldest daughter left for college this week! To quote the T-shirt "Life is good" at the moment, let's see how long that lasts.

On a completely unrelated note - MIA at the moment appears to be "singlespeed outlaw". I hit his blog every week for my MTB fix (one of the motivating factors getting me out there into SS-land). But where is he now? Tried logging on a few times in the last week and he just isn't there! Hopefully he will return soon to fill the ether with tails of Frederickian SS and fixie fun. If not RIP!

Night Riding and Back on the Fixie

Well, it's been quite a week really.

Mid week saw me meeting up with George for our first night ride in a while - headed out from the Park and Ride into Patapsco at around 9:45 pm. As always, I had light issues - my Night Sun headlight has been playing up for a while but tonight it just plain died - looks like a dodgy battery connection (may explain the recent piss poor performance).

Nevermind, headed off along usual route, Mile Smile, up the hill from the small car park then along the top of the ridge and down what I have been calling Buzzard Rock but George calls the "Chute". Who knows? I will look up these trails names and be more definitive in future. Once on the roadway George wants to head up a "new trail" he has found right opposite the swing bridge. Well hey, anything new sounds like a sparkling idea! Up we head on a trail George quaintly calls "House of Pain". Yep pretty steep in places (especially at the bottom) which results in some pushing of bikes but we make it to the top. Then we have a choice, eiher head back to the cars or catch a second lap. George's family are away for the week and I knew MLW would be well asleep when I got in either way - so second lap it was. Headed back west towards Patarini Hill (for the second time) but instead of taking the usual trial (Buzzard Rock/the Chute) we head straight on down a trail George calls the "Double Drop". Whow! George makes it look easy but as the trail gets seriously steep and rutted out I decide "Bugger that for a game of soldiers" and get off and trek down (yeah I'm a wuss).

Back at the road we take a left up Vineyard then head down Soapstone - as we hit Soapstone I realize that my rapidly decreasing vision is not related to the heavy spec fogging I've been experiencing all night but the fact that we have been riding for over two hours and my trusty Nite Hawk bar lamp is burnt out! Time flies when you are having fun! Fun decending Soapstone with no lights but no harm/no foul. Then up the Mile Smile with George kindly riding behind me so I cabn scrounge the light from his NiteRider. Kin spectacular ride (approx. 12.5 miles at a steady if not earth shattering 7.3 mph) - best in ages, great new trails, some good wildlife sightings - snake, couple of large toads and the inevitable deer.

Couple of social beers in the Park and Ride and before I know it the time is 12:45am and bed beckons!

Friday I take life by the horns (the bull horns on my Fixie that is) and commute on the Fixie for the fist time since I screwed my shoulder - what do you know? After a tentative start it is all BIG FUN! No isues either way and I love this bike all over again.

Saturday morning and it's time to do the weeks real work! 15 mile hilly run with Sean. Departure time is 5:15 am but Sean oversleeps so we hit the road sometime after 5:30. Bloody hell it's hot and humid! In less than 2 hours running I drained my 70 oz Camelbak. We haul ass a bit more than the last time we did this course (part of the massochist marathon) and due to time constraints I leave Sean at about 9 miles to get home. Averaged a little under 8 min/mile pace so not spectaular but still had sore legs on Sunday.

This morning and another commute on the Fixie - oh yes! Fixed and loving it.

Life is good!

Cheers

Dogzbollux

MTB fun with MLW

Having returned from California - aren't those "red eye" flights fun and managed to survive Saturday entertaining the children and acting as "Mein Host" for some friends leaving party (they are heading off to Boulder CO) Sunday was looking a bit dicey in terms of MTB action. MLW was planning to head out to Rockburn on Sunday morning and we had a babysitter organized but my physical condition was going to be suspect. Around 8 pm on Saturday I got a call from Greg to announce his brother-in-law and friend of mine (Emil) has bought himself a MTB and did I fancy going along for the "maiden voyage" - well it would be rude to say no! Plans were made to meet up at 7:45 am and I even talked MLW into skipping Rockburn and heading out to Avalon with us.

Party on Saturday is a bit too much fun and so when the alarm rouses me at 7:00 am it is a "not very happy camper" that drags himself downstairs and packs the Dogzbollux-mobile for the forthcoming ride (MLW's hardtail and my SS). Pack some beer to toast Emil's newest arrival and we are set. Phone rings and it's Greg - Emil has cried off, due to some prior commitments! Nuts to him - we got beer and bikes.... LETS GO!

Ride from Landing - take MLW to see the jumps section (Lewis and Clark) and then we hit the trails in ernest. At the first major fork we meet up with Dan and Joe (see previous) and join forces. As a group of five we ride like little kids, grinning and laughing for best part of an hour. Head up to Belmont and down the rocky downhill. I'm leading and from somewhere behind I hear "F**K - where did the ground go?" Sorry Joe I forgot to warn you about that bit.

Everyone survives andwe end up doing a pretty reasonable ride - Dan and Joe have to bag it around 3/4 the way round due to time commitments but MLW, Greg and me do the "long circuit" that takes in the Ridge and Cascade trails back to Landing. MLW is a fully fledged MTBer and taking on stuff I never thought she would - Excellent!

Back at the car we drink our beers and toast Emils new bike in absentia. Then it's back to the real world for a while!

Well nice weather has finally hit the trails and it's good to see more bikers out there doing their thing. In the winter the riding is fun and I quite enjoy the solitude but the social aspect to MTB in the summer is a bit special. Of course every good thisng has it's cost and I notice a good deal of "trail widening" and the origination of alternative (mainly easier) routes as a consequence of the increased rider numbers - and possibly the use of the trails by more neophyte riders. Now I don't want to start soundiong like someones grandad but this does make me a little sad. New trails cut round obstacles is just plain bad news, similarly highway straight cuts through previously twisty sections. I know people of all abilities use the trails (and applaud this) but if an obstacle is above your level just get off and step over it - don't cut detours round it. God knows I have sections of the Ridge/Cascade that I never manage to ride, that's why I keep going back - once a section is easy it's boring and time to move on. Let's not widen the trails, tough technical single track is what we want - otherwise I would be riding my road bike.

O.K. rant over - shoulder's a lot better by the way1

Cheers (Emil get your arse out on that new bike of yours)

Dogzbollux