Planning ahead...

Ok, so not getting to ride so much this month is starting to affect my brain. I've now begun plotting ride ideas, options, goals etc for 2009.

First up will be a Mountain Cross Series in February 2009. Why not? I can't completely die in the middle of winter. This will be a new format for me, and to make it a bit more challenging for me, I'm considering racing this series on Copper, my single speed. WHAT? Yea, why not? It's got a lighter frame and it's a shorter frame, so getting off and getting it over the barriers should be a tad easier than with Ritchey. This means I need to just ride my bike, and I need to get out and go to the local park or somewhere and start figuring out this quick dismount etc. I'll add that to my list of many things to do.

Next, I've been thinking about the road rides that I essentially ended my riding "season" with a few weeks back. As you may recall I rode ~50 miles through Bradshaw one Sunday followed by a 40-mile ride on the Parkway the next. I really did enjoy these. There was just something rewarding about covering that much distance using only my power - no gasoline, no car etc. It was a sense of accomplishment that I thoroughly enjoyed being able to talk, well brag about. I'm looking forward to more long rides in 2009 including a metric century (~63 miles) and a full 100-mile road ride. I'd love to be able to do this ride, but I'm not sure I'll be up to 63 miles on the terrain of the Parkway around Floyd by then. Plus, I'm not sure about my race schedule for next year yet (see next paragraph). Oddly enough, I wouldn't mind trying a long distance end-to-end, multi-day road ride, but let me ponder that thought for a while.

Having mentioned racing brings me to mountain bike racing. I'm not sure I liked having the Derailler Series split up after all. It seemed like the season drug on forever. With that said, I'm not planning to do the MW Race this year. The course there is horrible, the volunteers this year were awful and they screwed up the entire thing by misdirecting the racers. They don't deserve to have a race, so I'm not wasting my time to go there again. I'm also not planning to ride the PoMo again. I did it the first year just to say I did it. It was a great accomplishment. This past year, I'm improved my time greatly without trying real hard. I was just there to finish. This in my opinion just isn't a mountain bike race. I will just go watch this year. I'm 50/50 on whether I want to go back to Danville to race. It's a long drive for a race that I've not enjoyed for two years now. I'll have to get back to you on that. That leaves 3 Derailler races - Bedford and Lynchburg.

Regarding Bedford, I love Falling Creek and I want to continue to support Kenny Palmer. He's a great person and has done great work there. I will definitely race there and/or Montvale should he have races there. Lynchburg, I have unfinished business at Peaks View Park. I've been in three Derailler races there now, and I'm just downright angry at the place. It's a fun place to ride; but when it comes to racing, it seems to kick my ass every year. The first year as a beginner was just hard. The second year as beginner again, I broke my derailleur; and last year, my first race in sport class, I was out of my league. I want to go there and have a good race. The other race in Lynchburg is on Candler's Mountain. Given the huge area to ride and the varying degrees of difficulty, this place is probably the hardest course of all. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my race this year even with all that transpired; but I really want to go do that again and get back before the finish line is dismantled. 4 and 1/2 hours after starting then I didn't even get to cross the finish line was hugely disappointing. I do hope they have this race again, but I do hope they learned some valuable lessons from their mistakes.

Ok so that leaves me with three races. Three leaves me a race short of being counted in the Series standings, so that may bring Danville back into play. I guess it will depend on how many races they have this year. I'll figure out series participation once a schedule of events is set. Anyway, I also want to do the Carvin's Cove race in 2009. I missed it last year because I was out of town. I might have to consider going to Greensboro again and maybe another race in North Carolina. It would also be interesting to see if I could wander into a road race in 2009, but I highly doubt that would happen. Those chicks are just wicked fast.

Who knows? It will all depend on life, work, money, etc. I'm just daydreaming now. =)

Need I say more???

Butterball Hotline

Even the "President" needs a little help every now and then...

Finally...

YAY!!! I finally got to go ride my mountain bike! I invited a bunch of people to meet at Falling Creek Park in Bedford for a group ride. It ended up being me and my three Amigos from Lynchburg. We rode for a good two plus hours meandering all around the trails there. I never really rode all that fast today; it's been a long time since I had ridden, so I was very tentative on some things. I was able to successfully ride a log triangle and hop a few logs. I did have to walk a couple of times. All in all a great day. As we were packing up to leave, we ran into three other people we knew. They said they had been trying to find us all day. Seems they got there thirty minutes after we left the parking lot! Doah! They had enjoyed a fun ride, so all was well. We did stand and chat for a while. I'm very happy with all that I got to do this weekend. I will be a in a much better mood now. =)

That's all for now. Have a good week everyone!

This is hysterical.

Jeff Dunham - Santa Claus

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Making Candy...

What's a girl to do when she can't go ride? Make something. I decided last year that I wanted to make hard candy to give as gifts this Christmas. I think I saw or helped with this one time when I was a kid. I recruited my mom and dad to help me since they've both made it in the past. Following instructions is easy, and as it turns out making candy is no harder than anything else I've done. It's like chemistry lab without the report. YAY! Here's the picture essay... Enjoy!

YAY, I got out... written by Ritchey the bike.

i finalLy goT out of thE traiLer! iT was cHillY whEn Jen rOuSted mE frOm mY SluMber tHen sHe StuCktEd mE oN tHe JeEp aNd oFf we Went. i wAS sO ExCiTed tHaT I wAs gOiNg to SeE dIrt aGaIn. WEll we zOomEd down 581 - I wAs GetTiNg rEalLy haPpy beCausE I cOUld See Mill Mtn. ThEn jEn Did tH unThiNkaBle, shE TUrnEd inTo thE cAriLion CrAzy CaR pArKiNg plACe. She Got oTU ANd lEFt mE hANgIng thErE to sTAre ovEr tHe WAll aT rIVERSedge. I noTICced at The daY weNt aloNG thAt the sun nEVer CaMe out, THe glOOmy, yUCky cLOudS huNg arOUnd alL dAy. i Had a feELing Jen wAsn't GOing to TAke mE to tHe diRT pAth. imAGine my SUprise wHen shE cAme ouT at 430 and we wEnt up The moUntAin. it waS so cHiLly and DaMp fEelIng. i wAs coLd and cOuld peEr thrOugH the bAck WIndoW to sEe THe thERmoMeter in The cAR. As we cREAsTed the mountAIn the tEMPeraTure was 33°F and it was gETTing daRKer by tHe mINute. I sAw jEn on THe phONe anD i kNew I wOUldn'T see the diRt pAth tONighT. i was RIgHt, she wEnt hOme; BUt tHen she tOok me to diNeer at LOgAn's then i gOt to go To the mALl for a sTop thEn to a Few otHEr stoRes. aROund abOut 845, jen tOOk Me hOme. shE toOK me oFf of tHE JEep and aPOlogIzed foR NoT goINg for A rIDe. I cAn't rEAlly blAMe heR thOUGh - it wAs cOlD aNd yUCky. SHe diD taKe mE on a QUick sPINn aroUNd the YARd, bUt by NOw my ShOcKs weRE stIFf, my FRaMe waS biTTer cOLd. i WAs reADy to GO hIDe wiTh Copper and Lizzy. I crAwLed bAcK in the TRAiLer anD weNt bACk to sLEep. mAYbe suNDAy wILl enD up BeIng nICe and i CAn go plaY in tHe diRT in bEDford wIh tHoSE bIkeS FRom LyNChBuRG. YAWN, nighty night.

Signed: RiTcHeY

Addendum

Last night, as my night wore on at the gym, it rapidly crossed my mind that I needed to add two more categories to the list of people to watch at the gym.

First we have the Buddy Lees. These are the folks who for whatever reason are afraid to spend $8 at Wally World to buy a pair of shorts to wear to the gym. Yes, boys and girls, as you may have figured out from the name Buddy Lee's come to the gym decked out in denim baby!!! YEA! I personally can't think of a more chaffing material, so I can't quite understand putting yourself through the torture of wearing blue jeans in the gym. Also falling into this category are those who work out in their work clothes. Yup, saw a dude tonight in his Dickies and his knit shirt complete with the collar and company logo.












The second new category would be the spaghetti lifters. These are those attendees who have absolutely no idea what they are doing. You will be able to see them fairly easily because they look absolutely ridiculous. The extremities are going all over the place. If you remember the Toy Story days, think of Woody when he would move around or better yet, see this for an example.

OR....

OR....

Well this last one just cracks me up...."uni-directional bonding strip..." HA HA HA!!!

Anyway, how about that snow this morning. I could have sworn my calendar said NOVEMBER... I give up on the weather...

Seriously, is this a joke?

Can I please have one day where I can actually stand to be outside? I so wanted to go ride my bike this morning. When I woke up this morning, I could hear the wind roaring outside my windows. I thought it would calm down a bit and I could ride anyway. Well, I did wait a little while, but the wind never calmed enough for me to get enthusiastic enough for a shorter ride. I decided to head to the gym for a Cardio Coach workout. I did this same workout last Monday on the elliptical, but today I would use one of the RPM bikes. I changed into bike clothes, threw some warm clothes over top and headed out.

I did the Cardio Coach thing, which took about 45 minutes then continued to ride for an additional 15 minutes, so an hour on the spin bike would have to do today. The scenery sucked, but I did watch a few people. I've always enjoyed people watching. In fact, some nights at the gym it becomes a terrible distraction.

There are many types to watch. Today featured the wandering people who seemed to have attention deficit. I swear this one girl with a basketball walked by the RPM room a half a dozen times. Then there was the older dude with the tube socks pulled all the way up. Same deal, back and forth. Now granted there is a water fountain outside of the door, but one why wouldn't you bring a bottle with you and two, if you drink that much water in a short amount of time, perhaps you should have hydrated before coming to the gym.

Next, there are the clueless wanderers. These are the people who are just wandering to and from or in and out of rooms without any regards to what is going on around them. I encounter this quite a bit as some nights, I'm having to do exercises which take me the length of the gym etc. They crack me up. The eyes are looking at you, but for some reason the synapse isn't functioning to carry the message to the brain. GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY. For example the other night, I'm doing this drill and this chick walks right in front of me. I reached out grabbed her and said look out. It nearly scared the pee out of her. HELLO!?!?! Today's ditzel brain walked right into me as I exited the RPM room. I guess he was parched and his dehyrdration had begun to induce blindness. DUH! Hopefully, these cheese doodles don't walk out into traffic like they do inside of the gym.

The third group of people to watch are the regulars. This includes, "Squeeky." He is a dude that is about 5'4" tall and talks constantly in his annoying, squeeky, nasally voice. The kicker is I think he talks so loud because he's trying to talk over the music that's playing in his headphones. Hey dumbass, we can hear you, SHUT UP. He obviously has an insecurity issue because he is constantly blubbering on about the stupidest stuff. Even the people he's with start looking at him like Dude, please. He also falls into the next category - those who can't lift what they are trying to lift. He's famous for banging the machines together. CLANK CLANK CLANK or dropping the weights THUD. It irks the fire out of the trainers and others in the gym. His form sucks, and he's lifting too much hence the inability to keep the noise down.

This leads me to my last group of people - these people are about as useful as garden gnomes. You will find them leaning, sitting or standing at or on a particular machine. They aren't using it and probably have no intention of doing so, but by God they want to look good standing there. Oriental Mullet is a prime example. Asian dude with a mullet who habitually just leans on the equipment and when you ask if he's using it he says, "no I'm just standing here." Well dorkface, if you want to just stand there, don't admit it. Geez. I guess the cell phone talkers fall into this category as well. A visit doesn't go by where you don't see at least one person talking on the phone while running, pedaling or otherwise engaging in some sort of exercise. My answer to this is if you can speak in a full sentence you are not working hard enough to get squat out of your time. Hang up and leave the phone in the car. Damn people. Isn't life intrusive enough lately, can't you spend one hour at the gym with out the phone?

Ok, so this post went all over the place, but seriously, is this all a big joke or what?

Bummer, dude...

Even Sergei is tiring of the rain...

Bored and missing riding.

Ritchey came inside to visit last night. Said he was tired of being out in the trailer, his frame was cold, his tires are deflated right along with my hopes of riding this week. I tried to cheer him up by adding a light to the handlebars. He perked up some, but I need to get the tire pump to inflate his ego. I'll do that later. For now, he'll just rest beside the file cabinet.



Sergei doesn't like Ritchey. He acts all weird when the bike is inside. Strangest thing I've ever seen. How can a dog be jealous of an inanimate object? I don't know. I mean Ritchey doesn't get to sleep in the bed.


And one more rambling thought. I like socks. Especially silly bike socks. They come in all different shapes and sizes. Here's a sampling of my collection. Not all were present at the time of photograph.

Can you tell I'm bored? Can you tell I want to go for a ride? SIGH. Back to the gym tonight though - YAY!

Thanks to our veterans and soldiers!

I'm back, now what...

Seems while I was gone the weather decided to take a decidedly crappy turn. Not sure what this week will entail for riding. I am going to the gym on Monday and Wednesday as usual. I'm scheduled to work until 5 this week, but for the last few weeks the 5 o-clock person has been later and later leaving. I'd like to get a patrol ride in one evening after work, and it looks like it will have to be Tuesday or Friday. If possible, I'd like to hit the Thursday night Explore Park ride so I can whine, complain and hold up the entire group. I'm not sure what will transpire this week. I need to check the weather forecast for next weekend. I'd like to get in a long ride again. This time it would have to be on Saturday. I am attending a good friend's baby shower on Sunday. Maybe I can do a patrol ride on Sunday morning if weather permits. We'll see. I'm too tired to think or care about it at the moment. YAWN. Why does driving on cloudy days make ya so tired???

Anyway, back to riding soon. =)

Oh and by the way, I'm glad I'm a Hokie at heart. The Vols really sucked. The band put on a better show.

Light up my life...

Hey! Thanks for putting up with my political straying this week. Obviously I'm excited at the result. I will be wandering out of town for the next 4 days - yes again. Once I return, hopefully I can get into a routine of riding in the dark, continuing with the gym and getting some longer rides in on the weekends. Speaking of riding in the dark, I have a light - it's a Nite-rider Trail Rat. I'd really like a 2nd light to brighten things up and a bit and could use some recommendations. I've heard that HID lights are the way to go, but at $300 to start and $75 for replacement bulbs, I'm not quite sure I want to go there. So readers, help me out here. What do you have, what do you use, etc etc. Help!

GO VOTE TODAY!!!!

Encore

So what did I do to get in a bike ride this weekend? I know that I won't get to ride for at least a week. I have plans Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Going out of town Thursday through Sunday, so no bikey for me for at least 7 or 8 days.

I headed out this morning at 10:24 on a quest to follow up my 52-mile ride from last Sunday. I don't know why, but for some reason I felt compelled to follow it up with another long ride. I don't know who I'm trying to impress or why I feel like I have something to prove. Determination does strange things to people. Besides that, I really enjoyed telling people that I rode 52 miles last Sunday. The looks on their faces were like, "huh?" "Why?" "Are you nuts?" I did receive several kudos from fellow riders including our department's medical director. He was happy for me as he knew how badly I wanted to achieve this goal.

I could have went mountainbiking today, but I didn't try to organize or plan it; and I really didn't feel like loading all that stuff in my car to go ride by myself. Sure I could have called people at the last minute, but then I could just get up whenever and head out on my road bike without much hassle at all. There will be more time for mountainbiking anyway. It's easier to dress to ride mountainbikes when it's cold. My jacked up layers don't look so dorky in the woods.

I left my house and headed over to Plantation Road. From there, I headed downtown to climb Mill Mountain. It was beautiful riding up MM and out to the Parkway. The leaves have peaked now, so it's going to start looking ugly soon. I decided to ride out the Parkway to Mountain Pass Road. I had asked Tim where the Parkway intersected Mtn Pass. I couldn't remember ever having seen this. He said it was the first bridge after passing 460. I drove out Mtn Pass Friday night to preview this route. I discovered that I didn't know where they intersected because I always turn and go out Laymantown Road to 460. Anyway, I enjoyed the Parkway a lot. I actually saw many deer and saw three horses cross on the horse trail. I had to stop near Explore Park to put my knee warmers on. I was getting cold - I really wish I had had my shoe covers. While I was putting the warmers I saw three bikers come from the Explore Park spur and head down the Parkway in the same direction I was going. I stretched, drank some Gatorade then headed on out. I acutally caught the third guy in the group close to Rt 24. I was proud to be able to say "on your left." Hee hee. =)

I was having a good ride, but I was getting hungry - not a good sign. A lesson to me huh? I got to 460 and started to bonk pretty bad. I actually stopped on the road side to try to eat some HammerGel to see if that would help me survive. I rode on to the first bridge I came to. Found the path on the left, walked down to the road and started riding again. Something didn't look right. I didn't think the path looked this way Friday night, and soon enough I saw a road sign that said, "Rainbow Forest Drive." UGH... This was the wrong road. I rode a bit more second guessing myself. None of this was familiar to me. I thought about calling my Dad to come get me in my Jeep, but hell I didn't know where I was. So, I headed back to the Parkway and continued out it, hoping to find Mountain Pass Road.

Sure enough, Moutain Pass Road is the second bridge from 460 and the path was just as it appeared Friday night. I did alright at first on Mtn Pass then it decided to kick my ass. I kicked my chain off and soon after I started to lose patience with this road. It was a lot steeper in places that I realized. I ended up walking up the switchback section. Once I got rolling again, I faired much better. Although the hunger was horrible! I got to Rt 11 and decided to ride straight back to my house rather than going off on some other backroads. I could have stopped at one of the stores and got a snack, but I was already running close on time. Instead, I just gulped more gatorade and rode on. I kept a pretty steady cadence for a while despite the bumpiness of the road. Once I got near the huge intersection, I sat up and paid careful attention to all that surrounds it. I almost got smushed by a tractor trailer truck. I called him an asshole and gave him a dirty look as I rode by to the stoplight. Once I cleared the intersection I felt much safer and continued on my quest to get home. As it turns out Rt 11 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Most people gave me plenty of room and I was able to negotiate safely home.

I ended up riding 40 miles in right at 3 hours. I was starving so bad that my legs and hands were shaking when I got home. I immediately went and fixed two peanut butter sandwiches and devoured them. I am very pleased with my ride today. I wish I could have handled Mtn Pass a bit better, but I'd never ridden my bike on it, so it was harder than I thought it would be. The Parkway was great today. The traffic wasn't bad at all up there today. I do need to anticipate my rides a bit more and prepare by eating accordingly. This week's ride was harder than last week. I think there was more climbing involved and it definitely is harder riding solo. All in all a good effort. 92 miles total on the road bike for the last two Sundays isn't bad huh? =) YAY ME!

The ride route can be found here.

Distance: 40.17 miles
Time: 3:00:04
Avg Speed: 13.4 mph (max 35.6 mph)
Avg HR: 129 bpm (max 159 bpm)

Fun while Volunteering

Saturday night I helped Josh and Gina with the Into the Darkness run. I was stationed at about the three mile mark and my job was to direct runners down hill towards the finish. After all of the runners passed my spot, I was to ride back out the way they came in making sure that no one was hurt, injured or otherwise stranded on the trail.


As darkness began to fall on my little spot in the woods, I began to hear gunfire nearby. I guess hunters wait until dark to fire off their guns. It was kind of spooky! I was texting with a friend of mine when Josh rode up. He said that he had forgot the tape at the entrance to the Endurance loop. He asked that I rip down some tape from my spot and take it back out. I had already ridden the beginner loop, intermediate trail, endurance loop (backwards in prep for my night ride) and outer loop prior to "officially" being there. I quickly hooked up my light, took the tape and headed up the jeep road (had already ridden down it twice). It didn't take me nearly as long as I remembered from past rides and soon was on the intermediate trail. I arrived at the intersection and had enough tape to successfully block the trail appropriately. Next, back to my little spot in the woods and back down the jeep trail. (That's three times.)


Once safely back in my spot, I sat down and continued to text asking my buddy who by now was at Explore to text me the # of runners and when they started. I knew my flashlight didn't have the freshest of batteries so I didn't want to waste it. I anticipated (and pretty close) that the first runners would get to me in about 20 minutes or so. Yup. It was pretty cool to see them. At first I could see them way down below as they began to snake up the trail. Then I could see them for a good bit until they got to the jeep road. I cheered them on and warned of the hill. I heard my coworker's wife as she called out obstacles to the group that trailed her. We exchanged mutual "Hey Jen's." Several of the runners asked if I was the 3 mile marker, and I told them I was the closest thing they were going to get. I guess Josh had told them that I was out there. =) Many of them thanked me. I tried to cheer them and encouraged them as much as I could.

After awhile the herd thinned out and the last two ladies were like, "we're having a blast, but we're last!" I said, "you're here and that's all that matters! Great Job!" After they passed I texted my friend, waited about 5 minutes then headed back. The ride out was a hoot. I haven't ridden in the dark since last fall, so I took my time. I also got to enjoy the stuff Josh had put out on the trail. Lighted skulls, a talking skull and many light sticks. He really does a great job with this race. I might just have to try running it next year. Oh yea, on my way down the intermediate trail, my light came unplugged. Nothing like sudden darkness to make you hit the brakes. Then try hooking the damn thing back up in the dark!!! Fixed it, went on. It came unplugged again after the bridge. I got it fixed again and switched it from my backpack to my jersey pocket. HA HA HA! It gets really dark out there! WOOOOOO!!!

I had a blast!!! To top the evening, I got to see a friend from LGH that I haven't seen since I left - he was one of my best friends there at night, so it was awesome to get to talk to him again finally. He won his age group, as did Jen. Jen's sister placed in her age group as well. All in all a successful evening!!! YAY!!!

Beautiful.

It is an absolutely gorgeous day today. I've spent half of it so far inside working on stuff because I'll be out of town next weekend. I'm getting ready to leave and head to the Explore Park so that I can ride my bike some prior to helping out with the Into the Darkness 4 mile trail run. I'll be hiding out in the woods as a course marshall then backtracking the course after the last runner comes through my checkpoint to ensure everyone has safely made it. This of course means I'll get to ride my bike in the dark!!! My light is charged so hopefully I can safely traverse the Endurance Loop and Intermediate bike trails. I'm sure it will be fine.

If I'm still feeling froggy tomorrow morning, I've mapped out an approximately 40 mile road ride to go try. It would be awesome to follow up my 52 miles last week with a 40 this week. We'll see. I'd love to be able to keep this up on the weekends, but I'm thinking the weather will win eventually. I've not ridden my mountain bike in over a week, so I'm keeping this blog post short so that I can get outside sooner! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!! Happy November to ya!

Later.