Riding on MM

I like riding on Mill Mtn. The stronger I get the more I like it. I used to hate it, couldn't ride up it to save my life. Now it's getting easier again. =) Life is good.

Today's route: Top -> Ridgeline -> Woodthrush -> Star -> JPFish/Sylvan -> Monument -> Riser-> Big Sunny -> Sylvan -> Crystal Spring -> Neighborhood Streets -> Fern Park -> Ridgeline

10.87 miles - 1:45:02 and room for improvement!

Special assistance needed at the blah blah blah...

The blah, blah, blah... I think I've spent way too much time at Lowes in the past two weeks... Now their announcement thing has become a part of my daily speech... Special assistance needed on blogger.com, blogger.com... AAAAAAAAAHHHH - help me!!!! I feel like I am trying to kick start the economy all by myself.

I will spend the vast majority of my free time after next weekend in my kitchen. I had my bathroom remodeled two years ago, now it's the kitchen's turn. My kitchen looks like absolute crap. There is nothing modern about it, so now with the assistance of many kind people; I have cabinets and countertop on order, a sink in transit and flooring on order. Paint has been selected and wallpaper is slowly being removed.

I've learned quite a bit about woodgrains, door designs, cabinet design, paint selection etc. Words like Kraftmaid, Congoleum and acrylic have been tossed around like children's names. Colors to me right now are Praline (cabinet stain), bone (sink), Cotta Stone (countertop), Durango (floor) and Broomstick. Then, there are the accessories - sink faucet (Price Pfister Treviso) and ceiling fan (can't remember what it's called at the moment, but it's not been purchased yet either.) It was fun though to walk out of there the other night and say, "hey I bought everything AND the kitchen sink..."

I promise to try to share pictures once the project gets rolling more. Right now all I have is pictures of my ugly kitchen. It will be more fun to show you works in progress and the final project. Meanwhile, I'm trying to resolve my Jeep's Engine light issue still and trying to plan stuff for my bike race next weekend.

Special assistance needed at Jen's computer....

Jen's Spring Break - Day 3

Ah Sunday. The day of rest. Really? NOT. Today found me repairing some stuff on my car and heading to Kroger for food before I could ride. The car needed repairing prior to going to NC in a couple of weeks and healthy food must be bought and consumed while maintaining a budget.

Anyway, time came to ride, and I couldn't have asked for better weather! I had absolutely no clue where I wanted to ride, but I knew that I didn't want to ride too far or too long. I headed out from my house wound my way to Rt 11 by Plantation and some neighborhood streets. I wound up on Shadwell Drive. I found a pet cemetary on this road. I had seen it in the past, but had no idea that it was a pet cemetary. And, yes there are grave markers with names and dates, etc. Disturbing and kind of creepy. I didn't stick around long, but now I know. I made good progress on Old Mountain Rd. I had ridden it once a long time ago and I remember thinking I was going to die. Not from the crazy fools in the cars, but of heart failure. Today, it didn't seem too bad at all. I guess progress has been made.

After Old Mountain Road, I decided to head downtown, but I didn't take a direct route. I rode Hollins Rd to Mason Mill to 13th St. Crossed 460 at the stoplight then headed through some streets in Vinton to pick up the Tinker Creek Greenway. TCG has got to be the GNATTIEST place I've ever ridden. You are literally pelted by bugs from the first train tracks until you climb the hill to Kenwood Blvd. The nice thing now is that there are signs to follow through this neighborhood to get to the Roanoke River Greenway.

If TCG is the GNATTIEST then RRG is the STINKIEST. It doesn't help that you get on RRG at 13th St right next to the sewage treatment plant. Evidently we were some odiferous people this weekend, but it smelled absolutely awful today. Of course, it took all of 5 minutes to get digusted with the RRG. It is like people loose all sense of what is around them on this section of greenway. Too many times, I had to slow or move side to side on the damn thing. I finally gave up and got off of it. I wish people would develop some common courtesty. Walk on one side or the other, not the middle. Pay attention to your kids, and please, please keep your dogs in check. Retractable leashes are a nightmare on the greenway.

Anyway once I got to Walnut Ave, I decided to see what 2nd Street is like. I usually take 1st St when I ride home from work, and after today will stick with it. 1st St despite the hills works better with stop lights and makes life easier when I get to Day Ave. near the Poff Bldg to get back to 2nd St to head over the bridge to Gainsboro. Before I went to 2nd St today I stopped by the newest addition to "green spaces" in Roanoke. What differentiates a "green space" from a park, I'm not sure; but given this "green space" has two swings, a teeter-totter like car and benches, I'd honestly call it a park. The City, however refrains from calling it a park because of it's neighbor - The Roanoke City Jail. Yes, the City has put a playground at the foot of the Jail. My only hope is that a child molester or sex offender doesn't have a view of this "green space." All logic is lost on Roanoke City at this point. Idiots. While I was taking my pictures, I was verbally assaulted by my racing pal, Kristin - no not really, but we did chat while waiting at the stoplight. I was pestering her about her lack of riding time, but it was good to see my young friend.

On towards home at this point which included riding over 2nd St Bridge, through Gainsboro - saw a building that intrigues me it's near the Gainsboro Library and the sign out front of it says, "Claytor Memorial Clinic." I'll have to look into this, but I think I know part of the story given it's location. My journey home would take me to another section of Greenway - Lick Run. LRG is a nice section of greenway that isn't as used as much as others, but today there were many people along it's length - walking, riding and playing. Funny thing is these were the nicest people about sharing the greenway. Hmmm, I'll leave you to make your own conclusions here. Of course LRG ends near Best Buy, and from there I cut through some parking lots and Huff Lane then headed home.

Great ride today - I could tell I have some mileage on my legs this weekend, so I was glad I didn't choose the parkway or some other routes today. This was just fine and wound up being 25 miles (1:55:43). I had a 13 mph average which really isn't bad for me, nor is it that bad considering stoplights, stopsigns and dodging the greenway users.

I've had a really fun weekend. I'm glad I spent the time to plan and ride. I'm taking tomorrow off from riding then may ride after work Tuesday before going to the gym.

Jen's Spring Break - Day 2

Today's ride took me to Mill Mountain. I goofed up and put my Garmin Edge on Auto Pause, which drives me up the wall because it thinks when I'm going really slow that I'm stopped and stops recording time and other data. I like to know my total time regardless of whether I'm stopped or not. This is how race timing is, so this makes more sense to me. My moving time according to it and therefore ride time was 1:35:11. I was out on my bike over 2 hours. Today I was logging some NMBP hours, so I had to stop on a few occassion to remove some branches and stuff from the trails. I was also working on a bike patrol project so I was stopping to tie survey tape in a few places. Ah well, if I focus on the time too much I'll get discouraged.

I enjoyed a nice 11.56 mile ride today. Mill Mtn is challenging because there's a lot of climbing to do. I was a bit fatigued today from yesterday's ride at Carvin's Cove, so the granny gear got used quite a bit. In terms of ride highlights, I would like to mention Virginia Pine Trail. I hope that one day it can be looped into the system rather than a feeder trail. I think people will miss out on the fun trail that it is because most people want to loop trails together. The switchbacks are fun, and the trail has a smooth flow to it. The bottom of the trail drops into a neighborhood street. There is a sweet little bridge over the dip that used to end the trail. Virginia Pine is however a leaf sucker. By that I mean there are some sections where the trail is buried in piles of leaves.









The other highlight of my ride today was finding and riding Crystal Spring Trail. I found the trailhead on Woodcliff Ave. a few weeks ago, but today I wanted to ride it. I could see the trail from the Old Road as I descended, so I followed my instincts and found a nice, gravel-filled trail/road. If the gravel and rocks weren't so loose this would be a lot more fun, but I did enjoy it as a way of getting off of Mill Mtn without having to come down Walnut Avenue. I think it might be an easier way of climbing to start off too. I'll try this one day after work. I think I actually rode parts of every trail on Mill Mtn today. YAY!

Anyway, I thought it was a tad colder today, and my nose has been running all evening. I hope it's just from pollen and that I'm not catching a cold. That would be a total bummer. Extra Vitamin C being consumed as a precaution. Going to bed now, so that I can ride tomorrow. Probably a road ride... somewhere without hills... hmmmmm....

Jen's Spring Break - Day 1

Today was day one of my self-imposed Spring Break. I miss the days of school where you got days off for no apparent reason, so I asked for today off and got a three day weekend out of it. The weather looks promising all weekend, so I started my "break" off with a mountain bike ride at Carvin's Cove. I honestly can't remember the last time I rode my bike out there, so it was great to get back out there. I met up with Anais at 10am, and we headed out in the 42°F morning. It has probably been 5 or 6 months since I had seen my professor friend, so it was great to spend time catching up on things.

We had no plan in mind, so we just made up our ride as we went along. Started off on Songbird which was a mucky, muddy mess at the beginning. It improved greatly once we got up the trail aways. As would be the theme for the day, the water was running strong, the streams were up and the mud was plentiful. There was standing water in several places. After Songbird, we elected to skip Arrowhead as it tends to be a tad tedious when wet. So we went across Little Bell and Schoolhouse. Schoolhouse's water crossings were highly entertaining as they were as deep as I've seen them since I've been riding. I even walked one of them. Waterproof boots are great (best investment for biking stuff). After Schoolhouse we rode the fireroad back to Little Bell then really had to figure out what to do.

I had thought we could get to Tuckaway for and up and back, but time was running short for Anais. We were thwarted at the big crossing near the 4-way intersection. The water was up and we had already gotten wet enough that we weren't thrilled about having to cross it. We decided to turnback and reride the mud that we had just come through to get to this point.

Ended up going up 1000' to the Connector for a very fun ride back to the parking lot. Anais didn't think she had ridden the Connector before, so that was good that she can now say she's been there, done that. After bidding her fairwell in the parking lot, I decided that I hadn't quite ridden enough, so I ate a granola bar and headed down Hoe trail. It was as expected muddy, and when I got to the log, I really wanted to ride it, but my tires were gummed up pretty good so I didn't want to risk falling. I put the bike at the top of the log and rode off of it instead. HA!

I rode for a bit on Hoe trail and arrived at the intersection with Buck. I decided to not go up Buck anymore, but to the right to see where the trail went. I seemed to remember Brian B or Warren one telling me that it goes back to BS road, and it sure did. It is a rather nice, smooth, zippy trail too. I enjoyed exploring this part and found another light, social trail off to one side (I'll investigate it one day). Once back to the road, I was tired and decided to call it a day.


I had fun and this was only Day 1. Tomorrow, I plan to ride on Mill Mountain, but it will be later in the day with a 430 or 5p start time. YAY Spring!


Today's stats: 14.75 miles, 2:39:49 (some of this time was stationary while chatting, picture taking or decision making.)

SHHEEEEEEEPPPPPP!!!!

Preview???

Warrior's Creek from Greg Carr on Vimeo.

Oh yea... Team of Chickys coming up!!!

Saturday, April 4th - 6 Hours of Warrior Creek

More details to follow, but it looks like I'll be teaming up with Paula Schimizzi and Gina Gilbert. Fun times ahead!!!


Yay!!!

Races & Event Calendar???

So I'm left to wonder where and when to race. Here's what I've discovered so far.

The Derailler Series fell apart - so much for a serious, organized series in our half of the state. This is sad to see when other areas seem to be organized with sponsors and cooperation from clubs, Parks and Recs departments, bike shops, other businesses etc.

There are a few options: The Southern Classic Mountain Bike Series is based in North Carolina. I raced one race in this series last year down in Greensboro - the people were nice and the race was well run. The Virginia Off Road Series looks like it's essentially in the Richmond and northern VA area. The folks up around Harrisonburg and Staunton like long races, see here.

In drudging through those websites, I found a few things that interest me. I'm not ready to race next weekend, but there are two races on the 22nd. One in Winston-Salem and one hosted by the Blue Ridge School wherever that is. I found this interesting ditty on the Shenandoah Mountain Touring website. It looks like an option for me, and I'm really considering it if I can get another chicky to go along and ride together - at least the 20 mile option.

Here's what else is grabbing my eye:
April 26 - Caraway Hills MTB, Sophia, NC *** [2+ hr drive to get there]

May 3 - Middle Mountain Momma, Douthat - [may just do this one]
May 16 - Fat Tire Frenzy, Bedford, VA [definite]
May 23-24 - Burn 24 [tentative SS chicky team]
May 31 - Shootout on Angler's Ridge, Danville, VA *** [see previous entries about Danville]

July 12 - Walnut Creek Chimney Chase, Charlottesville, VA [never ridden here either]
July 19 - The Sizzler, Greensboro, NC *** [raced it last year and can definitely handle the course now that I know what it's like]

Aug 23 - Dark Mountain, North Wilkesboro, NC*** [2+ hr drive to get there]

Sep 26 - Southside Scramble, Danville, VA [late September might be ok]

(*** are races in Southern Classic MTB Series)

After all of this, I'm still wondering what happened to the Dirty Dawg, Rowdy Dawg, the Commonwealth Games races and what will happen with Lynchburg's races at PVP and Liberty. Also, I know there will be a race in Montvale hosted by Bedford County Parks and Rec.

I'm really wondering what it would take to organize a new series in and around this area. We are loaded with trails and options.... Hmmm, maybe I'll dream up something.

One day 35, the next 6.5

So yesterday was a beautiful day. I had planned two different road rides. I elected to go with the one that would keep me in close proximity to home. My goal was to ride 2-3 hours. I got in 35 miles in 2:42:37. It was a great day to ride other than the occassional wind. I left home and wound my way to Loch Haven Rd. From there I rode to Salem via Thompson Memorial and Edgebrooke Rd and Red Lane Ext. Cruised through Salem via Broad St where I used to spend many hours at the Salem Rescue Squad. Took Union St to West Riverside to Front and from there to Apperson Drive, where a short while later I rode in the shadow of my former employer (LGH). As I made my way down Brandon Ave, I debated how in the world to cut through Grandin Court. I am just not familiar with the streets here. I wound up near the huge cemetary and behind Wasena Elementary. I turned off of Grandin about three blocks too soon. It was ok, as I knew where I was so I ended up riding up Main St to get to Wiley Drive. After crossing the low water bridge, I stopped and had a granola bar.

I decided to go ahead and try to ride up Mill Mtn and attempt to get to Bandy Road. I managed to get up Mill Mtn (this was at mile 23 into my ride). I threw my chain off halfway up as I was having to use my granny gear and was struggling. This killed all of my momentum, so I struggled even more. At last I got to the Monument. I continued on, but ended up turning around just before the bridge. I wound up taking Yellow Mtn Rd back downtown then headed out Jefferson St to Salem Ave. Over the 2nd St Bridge, down Gainsboro Rd to the Lick Run Greeway at Washington Park. Headed home from there. I think sometimes I am the only person who ever rides the GW from here to Valley View. It's actually a nice way to get home for me, and I'm looking forward to riding to/from work this way. Just can't do it with this week's work schedule.

Today, I went to work at 0630 therefore got to leave at 3p. This left just enough time to sneak in a MTB Patrol ride on Mill Mtn. I rode for about an hour (6.5 miles). Enjoyed riding a geared bike again that fits right. I do need to tinker with two things on it, but that will wait until later. The bike was great - it's been a long time since I've ridden it and it was fun to have full suspension too! I rode down Ridgeline to the road to Woodthrush (my favorite trail). Woodthrush to Star to the road, to Monument (it kicked my ass today, mileage adds up huh?) Enjoyed running into a fellow patroller toaday (a first for me). We chatted a bit then headed our separate ways.

I am tired, but have enjoyed riding all three of my bikes in three days. I took my SS to Explore Park on Saturday while helping out with a trail race. It sucked royally to have a SS there, plus I was wearing jeans and a tshirt. UGH! Tomorrow and Wednesday are gym days then I may ride Thursday, Friday and Sunday. YAY!!!

What a difference a week makes...

Last week - 31°F, snow...


















This week - 75+°F, sunburn...

Bedford County MTX Race #3

Sunday was the final installment of the Bedford Mountaincross Series. Let me start off by saying how much I thoroughly enjoyed this format. It was cool to have a short course and make laps. I liked the time limit on racing and I liked having everyone out at the same time. I guess if the races were much bigger, attendance wise, it might get a tad tricky. If we had had more than 13 at the race Sunday, it would have been a mess. I am proud to say that I did not finish DFL. I came pretty close, but managed to stay out of the bottom 3 even. It was like being that last person through on American Idol, phew!

This course was altered significantly from what Kenny wanted to do, and the change was necessitated by the persistant snow/rain we started getting locally on Saturday. I don't blame him a bit for changing it. I wouldn't have wanted to tear up the trails - it's bad enough what damage we did during the first race. The course itself wound up being just shy of a one-mile lap and offered varying terrain and challenges. We started off in the flat grassy area near the parking lot, skirted the edge of the lot on grass then headed behind the old nursing home where we had a short section of pavement. A right hand turn took us down the rocky, slick hill (same as first race). At the bottom, headed left through a soggy bottom. Then a slippery right onto a grass path where we pedalled until reaching the only set of barriers in this course. Hopped those then a right into the very muddy, wheel sucking flat part (was this in both previous races?!?). Next was the agonizing climb up the deer trail and like in race #2 veered off to the right and looped back to the start line.

Let's see preriding the course wasn't so bad. I was concerned about the downhill for sure. I was afraid of skidding out of control and landing on one of the rocks, as it turns out I gained more courage each trip through. The soggy bottom was entertaining to say the least. You pretty much went where the ground wanted you to go and keeping momentum up heading into it was important. Here I feared an endo, and only on my last lap (was going faster) did I nearly wreck - saved it before putting my foot down. The grass path was fun, it's about the only place where I felt like I was actually moving along. After the barriers I was dead. The mud just sucked the life out of you, so I had little if any momentum heading into the Deer Trail. I think I rode it partially 4 out of 6 laps. I know on the very last lap I just walked it. At the place where you veer to the right, I nearly slid off course and down the bank. It was snowing and the mud was slick. The other challenge became the pine trees who's branches started to sag with the weight of the wet snow. On the first lap they probably brushed the top of my helmet, but by lap 6 they were below chest high on me. But to top it all off, it started snowing right before the first rider went off. FUN!!!!

Like I said, it was a fun race. I really didn't start having fun with it until halfway through the 2nd lap. When I came through the S/F line the first time I was not happy. As the race went on, I got slower but had more fun. It was a hoot to ride in the snow. This and the mud has helped my bike handling skills. This race was challenging in that my glasses kept fogging up. I debated taking them off, but was afraid I wouldn't be able to see safely to avoid obstacles on the ground(yes I'm that blind). My cleats didn't get as gummed up this time or it didn't seem like it. And I learned the key to snow riding is to constantly brush the crap off of your tights. I stayed pretty dry and warm the entire race. My cheeks, chin and nose took the brunt of it. Consequently, I did have a mud mustache at the end of the race from trying to wipe my nose with my glove (yes they've been washed). Sorry I didn't get a picture of the mudstache for you. Oh yea and I can say the 18t did make a difference on the climbs. I got a bit farther with it on the Deer Trail when I was actually able to still ride up the trail. I think it's a keeper for now.

Speaking of now, once it warms up - the single speed is getting a new task. That being Commuter bike. I hope to be able to ride it to and from work some once the weather settles down. YAY!!!!

Oh back to the race. For this race I was 10th out of 13 and over all for the series I ended up 9th out of 42 riders. Not everyone raced all three races, of those who did I hold the slowest combined time at 3:08:57. I did complete 13 laps though! YAY, not bad for me especially consider it was the first time I'd raced SS and that format. There are pictures of the races - if you go to the Bedford Trails website, click the link for MTX series then race #3 photos. ENJOY!!!

From 102°F, hot and humid to 31°F, snowy and cold

Yup I've raced in both of those conditions now! I definitely liked 31°F and snowy much better! Today was the 3rd and final installment of the Bedford Mountain Cross Series. I did take the single speed, and I did ride 6 laps of the course that was just under 1 mile in length. I don't think that's bad considering I only had 46 minutes to race! The actual time on my GPS when I finished was 54:11.

It's been a weekend of driving and towns beginning with B this weekend. Blacksburg Saturday, Bedford Sunday. And both drives have involved snowy drives home! WEIRD!!! Anyway, full race report coming tomorrow.

There was a lot of this today:

And I saw a lot of this on the way home: