Jen rode her road bike????

It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday and Jen rode her road bike! Shocking I know. I had planned to avoid trails today because of the rain we've had all week. When the thunderstorms rolled through around 2a and again at 4a, I cut off the alarm and postponed all riding for a later start time. I had originally planned to ride from 9a - noon, but decided to sleep a bit longer, take care of a few tasks around home then go ride. The advantage of getting stuff done at home was that I didn't have to rush or feel rushed to get back here.

I did leave home around 11:15a and managed to get in 40 miles. It took me 2:57:36 which for the route that I rode was 3 minutes faster than my previous journey on this route, of course that day, I got lost; so there was probably no grand improvement. The most important point is is that I rode 40 miles on a whim and one day after a total-body workout at the gym. Ow my legs! I rode from home down to Mill Mtn for the climb. I threw my chain off about halfway up (the first of three times today). Descending on the parkway was fun today - my max speed according to my GPS was 38.8mph!!!!!!!! WHAT? Anyway, MM and the parkway are a bit treacherous in places where the rain has washed alot of gravel and other debris onto the road.
I had any number of places where I could have gotten off of the parkway and headed home, but for some reason I decided to ride on to Mountain Pass Road. OUCH. It seems like the section between the Roanoke River Bridge and Rt 460 is extremely long. Then of course Mountain Pass Road sucks the life out of you. I wound up walking up the steep, switchback section. I had no legs left. Mountain Pass is a nice road, just rural enough to have good scenery, but also rural enough to have the token rednecks.

Arrived back at Rt 11 and pedalled on. I made great progress on 11 until I got near Hollins U then the headwind which wasn't bad got worse. I felt like it was pushing me backwards. I was getting very frustrated and tired trying to fight it, but soon would find myself at 39 miles right near my house. I ended up riding around the neighborhood streets in order to get the last mile.

I enjoyed my ride tremendously. I've had a very productive and fun weekend. We'll see what the week has in store for me: 4 more days at the outpatient place, gym on Monday and Wednesday, Chicky Ride Tuesday, and I may sneak in a night ride Friday night on Mill Mtn. HMMMMM - wish I could make it to the Cove Thursday night, but that's likely not going to happen. May try to get some people together for a Sunday group ride. =) Well see, meanwhile it's time to rest. Now where did I put that ibuprofen?

Oh yea!!!

Burn 24 - Video/Pictures

BURN 24 – The Race Report

I'm not exactly sure when I first thought about participating in this type of race. I'm sure it was probably last year when Paula was getting ready for the 2008 version of the BURN 24. The original plan was to have an all female team and ride single speeds. Well, my foray into single speed biking has been difficult. I played around with it some over the winter, and as you know I did the MTX series in Bedford on it. Scraping that idea, we then couldn't find a 4^th and or 5^th Chicky to pull off the all female team; so we split into two co-ed teams. My team would be Warren, Dave and Laura. The other team from Roanoke Cycling was Paula, Chip, Skip and Adam.

After gathering at Chez Schimizzi, we headed south for the race. After what seemed like an eternal drive, we arrived at W. Kerr Scott Reservoir. Shortly after arriving, tent construction began. Once that was completed, chatting commenced. We covered many topics in a short period of time. Around 11p, we all decided it was time to attempt to sleep.

Morning came, and I woke up around 630a. I did sleep pretty good and was happy. I rode around a bit to take pictures here and there. The morning seemed to fly by and soon we were preparing our stuff for the race. Warren asked if I would mind doing the running lap that starts the race. I figured I could run a 1/ 4 mile without too much troubles, so why not. As we gathered at the designated spot, I was chatting with Chip and Cliff. We decided to just run together. There's no point in running hard because what's the point when there's 24 hours of racing to do. I managed to survive the lap and tagged off to Warren.

At this point, I was to be the third rider for our team as Dave hadn't arrived. Warren flew through his lap tagging off to Laura. Once she got back, it was my turn. Let's see someone warned me about the initial rock garden, but it still took me by surprise. Managed not to kill myself then over to the next obstacle which was a big pipe proceeded by a rock-covered slope with the same on the other side. I did alright getting over it. Surprise! Into the singletrack, where the real fun began. There seemed to be quite a bit of climbing and a lot of tree roots. I did ok on most of this stuff. A few of the berms threw me for a loop. The downhill sections were about as much fun as can be had. There were a few "rock gardens" on the course, but they weren't difficult. The last two downhills are a scream especially the one that drops you back out onto the gravel path. I actually felt like I was moving at a pretty good clip on this part. After the gravel path, you drop into the grass for a meandering path back to the transition area.

Lap 1 – I felt like my legs were full of concrete. I struggled on the climbs (GRRRRR). I had fun on the downhills and "technical" stuff. Lap 2 – Seemed a bit better. I need more endurance and speed. Still goofed in one of the berms. Both of these laps were in the daylight and dry conditions. I wouldn't get to ride again until 0330am. This kind of sucked because sleeping was difficult because of the humidity and noise. It poured down rain sometime during the night, so everything especially the roots got dangerously slick. I initially woke up around 0230 thinking I would need to go out soon, but Moe informed me that Dave was doing 3 laps and that I wouldn't be needed until 0330 or so. I headed off to my Jeep to sleep – didn't feel like crawling back into the stuffy tent.

Eventually I pulled on my armwarmers and knee warmers and waited for Dave at the transition area. It was dark and very hard to see who was coming in. I found him and shouted out to him, and at 0339am headed out for lap 3. In case you don't know, I don't see very well in the dark. I guess my terrible eyesight is to blame, but I've gone out and ridden in the dark recently in preparation for this exact occurrence. I thought I did ok, but honestly I was more than hesitant and my confidence faded with each slip of my tires off of the roots. I finally got off the bike and let air out of my tires in hopes that it would help them grip something, anything. I nearly fell off of my bike on some roots at one point. It was a rearward dismount and I almost landed on the back tire. I don't know how squirrelly it was, but it was enough to annoy me. I did walk a few times after this. I can't risk an injury. Despite my pleas for a bullet to the head, the course workers at the halfway point wouldn't oblige. Then, I was more than halfway done with my lap and was growing tired of my helmet slipping when I hear and felt a pop then suddenly my helmet was off. The rear restraining piece had come undone from the shell of the helmet. I was struggling to get it fixed because of course my light was on the other side of it. About the time, I got the light unfastened so that I could use it to see, one of my friends stopped to help me. THANKS SKIPPY! I continued on after this and once finished with the lap headed back to the pit area to ensure that it was fastened correctly and to restrain the cords again.

Lap 4 wasn't much better. I had a lot of fun though, but again the slippery roots and trails intimidated me. I was losing my confidence by the minute so it was a slow lap. At one point, I was off my bike and walking when a group of four passed me. I yelled out and asked if they were in the carpool lane. Then another time I said, "Hello, welcome to my trail, please come on through." I figured if the lap was going to suck, I was going to have fun with the other riders. While I was out on lap 4 the sun came up, so by the time I came out of the woods, the campers were stirring. I zoomed out of the woods and onto the path. This dude was standing there staring and I looked at him, "good morning, have you been here long???" He just stared dumbfounded and started laughing. A few tents down, I shouted out, "good morning, get up it's time to ride…" People just looked at me as if I had no head. What's wrong with having a bit of fun??

Overall, I had a great time at the Burn. I wish that I could have contributed more towards the lap count. I'm feeling pretty low about only contributing 4 laps when Warren and Dave did 9 and Laura did 7, but I did the best I could. I'd like to have ridden more in the dry and/or daylight, but it didn't work out that way. I guess while I was out and about during the wee morning hours the power riders (Dave and Warren) got some good sleep. They both rode strong laps to finish out the event for us. Warren fought off some back pain, and Dave finished super strong!!! I was totally impressed especially when he roared through the finish line and went out for the final lap. We ended up 4^th out of 13 teams in the 3-5 person Coed team division with 29 laps. We were one lap down to the 3^rd place team. The 3^rd and 4^th place (us) teams were teams of 4 while the 1^st and 2^nd teams were 4 males and 1 female. HMMMMMM.

After doing the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek and now the Burn 24, I'm beginning to really like this format of racing. It just seems more laid back. I can't wait to try again. Maybe I'll have to look at the calendar since the other races I want to do aren't working out with my schedule. Anyway, I'll try to post some pictures with this blog, but I'm trying to use MS Word to write the post and I'm not sure how the picture thing works. =)

Burn 24 - update coming soon...

I am fortunate to have great friends and teammates!!! We rocked out a 4th place finish out of 13(?) Coed 3-5 person Teams. All of the Roanoke Cycling Organization representatives did great!!! Fun weekend!!!! Thanks everyone!!!

Burn 24 Prologue

Well tomorrow at noon, I'll be on a team of 4 participating in the Burn 24 mountain bike race. I was going to travel down tomorrow morning, but now I'm leaving later today. I only worked for about an hour and a half today before receiving an exasperated phone call from my mom. Seems my basement drains decided to back up spewing water and assorted drain stuff into my basement. I headed home to clean up the mess. My dad normally would be a big help, but he had surgery yesterday, so not only can't he help; he can not even walk down the steps to see (MD's orders). I've drug the rugs outside, soaked them with soap and sprayed them with the hose. I've swept up a lot of the nasty water. Now I await the plumber's arrival to clean the pipes out so that I can finish cleaning the basement up. Before I leave Noke I need to wash the dog - he decided to jump in the water while I was spraying the rugs, clean the bathroom and clean myself. I stink from the rug poo. Lovely. I hope to get out of Roanoke and down to the race site sometime this evening so I can claim a nice camping spot. My pals are leaving town around 4:45p, but I'm not sure I'll be done and ready to roll by then. The car is packed with the exception of my bike, my coolers and my bananas. =) Full race recaps will follow.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend, and please take time to remember our veterans. It's their sacrifices and service that allow us to live as we do. We owe it to them to remember them this weekend. With that said, I am thinking of my grandfather: James L. Hamilton who served in the United States Army's 116th Infantry Division from 6 Dec 1940 until 15 Feb 1945. His boots hit the sand on Normandy Beach on D-Day and he served time in Northern France, the Rhineland and Central Europe. R.I.P.

Chickys Rock!!!

Not only did we go ride the harder trails at the Cove, we overcame mechanical obstacles as well. We friggin rule!!!

So Paula and I decided to tackle the Cove this morning since our race was rained out. We met at 09:30 to start our journey. Thinking that the lower trails were going to be muddy we decided to go up. I'm so glad we did. The trails at the top are just that much fun, and it's fun as crap to say you've ridden them. People just look at you differently!

The route was as follows:

BS Road, Comet, Tuckaway, hike a bike UP Jacob's Drop, Brushy Mtn Fireroad, Gauntlet, Horse Pen, Trough, Brushy Mountain Fireroad, Buck, BS Road. Of course the Road is boring, but you have to get there some how. Comet was muddy and messy. Tuckaway was fun. I was able to ride all the way to the steepest section near the top before having to stop. I could tell that it was going to be a difficult day on the bike at this point. The top of Tuckaway is like a jungle. You can barely see the trail where the trees and weeds are overgrowing the trail. Here we made a left and headed out the doubletrack towards the base of Jacob. I was struggling to find any kind of rhythm and felt very tired. At Jacob, it was time to hike-a-bike. This doubletrack is steep, rocky and rutted. It seemed like it took forever to get to the Brushy Mtn fireroad. Once at the top of Jacob, I decided to remove my baselayer which was completely soaked. Meandered along the fireroad for a while until my rear brakes got on my nerves. Felt like they were dragging. Adjusted them a bit and felt somewhat better. Finally got to the downhill part of the fireroad and enjoyed the chance to cool off.

Arrived at Gauntlet and took a break while waiting on three guys to come off of the trail. We didn't want to start going down and risk running into them. Gauntlet is a scream!!! I love this trail. It is so worth the climb to get there. I hit my pedal on this weird root near the base of a tree and nearly washed out in one turn, but other than that I did alright. Freaked myself out of crossing some logs, so I eased over them walking. Kept on zooming after this. I nearly ran into Paula at this one turn. She checked up about the time I went to pedal, YIKES! Needless to say, we didn't wreck and survived the rest of the trail.

We were slowly riding across Horse Pen Trail just enjoying the chance to rest. Chatting about various things. Neither of us rode the narrow bridge. We stopped to talk to a turtle. My first turtle this year! =) We started across the wide bridge when I hear, "POP, dink dink." I slammed on my bakes to stop thinking I had a stick in my back wheel. As I get off the bike I'm looking and see no stick, just a flat. I think to myself, "damn, oh well I can fix that." Then I hear Paula saying, "WOW!" I look where she's pointing to see this gigantic nail sticking out of my tire. =( Sadness began to set in.

Of course, flats are one thing, but impaling objects in my tire was something entirel new to me, so I did what all good mountainbikers would do. I took a picture! HA HA HA. My next move was to jerk the nail out. I remembered a very good friend of mine telling me long before I ever got into mountain biking "if you ever get a hole in your tire, stick a dollar bill inside the tire to protect your tube." Well I didn't have any bills with me, but I did have a ziploc bag, a small gauze pad package from my first aid kit and a package from my Sharkies. All of which would be nice substitutions; however Paula was eating a Clif bar so we decided to use that to reinforce the hole in the tire since it was probably the thickest of our options. Removing the tire/tube was a peice of cake. Getting the new tube in was easy too. Well that is until we inflated the damn thing then discovered it was hanging outside the tire. HA HA HA, so I deflated it shoved the tube back in and reinflated.

Problem is this tube had evidently been riding along with me for a while because it wasn't holding air very well at all. None the less, I still had extra CO2 and a handpump and figured I'd just stop as needed to add air. I put the wheel back on the bike, but not without hearing another sickening ding, clank. DOAH, I knocked the inside brake pad out of the caliper. WTF????????? Ok, well I can fix that too as I've done this before at my house. Problem is how to get the little spring thingy out. Paula found a small stick that I was able to successfully pry the springy out. I showed her how the pads work and was able to reinstall the brake pads. So off we went on my spongy back tire. I wanted to get on towards Timberview Rd incase I needed to phone for a ride. Once we arrived at the trailhead for Trough, we added more air to my tire. Now we're down 1.5 CO2's and the handpump wasn't working worth a damn.

We were able to climb Trough up to the split in the trail before stopping. Both of us were pleased, but then we realized we probably had a twenty minute rest while I was playing Bob the Builder with my bike. Anyway, climbing up Trough really isn't that bad. It is actually a very nice trail and rather scenic at times. I'm thinking next time I want to get in a quick ride I'm going to park at the gate on Timberview, ride up Trough and down Gauntlet. Once we got to the top of Trough, we decided to do something different and headed to ride down Buck. I've been down this trail once before and have climbed it once, so memory of it was sketchy. I did remember the first crazy turn, forgot about the second one. The trail is a bit tricky and I was trying to be extra careful with rear tire. I really didn't want to put my other tube in and I didn't want to waste anymore CO2.

Buck was weird today as there was soft, squishy trail in unexpected spots!?! We made it safely down and enjoyed every minute of it. I actually like this trail more than Hi-dee-Ho. At the intersection, we decided that Hoe Trail was probably like a swamp and headed towards BS Road. This bit of trail is flowy and nice. Enjoyed it too. Arrived back at the parking lot and still felt like riding more. I only wish I had brought a sandwich or other snack. I tinkered with my brakes and back wheel/tire some more before we headed back to the lower trails. We were going to ride Songbird, but as we got closer decided to stay on the fireroad. We wound up riding up to the Tunnel. As it turned out this was cool as we got to see some neat water falls cascading down the mountain. Took a few pictures, oohed and aahed a bit. Dipped our hands in the cool water. Heading back down the fireroad, the rear tube finally had enough and went completely flat on me. I used more CO2 and tried the handpump again, got enough in to keep going. It didnt last long as I was nearly on the rim as we got to the road again. I started to walk back to the car then got mad and tried adding air again. It held up for bit longer then went flat again within eyesight of the parking lot. I picked the bike up and carried it for a while then finally just pushed it to the parking lot. HA HA.

Since I've been home, I had my single speed donate one of it's Ignitors to Ritchey - thing is this one has a "wire" bead in it, so it's a tad different. I also didn't get it seated properly on the rim yet either. I put it on there after struggling to remove it from the SS, inflated it, test road and decided that was enough for today. I will likely get a new tire soon, but for now I'll go with what I have. I do have to go buy some CO2 cartridges and tubes before next weekend. Can't have too many I guess, especially since I threw two tubes away today and used 3 CO2's.

We rode between 15.5 and 16 miles today and according to my Garmin that included about 2500ft of climbing.

NEXT!!!!!

Well since the rain and thunderstorms trashed Falling Creek Park, it looks like my next foray into mountainbike racing will be next weekend May 23-24. I will be teaming up with some local friends to form a relay team for the Burn 24. I really enjoyed the trails and the idea of the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek, so returning to the area for this race should be fun. I have no clue really how this will be. I don't know how many laps I can pull off as part of my team. The laps are about 7 miles from what I understand. Depending on terrain, I should be able to do a lap in an hour or less. Not sure what the strategy will be either. I think I'll just go have fun and do the best I can. My other delimma is what kind of food to take?!?! I'm not real big into the nutrition suppliments that others chow down on regularly, and I really don't know how to prepare for a 24 hour event. I have a huge list of stuff to take, but I need to figure the food thing out. Any advice is appreciated, feel free to post.

Regarding Falling Creek Park, from what I understand three bridges got completely washed out, several others were moved from their supports and the trails are totally impassable due to the water. I've also heard that that area got 2 inches of rain last night, so it's no wonder. This really sucks because Kenny Palmer is an awesome dude and puts in a lot of time and effort to take care of the trails out there, plus he's a great race promoter. I'm selfishly disappointed as I won this race last year by 3 seconds and have looked forward racing it again this year since. The rain date was originally advertised to be 6/13, hence I went ahead and registered. Had I known the rain date was 6/20, I wouldn't have preregistered given the excessive amount of rain we've had this year. I leave for the beach on 6/19, so I will be on vacation while my friends sweat it out.

Now what to do about races? It seems like they are few and far between this year for some reason, and that in order to race, you're going to have to travel to get to them. I missed MMM because of the kitchen remodel, but the non-XXC race wasn't run (rain, shocking I know) and supposedly will be rescheduled. I'm hoping that I can do that race. There is a race in Danville on May 31st that I may go to depending on if I survive the Burn. After that, I've seen a couple of races in July that I would consider. One on July 12 at Walnut Creek, and the other on July 19 in Greensboro (The Sizzler, been there done that, fun course). Beyond that there is another race in Wilkesboro on August 23. The Southside Scramble in Danville is September 26 and I could go to that one. Finally, I think there will be a race in Montvale in October.

Ok, enough rambling about racing, today was Clean Commute Day! I did get up and ride to work today! It poured rain here last night (milder version of the storms that hit Bedford), so the roads and greenways were wet and slippery. I rode my road bike as planned. Left my house late because I was searching for my Garmin and my rainjacket; neither of which I found until tonight. I had to really ride hard to make it to work in time to change and clock in on time. My lucky breaks came on Valley View Blvd when all lights were green. This stroke of luck was waiting after I crossed Orange Ave too!!! I had to stop in front of the Poff Bldg where I pulled off a nifty trackstand while waiting on the light. I duplicated this feat again in front of the hospital. YAY ME!!!

At mid-day I had to switch job locations, so I had to roll my bike and all of my assorted gear four blocks to my other locale. I didn't figure it would be a good idea to ride the bike with scrub pants and crocs while on the clock. I could see me catching my pants leg in the chain ring or bottle rack and crashing. Wonder if that would covered under work comp? After work, I changed back into bike clothes and walked down to my lonely bicycle. I looked up as I was putting my shoes on to see it pouring rain at Riversedge. I laughed and I swear there was small hail in it as I started towards home. I debated stopping and hiding from the rain, but it wasn't raining that bad, so I kept going. I did think ahead though of places where I could seek refuge if the clouds opened up. I fortunately didn't need it. I took my time and meandered home. What took me 20 minutes to achieve this morning, took 45 this afternoon.

Biking to work is fun!!! I'm going to try to do this on a regular basis!!! Ok, going to play Wii now. Biking at the Cove tomorrow! YAY~~

Friday

I will be riding my bike to work Friday, how about you??? I like riding to work, but sometimes the logistics are a PITA!!! Limited locker space, no access to a shower and weird schedules all play a factor in this.

Mill Mountain After Dark

I think I've found another way to enjoy Mill Mountain. Ride in the dark. Last week I went and rode at 8:30pm. This week I started out from the parking garage at work at 7:45pm. This allowed me to cruise through Crystal Spring in the light. Once I got to Fern Park, I stopped to turn on my iPod. Managed to ride the trail from Fern Park fairly easily. Got to Yellow Mtn Road and crossed over to take the cut through to JP Fish. The other option is walking up the Chestnut Ridge Loop. Would be awesome if we could legally ride this trail, but the NPS is still debating. How a bike does more damage to a trail than horses, I've yet to understand; but anyway.

Once I crossed JP Fish, I stopped at the Woodthrush trailhead to add my lights. Turned on the blinky on the back then plugged in my helmet's light. Didn't turn it on yet. Had fun on Woodthrush, took a "rogue trail" up to JP Fish so I could avoid that bottom section of the Star Trail. The "rogue trail" takes you straight up to the road where you have to lift your bike over the guardrail. I had tried to turn my light on while riding and something was wrong with it, so I paused at the roadside to reset it. Voila, light!!!

Down JPFish to Sylvan and up Monument. I did a lot better on Monument than I did last week. I was able to ride to the intersection of Star without stopping. I only used the Granny for a short period of time. Paused for a swig of G2 then headed on. Got a little goofy on the rock section and had to clip out. Boo! Headed up a bit more and encountered a tree down completely blocking the trail. Eased my way around it on foot then continued to walk up the trail since I was in a steeper section. Got back on the bike and headed for the downhill section. Got beat up by the weeds on both sides of the trail. Really enjoyed a laid back cruise down the trail. Stopped at the Monument to debate my next move.

Went up Ridgeline - didn't make the switchback - wrong gear. Also it was odd because the wind really picked up when I got on Ridgeline. I looked up to see if there were dark clouds - nope. Got to the Discovery Center without being accosted too much by the trailside greenery. Turned around and went back down Ridgeline. Got to Riser where I rode very cautiously. Quickly was on Big Sunny and on my way. Of course, the wind was just a preview for the rain sprinkles that found me and kept me company until I went to go down Crystal Spring Trail. I got a little creeped out as I rode out towards that trail and decided to turn around and head back to the car.
Took Ivy Lane to Camilla to Laurel then Belleview and soon I was done.

9.8 miles, 1:18:40. Time to rest now.

Not sure if I'll ride Sunday or not. I'm on call and it is Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Kitchen...done.

Now to put all the stuff back in its place, put up curtains and clean up the mess left everywhere else....

From Kitchen Remodel 2009

I wish I had half the talent that the folks did who installed this stuff. YAY!

Cabinets, Rain and Ribs...

Sergei thinks the new cabinets are pretty spacious. I'm pleased and think they look pretty nice. I'll have finished pictures on line soon. The installer left my house at 8:40p tonight (Wednesday). I can not say enough good things about him. Wednesdays however have been like the snafu, countertop nightmare day. As anticipated, we had issues with them again today. BUT, thanks to the wonderful installer; the countertops were delivered around 4:45p, and he stayed to complete his work. I will honestly miss the installer and his assistant because they were that much fun to be around. =)

Rain - oh my God... Can it please stop now? What has this been? 4 days straight? It sounds like a frickin monsoon outside now. Sheesh, enough already!!! This is going to cost me dearly when it comes to the race next Saturday - very little real bike time. Let's see, Sunday I went to the gym and rode. Last night, I got there at 8:30pm to ride. It's great tool to have access too, but it's not like riding outside!

Of course, the last time I rode outside was last Saturday night, and I wrecked because I was stupid. I hit a ditch that I am fully aware of and it jerked the bike to the left throwing me to the ground where I landed on the side of the road hard on my right side. I have many bruises on my right leg and a small cut on my knee. Worst of all is this tenderness in my right side and the radiating pain to my chest. I spoke with a couple of nurses at work today, they speculate that I could have a broken rib. I wouldn't doubt it either from the way it hurts, and how it felt when I first landed. Hopefully, the pain eases; but it has sure sucked to have to push and pull patients, sneeze, cough or laugh. Oh well, I'll live.

Meanwhile, if you happen to the see the sunshine, could you point it out? I've forgotten what it looks like. Thanks!!!