Slowly trails are coming back to life. I slipped out in the afternoon and climbed up the road to descend down Tony’s Trail.
The trail is hidden under leaves, needles and sticks - but it’s still there. Small green, leafy things poke up from the sides. Just a few patches of mud.
Got thrown over the handlebars on a tricky section right before this tiny stream. Not a bad little ride for April.
K has school vacation this week and he’s been down in PA with my parents since Sunday. I’ve come to realize how efficient one becomes with a kid due to the juxtaposition of how inefficient I have been in his absence.
Monday I worked a little later than normal (no daycare pickup), went out to dinner with George, meandered through the grocery store, stopped by the produce market. By the time I got home it was nearly 8pm. Tuesday was not much better, again working later than 5 and then getting in a group ride, out to dinner (again!) and home after 8pm.
When you have a kid, every second counts. You don’t squander one moment because the clock is ticking and you’ve got to get that kid in bed by 7pm on a school night.
Last nights ride was fun. It wasn’t exactly what was on my plan, but I went with the flow. Rode with two really strong ladies last night, Rosie and Kim as well as George and Maggs. With a fast group that knows the trails like that, we did our best to eliminate the annoying stopping and waiting that can come with a group ride.
Tomorrow is looking rough between meetings and a late afternoon dr’s appointment, so I think I’ll ride hard again today so i can not feel bad about tomorrow. Before I know it, it’ll be time to head down to NY for SSAP and to regain the kiddo and life back to normal. sorta.
Saturday afternoon my dad calls and asked what I was up to. “oh, just finished up buying some whiskey for the aid station for our bike event tomorrow.” Days asks incredulously, “Whiskey? At the rest stop on your sporting event?” Yes, Dad. It was going to be that sort of day.
Saturday morning we woke up to a cold rain-snow combo. I had to go out and mark the bottom of the course, the part inaccessible by car. It was wet and then it poured all day. As people came into the shop to sign in and pick up the shirt, they were hesitant but mainly in good spirits and mostly because there would be good tacos at the end of the ride.
In a stroke of weather luck, Sunday turned out to be the better of the days. It wasn’t warm or sunny, but it wasn’t actually raining. About 130 showed up for the ride, not a bad turnout for crappy weather.
Photo by Richard Mahoney
This year George pressured me into riding. In prior years he rides and I hang out at the staging area and fret about things. This being year 3 and the number of things to fret about having decreased, riding seemed like the right thing to do. I’d never actually ridden the entire course, not the old one or the new one. Cause really, how many times do you really want to climb all those big ass hills? I wasn’t too keen on being really slow out in public, but as it turned out I wasn’t that slow and enjoyed some nice company whilst riding.
The whiskey at the aid station was a nice attitude adjustment before the last leg of the ride. Weather was starting to roll in and the liquid warm up was perfect to bring it in. More tomorrow, gotta go work.
ugh
woke up this morning to a thin layer of snow and ice covering everything, and the start of the cold, cold rain. looking really awesome for the Gravel Grinder this weekend, I wonder how many no-shows there’ll be? Really, this weather is probably because i’m planning to ride it this year and mother nature thought that I needed another long, wet, cold ride on a sunday.
Got my bike today, just in case the rain knocks off. But I also have my gym stuff too in case I want to go ride inside instead of freezing. Not looking great for a ride tomorrow either, though I will probably have to go ride and mark the part of the course that can’t be driven.
I’m getting a new baby niece in a few months and the baby shower is coming up this weekend. Since I can’t be there as it’s on the west coast, I’ve been furiously knitting up a present so I could at least be present in a different sort of way.
It’s super cute, more muted than this photo shows and it’s wicked stroft. Not too girly either. I haven’t been knitting very much lately, and as a result there are a few mistakes that I was too time crunched to rip out and fix. But it’ll do.
Fun riding last night. I was practicing what it might feel like in the first few minutes of a cross country race going all out. What it feels like is not good. Not only is it painful, but choosing to do these intervals in town loops is fairly dumb. Town loops are a bit technical in the rooty, rocky, and full of bridges arena. But it was pretty cool to be literally flying down the long bridges, accelerating into top speed.
Then I ran almost head long into a huge group of riders and had to shut it down a little at the end. Oh well, I got what I needed.
For those interested, Dooce was recently invited to the White House for a forum on Workplace Flexibility, a subject near and dear to my own heart as a full-time working mom. The best part of her report was this excerpt from Michelle Obama’s speech. Well said. The daycare thing is such a hard thing to manage and I’m lucky to have a flexible workplace, but a grandparent upstairs would be even better.
Our big spring event is coming up next weekend, one week ago. I got a lot to do between now and then. Luckily this is year #3 and at least I know what to prepare for. But there is still a lot to do, lists to make, courses to mark, cue sheets to update. On top of this I’ve got to finish knitting the baby present for my sister-in-law and ship it out in time for her shower next weekend. Oh, and I’ve got to go back to jury duty tomorrow.
Today I had to get my ride done in the morning. It was cold (40) and grey and damp and altogether fairly nasty when I left the house at 9:30. I really didn’t want to ride, I really wanted to turn the bike around and cozy back up on the couch and drink more tea. But I knew that this was my only chance for peace and quiet and relaxation, so I’d best suck it up and ride.
I was supposed to get 3-4 hours of off-road, singlespeed riding. However, between the rain the night before and the fact that there’s only a small section of singletrack open right now (and I’ve ridden it already 3x this week) I changed plans and pulled out the geared cross bike to get my miles. Luckily the gloom lifted some and I did get to see a little bit of sun and warmth while I was out.
cobb hill - the not-muddy bit
I climbed up some nice big hills for a warm up and then decided to head out and check out the conditions on the optional add-on loop for the gravel grinder. For funsies, I opted to ride it in reverse. Wow, good move. It’s still got some nasty climbing, but the class 4 road section, which is a descent when ridden in reverse, was gnarly. As in running water over 6″ of muck. Difficult to ride down, impossible to ride up. I’m pretty sure that we’re going to have to nix this section of the grinder, who wants to do a 2 mile hike-a-bike in the mud?
cobb hill, the other direction
On my way back home I rode by George and Keiran who were out running an errand. They invited me out to lunch. Hell yeah! That was a nice end to a cold, kinda gloomy, early sunday slog.
One9 Reba
So yesterday I was talking about the handling characteristics of the One9 and what we were going to try to address them. George changed the travel on my Rock Shox Reba SL from 80mm to 100mm. I thought that the longer travel would make for less favorable, slower handling. But after my first ride on the new set up, I found that the bike seemed to behave better although I was a little surprised at how high the front end felt with the additional 2cm.
First off, with the fork at 80mm I can bend over the front end of the bike easily to attach my wheel. At 100mm it’s quite a reach for me. It also changes the feel of the set-up significantly, less racey and more freeride-esque and also a bit tall in the front end. The oversteer issue seemed to be completely resolved, the bike was more nimble and I successfully climbed through a few rocky, technical turns that I traditionally struggle with. Was it a function of the fork change or was I stronger after having had an additional day of rest? Time will tell.
My plan is to give the 100mm a month trial to see how I feel about the feel of the higher front end and whether or not the handling improvements are worth the tradeoff.
The recent spate of good weather had me out on the One9 for some good solid trail riding, and got me thinking a lot about the difference in the ride between the One9 and the Jabberwocky - (if you’re unfamiliar, both are hardtail, singlespeed-specific 29ers.)
vassago jabberwocky on the trail
No one should be surprised when I say that I’m quite fond my Vassago Jabberwocky. After all, it was by riding that bike that I came back from my anxiety-induced heart problems. It was by riding that bike that I had all sorts of amazing adventures last year. I liked the long top tube, the supple steel frame, and the geometry climbed as advertised. The downside for me was a low bottom bracket which resulted in many pedal strikes and odd pedaling patterns trying to avoid our numerous rocks and roots on the trail.
Niner One9 in Stowe Town Loops
So when I got the One9 this winter, it had some big shoes to fill. Made from fancy scandium, the frame is lightweight and very responsive. It’s more compact, less stretched out which made the fit more difficult for me. I think I finally have it just about where I want it, though there may still be fine tuning. The bottom bracket is higher and that makes me happy. I am experiencing less pedal strikes and evasive pedaling techniques. The handling and climbing geometry is second to the Vassago. Now that we’re back on the tight, twisty trails around here, I noticed some oversteer on the One9. George flipped my fork to 100mm and stay tuned to see how that changes things.
At this point I don’t think I can say that I have a distinct preference for one frame over the other. If you asked me which frame I thought you should buy, I would ask you what you wanted to spend and if you wanted the steel or the scandium experience. The frames have way different price points, and if money is an object then I would go toward the Vassago. If you wanted a to build something superlight and race-like and you had a bunch of money, then the One9 would be a good choice. The bottom line is that both make really good bikes.
The weekend is over, I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus - but in a good way. Spring hit us hard and furious this past week, uncharacteristically early to boot. By Friday the powers that be announced Stowe Town Loops were ready for riding. Ride them I did. Early Saturday morning. Lots going on Saturday, so I was on dirt by 7:30am and really found some joy in being back on the trails that I ride 3-4 times per week.
The day turned out to be hot and sweaty, with temps going up into the mid-80’s.
Sunday we had a babysitter for the afternoon and had planned a road trip down to Pine Hill Park in Rutland. This was my first visit and I found PHP to offer some great riding. Loads of purpose-built trail and I’m not using those terms loosely. Literally there are thousands of man-hours in the berms and bridges out there. The riding is fluid, fast and fun. Most of the climbing is switchbacked, but nothing has been emasculated due to the trail work. There are still plenty of rocks and ridges and roots. These trails are going to stay solid for the long term.
The park is fairly large and completely contained without any road riding, so we brought the dog along as well. He enjoyed a grand excursion and was particularly well-behaved. There was plenty of lakes to swim in and puddles to lay in, so he stayed cool despite the warm temps.
Today I’m celebrating my 2nd commute to work via bicycle of 2010. That might not sound like much to a lot of you folks, but here in central VT that’s pretty respectable. My commute is about 7.5 miles via the most direct route, along the always-busy but equipped with a nice shoulder, Route 100.
drying out the riding clothes
I know I said this last year, but I’d really like to find a way to commute by bike more often. It’s hard to work out the daycare arrangements though, especially once the shop gets rockin’ & rollin’, ride nights are going on, Wednesday Night Worlds, etc. Sounds like a lot of excuses, and as I always tell others, “stop figuring out all the time that you don’t have to ride, and figure out when you can.” Friday is a good day for me, so I will attempt to make Fridays work.
My office. Enjoying it while I can, I may have to move into a smaller one shortly.
Enjoy what looks to be a beautiful weekend across the East Coast. Good luck to everyone who is racing, I’ll be cheering from afar.
