Back on the trails..

A little later than usual this week but at this point its just an accomplishment if I take the time to sit down and write. Since last week when I wrote I finally did make it out on the mountain bike not once but twice..win.

As I said I spent a couple days last week giving my bike a much deserved cleaning and even a rear mech (yeah Im gonna try that for a while instead of derailleur…easier to say and spell) cable change. I will say that the shifting is much crisper and nicer now. There is really no excuse not to drop the 20 bucks and change your cables out every year. I guess if you have some high end stuff I can understand it but for some basic jagwire its cheap and easy and makes a huge difference in the feel of the bike. I didn’t mention this last week but In the process of making this change I managed to break of the little number plate that showed me what gear Im in…

Not a huge deal. I don’t think the high end stuff even had these and neither does my road so iv kinda got use to just going by feel anyway. Plus not having those numbers is a lot more pro so that has to give me and extra mph or so…

After cleaning it however I got up Friday to go for a ride and couldn’t find my chain lube. Im also missing a water bottle and I have a suspicion that I may have left both of them with Marshall after the Tour de Cure. Where ever it is I don’t have it and didn’t have time to go by the bike shop so I went anyway and sinned. That’s right I just sprayed some wd-40 on my chain and went with it…I know its not right but sometimes you got to do what you gotta do. My bike shifted horribly but it went forward when I pedaled.

Onto the ride…

I left out last Friday and the route for the day was to go out and back on the OVT including Shiners Run, then pedal the mile or so down the road to dark mountain and do one lap of that before coming back to the truck. All in all It ended up being about 25 miles. I had all intentions of taking some pics but I forgot my camera…yeah I know. Honestly though I don’t know if I could have stopped for pictures anyway. I don’t think I v ever felt better or faster on a mountain bike before. I just hammered the entire time and flew over the hills I usually sit and have to spin up. I never felt like I asked my legs for any effort that they couldn’t produce. I guess all that road riding has helped. Usually after being off the mtn bike so long it takes me time to get back into the rhythm but OVT is so flowy I never felt out of the flow. Nothing exciting to describe but by far the best time iv had on a bike this year riding solo.

It kinda hurts to know that in a week Ill have to drive 3 hours to hit these trails rather than 20 mins. I mean I think I say one other rider out on a Friday afternoon. Iv rode a lot of places all over the state and you just cant beat these trails.

This week I finally got around to making my home made chain whip which Iv planned to do for a while. Up till now Iv had Marshalls though and couldn’t see the need. After making it I instantly though of a few things I should have done differently but for a sub 30 minute job it works…

This week I of course hit up the road rides at the first of the week but today I decided I needed to find my way back to the trails. I decided head over to warrior creek for the first time since 6HWC. There were a few people in the parking lot when I got there but I rolled out before they left. About 100 yards down the trail when my chain started skipping I remembered I didn’t have any lube on my chain still...fail. I did remember my camera though so I got a few pics…

All in all it was a fun ride but my legs felt pretty crappy for the first half of the lap. The trail was a bit muddy in spots which didn’t mix well with an unlubed chain. I don’t know what happened but somehow the mud got the chain so gritty and dry it would just lock up in the rear mech and not want to bend like it is suppose to. I perservered though. I did make an accomplishment today for the first time ever I cleaned the big rock garden now I only have to clean the long one. I will say that the garden gets less tech every time I ride the trail and I think it finally got packed in well enough I could find a decent line. Either way I felt proud. As I mentioned there was some mud bogs in the trail and after going through one I reached down to get a big gulp of water only to get a mouth full of mud. Now this wasn’t just regular mud it was that stinkin crappy mud and I shot it way down deep in my throat. I dry heaved on the side of the trail for 5 minutes. No matter how much I drunk I couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth. I think the “mod” I made to my bottle might have had something to do with it…

Yeah I cut the top little gummy thing off my podium bottles after Rich Dillen posted a link to a bike rumor story about it on his blog. It said I would save 4 grams per bottle..how could I turn that down?? I honestly did it though because the Gatorade mix I drink out of my bottles always got on the insdie of that thing and I couldn’t ever get it clean. Now however there is no shield against the mud. Iv drank mud before and normally don’t think much of it but I think it was just the variety of this mud that did me in…

After the ride I talked to a guy named Gary in the parking lot for awhile and as we talked about 6HWC he admitted that after the first lap he wanted to quit but the folks he was with wouldn’t let him. I then told him I did quit after the first lap…but it makes me feel better I wasn’t just being soft and others wanted to quit to…

Getting married next satuday so hopefully ill squeeze in as much biking as possible next week…