GORC Crested Butte Trip - Day 2: Lupine / Lower Loop

On Day two, the group started our "real" rides with a nice easy introduction to the trails around Crested Butte - the fairly new Lupine Trail and the more established Lower Loop.  These trails were easily accessible from the house we were staying at, so after we all got together, we rode down Gothic Road and into the Saddle Ridge subdivision where the trail started at the end of the cul-de-sac (How cool would that be to have a mountain bike trail literally start right next to your driveway?).  From there, we climbed about 100' along a mostly grassy hillside before we got our first descent.  Then we got a nice quick descent to a gravel road where we would then climb again for a while before descending to the valley floor on some more singletrack.

Along the gravel connector road

View from the gravel.

 

About to head down the second piece of singletrack.

On the way down.

 Once we were down in the valley, we crossed a bridge to another gravel road which started climbing up on the other side of the valley.  Some of the aggressive guys went a few switchbacks too far here and climbed about 1000' feet up this road (and may have taken another trail as well), but the trail we were looking for only required a 100' or so of climbing and the rest of us found it at the second switchback.

Either more descending or in the valley.

At that point, we had a couple miles of mostly flat to downhill singletrack that would take us into Crested Butte, where we stopped at a place called Brick Oven Pizzeria for lunch. They had a nice sized outdoor patio in front of the building, so we commandeered a few tables and kicked back for some adult beverages, appetizers, and of course, pizza.  While they didn't have the Blue Moon that I would've preferred, I did get something that was kind of similar (but not good enough to order more than one - water after that), and the pizza was really good.  Good enough, in fact, that we wound up ordering it again for dinner that night, though I will say that it was much better at the restaurant than at the house after it had cooled off somewhat.

View from our table on the patio.

One of many full bike racks in town.

The only bad thing about being on our bikes at lunch was that now we had a 3+ mile ride back to the house.  This isn't normally an issue, but Mount Crested Butte sits about 500' above Crested Butte, so we had to climb that on full stomachs.  It was time to pay for that 40 mph downhill we had at the beginning of the ride.  It took us probably a half hour to climb that hill, but we eventually made it.  I was happy that I was staying in the offsite condo here, so at least I didn't have to climb quite as far as the guys that had to go back to the house.  Later that afternoon though, rains came through again and we were treated to this nice rainbow off of the patio.

One of the crisper rainbows I've seen.

Unfortunately, I didn't do a very good job of picture taking today, but this evening I was fortunate enough to secure a MicroSD card (Thanks Tom!) that would work with my phone (I'm forever pushing the limits of my phone's picutre capacity), so for the rest of the trip, I would have plenty of room for pictures on my phone.  

GORC Crested Butte Trip - Day 1: Salida

It's been a while.  July was unbearably hot here in St. Louis, so I haven't been doing a whole lot of riding.  After I got back from Nebraska, there were the Alpine Shop Dirt Crits (more on those soon) and a couple Trailnet BFC rides (okay, I rode in one and just volunteered at registration at one), but other than that, I mostly stayed in the air conditioning all month.  That is, until the afternoon of the 24th when I took off for the much cooler climes of Colorado!  It was still over 100° when I left around 6:00 that afternoon, and it was not real fun driving into the sun as it went down that day.  With the very sloped windows on my car, I could feel the intense heat just beating down into my car all the way across Missouri.  When the sun finally set somewhere close to Kansas City, I could not have been happier.  I stayed with my friend in Topeka that night, and spent the next day crossing Kansas into a (hopefully) much cooler Colorado.

That evening, I made it to another friend's house in the countryside south of Pueblo, and it instantly started feeling better outside.  In fact, as the sun was going down and I was moving my bikes into their garage for the next 36 hours, I almost wanted a jacket!  I hadn't felt like than since, oh, probably March, with the weather we've had this year.  I spent Thursday in Denver before continuing my trek into the mountains Friday morning.  I was told that the plan was to meet at a store called Absolute Bikes in Salida at 9:00, so I left my friends house about 6:30 to make sure I had plenty of time to get there.  I also wanted to take the scenic route along CO 165, 96, and 69 rather than the more direct route up I-25 to US 50.  I was told that 25 & 50 would be faster, but as it turns out, at 7 in the morning, there was barely a car along the lesser traveled state roads, and I made it into Salida about 8:30 or 8:45.  After looking at my phone once I stretched my legs a bit, I saw I had a message saying the guys wouldn't be arriving until 10:30 or 11, so I went to the cafe next door and ordered breakfast.

Isn't this an awesome view?

 Breakfast was just as awesome!

What a breakfast it was!  The view from my table alone was enough to get the wheels spinning about moving to Colorado (full disclosure:  I've had the desire to move there for say, oh, 15 years, but have yet to actually act on it), but the food was yummy as well, and afterwards, I went back to the bike shop to get a tube to replace the flat tire I had on my hardtail.  That took a bit longer than I expected (I wound up breaking 3 tire levers in the process), and by the time I was finished, I started to go look for some place to get some cash from, but then I saw some cars with Illinois & Missouri plates, so I followed them back to the shop and sure enough, it was the rest of the group.

After they spent some money at the shop and got some trail advice from the workers there, we pulled the bikes out and headed to the Salida Mountain Trails, which are right across the Arkansas River from downtown Salida.  First though, we made a stop at the pump track, which was just a few blocks away from the shop.

 

After we had fun there riding around, it was off to the real trails.  We went back through downtown Salida and crossed the river on to the park where the trails were, but before we started climbing, we had to wait for one of the guys to change a flat tire.  Salida is definitely dry, and there were some goatheads that could wreak havoc on your tires at the pump track. 

The mountain.

Once we got going, the trail up wasn't too technical, but it was definitely more climbing than I was used to.  Barely being on my bike for the last month surely didn't help (I say barely, but I did get 150 miles in - it's just that my monthly goal is 210 or so).  The strategy out here is to just gear down and start spinning.  Eventually you'll get to the top.  When you do get to the top, at least you'll be rewarded with some sweet views.

Starting to climb up.

Looking back at the town.

The ride to the top didn't take too long, at least not compared to what I would experience over the next several days.  It wasn't real technical on the way up, but then coming down, there were definitely some more rocky areas where I was showing my lack of technical expertise in this group, so I was just about bringing up the rear by the time we got back down.

Another view of the town.

Rain moving in

Since everyone else in the group had driven through the night to get out to Colorado, this was just a short warm up ride.  I think we only rode 4 or 5 miles in total the first day, and that includes the mileage getting to the trail from our car and back when we finished.  Afterwards, we headed over to Taco Bell for lunch, then headed west to check into our house that we would be staying at for the week.

I came (to Nebraska), I saw (lots of gravel), I (didn't quite) conquer: Odin's Revenge Recap

While the St. Louis area was baking in 100°+ degree heat last weekend (and most of this week as well), I escaped for the cooler weather of western Nebraska for the inaugural running of Odin's Revenge.  The race was starting at 6 AM Saturday morning, but there was a pre-race meeting Friday night at 7:00.  Since Google shows it being a 10 hour drive from my house to Gothenburg and I didn't want to be in a rush the whole time, I took off work early on Thursday to head out and split the trip into two days.  Luke from Team Virtus graciously offered to loan me some bags for the race, so I had to pick those up in Jefferson City.  I had also arranged to meet a former co-worker of mine in Kansas City for dinner that night before spending the night at a childhood friend's house in Topeka.  I don't get to travel much these days, so on the rare occasions I do get out, I have to kill as many birds as I can with one stone.  If I left Friday morning, I'm not sure I would've had time to do any of that on the way out.

After waking up bright and early Friday morning, I finished my drive out to Gothenburg, arriving around 5:30.  I checked in at the campground and received my racer packet, then went over to the hotel I was staying at to check in there before going back to the campground for the racer's meeting.  After getting into my room, I had a little bit of time to kill, so I found the grocery store in town and bought me some bananas, crackers, and peanut butter, which I hoped would tide me over for food during the race.  I also had a few Clif Bars and Honey Stinger Waffles that I brought with me from home.

Milling around before the meeting.

I was expecting somewhere around 75 people attending the race, because that's what the cap was listed at on the web site, but turnout at the meeting seemed a lot sparser than that.  As it turns out, as it became apparent that it was going to be much warmer than the average high of 87° for this time of year in Gothenburg, racers started bailing out.  The organizers said that 30-some people cancelled in the week leading up to the race.  It's their loss, as there was lots of goodies being given away as they explained everything that was going to be going down the next day.  As they were throwing stuff out, I managed to snag a Backcountry Research TulBag, some Salus Muscle Relief Gel, and a second sample of Climb On Intensive Skin Repair creme (one came in our goodie bags) that they were throwing out to the riders, then when they drew names for a pile of goodies they had on a table, I got a pair of Q7 Sock Guy socks.  Not a bad haul for a free race!

Afterwards, I went back to my room and started getting my gear out for the race, deciding what I would bring with me and what would be left behind.

Lots of stuff to bring with me!

I decided to stick with the the Tangle Bag and Gas Tank from Revelate Designs for supplies and left the Mountain Feedbag behind.  With my map case holding the cue sheet, I felt that having the Gas Tank and Mountain Feedbag would be too much in the cockpit area of my bike.

As you can see, there's a lot of gear on the bike.

To help ensure that my water would stay cold, at least at the start, I filled up the bladder Luke let me borrow and one of my water bottles with water, then put those in the freezer in my room.  I was planning on filling my bladder and the other bottle up with Sierra Mist in the morning.  At that point, I felt ready and went to sleep, setting my alarm for 4:40.

Morning came really fast, as I was sleeping GOOD that night.  Having full control of the thermostat worked wonders for my sleeping as I cranked it down to about 70°.  When I woke up, I went downstairs for something, I forget what, and discovered that they had breakfast out (the hotel crew was awesome for having stuff out at that ungodly hour), so I grabbed a quick bite to eat.  Going back upstairs, I pulled the bladder out of the freezer and was a little shocked at how much it expanded.  Whoops, basic physics lesson that I forgot!  At this point I started panicking since it wouldn't fit in the Tangle Bag, but it would fit in my backpack, so I threw it in there and decided not to use my bladder, since it wouldn't fit in the Tangle bag empty (my bladder has a hard back, so it's not that flexible).  I still had that and both water bottles, so I thought I'd be okay.  At this point, I decided that I would start with 1/3 of my waffles and Clif Bars, send 1/3 of them to the second checkpoint, and the other 1/3 of them to the last checkpoint.  I figured I'd stop by the hotel when I got back into town and eat the crackers and peanut butter for energy at the half way point. 

Go time!

About 5:30 or 5:40, I drove back over to the campground, lubed my chain, aired my tires as they called the 10 minute warning, then it was time to get going.  After the incident with the frozen bladder, I was starting to get nervous that I was in for a bad day (I felt like I was constantly rushing after that), but as we rolled out and I reset my odometer, I slowly started to feel better.  The one thing that I was surprised about at this point was how humid and foggy it was outside.  My thermometer was showing a cool 69°, but it was sticky, and I started sweating almost immediately after we rolled out, even though I wasn't hot at all yet.

Rain?!?!

About an hour into the ride, the sun was brightening things up a bit, but there was still a thick cloud cover, and then it started looking pretty gray off to the south.  I also heard a couple claps of thunder and was starting to wonder if I would get rained on.  I wasn't really worried, as rain (to a point) would be preferable over sweltering heat.  Obviously, a downpour would probably render some of these roads impassable, but I wondered if a little bit might just firm up some of the gravel, which was very loose in places since it's been so dry out there.  Unlike Missouri dirt which is mostly clay, there's a lot of sand in the dirt out here.  But alas, while I got hit with a few sprinkles, it was fleeting, and before long, I started seeing patches of blue in the sky.

I have to say, the scenery along this part of the course was amazing.  The Platte River Valley is as flat as a pancake and reminds me of Central Illinois (right down to the corn in the fields, but they need a lot more irrigation to keep it going out here), but once you get out of the valley, it's amazing how rugged and remote it looks.  I was surprised to even see this railroad trestle along the route.

Before long, I came to the first Minimal Maintenance Road, and at first it looked like it was someone's driveway, or more likely, a path to someone's pasture, but this road was part of our route.  At the top of the photo, you can kind of see a giant cut in the hillside.  I think that was the start of one of the tougher climbs we had, and before long, I was hiking up the hill.  Reading various accounts of Dirty Kanza, I saw some people mention how walking the tough climbs helped save them for later in the race as walking uses different muscles than cycling.  I took that advice and had a good half dozen hike-a-bike segments along the ride.  If they were paved, some of them I probably could've geared down and gotten up, but with the loose dirt, I was spinning out a little bit and decided it was just easier to walk.

First MMR (Minimal Maintenance Road)

It was around this time I had my first experience with several cattle grates as well.  These made me nervous enough to walk my bike over them at first, as those cross bars seemed just far enough apart to make riding across them sketchy, but by the end, I was just slowing down and taking it easy as I crossed them.

There were cattle gates all over the course.

Climbing that hill on the first MMR though, I was rewarded with this pretty awesome view from the top.  Going back down that hill was fun too, once I was fairly certain I wasn't going to be hit with any cattle grates coming up on me all of a sudden.

See for miles.

 About 9:30, I finally made it to the first checkpoint.  This was just a water stop, but Chad (the race promoter) and his wife were there with some yummy M&M Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and protein balls (some mixture of peanut butter and nuts from what I could tell) as well!

Checkpoint #1

At this point, the sun was definitely starting to come out, and my temperature gauge, which was indicating 75° or so when I pulled in to the checkpoint, was rising well into the 80's if not 90 when I left.  It's amazing how fast sitting in the sun will elevate the temperature on that!  There was a group of five that I left with here, but over the next 8-10 mile stretch we separated and with the exception of having a couple of them almost catch me on one killer climb that I walked, I didn't see any other racers for a long time.  It was almost 30 miles to the next checkpoint, but along about mile 57 or 58, I came down a hill and saw a couple volunteers hanging out with their dog and taking pictures.  They also had some water or Gatorade.  I took them up on their offer of cold Gatorade, and replaced the water in my hydration pack with it.  It was pretty strong, but that was just fine.

Right after leaving this surprise water stop, I saw some cows blocking the road and starting to stare me down.  But as I continued to pedal slowly towards them, all of a sudden they turned and ran away from me.  This was about as fast as I've ever seen any cows move!  I'm not sure if I knew they could run like that!  In the picture on the right, you can kind of see one of them running away from me. 

From here, it was a pretty easy ride to Checkpoint #2, where I would be able to replenish my food stocks.  The volunteers manning this checkpoint also had a bike stand, so I was able to get some of the dust and dirt out of my drivetrain.  However, at nearly 70 miles into the ride, I was starting to feel it a little.  The heat, which had to be in the low 90's now (I think my bike computer was showing 113° when I left, but it "cooled" to 105° or so pretty quickly once I got moving), was taking a toll as well.  There was one guy leaving this checkpoint as I pulled in, but while I was there, none of the riders behind me came in.  I figured that I would be riding solo the rest of the way back to Gothenburg.

However, a couple miles out of the checkpoint, I briefly caught up with the guy ahead of me.  He was hurting a little worse than me, but as we ascended a couple hills, I had to slow down and walk one of them and he started to leave me behind.  Once we crested the hills though, I caught back up with him and we started to draft off of each other for the next few miles.  This stretch between miles 72-80 starting messing with my head though.  Up until now, the thought of not finishing hadn't really crossed my mind, but this 8 mile stretch on one road just seemed to drag on forever.  Looking at the map now, there was an early peak with a long gradual downhill to the next intersection, but there was a not-insignificant headwind along a lot of this road which made it tougher than it might have otherwise been.

(You can tell I'm getting tired now because there are no pictures from this section of the ride)

Finally, at mile 80, I turned back north and with an immediate hill, I decided to hoof it once again to the summit.  I was getting hungry now, and the Clif Bars and Honey Stinger Waffles weren't cutting it.  I felt like I was having a carbohydrate revolt and needed some protein in my system, preferably in the form of a cheeseburger or something like that.  The golden arches in Gothenburg were calling my name.  Nevertheless, once I crested this last hill, the course was downhill back into town.  What I wasn't quite counting on was a stiff headwind once I came out of the hills and entered the Platte River Valley.  Here, the course followed an access road to the Tri-County Supply Canal (as labeled on the USGS Topo), an irrigation ditch for the farms in the river valley.  This was good and bad.  The close water kept the temperature down a degree or two, but it was still hot, and with the headwind, I felt like throwing myself and my bike into that canal more than once.  A couple miles into this 5 mile stretch, I again caught up with the guy from a little earlier.  He said he was really hurting at this point (to where he wasn't planning on continuing), and again we blocked the wind for each other until we could finally turn north and cross the valley back to Gothenburg.


Getting out of the headwind was a huge relief to me.  At this point, the checkpoint was only about 4.5 miles away, and I just gave it everything I had to get back.  I wasn't sure if I was going to continue at this point, but I knew I wanted to sit down on something more comfortable than my saddle for a while.  However, as soon as I turned north, I could feel the temperature rise a couple degrees, which gave me that much more reason to get to the campground as fast as I could.

I made it back to the campground without further incident a little before 3:00.  There was a 4 PM cutoff where you would have to call it quits after that, so I had at least cleared that hurdle.  At this point though, I wasn't really feeling another 80 miles of riding.  While I rested for a bit, I grabbed a cookie or two and went in the general store at the campground to get a bottle of soda.  I was hungry, but none of the food in there looked really appealing.  I was also disappointed that the route was not using Highway 47 to get to the north side of town, so going back to my hotel room to get my supplies would add another mile or two that I didn't feel like riding.  Going to McDonald's would tack on yet another mile.  Ick.  So I waited to see what the riders coming in behind me were going to do.  If people coming in after me were still going out, that might push me a bit into continuing, but the only one who really wanted to finish had to fix a flat tire, and by the time he got that finished it was 4:15 or 4:30.  Going back out then was liable to make me finish around midnight, which I was hoping to avoid.  Even though I was carrying a 12 mph or so average to this point, I didn't want to count on anything over 10 for the last half.  So as 4:00 passed, I didn't hop back on the bike, and decided to call it a day.

Once I officially DNF'ed, I packed up and went back to the hotel and got cleaned up, then I went out to get dinner.  After driving around town to make sure there wasn't anything that looked interesting other than Runza, Pizza Hut, or McDonald's, I pulled into the Pizza Hut parking lot and ordered my dinner.  After a long day riding, it sure hit the spot.  Once I finished, I went back to the campground to hang out while the other finishers came in.  I missed the winner, who came in just before 7:00, but was around for the other 6 guys who came in, 5 solo and one part of a relay team.

I also immediately started regretting my decision to pull the plug (even more so when I saw as I started writing this that the high that day was 95° and not 98° or 100° like was predicted - it was hot, but it wasn't quite the sweltering heat we've had in St. Louis since I've been back), and when I saw the last 3 guys come in at 10:37, I started wondering if I could've caught them had I left the checkpoint right around 3:00.  I'm probably a little delusional for thinking that, but all I would've needed to do would be maintain an 11.5 mph pace with a 30 minute rest stop at the 40 mile point.  If a full hydration pack plus my 2 water bottles were enough water, and I didn't run into too many nasty hills or headwinds, 11.5 mph seems doable, but I also need to keep in mind I was struggling to do 10 along the flat canal where I only had a headwind.  Instead of hoping someone behind me was going to go back out, I probably should've asked how long it had been since someone had gone out in front of me when I got into the checkpoint.  That would've given me an idea as to whether or not catching someone was in the cards.

Now that I have two of these endurance races under my belt, I think I have a better idea of what I need to do to prepare.  At Cedar Cross, I never got around to preparing a drop bag, but since that one listed a gallon Zip-Lock in the rules, that's what I figured I was allowed to use here.  As it turns out, I could've filled up a small cooler, and maybe if I knew that was waiting for me at the last checkpoint, I would've been more inclined to push myself.  Or maybe I just needed to have that cooler in my car at the halfway point instead of my hotel room.  The one thing both races had in common was unseasonably warm temperatures, and with the way hot weather annoys me, that had as much to do as anything with me throwing in the towel.  It's just at Cedar Cross it was a blessing in disguise since my flat was due to a blown tire rather than a blown tube.  Today's high in Gothenburg was 89°.  I wonder what would've been different if the race were this weekend.  They probably would've had more than 25 starters, for one thing.

In closing, I have to say that I was impressed with the way this race was put on.  I'm sure there were some kinks to be worked out, but they got us started, they had the water stops that we were promised (along with some surprise treats!), the course was definitely a challenge (everyone who had ridden Dirty Kanza said this one was harder), and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of goodies that were given away at the start of the race.  I can't say for sure that I'll be back next year to avenge my DNF, but if I can convince another person or two to go with me and split the travel costs, it's going to be very tempting.

Odin's Revenge: It's Here!

All ready to go!

 The time for Odin's Revenge has finally come.  Unfortunately, along with it came a record heat wave.  Yesterday it was about 105+ everywhere along the I-70 corridor between St. Louis and Topeka, where I stayed last night.  Ewww.  However, being the obstinate type that I am, I am not throwing in the towel before the race and staying home, I'm going to let the vultures and hawks eat me after I pass out from dehydration and heat exhaustion along some deserted gravel road where I couldn't get a cell phone signal (I don't have a signal here at my friend's house two miles from downtown Topeka, you really think I'm going to have anything anywhere along the race route?) to call someone to come rescue me.  Not that I anyone I would call would be able to get there soon enough to help.  This ride is truly going to be self-supported for me.

On a happier note, preparing for the trip has (so far) gone much better than my ill-fated Cedar Cross adventure.  Everything started last week when I went down to Maplewood Bicycle to get a bike fitting, which I'm hoping will eliminate any knee pain for the ride.  Most of the time the bike is all right, but occasionally on long rides my knees will start to scream at me.  Luckily I haven't had many issues this last month, but it would not be cool if something flared up at mile 80.  While I was there I also picked up two spare tubes, hoping that will be enough, and finally had the water bottle cage I had to pull off at Cedar Cross put back on.

Sunday was the Trailnet Bridge Birthday Bash Ride, which would be my last sizable training ride.  It was forecast to be 100 in St. Louis that day, so I got out early, but luckily we got some cloud cover during the late morning and the temperatures didn't spike until after I was home.  My bike computer said it was about 90 during the ride, but when I pulled the bike off my car after it had been sitting in the driveway for a couple hours, it was showing 122.  Ouch!  (that was most definitely influenced by the sun, but I haven't seen anything over 110 or so on it when I've actually been riding)

Monday I started working on the bike.  I put the Specialized Borough XC Sport 700 x 45's back on that I bought for Cedar Cross, and while I had the sidewall tear in the one tire from that ride, I did get that tire replaced with a new one.  Hopefully this one holds up better.  I was pleasantly surprised with the ease I changed the tires out.  The Continentals I use for most of my riding came right off, and I almost didn't need my tire levers to get the Specialized ones on.  I can only hope I'll be able to change a flat that easily tomorrow, but hopefully I won't have to.  After I got the tires aired up, I gave my chain a good cleaning.

My Supplies

Tuesday I went for a short ride around town to make sure everything was in good working order, and I didn't notice any issues (thankfully, no pinch flats from the tire installation), so Wednesday I started packing.  I'm bringing two jerseys and two pairs of shorts in case I feel like I need some fresh clothes when I get back to Gothenburg at the halfway mark.  On my bike, I've brought the map case I bought from Adventure Cycling for the cue sheets and the Revelate Designs Gas Tank to hold food for the ride.  I also have my Serfas seat bag (mountain bike size) that has been my go-to storage bag for all of my bikes - I have 3 of them.  On the way out to Topeka, I stopped off in Jefferson City and borrowed Lukas Lamb's Tangle Frame bag and Mountain Feedbag, also by Relevate Designs, that helped him complete Dirty Kanza this year.  I plan on using the Frame bag for extra water - he gave me a bladder to put in there as well, but after loading up the bike, I think I'll leave the Feedbag behind, especially with the map case on my handlebars.  I'll make my final decision tonight when I get to Gothenburg.  I have two water bottle holders on the bike, and have my Polar insulated bottles for those.  I also have my Novara hydration pack that I won from Trailnet 3 years ago, which I may or may not use.  I brought it mainly to put the bladder in the Tangle bag, but the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to bring it as well.  My hydration pack plus the two water bottles will give me almost 120 oz. of liquid, and if I use Luke's as well, that will give me in the neighborhood of 200. I don't know if his is 70, 100, or something else.  I haven't looked at it yet.  The equivilant of 2-3 2 liters of soda should get me through any 40 mile stretch, right?  The bigger trick will be keeping all that cold so I actually want to drink it.  Finally, to make sure I have a superior state of mind throughout the ride, I plan on wearing my Team Seagal socks that I won for coming the closest to predicting Wendy Davis's finishing time at Dirty Kanza.  Congratulations on finishing Wendy!

Sunday on the KATY Trail

Father's Day was last Sunday, so Trailnet didn't have a Bicycle Fun Club ride last weekend.  However, Odin's Revenge is now less than two weeks away, and I still need miles.  With no organized ride to do, I threw out a last minute attempt to make one on Facebook:

I didn't really expect anyone to show up with the less than 12 hours notice I gave, and as you can see, I had no takers.  That night, the hourly forecast was showing a 30% chance of rain all day, so the forecast didn't help matters a lot.  As it turns out, the much-needed rain came overnight and knocked our power out for a few minutes while we slept, but by morning, the sky had cleared somewhat and the chance of rain was pushed back until at least 1:00.

Even though I wanted to get started around 6, I didn't actually wake up until 6:20 or 6:30, then I had to gather a few things before I headed out.  While I prepped for this ride more than I did for Cedar Cross, I didn't do as good of a job as I had for the CAC.  At any rate, I got my clothes on, grabbed my water bottles and a couple Honey Stinger Waffles, then headed out the door.

On my way to the trail, I made a quick stop at Schnucks to get a bottle of Sierra Mist, a banana, and some cash for along the trail.  Finally, about 7:30 I was at the Weldon Spring trailhead of the KATY Trail.  I spent the next half hour or so cleaning off my chain and airing up my tires (stuff I probably should've taken care of Saturday night), and just after 8:00, I headed west.  I was 2 hours later than I really wanted to be, but at least I had gotten out there.

Weldon Spring trailhead.

My original plan was to try and ride for 3 hours at something close to a 15 mph pace, or somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-45 miles, then turn around and come back.  However, with my late start, I decided to adjust that to more like 2 hours before I turned around.  I didn't really want to be gone all day, and with the chance of rain in the afternoon, I didn't want to risk getting my phone soaked.  My iPod was in a dry bag, but I only had one, so my phone was vulerable.

With the rain the previous night, the trail was damp in the early going, so I took it easy for the first few miles, hoping to avoid getting any more muck into my gears than necessary.  The rain also left it more humid than I'd been used to.  It was nothing atypical of a St. Louis summer, but it's been really dry here lately.  During the heat wave last summer, you could go outside at 2 AM and start sweating.  So far this year, even when it's been in the 90's during the day, the mornings and evenings have been tolerable.

I was not that far into the ride when I had another kamikaze squirrel try to commit suicide by running into me (read about my other incident here or here).  This time, the squirrel came at me from my left side, brushed up against my back wheel, then decided he wanted to live after all and managed to turn around and run back into the woods. 

Defiance was the first of 5 small towns I would be passing through on the trip, and it came up pretty fast.  The good thing about it is that there is a bike store in the town, so if you need something for your bike, you can stop there and pick it up.  I was running without a backup tube (I did have a patch kit though), so I was hoping to stop in and pick one up.  Riding by, however, their back doors weren't open like they are most days when I ride by, so I crossed my fingers and continued on. 

After I left Defiance, I passed the trailhead at Matson and Klondike Park before arriving in Augusta, which is home to several wineries and the Augusta Brewing Company.  If you are arriving by bike, there is a giant hill you have to climb to reach anything other than Augusta Brewing Company, so be prepared if you want to explore.  While I was starting to hope for a convenience store, I wasn't going to climb that hill to get to one, so I pressed on toward Dutzow.

Rear view of Washington Regional Airport

Heading toward Dutzow I started to get my initial dose of trail fatigue.  When I got to the point where I could see the Washington Airport, I figured I had to be getting close, but what I didn't realize until I was looking at a map just now is that here the trail is almost paralleling the runway at the airport, so there was a good mile and a half to two miles where I thought I just HAD to be closer to the town than I really was.  Finally, I arrived in the town and rode up 94 a few blocks to see if there was a convience store open.  I was hoping to get a snack and some more soda, as mine was getting warm and running low.  Not seeing one, I pressed on to Marthasville, only 3 1/2 miles further.

KT Caboose snack shop

When I arrived in Marthasville, I was initally disappointed at the lack of services along Depot St., which parallels the trail.  However, reaching the west end of the street, I saw this red caboose with some picnic tables on a deck.  Jackpot!  As I get closer, I see a sign advertising Hawaiian Ice.  Even better!  My eyes were too glazed over and my sunglasses were covered in too much sweat to really read the menu, but I saw enough to order a strawberry sno-cone and a can of Sierra Mist. 

Fuel for the trail, but hard on the stomach.

After ordering my food and taking a restroom break (nice clean restroom BTW), I took a seat at one of the tables on their deck to relax.  My order was quickly brought out to me and I began to dig in.  I also grabbed my Strawberry flavored Honey Stinger Waffle so I at least had a little bit of solid food.  After finishing my waffle and sno-cone, I poured the can of soda into my water bottle and decided a second can would be good, since the first one was only half the capacity of my bottle.  After I poured that can in, there was a couple swallows left, but after drinking that, my sugar alarm started going off.  Uh-oh.  I hoped that getting back on the bike would fix that in short order.

After a few minutes on the bike, I did feel a little better, but that was short lived as I was starting to feel more and more of a headwind, and then my stomach started to rebel against me again.  When I arrived in Treloar, I parked the bike and decided to eat my other Honey Stinger Waffle and the Clif Bar I had with me.  According to the Bike Katy Trail website, there is a restaurant/bar right off the trail called Murph's that has awesome cheeseburgers.  However, before I left, I had forgotten to check to see whether it was Treloar or Tebbets (closer to Jefferson City) that had this eatery, so I didn't go in to sample the food.  Plus, I was looking forward to steak when I got home, and I didn't want to kill my appetite.  Now that I know it's Treloar, I'll have to make another trip out there before this summer is over and sample their fare.

After resting for 10 or 15 minutes, I started to feel better, so I started the album that made Bowling for Soup as famous as they are probably going to get, A Hangover You Don't Deserve, on my iPod, then turned around and headed east.  It was now 11:00 (I just figured out that I can look at the time stamp of when a song was last played on my iTunes to verify this), so as it turns out, I did ride west for almost 3 hours, though there was probably 30-45 minutes of rest time in those 3 hours.  Once I got going, I immediately felt the effects of the tailwind and starting making really good time.  What was down to about a 12-13 mph pace as I got close to Treloar was all of a sudden a 17-20 mph pace (20 when I was really feeling like pushing it) and when that album finished up an hour later, I was already near Augusta and feeling good.

Along Augusta Bottoms Road.  The hill in the distance runs into town.

Nearing Augusta, I thought about taking the blacktop into town just to do a bit of exploring.  This would get me some hill work in, which would be beneficial for next weekend.  After thinking about it long enough to take the picture above, I decided I didn't care that much about hills and stayed on the trail.

Since the first BFS album I played worked out so well for my riding, when that one finished up, I put on the studio album they released after A Hangover You Don't Deserve, The Great Burrito Extortion Case.  After I passed through Augusta, trail used picked up considerably.  Heading west it was still early enough that I would pass someone every 5-15 minutes, but now it was around lunchtime and families were out in force for Father's Day.  East of Augusta, it almost seemed like I would pass someone or a group of someones every minute or two.  The parking lots at Augusta, Matson, and Defiance were all full heading back to Weldon Spring.

Finally, just after 1:00, I arrived back at my car.  I loaded my bike up, put a t-shirt on, and drove back home.  Mileage for the day was just under 60 miles and after that sugar from the sno-cone got out of my stomach and into my system, I felt good.  Granted, for 60 miles, this was an easy ride, but I hope this translates into Odin's Revenge being more of a mental challenge than a physical one.  Race Day will start to appear on the 10 day forecast in the morning, and I was getting hopeful earlier today when the prediction for the day before was "only" 90°, but as of just before midnight, that's been revised up to 95° with a 30% chance of rain.  We'll see what happens there, but I'm hoping for something closer to "average," which is 87°.

Odin's Revenge Preperations

Odin's Revenge is coming up in *gasp* 2 weeks, and it's time to get my s**t together.  Last night I scheduled a bike fit over at Maplewood Bicycle to help ensure I'm fitted on my bike as best I can be.  I'm convinced after I took my road bike to them for a fitting there was an immediate improvement in my riding, and I'm hoping for something similar here.  I also will be swapping out the saddle I bought for my road bike with the one that came on my CX bike.  While it's been 4 months since I've been on the road bike now, I do seem to remember that saddle being way more comfortable. 

I also need to look into some accessory bags so that I can carry more than just spare tubes and a multi-tool on me.  A place to store food or extra liquid will be mandatory with 40+ miles between stops and from the sound of things, there won't be any convenience stores along the route (I'm spoiled with the Trailnet Bicycle Fun Club rides having their rest stops mostly at gas stations - I can always hop in and grab some M&M's or other candy and some soda to provide energy for the next leg).  If anyone has suggestions from riding DK200 or something similar, I'm open to suggestions.

The big thing I'm looking for now is a support crew.  My wife doesn't want to drag the kids out to Nebraska, but she doesn't want me to go alone.  If you're interested in an almost free trip to Gothenburg, let me know!  I will pay for the gas up there and provide my car, as well as pay for the motel room Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.  You cover your food.  Here are the requirements -

1) You have to be able to drive a stick shift (unless you want to take your car).
2) I plan on leaving St. Louis the afternoon of Thursday, June 28th and returning late Sunday night or in the wee hours early Monday morning (July 1-2), so you'll need to be able to take a couple hours Thursday and all day Friday off work if you have a standard M-F 9-5 job .  I'll try and make sure you're good to go for Monday.
3) You need to keep me motivated at the checkpoints to keep going.  Only reason to let me quit is if I have a major mechanical (flats don't count), crash, or you feel that my death is imminent.
4) At the rest stops, it would be really awesome if you can wipe my bike down, lube my chain, and check to see that everything looks good.  This isn't mandatory, but apparently my friends that were riding DK200 got this treatment, and I'm jealous.
5)  You need to be fun to be around.  I have to be with you for about 80 hours except for the 16-18 that I'll be riding this course.  I don't want the trip to be miserable.

This is what the course looks like.  Does it look like I could get help if something goes wrong?  I didn't think so.

Still reading, want to go?  Leave a comment here, send me a PM through Facebook, e-mail me, or give me a phone call!

Biggest Loser Final Week

The week before Memorial Day was the final week for the third installment of The Biggest Loser where I work.  We started this round right after Thanksgiving and now 6 months later, it's over.  There were 7 of us doing it and 3 of us actually lost 20+ pounds.  Since winnings are based on percentages though, the final weeks were coming down to me and one other guy that started off 10 pounds lighter than me.  The third guy is 300+, so while he was leading in total pounds lost for a while, he wasn't really threatening for the percentage lead.  Like I've mentioned in a few posts, I've had the overall lead for a month or two now, but the race was still close, and it's narrowed through the month of May as I spent about 3 weeks right around 202.  I finally broke the 200 mark with a week to go, and knowing the other guy was a former wrestler (meaning he knows every trick for dropping water weight), I figured I'd need to pull out all the stops to hold on at the end.  I decided that to be safe, I needed to try and shoot for about 195 to make sure I held on.

I haven't seen a number like this since 2000.

I rode to work the Thursday that I broke 200, so I had the ride home that night to work off some of my lunch, then I took it easy on Friday, but at home that night, I could hear a concert going on at the town center from my house.  After looking on the city's web site, I saw that there was free food, so I decided to ride my bike up there to get some of it.  Really, all I was interested in was the snow cone (after I'd stopped to get one on the way home), but it got me on the bike that day.  The concert was a country band that I wasn't interested in staying for (country music is not my thing), so after I got my snow cone, I came home.

Saturday my wife and I took the kids to Grant's Farm so they could have fun feeding the goats.  When we got there, they had a deal to get 2 milk bottles, a ride on the merry-go-round, and a snow cone for $5, so we we got the kids those passes.  K is big enough that she went in the pen with the goats, but I stayed outside and let J feed them through the fence.  After that, we took them on the merry-go-round, but J didn't want to get off, so I took him on that again while K went to feed the goats again.  After a snack in the food court and an unwilling elephant cut the elephant show short, we headed out and decided to go over to the Belleville Art Fair.  We stopped at Fazoli's (one of my favorite fast food places) on the way over there where I ate more spaghetti than I probably should have.  I think I might have made up for it by carrying J around most of the art fair.

Sunday was the Bicycle Fun Club Strawberry ride, so even though it was pushing 90 with a pretty strong wind out of the west, I did the 55 mile extra long route with Jules, Greg (his first ride of the year), and Kristen.  After those miles, I didn't feel guilty about the Pepsi and strawberry shortcake a la mode afterwards.

Monday I rode into work, but I needed to make a trip to the bike shop after work.  On the way home the previous Thursday, my grip tape started unraveling, so I needed to get some new tape put on.  With the shop being in Maplewood, I decided to take the bus down there and back, so instead of the 28-30 miles I usually put in on the days I ride, I only got 21 miles in that day.  Coupled with Mr. Goodcents for lunch, I was set back a bit on the scale.  Bread is so awful for losing weight. 

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment at 2:00, so I had scheduled to take the afternoon off work.  My dentist is over in Illinois, so I packed my bike and decided to go for a ride on the MCT Trails while I was over there.  I parked where IL 157 crosses the Nickel Plate Trail, then headed out to Alhambra & Worden before coming back, which got me 55+ miles in that day.  Even with Burger King before I headed out, I managed to work off the weight from Mr. Goodcents and was showing 196 on the scale at my parents' house.

Wednesday was my make or break day.  I didn't do anything crazy at lunch time, then after work I went over to Greensfelder with Scott & Brad.  Unfortunately, I got a flat just a few miles into the ride, so that took enough time to change that I didn't feel like a second lap when I got back to the parking lot.  I was going to risk that one lap would be enough.  When I got home, the scale was showing 195.0, so I was getting close to where I needed to be.  Since the official weights are in work clothes (for obvious reasons), I wanted to be 193.5-194.0 at home to make sure I was around 195 at work.

Waking up Thursday, I was disappointed to see that I'd only dropped 1/2 a pound overnight.  I didn't really want to ride into work that day because they were forecasting temperatures into the low 90's, but I wanted to get something of a ride in.  I decided to throw the bike on the car and ride the levee trail before work.  I parked in the middle of the trail and rode to one end and back (8 miles round trip) which was all I had time for, so if I was going to win, it would have to be based on that.  After doing 140+ miles already that week, my legs were shot, and I was just cruising on this ride - 13-14 mph rather than the 17-19 than I will do on that trail when I'm feeling good and the winds aren't crazy.

After getting into work and taking a shower, it was time for the test.  I got my witness and headed for the scale.  As I stepped on the scale, I was told that as long as I didn't gain, I had the overall win.  When 192.8 showed up, I was shocked!  After seeing 194.5 when I left home, I did not expect something that low.  So that not only got me the overall win, I won the weekly jackpot as well and went home $84 richer that day.

***Epilogue***

So now that it's 2 1/2 weeks later, have I kept it off?  Obviously, there was a lot of water weight lost that last week so 193-195 probably isn't realistic right now.  Unfortunately, with Memorial Day and parties for my daughter's birthday the last two weekends, I have been back over 200 for most of the last week, but not by much (~202), and 6 months ago I would've been ecstatic to see a number like that. 

After riding 500 miles in May to win the competition, June has started slowly.  My legs needed to recover some after that last week.  I only have about 75 miles in 10 days so far, and 70 of those were Saturday.  I also have indulged in all of the things I was avoiding for most of the competition, so now that I've done that, it's time to start watching myself again.  Hopefully this blog will keep me honest.  With a little self-discipline, maybe I can be down at 190 by the end of the summer.