Finding time to ride and a couple longer ones

Work has been crazy busy lately, we're going through a startup after some construction and those times are always hard.  That's meant two things - riding time is scarce and energy is low, but the NEED for riding is high.

I'm super lucky that Kris understands that, so I've been able to sneak away the last 2 weekends one of the days in the morning for a longer ride.  Two weeks ago I went Sunday morning to the Refo Camp and did 3 laps for a good 30ish miles of riding.  The last of the 3 laps was semi-with the Broken Spoke guys, although they were on lap 1 and I on lap 3 so I only hung with them for about a mile.

This weekend I did a fun ride, rode from the house to Baird Creek (about 10mi) then did a lap, then home.  It was super fun and the miles came pretty easy.  Riding through town on a Saturday morning is pretty fun as it's quiet and there is lots to look at as you ride through the different neighborhoods.  Riding home the town had waken up a bit so I didn't go back on the same busy roads I'd gone on to get there.  The lap at Baird was unremarkable, I just tried to push up the hills but rode easy on the rest, figured that'd give me a semi-interval workout while I was there.  Those trails are really fun, I prefer them to the camp but they're harder to get to so I end up at Camp a bit more often.

A bit of rambling, but the 42t conversion is working well, with exception of the 16t cog that came with it.  That thing doesn't shift nearly as well as the Sram cogs do, I'm going to see about getting a 16t from the shop to swap in there, then we'll be solid.  The 42t seems to function very well, just a bit more driveline noise than I'm used to is all.  I don't want to ever spend all day in that gear but it's nice to have when I need it.  Also, I've been riding the scalpel on singletrack lately with the lockout on, seems like the way to go unless it's very rough, I prefer the tighter handling I get that way.

Forgot to mention, Noah and I rode in between those rides to a school think for his Kindergarten next year. We had a massive crash about a block from home, we were riding in the neighborhood road, then Noah just blindly veered over in front of me.  I did what I could to stop, but hit him and ended up going over my bars in order to not crush him.  I think fortunately I took the brunt of the injuries.

Another ride at Baird

Did 3hrs today at Baird.  Prepping for the 906 Polar Roll in Marquette in 2 weeks.  I needed to get out and really ride for a while, reasonably hard without stopping much.  I did that pretty well.  I figured doing singletrack for 3hrs will be better training than just riding on something flat - rail trail, river, etc.

Trails were in great shape, we could definitely use more snow but they are good.  It is nice to have the studs (I've mentioned that before) and the bike handles really well.  I was happy to get 25mi in.  The race coming up is 35 miles but I'm not too worried about that, in reading the course description where there is some singletrack (maybe half?) there is enough snowmobile trail/road that the miles on average should be doable.  Not looking to break any records but looking forward to pushing hard.

If you're gonna shoot with the gopro, aim it right!

I got out for a fantastic ride on Saturday at Baird.  Two full laps, it was great and the trails were in great shape.  Snow everywhere but nice and grippy for the most part.  The dillingers helped a lot and I'm very glad I got the studded version.

I shot the first lap with the gopro, I figured why not use it.  Used the chest harness, but when I went to watch it last night I saw I had it aimed too low.  It is a great view of the trail 5' in front of the bike but too much too close and not enough to see the upcoming trail, making it unwatchable.  Guess I'll just have to do it again sometime!

Baird after work

Got a chance to ride tonight at Baird after work, went well.  I brought the Scalpel.  It felt weird after riding the yampa so much lately.  Squishy, comfortable, and light.  It's the same weight basically as the yampa believe it or not but it rides so different. 

I felt pretty awful - not sure if I'm getting sick or what, but I felt super flat.  I didn't make it up a lot of the hills I normally get up fine.  Actually I can't remember the last time I didn't make it up a hill there.  I think there were 2-3 I walked on tonight.  Blasting the downhills is way more fun on the scalpel though.  It's so fun and fast.  Part of my issue could be the 1x10 setup with the 32x36, it was just a hair high for the amount of work I've been doing lately on the bike, I felt like I was just a hair low on cadence for smooth climbing.  Time to work my legs out more, that is probably a better solution than changing gearing or switching back to 2x.

Another flat on the fatty

Got out for what I called a "therapy" ride yesterday, rode from downtown GB to Baird Creek, did a loop and back.  I ended up as I was on the east side flatting my rear tire again on the Yampa.  Sucked.

I'm not sure what the issue is yet, whether it's the hole I got in the WEMS race just resurfacing again, or if it's a new hole.  Either way, flats suck and I may be a bit spoiled from not having to deal with tubes on the scalpel for a long time.  I got my spare tube in after not being able to tell where the hole was, pumped up and rolled the rest of the trail and back.  The trails are in great shape, really fun except for the weeds and stuff that rip your arms up.

I did a couple segments faster than I ever have, even on the scalpel.  I think I'm learning to adapt to the yampa and use all the grip, that is nice.

After the ride, I headed home, did dinner and went to bed.  It felt good to have gotten out.  A great chance to simply tune out everything else and get some time to destress myself.