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.

Hot lap, sick, then another lap

Last week Wednesday I finally got the bike out on dirt singletrack.  It felt like it's been just too long!

I took the fatbike as my scalpel needed some love. I went to the Reforestation Camp, it always dries out faster than Baird's and it's a good place to run some baseline laps and get out there.  It helps that it's only 10min from my house vs. 20min for Baird's.

Anyhow, the fatbike has always been and is fun for singletrack and it was fun to get out with the tubeless setup on summer tires on the bike.  I ended up setting my fastest lap time for the green loop that I've done ever.  I was kind of surprised as I didn't think I was really going fast enough to do that.  As I got further into the ride though I knew it was a quicker lap than most I run so I tried to keep the pace up.  It was a 54:3x lap which is good but my goal I think for this year is to get <50min.  I think that's achievable but I need to really focus to do that.  It is good to have a goal.

To get the Scalpel ready, I had to remount tires with new Stan's.  I also took the chance to change out my cassette setup.  Late last year I went to 1x10 with a 32t front ring and a 11-36 in the rear.  I upgraded now so I've got a 42t bailout gear and added a 16t inbetween the 13 and 19 (I think).  The goal there is to extend the cassette range a bit.  After riding the XX1 setup all winter on the fatbike I knew I wanted more range than what I had.

So, went out yesterday for the first ride I've done in a long time on the Scalpel.  It's so different from the fully rigid fatbike and has major advantages in some areas, but at the same time does not have advantages in others.  For these local trails the full suspension is a waste, I can say I think the fastest I'd be is on a hardtail 29er with something like a 80-100mm front fork.  When riding the fatbike I feel the bumps more (they aren't brutal) but any time the trail is rough downhill with turns I feel I give up a lot of speed.  Those are the faster ones on the scalpel but it's hard to beat efficiency of a full rigid setup and the grip of the fatbike is great.

My lap yesterday was only about 25 sec slower than my lap last week.  I was not really trying to be fast at the start of the lap so it was surprising to be in that range.  I for sure am feeling the benefits of riding the fatbike all winter and also the power class.  My legs feel significantly stronger than they did last year.

First real good week of outside riding

Sunday I did a ride on the Mountain Bay Trail, out/back with about 1hr out and a bit over that back.  Ended up at about 33ish miles on the caadx.  I love the new bars.

Last night I went mountain biking at Reforestation Camp, set a new PR for the green loop on the yampa which I was pretty excited about.  That bike is fun but it beats me up a lot.  I've gotta get the Scalpel all tuned up and ready to go for a bit more speed/comfort.  It looks like my work over winter has paid off a lot.

Quick Fat Camp loop in the loose snow

Had one of those days where it was just nice to get out, even if it's just for a little bit.  I did one loop at Fat Camp.  Snow was really loose, I aired way down but still had poor traction. 

I'm really struggling with keeping my head the right temp - in the snowboard helmet it is never cold but I'm sweating and I'd like to avoid that.  I think I'll sweat no matter what though.  I could wear my normal mtb helmet with a beanie under but I am just as sweaty in that.  I'm honestly pretty tempted to drill some more holes in the snowboard helmet for better airflow.  We'll see.

I can say, on singletrack I work pretty hard on the fatbike, I can easily dress the same as I do for 45 degrees outside as it's just a lot harder work and lower speed so there is a lot less evaporative cooling.

The Wolvhammer boots are insanely nice - I am super happy I bought them.  Feet have yet to be cold and they are very comfortable. 

For hands I've been wearing my summer gloves under my bar mitts from my old motorcycle, hands are usually sweaty with that setup.  I could probably go no gloves but I don't do that even in the summer.

Reforestation Camp Snow Loop - Ready to Rock

Did a half day vacation yesterday, skipped out of the afternoon of work in favor of heading to the fatbike loop at Reforestation Camp.  It was fantastic. 

I ended up with a partial loop which I pulled out of to go put more air in my rear tire, then two full loops after that.  The bike was super fun on the singletrack and I think it'll be a real blast later in the season as the snow piles up and smooths out the trail a bit.  At least that's what I assume will happen - I guess I'll find out.  Snow riding is still new to me and I'm learning a lot.  Where I have grip the bike is just like summer, but it's like if I get 6" off course I'm off the packed snow and then it's near falls.  I did not have any actual crashes, just dabs where I had to put my foot down.  I definitely could see how I could go much much faster than I did as I get more used to it. 

I also really appreciate just getting out there, music on, riding away.  The world can melt away and I can just be "there" in the zone.  This is where I get my balance in life and I feel so much better when I have something like this to even me out.  I find myself enjoying group rides but if I ever end up doing >50% of my rides with other people I'd be surprised.

As for speed, fitness plays a part as well, I don't have my legs like I did early in the season, and even that I'm off from where I'd like to be power wise.  I signed up for a power class in January - computrainer style down in DePere on Monday nights.  I think I'll learn a lot from it and more importantly get stronger!

I broke my goggles so I've had to wear Kris'.  They are pretty nice actually, I'm not in a big rush to replace mine.  Helmet wise I'm good - this one is nice and warm, if not hot.  I will not need anything warmer.  I think when I'm riding singletrack like this I will want to have a helmet on, I can see why people don't wear helmets when just straight cruising on snowmobile trails as it is hard to regulate heat with a helmet.  I will think about this helmet though - I may need to drill some new holes in the front to get some airflow, there are a bunch in the back but I'm definitely not venting enough.  I could wear my normal mtb helmet with a beanie but to be honest that gets hot too.

Maybe pink is my color:

Friday's half day ride

I took a half day Friday to go ride one last time at the camp before it closes. It was fun to get out there even though weather wasn't awesome.  I guess it wasn't bad either, could've been wetter!

I got another damn flat, thank goodness I was within about 25 yards of the truck so I made it back.  I'm really happy I didn't get it out further on the trail, I hadn't brought any spares with me so I guess I lucked out. 

I'm not going to remount the Knard, I'm going to put the Dillinger 5's on and getting them set up tubeless.  I can say for sure once I put the knards back on next summer I'll be setting them up tubeless as well.  So over flat tires - I have ridden 1500+mi on my Scalpel tubeless and only one or two times I've burped, but in 115mi on the Yampa now I've had 3 flats.  Suck.

This is my favorite section of the trails out there at the camp:

An artsy fartsy shot:

And a shot down the trail from that bridge.  I got the flat right after stopping here.

I'm 36.

Yesterday I turned 36.  Normal day for the most part, went to work then decided on a half day.  I would've really loved to just head home and do "nothing" for the rest of the day but with a 0,2, and 4 year old at home that does not really happen ever.  Second best was to head out on the fatty for a ride even though the weather was not so good.

It was in the low 50's and wet, not actively raining but it's been a wet week.  Due to that I decided on Reforestation Camp as those trails dry out the best.  Overall really they weren't awful, just a lot of puddles here and there.  Not so muddy as much as just dirty.  In other words, the bike ran fine, did not accumulate mud as much as just got wet with a fine layer of sand.  When I'd stop riding there would be a puddle under it from water dripping off.  Lots of leaves down as well which mean lots of slippery situations with leaves + slick + acorns.  The acorns were interesting, I could hear them popping under my tires the whole ride pretty much.

I'm real excited to get the bike out in snow.  Having not ridden in snow on a fatbike before it should be a lot of fun, I am curious what to expect from available traction, handling, etc.  I know when the trails are packed it should be a super fun, smooth, fast ride.  When they're not, it may just be a lot of work.  I'm hoping the 5" tires I've got will help a ton with ability to float and run low pressures as needed.  I'm still learning what works well on the singletrack and I can say somewhere between 8-10 seems ideal for the knards and my style.  Lower seems too floppy? and higher seems too bouncy.

It was fun to get out in the afternoon even if the ride wasn't great from a speed or fun standpoint.  The leaves are still pretty even when it's wet and the truth is biking is a great chance for me to get some time on my own to clear my head.

After the ride, went home, had my birthday meal of pizza and a great ice cream cake that Kris made.  She is awesome, I can't say that enough.

No more front derailleur!

So, I've now finally installed the narrow wide chainring up front on the scalpel, switching it to a 1x10.  It's a 32t, I've got 11-36 in the back.  Got a chance to ride it this weekend and it was good, just like I'd expected.  I never really shifted out of my big ring on my local trails anyway so while I'm now at 32t vs 38t before it should be pretty workable most places.

I did some cross training stuff, a sparticus workout I got online Saturday morning.  That pretty much shredded my legs, then rode on Monday morning.  I underestimated how sore I was from the workout and am paying for it now.  The good news is that I'll get stronger, the bad news is that it hurts.

I've been getting some pretty solid pedal strikes lately, found some wood in the pedal after the last ride and snapped a pic.

Friday half day Yampa ride

So this turned out to be a fairly busy weekend.  Friday I ended up planning to take a 1/2 day of work.  It started as planning to ride in the morning, then planning on riding in the afternoon, then leaving work early, then finally just decided to take a 1/2 day.  This meant the morning was spent looking out the window making sure my bike was still there.  It turns out it actually WAS still there and was waiting for me to take a ride.

 

So, I headed home, took Aly to a quick doctor appointment, then went out riding.  I headed to the reforestation camp to run those trails.  The WORS series is in town this weekend so I wanted to pre-ride and decide if I'd end up doing the race.  I didn't end up doing the race, waffled back and forth quite a bit, but decided on family time and taking Noah (4) and Aly (2) to the kids race instead.  They had a blast, it was really short but they got WORS number plates and medals so they were happy enough.

My ride Friday was good, the Yampa is excellent.  I'm playing around with tire pressures.  I'd done one ride at 9psi so I thought I should try higher.  I did a bit at 14 and a bit at 12.  I prefered 12, less of a beating.  I think I'll end up liking somewhere closer to 9-10 for singletrack.  The knards self-steer a bit when they're that low but it's grippier and smoother, just maybe give up a bit of speed on the faster rolling parts.  We'll see.  

 I took a lot of breaks, it was hot and I wasn't really worried about speed.  I rode 12.5mi or so in about an hour and a half I'd say.  Also took some time to reflect on how old my shoes are.  I think they're about 14 years old and just don't seem to want to die... yet.

Back on the Scalpel

Good ride this morning before work, did the same loop as Wednesday.  Here's a shot from near the finish.

Fun to get back on the "fast" bike and ride.  I don't feel at my best, not sure if it's because it's like 5 am and I haven't eaten/warmed up when I ride that early, or maybe it's the time off the bike since the 100.  Either way, I feel a bit rough.  I've decided to work on speed this second half of the season where I can and I'm happy to say that I did a new PR on the loop, about 2min faster than my prior PR from earlier in the season.  I haven't had a full good lap yet and I know I can do a lot of things better to get faster.

It's not just about speed, I have to remember that and just have fun.  I want to be faster, no doubt about that, but I think I'd have a more fun ride if I just relax and maybe focus on a few things per ride rather than focusing on speed over a 10mi loop.  That can be pretty deceiving, considering I could just hammer harder on the easy stuff, or maybe I'm really faster on the hard stuff.  Anyhow, I have a couple parts of the trail that I want to drop a minute or two off of my times through them, I think that will be the focus now for a bit.

First Ride on the Yampa

Finally got out on the Yampa this morning for a ride.  Sorry about the pic, I did not realize it was so bad.

Didn't break any speed records, between lack of recent riding and learning the new bike.  It grips awesome in corners but I'm not consistent with it yet - I have to learn to use the grip.  It didn't help that on one of my first 50 corners I leaned hard into a berm which proceeded to completely blow away on me (unpacked sand), it was dark and I didn't realize it was not solid.  First crash for the yampa is out of the way, good news is my body shielded the bike from any damage.

Kind of a bummer this morning is riding this early now needs lights (started this ride at 5:45am). It was just too dark in the woods to not have them, even by when I was done it was still pretty dark in the dense spots and the lights helped. I'm glad I have a nice light.  I'll write more about it sometime but it's a Light & Motion and it's rad.

The bike is good - definitely way faster and easier to manage than the heavier fattie I tried a couple weeks ago.  It's stiff but that is completely negated by the give in the tires, kind of an interesting feel.  I kept having the front wheel further out on corners than I wanted to, need to adjust the riding style - turn-in seems to be where I'm going to have to learn.  Also, I got a lot of pedal strikes, ranging from just barely to hitting hard enough to unclip my shoe.  In the snow this won't be a problem, now on singletrack it's a minor issue I'll have to get used to.  I can say, I didn't miss it having suspension except for a couple spots, the tires suck up plenty of small stuff and keep traction really well.  I still need to play with pressures but I ran 8.5psi for this ride.