Saturday, August 05, 2006

Friday Night Follies at Fair Hill...

FINALLY, it seems to have cooled off around here. By that I mean it was a pleasant 90 deg. Today as opposed to 100. So I met up with Les the International Man of Mystery at Fair hill. Ater a quick loop we swung back to the lot to find, fatmarc, Matt run Forrest, and Todd El Presidente. Shit, I was hoping for a nice easy ride. Todd quickly took the lead and it was game on. I was feeling good and did my best to stick to his wheel. Todd was on form and the pace was pretty fast. We were all enjoying the slightly lower temps, but it was still pretty humid. While climbing some double track there was some debris down left over from the storms we had recently. Todd rolled through and lucky me, I caught my foot on a vine and went down. Marc quickly makes the comment, " Buddy, you are the only guy I know that crashes going up hill" Not long after that Todd double flatted. It was a nice little breather. After that Les took the front to try and ease the pace a little.

It was a great ride. I felt pretty good and got in some good efforts. Hopefully things go well at Sussy on Sunday, even though I am only using this race for training. Well gotta go ride,

Peace Out,
Buddy

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Riding Through The Jungle...

We are firmly entrenched in what fatmarc refers to as Swamp Ass Conditions. The bad part is it is supposed to get worse.

On Saturday I met up with Marc, Alan (the Cleaner) Once a Week Paul, and E Town. It was really hot and humid even with an early start. I must admit I did feel pretty good. Marc was setting a nice tempo and I pretty much just stayed glued to his wheel. This was just a warm up though. I am trying to get ready for the Shenandoah Mountain 100. This is a pretty tall order for me considering I have never ridden any bike 100 miles let a lone a single speed. Yeah, I know it is going to be hard, but that is what makes want to do it. After all it is the challenge that drives us, well that and the beer.











What's this, Matt Run Forrest sporting Gears? Nothing like a shiny new Orbea 29er geared bike to take some stress off your knees.

Today's ride was going to be tough. Once again it was brutally hot and humid, and our plan was for 5+ hours. Matt, Ted and I left from Matt's place bright and early. We rolled over to Fair Hill and picked up Alan the cleaner. The plan was to keep the pace moderate, the plan didn't go very well. Matt and I were both feeling pretty good, and like a too tight thong, the pace crept up.











Ted Logic and Alan after a refreshing dip into the creek.

Towards the end of Fair Hill, Alan split for home. The rest of us headed to White Clay. Despite the weather I was still feeling OK. Once we got into White Clay, Ted decided to ride his own pace so now it was just Matt and I.

I was starting to hit the wall, so after a quick loop around Middle Run, we started making our way back. We were both hurting now. All those spirited sections were creeping up on us. So on our way back we stopped for another dip in the creek. When it was all said and done we racked up 46 miles, not bad for a mountain bike ride. But I now realize need to pace myself better if I want to finish a 100 mile race. I am hoping that by doing the endurance race at Susquehanna next week I do a better job of it.

Cheers,
Buddy