The Big Tease

This time of year Mother Nature can be a real tease. We started the week with temps in the 60's and hopes of a great weekend of riding and we end the week with snow, wind and freezing temps. In addition to the training regiment, the race season is also feeling Mother Nature's wrath. The Battle at the Bird race in Norman scheduled for today has been postponed until later in the season. I have also heard that next Sunday's race scheduled at Lawrence will be postponed and I received an email from the Roman Nose 50 last night and it is looking like they may have to postpone that race also but they will not make the call until Friday.

Well, at least we did have afew days early last week for some serious riding before the weather turned bad. Two great rides on the Ark River trail, Tuesday and Thursday night, were just what I needed. I have said it before, we are really fortunate to have this 24 mile ride right at our finger tips. Bicycle Magazine spotlighted this trail last fall and here is the link to the web article,
http://bicycling.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/569408

Tuesday night was a pretty intense 25 mile jaunt on the West side. Myself, Doug Chambers and Jon Shank headed out with about and hour of daylight remaining. Both Doug and Jon are very outstanding and experienced riders and having those two on my tail really pushed me to the max. It didn't take long to reach the water crossing and then after a short stop for some mechanical repairs we were on to the Dundee bridge where the single track ends. Going on west, a ride over the bridge puts us into a really fun area of fast double track filled with lots of tight banked turns where it is just peddle as fast as you can for several miles until we reached the diversion dam and our turn-around point. After a quick recharge with a Clif Bar and a check of the my sweet Amoeba light set-up we were off again, retracing the trail back towards town

Thursday night ended up being a "chick night". Doug and I were joined by Morgan Stevens, Sandy McMullen and my lovely wife, Linda. We pulled out of the bike shop and hit the tight twisty east loop first. This part of the trail really helps you work on your balance and tight turns. This was the first time that I had my new Superfly 100 on this section and I was pleasantly surprised at how much easier it handled than my Paragon on this type of trail. After a spin through the East Loop, we headed for the West trail. A ride through the river bank section took us across the water crossing and then onto the "pinball section". Since everyone didn't have lights, this was our turn-around point. Thursday night rides are definitely much more laid back than those on Tuesday. But, they are equally enjoyable as it is always nice to have the ladies with us.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully the snow will melt and the trails will dry out quickly this week. I need to get afew more rides in before heading down to Watonga to do the Roman Nose 50 on the 27th. I guess we will find out on Friday if Mother Nature will let us hold the race. Until next time, "Stay Clipped In and Crankin".

Spring is in the air

Wow!!! Is it ever great to get this winter behind us. It has been awhile since we have had a "real" winter but this one will go down as one to remember. Another real positive thing is the time change kicking in which means more riding time during the week.

We kicked off the 2010 race season down at the "Hills of Hell" race in Lawton, OK on March 7th and it was most definitely a hellish event. Doug Chambers and I headed out from Great Bend on Friday night and after a stop in Wichita to pick up Cameron Chambers and Dustin Burgardt we rolled into Lawton around 12:30. After a short night of sleep, we hooked up with Steve Dutton, Jon Shank, Bill Clinesmith and Chris Chambers and headed out Saturday morning to the race venue for a pre-ride. We had heard the trail was around 22 miles in length but about an hour into the pre-ride we took a wrong turn and ended up back at the start after just 12 miles. The trail was poorly marked and it appeared that they had added alot of trail just so they could say the trail was longer. Most of the new stuff didn't really make much sense and it is obvious that the people who marked the trail didn't really have much MTB riding experience. Cameron was able to get some decent video with his new helmet cam and we headed back to the Motel to watch the action and the evening ended with our traditional Saturday night dinner at Luigi's where we filled up on pasta.

Race day started with a carbo-charged breakfast at Cracker Barrel and as we were heading back to the motel to get loaded up it started to rain. None of us were very pleased with the trail lay-out and now that it was raining we were thinking about aborting and heading north to Roman Nose or Camp Horizon for some dry riding. After afew phone calls and some discussion it was determined that Horizon looked like a good spot so Steve, Jon and Dustin headed that way while myself, Doug, Chris and Cameron went to the race venue where we would make a decision on our plans. After an hour of watching it rain we had almost decided to join the others at Horizon. But, Cameron had not said much during this time and with just a half hour before the start of the race, he made it clear he wanted to race even if the condition were not going to be good. His decision to race was just the prodding that other three of us needed and we were off to get our timing chips and to get lined up at the start line.

The weather had really taken a toll on the number of riders with only around 80 of the original 125 or so riders taking a position on the line. This is a far cry from the almost 1000 racers that this race has seen in the past. After the traditional cannon shot, the race was on and we shot off the line headed for the first hill. As expected Cameron took the lead and was never really challenged. As the rain continued to fall I was surprised that the rocks really didn't get that slick. But, the mud was 6 inches deep on many parts of the trail and it was hard to tell just how deep the water was in many of the numerous creek crossing. After 2 hours on the trail, I topped the last hill and headed toward the finish.

At the finish line, I met up with Cameron, Doug and Chris. Cam won the race pretty easily, Chris ended up 12th, Doug was 13th and I crossed the line in 25th place. Considering my conditioning was not the best because of the poor training weather, I was happy with my finish. All of us agreed that we were very glad we stayed and raced even though the conditions were telling us not to. After hosing off the bikes and a quick shower, we loaded up the trailer and headed north. It ended up being a great trip, the riding may not have been the best but 3 days with the Chambers Clan is always enjoyable. Until next time, stay "Clipped in and Crankin".

Back in the Saddle again

Wow.....its been so long since my last post I actually forgot my password to log in and blog. Since Christmas my daily life has been in total chaos thanks to a major remodel here on the home front. The word, "Chaos", (derived from the Ancient Greek Χάος, Chaos) typically means a state lacking order or predictability. Man is that ever true. Trying to live in your house during this type of project is a real stress builder and will quickly put an end to your daily routine. Luckily it is complete and just in the nick of time.

The remodel project was a huge drain on my free time and that coupled with the extremely wet and cold weather really put a crimp into my training and riding. But, as the song goes, I am "Back in the Saddle Again". Lots of things have happened in my biking life since my last posting including a sweet new ride (Superfly 100) and the first racing road trip of the season (Hills of Hell). Nothing like a afew days of riding and camaraderie with Team Chambers to get everything back in focus.

I will have another post very soon updating the recent events and commenting on the 2010 season which is upon us. Until then, "Stay Clipped in and Crankin".