Lead Legs

The past week has been a bit of a puzzle on the bike.  After a couple of weeks of hard efforts, it was time to scale back and let the legs recover a little.  The little I got on the bike, the legs felt like they were riding tires through molasses.  My heart rate spiked and it felt like I had lost all sorts of power.

It could just be timing in the training cycle, or it could be my training (not really following any program other than going out and riding) is all sorts of messed up.

I went up North Fork last week and my legs and cardio system were not happy at all.  It was weird!  This was after taking a light week too.  It was with much trepidation that I went into my long ride day on Saturday, not really knowing how the body and legs would respond.  The plan was regardless of how the legs felt, the long ride ramp up goes on...

It was an ominous sign when I rode out of the hood and our hill climb out of the hood felt hard...uh oh...Somehow the legs started to loosen up a little after about 2 1/2 hrs and despite the legs feeling a little better.  I decided to punish myself with a repeat of North Fork after being in the saddle for a little time.  The weird thing is the body responded better to the slap in the face called N Fork after riding a few hrs, compared to how bad it felt earlier in the week coming in fresh without a long ride.  Weird weird weird.

The legs felt better - albeit, not good.  It might be time to crank up the intensity as we are less than a month away from the High Cascades hundie.  I still have more long days to put in the saddle but with a little hope, the legs will continue to move away from the 'lead phase' and move into the 'steel phase'!

Some pictures from the recent ride(s):

Bike Breakage

This past week seems to be the week of breakage!  The wifer went out on a ride last Saturday and decided to test the theory of just how strong carbon handlebars are.  She endo'd and the carbon bar took the brunt of the impact and cracked to the point where it was flexing a lot.  She got home and showed me the bar and I promptly decided to see how easy it was to snap the bar once cracked.

I put the bar to my knee and pulled back - with little force it snapped in two....

Mr Hersey then informed me that he too had a bike carnage story...he is now on this 4th bike frame (3rd Ti frame he has broken).  Not only is big D hard on his body, but hard on his bike too!  Check out the hairline fracture on the frame below.
Crazy bike blues this week...such are the perils of riding bikes...gotta' pay to play.  A girl just has to hope the little mouth to feed does not get to needy...

Video Stoke - Mr MacAskill at it again

MTB Mystery Noise

There is nothing more annoying that a mystery noise on your bike that you can't locate....it is enough to make you wonder if you are hearing things or whether your bike is about to fall apart.

Most of the time it is the process of elimination where you tend to find and resolve the creak, etc...I have had noises that sounded like they were coming from the frame, but were really coming from the drivetrain.  A hub that was overtightened by a wheel builder, or a creaky frame noise that originated from the seatpost, or a grinding noise from the drivetrain that was due to worn teeth on a rear cog.  There are always a myriad of offending possibilities and the problem is you never really have an 'aha' moment until after the fact and whatever you did made the noise go away.

My recent 'mystery noise' was coming from my front wheel/tire.  It sounded like tire rub.  I looked at the wheel multiple times and saw that there was plenty of clearance where no tire rub was occurring...but as that wheel went round and round, it kept purring with a tire rub sound.  The brake rotors were fine...no noise from there...was it the hub?  I took the wheel off the bike and spun it around...there it was again...purr purrrrrr purrrrr....what in the heck???  I spun the wheel again and put my ear next to the hub...nada...but I could still hear that damn purring of the tire rub sound!

It then dawned on me....that elusive little noise was actually in my tire.  It is a ball of silicon that dried up from the Stans!!!!!!  ahhhhhh, mystery solved....noise not solved until I replace the tire and clean everything up (no need since the tire is holding air and is beaded up tubeless).

ahhh - dang silcon stans balls!

Singlespeed Vs Gears...a crude comparison

The big debate has played itself out in my mind a lot when I am on the bike riding....just how much slower is a singlespeed than a geared bike?

This obviously depends largely on terrain (just how hilly or flat) but I did some crude calculations and guesstimated that there is roughly a 15-20% handicap on a singlespeed.

When looking at the winning times of 100 milers, the winning singlespeed time is typically about 15-20% slower than the winning geared time.

I decided to do my own rough test this week and rode the same trail on my geared bike one day and then the same trail on my singlespeed the next.  I tried to maintain similar 'exertion' levels in order to be as much 'like for like' as possible.

The results were similar...right around a 20% time handicap on the SS.   None the less, regardless of what bike I am on, it is about the fun factor.  As long the trails are putting smiles on the face, it is all good!

Blitz to the Barrel

Just another Tues evening in COB -

This is how the big boyz roll:

MTB Bend Riding

We had some warm temps this past weekend and the premature heat is always a bit of a shock to the system.  It is time to start getting in some longer rides in prep for the High Cascades hundie in a little over a month.  The plan was to ride and log some hrs and avoid the Wanoga complex since the Enduro was in full effect on Saturday.

It was a good day to be out and the views were amazing - blue skies with snow capped peaks.  Gotta' LOVE the views this time of yr.

MTB Oakridge Alpine Tire Mtn Cloverpatch

The last day of riding on our trip came all too soon and we had decided to go back up the big climb up the forest service road to catch Alpine and hook into Tire Mtn.  It was sunny and clear when we started and as we climbed up and got higher, we found ourselves in the clouds.  It changed from clear and sunny to foggy and misty.
We made our way up Windy Pass and hooked into Alpine where we descended until we hit the spur for Tire mtn.  The trail intersection is not marked at all so you have to pay attention or else it is easy to miss.  I was trying to capture a Kodak moment and the wifer was ahead of me and did exactly that...she missed the turn.  Unfortunately she was out of my line of sight so I was not able to see which way she went.  I yelled out to her and did not hear anything back.  I decided to take my chances going via Tire mtn.  After a while I started to think I should have caught up to her and that she must have continued down Alpine.  I tried calling but our signal was pretty spotty so that did not work.  I sent a quick text and by then she figured out she missed the turn and re-traced her steps.  About the time I made my way back to the junction, she had found the trail again.

We snaked our way along the side of the ridge through what seemed like a totally different micro-climate.  It was wet and really really lush.  At a couple of points, the trail opened up and we rode through a wildflower patch.  All the while, the mist hovered in the air to provide a bit of a surreal riding experience (in a good way).  We continued to snap picture along the way, but as usual the pictures really never seem to do justice to what our eyes and senses take in real time.

At one point, the wifer decided to go off-piste.  I had the camera in hand and was locked and loaded for pictures...my better sensibility prevailed as I figured it would be too mean to take pictures of her detour...however, I did get a picture of her getting back to the trail once I knew she was not hurt.

Soon enough we started our descent and we wound our way through old growth.  The riding was impeccable.  The trail was so much fun and the scenery was up to snuff too.  We rode with big grins on our face, stopping frequently to ogle the setting.  We had the trail to ourselves and it felt like we were in Jurassic Park at points.

The junction to Cloverpatch came all too soon and we found ourselves climbing back out and trying to dodge and weave the poison oak that had overgrown the trail.  We ascended for a few hundred feet and then had another nice and long descent.  This descent was even steeper with some equally tight switchies to keep your tech skills honed.  The trail eventually kicked us out onto a dirt road that we would descend for the last few miles and then work our way back to Westfir.

The dirt road descent and ride back to town somehow don't fit the character of this ride.  It would be downright dreamy if they could link trail back into town (and we hear that it is currently being proposed).  That would be ultra dreamy...not just dreamy, but ultra....yup yup

some pictures of the day:

MTB Oakridge Alpine via Kate's cut in

We ended up getting skunked on day two of our trip mostly due to an impromptu visit to Eugene to get a new water pump for the tin can.  The old water pump fizzled out and if there was any hope of having water during out trip, the Eugene stop was a must.  I did a little due diligence and was fairly certain it was the water pump but there was still a seed of doubt until I replace the new water pump.

The other trailer camping lesson we learned was to make sure the trailer is level when parked.  Having it sit at an angle impacts the water levels and can over-state or understate your current levels.  As with anything else, the more you do it, the more you figure it out and unlock the mysteries of stupidity, or knowledge.

back to the riding....The wifer had not done the notorious Alpine trail so we decided to hit up the trail via Kate's cut in.  It was a nice long forest service road climb and I did a quick lap on the Jedi section of the trail while the wifer made her way up to Windy Pass.  Jedi!!! Gotta LOVE that section of trail.  It is my favorite section of Alpine and it never disappoints!  Pure fat tire nectar....if only it was longer!  This was one of the sections I remembered from the Cream Puff and it really just stuck in my mind.

I also forget how spectacular the views are looking towards Bend once you get up high on the road towards Kate's cut in.  The views opened up looking right at Sisters, Bachelor, and BrokenTop.  It was only for a couple hundred of feet but it makes you realize just how close you are (as the crow flies) to central Oregon, even though you are in a totally different climate.

back to the ride...fairly standard affair...up the road, down the trail....good stuff

MTB Oakridge Heckletooth/Bunchgrass & Larison Rock

We arrived in Oakridge and quickly found a campsite and got a game plan for riding.  We left from the campsite and rode up road 207 to catch the tail end of Bunchgrass.  Let's just say 207 was a grunt...207 was a mean punchy climb that did not let up.  It averages about a 15% grade for over a mile and ends up gaining about a 1,000 ft in that distance.  I was on the singlespeed and I had to dismount and take my bike for a walk a couple of times in order to catch my breath and let the legs recoup for a moment.  Ouch!  2 ohhhhh 7, one mean ass climb!  There is a good reason that the locals call that 'the wall'.

Once we approached the top we hopped on the trail that followed the contours of the ridge and snaked along the side of the ridge with great views of the valley looking south.  The riding was really good and it felt great to be out of town and focusing only on the trail immediately in front of us.

The trail started to drop in elevation and all that hard earned gain was paid off in spades with a nice descent back into town.

The plan was to link that up with Larison Rock so we meandered over to the other side of Hwy 58 and did the long climb to Larison Rock where we took the little 1/2 mile spur to the top to see what kind of views it offered up.  We hung out at the top for a little bit on top of 'Larison Rock' proper and noticed some climbing anchors up there.  After a few minutes we decided it was time to turn around and see how many ear to ear grins we could find on the way back down.

As usual, there were no lack of smiles and fun on the descent.  The trail was a little greasy in a couple of spots but overall it was riding really well.  We continued to take in the descent and stop frequently to look at the sights and snap a few pictures.  The trail works its way down through some great old growth (yup, seems like a reoccurring theme in the area) back towards the local day use area in town where we worked our way through town and back to the campsite.

It was a great way to start the 4 day trip and work some of the lead out in the legs.   We got back to the airstream and took quick showers and worked on dinner as we let the day's ride permeate through our soul and do it's subconscious therapy....ahhh