Falling

The calendar says it is fall. Fall sure didn't happen this year in any sort of spectacular fashion. The golden and orange/red hues were hard to find. The weather: hot, rain then cold and storms. I guess it makes the moments of what we love about fall more precious when it is hard to find? Maybe, if we can manage to take or get the time to do so.

We have been slowly building a hearth for our wood stove while it is down. Getting closer with the base welded up. The floor of the heart is elevated above the regular floor and a heavy porcelain tile laid. The walls are field stone veneer starting on concrete board attached to the walls. The veneer in held in place with heavy tile thin set mortar. Tedious. We laid out the stoned before hand to get them to fit together. Like a puzzle that never fits together. Then, once on the wall the joints needs filled with pointing mortar. The first shot at this yielded a red clay colored mortar which I had to chisel out and start over since we were trying for buff. Did I mention that it was tedious?

Puzzle pieces

Finished. Or at least the stone work is finished.

Time to ride has been hard to find. Same story, work, weather, family. I did get an afternoon off from work and rode most of the trails at Lake Hope on my monocog. Some of the storms had left the trails littered with limbs and several large blow downs. A cool mix of sun and clouds still, a great day to be out.

A birthday blast under grey and cold skies.

The sun came out for soccer though.

A little more gold before it disappeared.

Found a cool bit of nostalgia when cleaning up the basement, a cycling cap from the Athens Brick Criterium. This may be from the same year I watched Greg LeMond race?

Bring back the Brick!

Ah, election day. That one day where we say "just go vote"! Well, I am a proponent of fulfilling your civil duty and voting. But, please do so as a well informed and educated voter. Don't just vote the party line. Don't just follow your gut. Get informed with real facts. Learn how government works and how things are funded. Be responsible. Have intelligent conversations with those whom you respect. Listen to those whom you disagree with. Share your perspective with thoughtfulness and humility. Let's have a resurrection of civility.

I drink good coffee and I vote.

Final thought: look for the art around you.

A rusted electrical box or art. All about perspective.

What's spinning: U2's Zooropa. Released in July 1993 and recently remastered and pressed on vinyl. One of my favorites and underrated albums.

Up for Air

Coming up for air for a quick post.

We had planned a trip to Davis WV for the weekend of the Revenge of the Rattlesnake. This is historically a XXC (ultra cross country) race and the collective had forgotten how hard the riding is there and decided to give it a go. Fives days before we leave the NWS predicts heavy rain due to hurricane Florence. Predictions were for four inches on race day with the rain starting as early as Friday. We scratched the trip. One, turns out the race is no longer a XXC, just a regular old XC and is now the series final/championship race. Two, who wants to camp for three days in the pouring rain.

The bright side was that it freed me up to "race" the Team Athens Tour of Athens Gravel Edition. (Sidebar, they solicited names but apparently didn't like my suggestion of "The Crusher Run"). This is the first year for what they plan to be an annual event. Low attendance this time though due to short notice, conflicts with other nearby and far away races, and cost of entry. Two distances were offered, 30 and 50 miles, with lots of unpaved roads and lots of climbing.



I jumped on the 50 miler, put my new Maxxis Pace 29x2.1 tires on my Redline d440 and headed to the Eclipse Co Store for the start. Low attendance meant that they were dropping the aid station, plus it was hot, in the mid-upper 80's and humid. No rain from Florence yet (more on that in a bit) but the humidity had made it in. I had two bottles, some food/gel/snacks and felt good.

On the first big climb after hitting the unpavement (and the first of the Strava segments of the day) the first group of four riders just disappeared in front of me. I rode to the 30/50 mile split with a fairly fast couple of guys until they turned left. Solo is no big deal for me and being self supported is nothing either. But my initial plan had been to refill bottles at the aid station. Instead, I rationed my water intake to make what I had last the entire 50 miles.

The d440 is a super comfortable and stable bike for riding back roads. Deep/graded stone and washboards are no big deal. But it comes at a price of being 10 pounds heavier than everyone else. After turning near Amesville and hitting another big climb, I started cramping in my hamstring and lost the air out of my front fork. I had to ease up to keep the muscle working and keep the bike going as the front had bottomed out and as a result also got passed dropping me to 6th place. I limped back to the finish, drank a thermos of chocolate milk, a pint of water with a nuun tablet and ordered my complementary burger from Eclipse.

It was a fun event with potential. Be sure to watch for it next year.

About that rain. Florence was delayed and the rain held off in Davis until after we would have already been back home. We moved this trip to the following weekend. Drove down Friday morning with a packed van after breakfast at Casa and picking up donuts in Buckhannon. I took my Redline Monocog Flight on this trip. With the new fork (see Squishy-geometry) and a drop of gearing to 32-20 from 34 the bike seemed as dialed as a classic XC can be for riding in that type of terrain. We got a nice ride in on Friday afternoon in the old CVI area before Shelly and the boys got to town to have a burger at Tip Top in Thomas. Fed and tired we headed back to camp to watch lightning on the horizon.

It poured overnight.

We all stayed dry, E in the tent with the rest of us in my truck. The trails however did not. Most of the riding on Saturday felt like we were in a creek. It was still fantastic riding, albeit a bit sketchy.

After getting back to camp and cleaning up to go to Hellbender's for burritos and Blackwater Bikes for drooling I called it a day while a few others went back out for a another loop of trails. Shelly, B and I got some coffee and went to the Davis rock climbing park for a while. Really sweet little park with some various levels of difficulty walls. Brock climbed all over them. Even Shelly and I took a turn.

Meeting up back at camp and a check of the weather indicated that we would be in rain from about 2am Sunday morning until about Friday. The group decided to pull the plug and head home early. Stopped at Tip Top on the way out of town one last time and drove on.

Rushed trip. Didn't get all the riding I wanted. Brock and Shelly didn't get all the hiking they wanted. Brock didn't get to roast marshmallows. Still, it was good. Better than sitting in the office.

#gettuckered

Friday pieday

Did you notice that Redline dropped a cropped photo of the 29er Monocog on their social media feed? That's right, the steel singlespeed is back.

Yeah, it has been humid here. Dew points in the 70's can mean wet windows or soaked motorcycle rides to work. At least even the humidity can be art.

The kids are back to school including E starting at Ohio University. He wouldn't stop for a photo though.



A couple weeks back the neighbors dog literally ran in to the side of my truck. It is not uncommon for them to run down to the road and sprint alongside me, especially if I am on two wheels. This time however, it leaped right into the middle of my back door from the raised roadside, continuing down the side, leaving a dent in my bed and ripping the mud guard off. Then, just turned around and ran home. All this while I am driving about 20 mph. Honestly, going even 25 makes me feel like a rally car driver. And then somebody nailed our mailbox, again a couple nights later. Jokes on them, our mailbox is already a turn from the last 7 times it has been hit, dragged, thrown in to the ditch or otherwise vandalized. Sadly, they also hit our new neighbors new mailbox too.





Last weekend, after missing out on a ride, I decided to do a long run. I would not consider myself a runner, but just that I run. Been trying to get out a couple times a week, sometimes more, some less. Sometimes a run is 2 miles, or maybe 5. But, I have never actually run a 10k. I am not particularly fast, but set myself a reasonable goal of 10k in 1 hour. Managed in in 58 minutes with around 400 feet of elevation gain. I was tired but pleased. Shelly says "well, you were gone a long time". Thanks for the encouragement babe. Personal podiums. Oh, and ran across a green tree snake on the cool down.



Phones and cars are making us dumb. We don't have to remember anything or learn anything. Cars gets "smarter" so that we don't have to do those awful, mundane things like turn on our lights. PSA, when there is 1/4 mile visibility and early morning, you may just need to turn your headlights on. Honestly, like a fourth of the cars I passed this morning didn't. And tonight, that same 1/4 of drivers will probably be going down the road with their brights on.

I am ready to go back to the mountains.



Get outside.

Squishy geometry

I have mentioned that after riding my rigid singlespeed in the Blackwater Falls/Davis area of WV a few years ago I developed a ganglion cyst on my left wrist. After converting my monocog back to MTB duty this year I immediately irritated my wrist. While the cyst doesn't hurt in and of itself, it does cause stiffness and soreness due to the swelling. With that, I decided it was time to get a real suspension. I have an older White Bros Magic 29 (80 mm) fork, but have had some issues with it. A rebuild was going to be at least $125 if I shipped it in. I also wanted something with a bit more travel and the travel kits for this fork are no longer available.

The Redline Monocog Flight 29er has suspension corrected geometry for an 80 mm fork. The rigid fork has 47 mm offset and the frame has a 71 degree head tube angle. By installing a 100 mm fork with 51 mm offset it decreases the head angle to about 70 degrees with very little change in trail. The biggest problem? Finding a suspension fork for a non tapered head tube.

I searched for a used fork. Most were very used and required a rebuild. I searched for new but most of the straight 1-1/8" steerer forks were either low end or in the case of the MRP, really expensive. The only thing I could find that fit the budget and the level of spec I was looking for was the X-Fusion Slide RL2 29" fork. I picked one up for under $300 (significantly less than the $429 MSRP).

Installation was simple. I did peel about 3/4 of the stickers off of it though. Really, the thing was covered in stickers. I have one test ride on it thus far and can say that it was a lot easier on my wrist and arms. The decreased head angle will also (hopefully) add a little stability in more technical stuff like WV.

My back road bombing bike (Redline d440) also has a rigid fork, with a BMX style legs it is even stiffer that the Flight. So I rebuilt the White Bros fork myself. The seals and bushings seemed to be in great shape, just did a full service on both the air spring and damper leg. Then I moved the fork to my drop bar 29er.

It adds a little weight, but hey, the bike was no lightweight to begin with. Now it is ready to crush the rutted and washboarded back roads. The fork offset does decrease slightly which should add trail and make handling a tiny bit slower? But I doubt I can even tell. A little more stability on rutted up gravel descents would be welcomed.

Punches

June, the end of Q2 business wise. You aren't planning to take any time off in June were you? I guess not. It's OK I suppose. I am not anywhere ready to race the Hilly Billy come Saturday. The race distance is longer than the last month worth of riding.

I took out my rigid SS this week. I still love riding this bike, but it was hot and humid. I was sweating so much I could barely hold on to my grips. That and by the time I got done the ole Bible bump was back (see Ganglion Cyst). This developed a few years ago after riding in Davis WV for a few days. Now it is easy to irritate, kind of like me lately, easy to irritate.

Punches. Watch the news and want to punch someone in the face. Almost get rear-ended on East State St while waiting to turn in to my office, with my signal on, with lots of space and time between me and the approaching offender, who started flashing his headlights before standing the car on its nose to keep from hitting me, and whom almost got rear ended himself but the truck behind ran off the road. Yeh, makes me want to punch negligent drivers too.

Try to get ahead at work only to be delayed by something I have no control over  while trying to hit that Q2 deadline mentioned before and I feel like I am punched in the gut. Then there is the drama surrounding our school levy (failed) and the cuts that have to be made. Oh, and it turns out meth is back on the rise, A New Wave Of Meth Overloads Communities Struggling With Opioids, just up the road in Vinton Co. And Athens was listed as the 8th poorest town in the US.

But at least the Punch Brothers have a new album dropping. That's the kind of Punch I can dig.

Achtung

Twenty six years ago today, U2's Achtung Baby was released. Called one of the best albums of the 90's by Rolling Stone, it was certainly a groundbreaking album for U2, a decided difference from Rattle and Hum. I can honestly remember the day I picked up the CD (at School Kids Records) before meeting someone for dinner. Still listening to that album, even as I type this (and playing it loud since I am home alone).

It is almost Thanksgiving. November really sneaked up on me this year, based largely on the successful run the Alexander boy's varsity soccer team had. They made it to the top 8 in the state in division II (they are the smallest school in division II in the entire state). Though they did have a record setting season, they ended up matched against Columbus DeSales, a team that has won state (and would again this year) something like 18 times, and are ranked nationally. Our boys did a respectable job but did not advance. And a bit of cool trivia, the 1992 soccer team (that would be my senior year) played DeSales at the same level in the tournament on the same field with the same result.

Great season boys.

So back to Thanksgiving... November has been tough, to be honest. A week ago we laid off four people at work. The way it was done and the reason it was done are hard to swallow. These people were not just co-workers but friends. Two days after that was the anniversary of Eric's murder. I will never forget it, but it is hard to remember some days.

All that brings me to today. Shelly and B are in the C-bus to see the Wild Kratts show at the Ohio Theater before having dinner with M. E is gone too, spending the day with his grandpa and hunting buddy. E shot his first buck with a bow last night. An old deer that he has been patterning and watching for a couple years now. He is an 8 pointer with a sticker near the brow, sunk in forehead and bulging nose, and is missing his left eye. Anyway, he shot him late afternoon. We let him go a while before looking for him as to not just push him off. But that also meant finding him in the dark and dragging him in.

Hunting buds.

All this left me home alone. I got some work done early so I could get out on the singlespeed. The weather was grey and wet but unseasonably warm and windy (a cold front is moving through right now). The singlespeed on low maintenance roads is a great way to get a really hard workout, see some Appalachian back country, not see many cars, and blow off a bunch of stress mashing up sometimes 15%+ grades. As I rode through a small "town" in Vinton Co I saw a church sign:

Thanks Living

Thanksgiving (and thankfulness) is hard some times. Thanks living even harder. So live thankfully today because tomorrow, who knows what will happen and you need to be ready to handle it with grace, love, faith, and joy. Even when it sucks.

Single speeds and wet weather - like peanut butter and jelly, they just go together.

So long, October

I still plan to get to the log of summer time posts, but here is a quick one to close out October. I ended up with a bonus day (well actually, it was just that I forgot that Friday was parent teacher conferences and that Shelly had to work but the boys were out of school so I had to take the day off kind of bonus day). After Shelly finished up, I loaded the Monocog on the car to have lunch with the fam before heading out to find some back roads, fall foliage, and some dirt. Traffic was terrifically low being the middle of the afternoon, on secondary roads, and no school buses running. The wind was stiff (about 12 mph sustained out of the south) but warm in the low 70's. Along the way to the Zaleski State Forest and Lake Hope State Park, I road through the King Tunnel (old rail road tunnel). Once to the lake, I decided that single track would be more fun than the road around. I followed the lake trail around from the furnace to the beach. Just prior to exiting the trail I hit the ground hard while rolling across one of the wooden bridges. The bridge was wet and covered in leaves. I had to collect myself a bit before continuing on, knowing that I had at least 25 miles to go to get home and I didn't want to stiffen up. I took the Moonville Rail Trail in to Zaleski and up Atkinson Ridge before heading out of the state forest toward the horse camp. By the time I got to Albany, the traffic was picking up, I was unprotected from the steady head wind, and I was starting to hurt. I didn't make it all the way home before Shelly picked me up. Still, almost 50 miles with 4k feet of climbing on the singlespeed.

Somewhere in Vinton Co.

The King Tunnel

Along the lake trail at Lake Hope State Park

The crash left me bruised and with a few scrapes. It was nice to get out for a long ride so late in October. I finished the day with a trip back in to Athens with Ethan for a reception for one of the mechanics at Athens Bicycle. Along the way I passed the Albany PD who was sitting in the median of the highway (where he often does and this being the Athens block party weekend, I would have been surprised had he not been there). I looked down and I was tooling along at 62 (in the 60). I didn't think another thing of it. I had just been passed by about 3 vehicles between the Rt 50 interchange and where he was, as I often do. I noticed he pulled out after we went by. Then I saw lights. I honestly assumed he was pulling someone else over but ended up sticking on my bumper.  I stopped. The officer asked for my license, insurance, and registration which I handed to him. He then said that he was stopping me for going 79 mph in a 60! I almost laughed. I told him I found that very difficult to believe and even admitted to going 62. He let me off with a warning and told me to get my speedometer checked after admitting he thought it was a white SUV that he clocked (we were in a white Scion XB). Watch out as you drive through Albany.

Spun U2's October on the turntable. Seemed appropriate.

The Gravel Rouser

For anyone not familiar with the infamous Gravel Rouser, it is a 4 day stage "race" in the Athens area sponsored by Athens Bicycle. (I put race in quotes because while it is somewhat competitive, it is kind of like in Whose Line Is It Anyway, the points don't really matter). This would be the fourth year in a row that I planned to attend all four events, racing where I could, helping where I could, and riding the rest. If you enjoy riding your bike in a semi-competitive environment,with a not-too serious attitude, with some level of a party atmosphere, in March when you can get wet and cold and muddy, then you really need to put this on your calendar.

Thursday - Escape the Asylum
Thursday's stage was a cyclocross race at the Ridges, that is, the old Athens Lunatic Asylum. The property is now owned by Ohio University, but back in its day, was well know for lobotomies. It was open from 1874 until 1993. Perhaps one of the better known residents was Billy Milligan. The facility has a fascinating and depressing history. Anyway, Joey set up a pretty dandy course around the grounds that included grass, broken walkways, and some brick roads. Unlike a true CX race, there were not any barriers or steps. Still a fun one mile lap. Under clear skies and cold temperatures  I started in the middle somewhere and it only took about a lap for everyone to find there spot. I managed to overtake a few riders on the course with my singlespeed Monocog. After first banging bars with Ryan Curtiss, he sat in behind me for a few laps finding where he was faster. With about 1-1/2 laps left, he passed in one of those spots and I was unable to get back around. Finished 5th (Fun fact: Blood tastes like metal because of its iron content. Some studies also show that intense exercise can increase pressure on the lungs, which allows red blood cells to leak into air sacs, possibly causing that metallic taste. The first hard effort of the years can hurt.)

Around the old heating plant.

Friday - Basswood Time Trial
And the rains came. Friday's event was a downhill time trial. I am not fast going downhill. I mentioned to one of the young riders that I have to go to work the next week. Plus, I volunteered to be the starting timer which meant I got to pull down the flagging on my way down the hill so I had a good excuse to go slow. And it rained. The trails were slick, It was cold. I even went to the local sporting goods store and bought a rain jacket. Everything I had was covered in some degree of mud bu the finish. At least there was some food and beers at the shop afterwards. This one night was about the social aspect of riding far more than the racing.

A nice sunrise to start the day.

Saturday - The Gravel Rouser Classic
Saturday cleared up, some, kind of. The temperatures were a little more mild, but it started foggy, a brief rain shower, a little sun at one point and ended cloudy with increasing winds. I helped get the group of 63 riders out of town and through the major intersections. Then it was grinding out the back road miles via King Hollow to Lake Hope. There, most riders headed up Irish Ridge where they would join the trail at the 4 way and compete in a XC time trial. I headed up the reverse way to make part of the course and finish time for the race. I am happy to help but standing in the woods for an hour + sure zaps the legs for the ride back to Athens. After timing, we headed to the snack stop. This year it even included some Ridge Runner coffee! I pounded a cup and put some more in one of my bottles for the ride back via Moonville and another long climb back in to Athens Co. I think I ended up with around 45 miles, while races put in more. The event ended at Jackie O's taproom where there would be Kiser's BBQ waiting.

Ready to roll out.

Somewhere near King tunnel.

Great group of guys to ride with.

Sunday - Grab n Git
So this used to also be a doughnut party. That was nixed this year in favor of grilled burgers/dogs/chips. I was sad. The Grab n git is a ride through the city of Athens to find various checkpoints and perform whatever test or task they had for the riders. The route is free and open, up tot he riders to figure out the best way. I have to say I started out flying. That was, until I couldn't find the second checkpoint. To make up for lost time, I ended up riding up Terrace Drive, a climb that was once included in Bicycle magazine's 100 best local climbs. I managed to gain back about half of my lost time and came in to the finish at 4th place. But, since the score is also dependent upon the scores at each stop, and since I was the unluckiest rider in the top 5, I dropped to 5th overall.

Finishing also meant I received another Wolfman Award (given to though that finsih all 4 events).

The Wolfman Awardees

My bikes are still muddy and I am still tired. Can't wait until next year.

Fall!

I have most likely said (written) it before, but I love fall.  Clear, cool, air. The sky, the sunrise/sunset. The colors. The cider. Soccer. The single-speed rides on back country roads. This year has remained a bit drier and warmer later than it typically should. So much so that I found a violet blooming in my folks yard last week. This has made for some good riding though.

Violet blooming in late October!?

Singletrack at Stroud's Run.

Back roads: one of my favorite things is to get on the single-speed and cruise back roads. Steep climbs, rough surfaces, tree lined, and little traffic (and occasionally an anxious dog). Yesterday was a great example. I got in about 24 miles on a ride home from my folks. Nearly all of it was on less than perfect roads and over half on dirt/gravel. I could count the number of vehicles I passed on one hand. Temperatures in the low 60's, low humidity, warm sun, and a stiff breeze. I could do this every day.

Back roads,single speeds, and fall. 

Gentleness

Ah, election season. And like allergy season, it seems to be longer and more painful year by year. Without getting in to political opinions, uninformed thoughts, and the like, I will say that I have found the entire thing discouraging. So instead of adding to the noise, I will leave it with this one thought:

Paul's letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4, verse 5 (NASB):
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.

With that out of the way, let's move on to more important things: bikes. And to do that, I have to go back, way back, to the summer. So with little narration (warning this will be a picture heavy post)...

RAAM - Race Across America come through Athens each summer, and the riders pass directly in front of my office.

Early morning summer trail ride before work. Mostly I just clear all the spider webs for the rest of the day.

It's Albert Castiglia!

I discovered this small pup, abandoned in a ditch in the middle of nowhere while riding. We came back for him, cleaned him up and found him a home. The kids creatively named him Mr. Puppy Cow. I fail to understand how someone can abandon a helpless pup (vet thought he was about 6 weeks old) with all knowledge that without intervention it would die. Thankfully there were many people willing to take him in.

Eight weeks later, Mr. Puppy Cow is happy, healthy, and growing like crazy!

First day of first grade.

It finally worked out to get a ride with Mr Weswingery on Labor Day. Great weather, great views, windy roads. 

Mountain bike trip to Davis WV.

The view from Beardon Rocks

Burger night at Tip Top!

Morning coffee view from camp along the Blackwater River.

Ah, he is like a little angle.

So this. I forgot my cycling shoes in Athens. Thankfully Blackwater Bikes had a pair of flat pedals. 

Someone left me a message on my truck.

The Hocking River Rumble. My first CX race. Finished 2nd in Masters 35. And, while there were only 2 of us in the class, I did finish ahead of many from the 45 class and only a few seconds behind 1st place. Also, a drop bar 29er SS may not be the best CX racing bike. Fun none the less.

With that, fall is setting in. Soccer season is winding down. Hope you can get outside and enjoy!