Wind

I hate wind.
But some times I love wind.

No, not just when it's a tailwind either.

Being <140 lbs, I'm not exactly the Northern European strongman type. Hills work great for me, long open flats, not so much. I remember praying for a hill before I got to the front of the rotation as big tri-guys drove the pace over 25 mph at the Tour of Litchfield Hills.

When it's 20F out and there's a wind pushing you back, demeaning you, insulting you, bringing you to the brink of tears (don't cry they'll freeze), wind sucks.

When it's in the mid 70's it's not so bad.

The ride home this evening was into a 10 mph headwind. Being so mild, all I had to worry about was staying low and turning over the cranks. But maintain a typical average speed took a bit of aggression.

When I got home I was delightfully wiped out. Depleted.

The wind had turned my mild manor commute into an energy sapping workout. Didn't even have enough left to shave.

Face or legs.

Careful What You Wish For

We had a wet Spring and Summer.
Very wet.
The past few weeks of relative dryness have been a nice change (with the exception of Tropical Depression Danny).
High traffic areas that have a hard time drying like the Res., are in pretty good shape.
Unfortunately the dryness hasn't been so kind to other areas.
Yesterday I was riding at One of the Happiest Places in the World, and was surprised at the conditions. Loose talc and scree over hardpack. Amazing how a matter of 5 miles or so along the ridge can make such a difference in trail conditions.
I was feeling a little flat, which when you add that to the dry, loose conditions, and slightly larger gear than optimal left me on the wrong end of the bell curve.
Short, technical, little grunts that I'd have a chance at were being walked.
Race Kings wouldn't be the tire of choice if these conditions were typical. Maybe Saguros.
Which leads me to this:
What tires to run at Landmine?
Race Kings are tough and fast, but aren't the best in soft loose stuff. But they are fast. If the course is hardpack with some mud and rocks they'll be great. Too dry or wet, not so much.
There's always good old Ignitors, or the Ignitor / Nevegal combo pack.

When Will the Carnage End?

The past week has not been a good one when it comes to my bike not being broke.

It started with me burning through front and rear brake pads in the course of a race. That plus the fact that setting up the hydraulic brakes is more finicky than cable pull led to me swapping the Juicy 5's for BB7's. A little heavier, a little less powerful, but I like the ease of adjustment, and the little extra pad clearance the provide.

Then my bottle cage broke! My bottle cage! Bottle cages aren't supposed to break?

Racing in New Hampshire I had jettisoned a bottle, so maybe it's just as well I replace them with ones that grip the bottle a little better. Profile Design Nylon Kages have proven reliable in the past, and since I had a couple from my dear departed Soma, they're ideal.

Yesterday, after bidding Charlie and Kerry farewell in search of some singletrack after a delightful fireroad flyer my cranks broke!

I know, I know, carbon road cranks on a SS mtb is just asking for trouble. Well I found it. Of course, and this goes without saying, I was about as far from home as I could possibly be while riding at the Res. Ripped the ring right off the carbon spider will climbing a hill.

These are the third set of cranks I've broken in the past 3 years, on a singlespeed. Never ever had a problem with cranks on a geared bike before. I have a set of FSA Energy cranks that I've swapped the broken carbon ones out for. Essentially the alloy version of what I broke.

So now my bike is 1/2 lb heavier (less than I thought it would be), and hopefully stronger than before.

Let's hope it last until the season's over.

What did I miss?

Was there some sort of National break glass on the road day in the past 7 days?
As I was about to leave work tonight I noticed my rear tire was flat.
Getting to change a flat in the shop is sort of a luxury, I only wish I could have patched the tube, but some how my patch kit was missing from my bag.
Anyways, I pull a nice little sliver of glass out of my Pasela Tourguard. Kind of felt like a guy who gets his girl pregnant while wearing a condom; "But I did use protection!".
Maybe I was more conscious because I just had to repair a flat, and only had a tube with a slow leak if I got another, but my whole route home seemed peppered with broken glass.
Generously peppered.
Like there was a teenage redneck parade from Southington to West Hartford.
Between the glass paranoia and the acrobatics my super sized snack was putting the old GI tract through, kinda spoiled how beautiful the weather was.
But onwards and upwards or some such thing.
Here's to 3 beautiful days of R&R.
Have a blogerific long weekend!

Training Loop

I was out riding my "training loop" at the Res. today. It has evolved over close to 2 decades from an 8 mile loop to the 16 miles it is today.
The Res. works great for me as I can ride there from home or it's right on the way home from work (when I drive). It gets beat down by all the traffic, but you can't beat it's convenience.
At first I just followed the flow of traffic and rode the standard loop everyone rides. The more I rode, the more I'd find lessor known trails.
As I craved more mileage I would piece sections together to increase my ride's length.
Then I started riding it backwards. Turns out there is more climbing this way.
Charlie likey climbing.
Another bonus of riding trails backwards is you don't get stuck behind someone riding at a different pace than you.
For about a year and a half I would do an out and back starting backwards and turning around before I descended off the ridge. If I timed it right I would miss a lot of the after work crowd on the "and back" part of the ride. But some times traffic was a hassle.
This year when I get to the turn around spot, I started descending on a fireroad to work on leg speed and loosey goosey descents; things guys on geared FS bikes tend to blow me away at.
But this leave me a little short on time and mileage, so I head back up and hit a couple more climbs and some fun techy stuff.
But anyways, let's cut to the chase. As I was (just) riding along, I looked down at my computer and realized I was on a record pace. Then I realized I wasn't working very hard. Then I realized how awesome the conditions were. I was going so much faster because the trails were in the best shape they've been in all year.
I've felt a little guilty about not riding to work this week, but I'm over it now. I say
Get out and ride some trails now! The conditions will not be any better!

I Want More!

Nassahegan is one of the funnerest local places to ride. Maybe one of the most funnerest places ever.
A healthy amount of climbing, tight, twisty, techy.
But if you skip the area behind the trout hatchery, you only get a 9 mile loop. Now you're asking "why would you skip the section behind the trout hatchery"?
Because it has a few super sick technical descents that I always have to walk, and the last time I rode there, the boys at the hatchery were playing with a shot gun.
So yesterday I went hunting.
Anything that resembled a trail I took.
A couple of times things seemed quite promising; one trail I found had ladder water crossings, and was well crafted, but ended in someones back yard.
One trail was just a short loop to some stunts someone built.
One was just a game trail.
A lot of stop and go backtracking added to break up the flow of one of the best loops on one of the best days.
I should be satisfied, but I want more!
I'll have to start doing 2 loops.

Aftermath

I thought I was going to be so clever and post a picture of the carnage that Norcross wreaked on my brake pads. But apparently Mike Joos is more cleverer than me and had that idea before me. Younger and faster not only on the bike, but the internet too.

Well, here they are anyways.

The pads on the left are only 2 weeks old!

No wonder there was some grinding.

I don't care how "epic" your trail ride is, nothing puts more wear and tare on you bike and person than racing.

Maybe being a Saturday race, recovery was a little easier; having an extra 24 hours before having to go back to work really let me take my time cleaning up and coasting through.
That is one of the many pluses about singlespeeds, there are that many fewer parts to have to clean and maintain when you are beat down from racing and driving home from the venue. Even so, if you can hose it down before heading home you're a little better off.

I usually have a hard time sleeping the night after a race. My body temperature feels high and I ache. Arms, shoulders, lower back, legs. Although I'm exhausted, I can't get comfortable, and I'm restless. I'm not really hungry, but I eat anyways thinking my body needs fuel to recover and rebuild. I keep on drinking, and wondering when I'm going to have to pee (usually after I pass a rest stop).

Which leads to our next topic.

We're going to get into potty talk so stop reading if that bothers you or you're eating or something.

After a race, my GI tract isn't right. Usually, I poop like clock work. Everything just moves along and is very predictable. Throw in a race, and who knows what's going to happen.

More often than not, there is some back up that takes a couple of days to totally clear before my system gets back to normal.

Norcross was the opposite. Everything was "quicker", even the return to normal.

If you're thinking more info than I wanted to know, well, I warned you...