Casual Cycling Week

This was a great week of chilling out. The week started off with some needed rain that soaked the trails for the Wednesday ride. We rallied a huge greenway effort of ten riders instead of roasting weenies, for about 40 miles of greenway racing in the dark on wet leaf strewn trails. With a stop by Preservation Pub mid ride, we had about as much fun a late-night urban cycling can allow.

Saturday was the annual Hill of Truth 12 Hour Race.

I decided not to race this year, my fitness is low and I just didn’t feel it. Jeff and I course marshaled the first shift of the day. We loaded the bob trailer with chairs and beer and I hauled it out to the middle of the woods for a day of heckling.
A few pictures from the race:
Dorothy had a great outfit, beautiful bike and always a smile.


This bunny was on the first lap, he had to stop straiten his ears and ask us wich way the course went right after this shot.


We were at the bottom of a long hill. It was intresting to see the huge difference in downhill speed/skill of different riders. Based on my foggy observations DJ was the fastest descender of the day followed closely by Ben Ramsbottom


Chris Ivory was hands down the fastes full rigid rider we saw all day. That new Dekerf is a sweet ride.


Jen Smelser was riding strong all day. She finished 3rd in the women’s solo competition, that’s pretty impressive for someone who’s only been riding a couple of years.


One of the sweetest moves of the day was Allen’s pass on the inside of this guy. Allen had the fastes line through this corner of anyone in the race. That right 29er cutting the inside of the corner “detuning “ the trail.


Partying in the pits was top notch. Kegs, grills, and good times all around.


Sunday was a Specialized demo day at the ridge. I road a carbon Enduro for about an hour and a half. It was an amazing bike (at $5400 it ought to be). It was a fantastic bike with the most controlled suspension I have ever ridden. If I were in the market for an FS bike I would look hard at the aluminum version of this bike. Afterward I went back out in the woods for a ride on the Wily with Chuck Grant. It was a funy pair of bikes to ride on the same day, they weigh about the same thing except one has 6” of travel and small wheels and the other is fully rigid and rolls on big hoops. I have to say for riding casual around the ridge the rigid bike is more fun to me.

Tara and Noah are doing well. Tara had some old friends stop by on their way through town this weekend. Noah is eating sweet potato, peas, carrots, rice, and bananas. He’s going to give avocado a try this week.



Ride Log:
24th Greenway ride after 2 solid days of rain. 3:00
26th Missed the bus in the morning, the road around doing errands and visiting friends in the afternoon 1:00
27th Pulled a trailer full of chairs and beer around the ridge “Marshaling” the race. 1:00
28th Specialized Demo at the Ridge 3:00