Defiled Again

Well we have successfully defiled yet another pasttime! A fast ride last night (8 riders!) followed by almost 4 hours of electrolyte replenishment around the bonfire. We covered a lot of ground in those 4 hours, including:

* TMI about Dean's under garments
* Interest in hiring "mountain s_______s" for our next post ride event.
* Learned we are "not young" but rather we are "old guys" according certain local teenagers who should know
* A scarey peek into Miller's world during winter break at Target

The ride home was interesting to say the least. Thanks Kirk for setting this up.

I am out for the happy hour ride due to haircut appointment that slipped (what was left of) my mind last nite.

Remember this SUNDAY's ride starts an hour EARLY: 10am - 12noon. Departing from Upper.

Also Damian is trying to pull together photos/videos of the house fire. He has asked if I could help pull these together. If you have pix or know of someone else who does could you please let me know? Also if you would pass the word that I am trying to pull these together for Damian that would be appreciated as well.

Later,
Chris

Room for Improvement

More interesting analysis from yesterday’s ride…

“Moving time” was less than 3.5 hours (not bad) but elapsed time was 5.5 hours suggesting 2 idle hours (if you count puking up your lungs as “idle” time). The good news is that an analysis of the idle time suggests opportunity for big improvements with relatively little effort:

• 
  
• Three tire changes (estimate total of 1 hour since the first tire change involved expedition back to the car in search of 15mm wrench).


• Ahern search party (estimate 15min)


• Unplanned detour to Palisades Road (added about 5 miles and let’s say 30min to the trek, I take responsibility for this navigational breakdown)


• About a dozen 5min rest stops at the top of the alleged “rolling hills”

So with quick release on Matt’s ride (or a 15mm wrench in his xmas stocking) and a compass for Jim (and I) we would be at less than 4 hours elapsed! More conditioning and less time at the buffet table could yield even more improvement.

The 3.5 hour moving time became interesting to me yesterday evening when, speaking with Rob, he mentioned Blue Marsh as a roughly 3 hour ride (I didn’t ask if he meant the 20mi or 30mi loop because I was afraid he would say the 30mi loop). Now whether a bunch of long-in-the-tooth-weekend-warriors could cut yesterday’s elapsed time in half is debatable, but I thought the analysis might be encouraging.

Rob also mentioned another destination in Delaware (“White Clay” I believe) that he said was less of a ball buster than Blue Marsh. Rob, anything you could share on that area would be greatly appreciated.

Steve, Steve, Tim, and Mike – hope you were good this year so Santa will bring you a ride and you can experience this insanity first hand! So far it is looking like a year round sport although we are still testing the sub-30 degree arena to determine if practical to ride without losing toes to frostbite. Ask Santa to include some wool socks.

Chris