How do you rate?

The mo7s actuaries just notified me that we're approaching the high water mark for DSLC. DSLC stands for "Days Since Last Crash" and is a metric that we track closely here at mo7s headquarters.

Some highlights:

• Our longest "dry spell" was the 129 days between DC's 12/20/07 Christmas Crash near the Struble and MR's 4/27/08 Plastic Surgery Crash on the Sole trail. That's a long time.
• CD and DC are tied for first (or last) with 4 notables each (notable = potentially season ending) and MR is a close second, but honorable mention has to go to JC for the Showboat Crash which will live in infamy forever.
• DSLC really bottomed out during June and July of last year. The average DSLC during that period was just 9. That means almost one notable crash per week. Now thatis some serious entertainment value but the problem is that the burden was shouldered by a relative few riders (myself included). Don't count on the same guys to carry the load this this summer, we're retired now.

What to make of this drivel? Well you can interpret it in numerous ways:

1. Apathetic - you have no pulse and frankly don't care;
2. Fatalistic - we are doomed to have a crash sometime in the next week and you don't want to be the one so this is just one more excuse to just stay home;
3. Voyeuristic - like fatalistic, except you recognize that it will probably be someone else and you don't want to miss seeing the carnage first hand;
4. Optimistic - unlike fatalistic and voyeuristic, you recognize that we are capable of great things like riding bicycles without falling down;
5. Realistic - stuff happens, I'd rather have it happen outdoors on a bike than indoors staring at the boob tube (or whatever it is people do when they're not riding bikes).

I am wavering somewhere between 4 and 5 (I would say 4.4). Where do you rate yourself?

Chris

"Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street"

--William Blake

Finest Hour (not)

Cool nighttime temps so Sunday morning the trails were in pretty good shape.  I wish I could say the same for myself, not my finest hour (not my worst either, but definitely not my finest).  Was nice to see a few fresh faces we haven't seen in a while including Kirk pedaling up with a hot coffee in one hand and Coldplay on the iPod.

This week's forecast is for a double whammy of warm and wet, not terribly promising but we'll see.

Chris

Brotherly Love

Welcome back - Wednesday night we welcomed back an old soul who hadn't been seen in 8-9 months.  If he was rusty from the layoff, it was not readily apparent.  We thought about turning him on to the Lakeside trail but decided to save that for another day, better to witness the carnage in daylight.  Anyway we're hoping to see more of him on upcoming rides.  Also a little bird told me that another rider is completing knee rehab in the next week or so and is looking forward to getting a bike between his legs soon.  

MC race course - the problematic left hand turn in the baby head field has been effectively neutered.  Someone found Jim's line behind the big tree and blazed the new trail a mile wide.  Personally I think they went a little overboard but it is no longer a white-knuckle turn and you can enter the ensuing climb with some momentum which is nice.  Someone also removed a log-hop from the Entrail climb - another loss in my opinion but it appears some little biking-elves are committed "cleaning up" the course for November.  

Brotherly love - Rumor has it that Steve McLaughlin and his brother-in-law Chris Dougherty are engaged in a pissing match to see who can turn in the best time at the Nov 9 race.  McLaughlin muttering something about his "(very much) older brother in-law" and I think Chris retorting something about Steve's nice new bike "gathering moss" in the shed.  A good start on some trash talk that should lead to some stellar performance(s) on game day...  Keep up the good work guys!

Happy hour today - Lots of interest in a happy hour ride today, which should be spectacular now that real fall weather has finally arrived.  If you are interested please chime in with your time preferences/constraints.  We'll do the math and find the time that works best.

Sunday ride - will be a roadie to some unexplored territory up near Spring City.  We don't know much about these trails except that horses ride them (so they should be fertile) but we figured what the heck...  Again, chime in if interested.  We'll be shooting for an early departure on Sunday.  

That's all for now

Chris

"Just one more hill..."

Hibernia Vibes

Solid ride tonight, trails are steadily improving. Ride did include some drama - high speed impact with some local wildlife. No harm done - rider and owl are both doing fine.

Hibernia is shaping up nicely with lots of positive vibes from the gang (see below). We even have a couple of family-relay entrants (great way to get out of the running part of the event). You still have almost 6 weeks to work up to a 2x2 mile jog in the woods (the bike part is easy - it's basically a Sunday ride with a sense of urgency). So snap yourself out of that winter funk, plunk that money down, and show your kids that the old codger still has some game. Current status:

Positive vibes, money plunked, officially have some game:

• JimT - first in class last year, obviously needs some more competition
• Chris - trying to set a good example

Positive vibes but money not yet plunked, TBD if they have game:

• MikeR - relay with wife Kristin (Kristin is marathoner)
• Andy - relay with daughter Megan (Megan is fired up)
• Steve - bought new bike for the event, so has skin in the game
• JimA - scheduling conflict, feverishly working on it
• MikeY - ready to jump in, just needs a push (or pull)
• Sebastian - ready to jump in, just needs a pull (or push)
• Bob - said it "sounds good" which I think means "all in"
• Jamie - says he is game, impressive since I don't think he has his bike yet

No vibes, no money, may be on life support:

• DaveC - it's time my warm weather friend...
• Matt - hello, anybody there? Where is that golf-outing game-face?
• DaveM - dude, do the relay with Kelly...
• Rob - time to rebound from the double-flat last year and show off those USTs
• Chris Dougherty - the perfect brother-in-law bonding experience
• Sean - didn't rule it out, but didn't rule it in either

No vibes, no money, no game -or- has a pretty good excuse:

• Kirk - family commitment (Sean's first communion)

click me now ==> registration <== click me now

Ride Schedule - I am traveling Saturday-Wednesday but I'll throw it out there: Sunday depart Upper @ 10am. Standard weekday ride schedule next week is Tuesday 8:30pm Upper** (**change) and Thursday 8:30pm Upper. Anyone feel free to amend (i.e., take Andy up on his Hibernia race course tour offer).

MO7S: Finally if you'd need to relive the fun of the past couple of years or read the banter from the last few races, I have archived some of our old emails in the form of a blog at http://mo7s.blogspot.com/. The first person to figure out "MO7S" wins a free pat on the back. Sebastian to review and judge all entries.

Chris

Fair Hill First Timers

A proper recap of yesterday's ride has to include footnotes from the night before, both involving Irishmen:

Spontaneous beer drop due to failure of the opposing digit to grasp a beer. Accompanying slurred speech and balance issues suggest that keg beer may have been a contributing factor.

Last man standing entertaining the ladies into the wee hours of Sunday (they we duly impressed). Included late night departure and then unexpected return on the lawn tractor, to continue hydration and entertainment for the ladies benefit.

Both individuals overcame long odds and showed up for the early morning departure on Sunday, a little green around the gills but still game for a ride. True Irishmen!

Sunday departure went better than expected - only 12 minutes of "dorking around" - which is a record for a group of this size (10). For the one hour drive we ignored GPS and were treated to another "Sebastian back road special" which got us to Fair Hill in a little over an hour. Unfortunately the back roads also got one rider carsick, and he spent 5 minutes in the WaWa bathroom getting himself straightened out before the ride.

The ride commenced with a jaunt over to the orange trail to see what the trail guide meant by "rolling terrain with ocasional steep climbs." It was apparently a typo and should have read the opposite. We got a nice view of the practice track (made us tired just looking at it - it's huge) and eventually worked our way over to the east side of the park on some really sweet single track which included a pretty hairy and rocky descent (so much fun that we did it again later in the day). We had lunch by the river and were treated to the arrival of about 20 horseback riders complete with rider in chaps and another alledgedly displaying signs of a long day in the saddle (or excess saddle soap, still unresolved).

We experienced the normal course of mechanical failures and crashes. Notables:

• Crash resulting in turf being embedded into the sidewall of a tire. We are still puzzling over the physics of that one.
• Family jewels embedded into toptube of a bike. The physics of that one are readily understood by anyone with jewels.
• Jim wins the pink polka dots for this ride. For those of you familiar with the Tour de France, the pink polka dot jersey goes to the best hill climber in the mountains. Jim had no equal on the hills yesterday.

Overall a great day in the saddle even with all the navigational challenges (resulted in some dead ends and open field crossings). See the attached satelite image to view our track.

I think that covers the highlights.

Weekday ride schedule:

• Tuesday night (8:30pm) UL
• Thursday morning (6:30am) LL

Chris