MO7S Gear

Santa brought me some official MO7S gear that I never knew existed.

One of a kind.

Can't wait for warm weather.

Go West Old Men

ep·ic [ep-ik] noun - an episode in the lives of men in which heroic deeds are performed or attempted: the epic of Scott's expedition to the South Pole.

Agreed "heroic" may be pushing it, but for half a dozen middle-age dads on the east coast who spend much of their lives behind a desk or shuttling kids to lacrosse practice, June is looking pretty damn epic. That's because 164 days from now we head west for five days of mountain biking and camping under the stars in the rocky mountains.

The idea has been germinating for a while, and with my 50th birthday staring me in the face took on a sense of urgency last summer. We looked at over 20 itineraries from 7 different tour companies, and settled on a custom trip from Hermosa Tours. We chose Hermosa because the fit felt right, we liked the camping format (versus hotels), the point to point itinerary, and the van support which allows us to focus on riding while Hermosa focuses on humping our gear from place to place. Oh and the food - Hermosa has clearly put a lot of thought into this.

We designed a five day itinerary that starts in Durango Colorado and ends five days later in Moab Utah:

1. Options include advanced singletrack on the Colorado Trail or intermediate on Hermosa Creek Trail. Day ends with downhill into camp. Mileage 30-50 miles.
2. A very pretty 40-ish miles past the Lizard Head Wilderness into Uncompahgre National Forest and our camp at Miramonte Reservoir.
3. We work our way along the rim of Paradox Valley and then into Utah near day’s end.  As we enter Utah we’re be making our way up the east side of the La Sal Mountains.  Mileage is about 35.
4. We continue climbing up the east side of the La Sal Mountains toward Geyser Pass.  This is an underrated part of the route for no other reason that people just don’t go here!  True solitude.  We end the day high in the La Sals ready for a big day 5.  About 30 miles.
5. The Whole Enchilada.  28 miles of some of the best mountain biking in the world.  High alpine singletrack all the way to the Colorado River 7000 feet below.  Must be ridden to be believed.  Shuttle back to Durango after the ride.

The ride will be physically demanding for us east coast flat-landers. Six to seven hours and 30+ miles is more that we have done on a mountain bike, and we will be doing that on five consecutive days.  And the altitude (day one takes us through 11,000 feet) adds a huge wrinkle.

Little know fact: There are 40% fewer oxygen molecules per breath at 12,000 feet than at sea level.

So we have loads of work to do and my new beater bike will be a big part of that. Training will be a big part of the next 164 days, and my blog posts will turn towards things like conditioning, outfitting, nutrition, altitude sickness, and tour operators instead of the usual drivel about local trail conditions and biking mishaps.

"It is the most selfless way to see the world around you. There is no gasoline, no power steering, and no seat belts. You move forward as one should move through life: by sheer will and determination."
     -- author unknown

Remodeling

 Yesterday I remodeled two bikes. Bikers like to talk about builds as in "this is my second build for this bike." A build is a biker's nirvana. It's when you hand pick every component for a bike, and then you build it up from scratch. It's a labor of love and the result is your dream bike. Bikers talk about builds like parents talk about honor role students.

I have never done a complete build, but I have done some remodels. Like moving bars and seats between bikes, replacing a fork or crank, and converting a bike to single speed. Yesterday I did my latest remodel, resurrecting my silver Iron Horse from the parts bin. Yesterday I put gears on it, added a spanking new crank, and voila I now have a perfectly ridable hard tail.

So today I took it for a shake down ride in the snow. Trail reports were not encouraging, but the trails turned out to be in good condition. Not great, but not bad. It was the type of riding that keeps you on your toes, and forces you to use good technique especially on uphills and off-camber turns. And Silver was a great ride, no issues except it appears I've contaminated the brake rotors with some lube since I was unable to lock up the wheels even downhill on the snow. We'll keep an eye on that.

So now I have a winter beater bike with gears (and marginal brakes), which is great timing. You will understand why when I make an exciting announcement on New Year's day.

Oh and someone went chainsaw crazy and removed the horse-back-rider-scraper-offer at the top of the Sole Trail. And yes the horses were out in force...

Mix It Up

I have a bothersome tendency - maybe it's human nature - to ride the same trails, the same way, time after time. You find a route you like and you stick with it because. well, you like it. Except that after a while you you're bored by it and you actually don't like it. But you're riding it, again.

Yesterday at White Clay, we did many of the classic routes but we mixed them up a bit. We rode the Goat Trail downhill which I thought gave it more pucker factor. The Cork Screw (can only be ridden one way) was interesting as it was covered in leaves so you really had to trust there were no surprises (logs, rocks) hidden underneath. And we hit a bunch of trails in Middle Run which I hadn't seen in years. 

Norman Rockwell Scene

And by taking these new routes, we ran into a memorable Norman Rockwell scene: three dads and their kids playing hockey on a small frozen pond out in the middle of the woods.

It's more interesting this way - mixing things up - and I think it's better conditioning when your body doesn't know what's coming next (or at least isn't "used to" it). I'm going to do more of this in 2011. Be less of a lemming.

Burrito Illegal

Oh and we did another very un-lemming-like thing. We ended at Rincon Tarasco in Downingtown.

So one reshuffled White Clay ride, three "Burrito Illegals" at Rincon Tarasco, and six Rolling Rocks later, we were pretty darn pleased with ourselves...

Chris

P.S. And speaking of mixing it up, we had a real "Super Star" song mix for the ride to Delaware.  What a bunch of animals we are...

RIDER DOWN

Andy was ginning up a Chelsy's ride for Wednesday night, but I had already committed to a Thursday morning ride at White Clay, and I wanted all my marbles for that ride. Plus they were parking their trucks in Downingtown so they could end the ride at Chelsy's. I thought that was more like a Shirley Temple ride. In a real Chelsy's ride, we stop in town mid-ride.  That was we have the always entertaining ride home after Chelsy's.

The phone rang around 9:00 and I ignored it.  I was very comfortable on the couch with my daughter, and not particularly interested in getting an earful on the phone from a bunch of well-lubricated  mountain bikers. Eventually I found my way to the phone and out of curiosity checked for messages. Here is what I found (and yes it was in ALL CAPS):

RIDER DOWN. WE'RE AT THE STRUBLE TRAIL AND LYNDELL DRIVE. THIS IS NO JOKE.

The message was from Andy and it was about 30 minutes old. I called him and learned that Jim's carbon fiber bar had failed catastrophically on the Blue Trail descent to the Struble (we call this section "The Bobsled Run"). He had obviously crashed pretty spectacularly. Mike was already down there loading Jim and his bike into a car, and they weren't thinking hospital...but there would be no Chelsy's for Jim tonight.

I am reminded of the adage that with carbon fiber components you get "strong, light, and inexpensive - pick any two."  It sounds like Jim got a good deal on some lightweight components.

Anyway I'm glad Jim is OK and sorry for missing the call.

Chris

Gaining Some Lost Ground

Carving the Bonus Loop

With Friday night's bonfire, Saturday night Christmas caroling, and the seemingly endless supply of home made cookies available in our house I have lost some serious ground over the last 48 hours. Mike and I decided to  reclaim some lost territory with an early afternoon ride.

It feels like we gained a lot. 

Views were pretty spectacular, about half the lake is now frozen. Trails were fast and frozen for the most part, but soft enough to add some pucker factor to the fast hillside descent by the Dorlan Mill ruins. Ran into some other bikers, including MikeM and Mark on the Lakeside Trail and an enthusiastic foursome whooping it up on the teeter. Carefully hopscotched around some black ice patches on the rocky climb.

Now I think I'll have some cookies and watch the Eagles game...give back some of the territory I just gained.

Chris

Disaster (Narrowly) Averted, Again

The bonfire was laid, most of the provisions were staged, and the trail to the firepit was lit by kerosene torches that KO had thoughtfully placed every 20' along the treacherous 25° downhill section. Four years worth of experience were paying off with a smooth running operation. Who would have thought that near disaster would strike before we even saddled up for the opening event?

Site of the Near Disaster

KO was shuttling some last minute supplies to the bonfire site. He was on a 4WD ATV pulling a toboggan loaded with firewood, propane, and kerosene. The downhill section was tricky, and the toboggan clipped one of the torches, dumping about a quart of burning kerosene into the dry underbrush. We fought the spreading fire valiantly, trying to stomp it out with our feet and then to smother it with the toboggan. Luckily, and to KO's credit, have had included a fire extinguisher in the load of combustibles and was able to extinguish the fire before it become a headline.

Kirk's Colorful Custom Light Setup

With disaster averted, we hooked up a couple of loaner lights and KO rigged his custom light setup. Eleven riders shoved off in the 25° temps for the obligatory loop down the Struble, up the Quarry Trail, and back down Blue Trail for the mad dash "home" to the comfort of the beer and bonfire. One rider defied physics by riding in shorts and two left-hand fingerless gloves. While we had no "mechanicals" we did have one "electrical" (a dead light) through a nasty section of railroad ties, which resulted in a front wheel twisting 90° and sending one rider flying after jamming him in the stomach with the bar end. That's basically a punch in the stomach, followed by a body slam onto the frozen ground, all in total darkness.

8' Bonfire

We completed the circuit and were greeted by DC on our return (he had a busy day). We ignited the fire (flames estimated at 8' high), commenced aggressive rehydration, began devouring the pot of piping hot chili that MR had lovingly prepared the night before, and then settled in around the bonfire.

I know a lot of people were there to see the much ballyhooed fire jumping contest, but it never got off the ground. It's always a challenge to find someone to kickoff that particular competition, and with AS out and MR retiring early, we were utterly lost.  But this is an industrious lot, and it did not take long to find a new mind-numbingly-stupid activity to fill the void. It had something to do with improvised fireworks, and it culminated in a glowing mortar fragment bouncing off JR's chest, leaving his eyes as big as saucers and a neat (and no doubt hard to explain to the wife) burn hole in his sweater. Luckily we closed that chapter before anyone got seriously disfigured.

MM Entry

MR Entry

SM Entry (burning)

Of course, in addition to the adolescent behavior traditionally exhibited at this event, we enjoy more cerebral pursuits. Like the best beer presentation. This year's entries were well executed and covered a lot of ground:

• Entry #1 - Jenna's ample cousin Delila (beer in hand thanks to KO and a roll of duct tape) was strong in the category of "anatomical curiosities." The cerebral element came to play when the disoriented group realized the only reliable way to find your way is to "check which way the feet are pointing."  Everyone agreed this was a profound and useful insight,
• Entry #2 - A festive comic-book themed beer rack was a welcome G-rated counter balance to entry #1. 
• Entry #3 - the combination porta-potty/beer cooler complete with cup holder, DBDC monogrammed toilet paper, magazine rack, baby-wipe dispenser, and mountain bike tire accent on the movable lid.  

If the competition were based on points alone, entry #3 would have won hands down, but alas the "must burn" requirement was not met by either of the last two entries, so the title was awarded, on a technicality, to Entry #1.

The remainder of the evening (and morning) were consumed primarily by bike porn (guys gushing over TH's long travel fork), KO's uselessly frozen elastomer fork, and the occasional exploding (frozen) beer. Temperature at this point had dipped to 15°. We reluctantly threw in the towel around 3:00am.

Thanks to everyone who braved the elements last night, and especially to MR for the most awesome chili, to MM, SM, and MR for their competitive and creative spirit, to KO for letting us trash his back yard, and to everyone else for riding bikes in this stupid cold weather, and making the event memorable.

Chris

"We all get it in the end"
     - unknown