NK100 uPdAtE 2

Was out late marking the middle section of the course. Its going to have some fun stuff, but this section will have some hike a bikes, some seriously draining double track, and the last 1.5 miles of the rail road service road are brutal. But, its nice. And its marked. By my calculations I got two more sessions of marking to go, one by bike and one by car.

I did find a terrific gem. Apparently the county has been hard at work and they have built a new cement bike path that goes along my route. In fact it links Orange City to Deland Perfectly. I stumbled upon it last night, rode it almost till the end. Investigated its start location and I look forward to incorporating it into future rides. As for the NK100 it will be in there, just a small section that actually works much better then the original route, more scenic and a little better in terms of continuity.

Should be a good ride. I'm starting to think some people are going to get their butt's kicked this Saturday.

Two more things, for those that didn't know, this is an OFF ROAD ride. Although we will ride on the road for a good 20 plus miles of it, there is no way you could do this on a road bike and if your a good cyclocrosser you could do it on that type of bike.

Last, here is the link to what I marked yesterday, only parts of this, especially along the power lines and the railroad are part of the NK100.

Laters,
Enjoy,
LOS

Nk100 uPdAtE.

Been out doing some trail marking. Still got some more to do, but I figure the night time renegade way maybe the best way.

My Lady, Has never ridden the newest section that I found two weeks ago and we went out together to mark it and ride it.
This the profile for the first 17 miles. I wanted to show my wife the newest section that pretty much led to the connection and the breakthrough that helped make this rides route logical.
By the looks of it, the profile makes it look like hard work. I assure you, its not as bad as it looks.

For the sattellite imagery, check this link.

Enjoy,
Laters,
LOS

Picture this!

The Ergon pack, loaded with the portable trail cutting trail marking kit. The pack gets my thumbs up and I recommend it for anyone that needs a pack that can seriously get your back in any situation.

You will see this sight at the NK ride.

After lunch, the wife and I took the short cut thru the woods and followed a single track I spotted out the corner of my eye. Presto Bum village! You will not see this on the NK ride.

While navigating one of the two single track portions of the loop, I was ducking under an enormous tree and the tree clippers got caught. The bag ripped and unstiched. I don't fault the pack though, I don't think it was designed to carry an item poking out the top of the pack like I had the scissors this day,

Whats this Rat thinking about?

I finally, got my lady some women's specific shorts and saddle from Specialized. Did a little imitation wobble naught fit and she said its the best she has ever felt on the bike.

The tools of the trail marker.

Salsa and Surly in a another samurai creation the Stiff Bitch!!

The best Helmet Hair of 2008!

I digg his style, nothing but flavor. Ladies Watch out!

News and the latest from the Edge..

I was going to go on a Night ride tonight. Love this ride. While loading my Mamasita on the roof rack, in the process of closing the Yakima skewer it broke my negative air pressure valve.
I am officially fork less.
As soon as it happened I didn't have time to think. I jumped in the car and took it to my friend. He is going to slap on a rigid fork, so I am going to be riding rigid for awhile.

In other news I finally pulled the edge data for the past couple of rides.

I figured some of you may want to look at the data from the Cohutta 100. Click on the link and rifle thru the dashboard. Interesting notable is my 40mph top speed dirty descent, that's pretty damn fast!!
I will post pictures once I got the bike rebuilt rigid.
BTW, good luck to the all the Warriors heading up to PMBAR. If the weather report holds true conditions will be Brutal, hope everyone comes out safe.

Enjoy,
Laters,
LOS

Updates on the 100K

To those that have not received an invite to the ride, there could be one of two reasons why:

1. There are some people I would invite, but seriously doubt they would drive hundreds of miles to do an "off road tour" in my surrounding area.
2. There are some people that I frankly do not know to well or know if they would be interested or know at all.

I did send out invitations to everyone I thought maybe interested or would like to come or would appreciate the unique experience this ride offers.

I have to keep the ride numbers to a certain level, since some of the areas we are going to be riding thru require us to be a little discreet.

That being said, some individuals have not RSVP either way, leaving some open spots.

If anyone who reads this, would enjoy a little off road tour adventure, send me an email and I will send you the information on where to be on May 10Th.

To all that have responded, I hope your looking forward to an interesting ride, I think what you will find most interesting is that I pieced together this entire ride utilizing Google Maps and the satellite option, trial and error, lots of zooming in and an edge 205.

See you soon,

Laters,
LOS

The NaKeD InDiAn 100K

The Long of it.....

What a difference a day makes. I will go back. For the simple fact, that I do have aspirations of doing the GDR and there would be WAY more Gravel Grinding on that ride then on this one(Sandpine your driving). I need to man up.
Goal setting is part of my new skill set in 2008, and I did set some goals for the ride. The important part of goal setting is to write things down. Just as important as writing down your goals is to be specific. For example:
Goal #1: "I will finish the Cohutta 100 in ten hours or less". Its true, I finished in 8.5 hours. What I should have said, was "I will finish the entire Cohutta 100 course as it is laid out for the competitors in ten hours or less."

Goal #2: "I will beat Luis to the end". Almost came true, I had help from a diesel dualie truck. LOL.

Goal #3: "I will beat Ron to the end". This one did come true, again, diesel dualie, I should have said I will complete the course, blah Skippy blah, before Ron.

Goal#4: "I will have fun and enjoy and be safe". That totally came true, although I only rode 67 miles, Its to date the fastest dirt 67 I have done and it was clean not a single crash or dab, my team mates claim to have never seen me crash, but its not true, like once every 6 months I crash.

Takeaways:
My Nutrition was spot on. I don't eat typical cycling foods. I try to stick to whole foods or items that hit low on the glycemic index to avoid insulin spikes and avoid bonking. I took my handlebar bag, which may have looked suspect, but I had all the nutrition in there I would need for 12 hours. I took one dime bag an hour with 2 endurolytes and 2 sportsleggs, and I would eat 2 to 300 calories each hour depending on how I felt. I also made sure to keep drinking. Nutrition was there.
I got to see a bear in the wild during the race, lucky me!
I got to meet some new people and I got to ride some really spectacular terrain, I didn't think I would go back, but I will.
I rode hardest I have ever ridden and really put all my effort, I can honestly say I didn't leave nothing on the table.

The blow by blow:
The morning was drizzling and chilly. I got to use my brand new pearl izumi jacket, in fact I wore it all day and it turned out to be a great cycling Ally. I also, got to wear the new team bikeworks Orlando team kit in a race for the first time. I have never worn bibs and I totally dug them and the jersey pockets were deep enough to hide my entire race number inside of them, I really digg the gear(thanks guys).
I wasn't nervous as the siren went off, I took off riding but the legs were dead. From the start, I had nothing, no power, dead weight. I got chicked, single speeded, geezered, whipper snappered, I mean everyone passed me, I went into the woods, Dead Fu**in Last!
When I hit the single track I went to work. And it didn't take long for me to start passing people. And that's pretty much how it went till the 65 milers came Thru, then the 35 milers. I was riding clean, but not fast enough and I was really looking forward to the Gravel road to see if I could reel Ron back in.
I hit the Gravel road and I hammered. I was riding as fast as I could within my limits, I didn't want to fry myself. And sure enough after ten minutes of solid work I started reeling in riders just as we started hitting the major climbs on the gravel road. I kept saying to myself in my head how the course description clearly said that an expert level rider could do all the climbs on the course in the middle ring. So I avoided granny, but eventually, after miles and miles of climbing I decided I wanted to use it and my bike would not shift into the smallest frontal ring. Bummer, I kept griding away. After what seemed forever I made stop 2 and asked if there was a mechanic, and he fixed my ring, and I took off after some water and lube and kept at it. Eventually, after another eternity of riding I made stop three. At stop three, I ate some of my food, got more lube and water and took off. At this point I had picked up a couple of riders that wanted company, but I had a plan. I wanted to make stop 4 by 4 so I could have a chance of making the 7pm cutoff at stop six. I had one hour to complete 15 or so miles, it was a tall order, but at this point I was up for the challenge, they said there were "ten miles of downhill", so I took off. The two dudes tried to keep up and they did OK, but after 3 miles I was gone and so where they and when I hit the downhill, I took off, It was some good long downs but it had some ups and I was in such a rush that I would big ring hammer standing up the short climbs in an effort to make time. In the end, I made it to stop for at 4:35, it took me way longer then the hour I had hoped.
At that point, the race officials, never encouraged me to stop, but they basically told me I would have no way of making the cutoff. I gave it up and stopped my effort. I did put 30 minutes on one of the dudes and 45 minutes on the other in that short "15 miles" but regardless, that is how the cookie crumbled.
I rode back in the sag truck helped clean up the course markers and lamented my lack of strength to ride faster.
Some questions, to answer from the previous posts. What would I have done different? Turns out a couple of days before the race I got some bad news. I have a condition that needs surgery to fix and I believe its the main reason I had no power in the legs. Because of what is going on, I will not be able to race the PMBAR (sorry Luis) and the rest of my race schedule(i.e. Tsali) is up in the air. What I do know is that I should be healthy and in shape to do the Shenandoah 100 in August and that is what I am looking forward too. There is also the pine log 12 hour in October that I would love to take a crack at for the win.
In other news, turns out I officially broke my first bicycle. No not my Mamasita, she is battered but holding up fine, but the Beast. Raleigh is going to have to warranty my frame due to a cracked head tube.
That's it for now, in the mean time I plan to spend my off/on time doing more riding and more exploring, just enjoying the ride, hope you do too.

Laters,

LOS

The Short of it....

I got my ASS KICKED at the Cohutta.
I did a Dirty Metric(67Miles) vs. a Dirty Hundy(100 miles).
I suffered and turned myself inside out regardless.
I experienced new levels of physical and spiritual exertion.
I Survived.
I would be hard pressed to ever go to that place to race again.

The long story in a couple of days, I got more riding to do, the pain factory does not stop now.

Laters,

LOS

Mr. Murphy.

Him and his laws seem to take stock in my upcoming events.

Like I said in my previous posts the rides have been spectacular lately. Very Poetic; Last night was no exception.

We have been doing Night Sessions at Snowhill on Thursday(all are welcome) and have a great time of it. This time I decided I would park on Barr Street and ride to the other lot, 5 miles away, and meet up, just to get some extra miles. Plus by my calculations it takes a 13 mile ride and makes it into a 21 mile ride.

The ride is going great and I feel good. Jason has two dramatic crashes within miles of each other. I was surprised he was not hurt, but regardless my flow cup was flowing and the trail was melting beneath the shred of my tires.

We came to a section of trail that we can usually blaze thru and was greeted by flooding. Now I thought that there was no way it could be that deep, but upon inspection, my front wheel came close to half way down and I barely dipped it in the water. As Jason was crossing a baby alligator swam under him, he was about 2 feet long with lots of bright green colors. It was pretty awesome to see. Not even a half a mile after that we came across a big 5 foot gator just chillin on the bank 20 feet below.

The night could not have been anymore magical till it happened. Coming around a sharp corner that descended into a rooty chute, mid way I quickly notice that the normal spot we plow thru was filled with water, I grabbed a handful of front brake and was sent airborne, splashing down into the water, hands, knees and face.

Luckily I didn't smash my face into anything or come face to face with any animals. Other then being soaked and a pain in my right calf, I was OK and so was the bike. From then on I took it cautious and when we finally exited the out and back section I decided to cut 3 miles from my ride and head back to the car early. I was getting really cold being all wet and was starting to get concerned about the growing pain in my calf muscle.

On the drive home, all I could think about was how I am one week away from a momentous event in my cycling universe and now I was going to have to go into the event with a pulled calf muscle. And I thought about Okeechobee how I did that ride with a enormous sleep deficit,
and how I did Santos 12 hour with horrible neck pain. It seems to have been my karma to always have something physical or mechanical keep me from entering an event with all pistons firing.

When I got home, I took 2 alleve a nice bath, ate food and went to bed. Could feel the pain all night. Woke up the next morning with the ache fresh in my mind. As I got up and walked around, the pain became tolerable. As a matter of fact I worked all day with it. Up and down the ladder, climbing poles, the whole nine yards. Even took the kids to a loop around the cemetery and challenged all the neighborhood kids to sprint races.

Ten hours of riding this weekend is the goal. Well see how it holds up.

I think I may have Murphy checked this time.

Enjoy,
Laters,
LOS

It HaS a NaMe...ItS cAlleD RoCkY TrAiNiNg

Well, I know the posts have been infrequent, but I have been busy cramming like a procrastinating teenager the day before the social studies project is due, preparing for the Cohutta 100. Riding as many miles as possible as often as possible has been the meal of the moment, and I got to say I have been having a good time and I feel great.

I must say my ambitions to lose weight in preparation for the races that are coming up has paid off. I started at 205 and currently weigh 183lbs. Its been interesting, the battle of going thru such a physical change does not go unnoticed. I would have to continually readjust to my new self and truth be told, I am just getting tuned to my new size.

I cant say that I rode as much as I would like. I would hope to not have to work and just spend the better time of everyday I possibly could, pedaling my bike for a couple of hours here and there. But I am going to take my lemons and make lemonade.

I have done at least three pouring down rain rides, not by choice either, just the way the cooking crumbled. On one I got caught out there and it was cold, all I had on was a simple Team bike works Orlando jersey. In order to be able to hammer and not shiver, I copped a free copy of the pennysaver periodical and stuffed it inside my shirt tour de france style, and it kept me warm and toasty all the way home.

I envy these out of towners with their miles of service roads and gravel roads to go out and do senseless off road miles. They have Gravel Grinder sessions I have Sand Slugging sessions. One dirt road in particular that I was exploring on, was so muddy that every pedal stroke took effort. In my mind I resolved to treat it like the long climbs I will be doing in the mountains soon and just grinded it out. Even though the conditions were less than favorable, I still saw some goats, and got to ride with four dogs who came up and playfully ran with me till their owner called them to their side. I even found a Lil baby bird that fell out of a nest. After holding it briefly in my hand and not immediately seeing any nests to place him in, I put him back down and prayed for the birds life.

I have been riding in the dark alot. Despite the fact that it gets darker later, later seems to be the time I start and my rides tend to run past the sun's reach. Regardless of the rain and the dark, the riding has been spectacular and I have been really feeling the difference of the new wheelset and the new body. We will just have to see what plays out in Cohutta.

Although it will not make a bit of difference for the upcoming race, I am still going to continue to ride my Mamasita as much as possible before the race. My plan is to ride right thru the next couple of weeks. Everyone talks about recovery, but I think its a myth and I will be on a mission to prove it.

The cohutta is coming, but more important is the PMBAR.

Ok, lets make fight then.

I will be riding this weekend, drop me a line if you want to make bike ride!

Enjoy the pics,
Laters,
LOS

Hard to tell from this angle, but the goat in the middle is taking a piss.

Ya thats me during the Sand Slugging sessions.

We dont got mountains be we still got nice views, exploring!

And another shot of the sea level vistas.

I carry this on my back country rides. I never want to have to use it and never hope too. But after being chased by a pack of pitbulls at mile ninety something down near Okeechobee, I vowed to be ready if I ever came across aggressive animals like that.

The bike, I love it, but It hates me, I ride it hard and put it away wet almost every time.

More Bars in more places. I am amazed by how far I can ride on three bottles, the new physical frame is definetely a treat!

Being a skateboarder means skateboarding dammmit! Barefoot dedication downhill manny in surfer boy swim trunks, with all the smooth stylie I could muster! Live in the Moment Y'all!

O WhAt A WeeKeNd!

My lovely wife turned one year older this weekend, as is tradition, its not a birthday, its a birthday weekend and this one didn't end till Monday came. My wife is a the hub of our family and one of the most important people in my universe. I am thankful to have her and it was a pleasure to celebrate another year of life with her!

Little man Kailan, getting in more time on the bike, I love riding with this guy!

There they are, My wife and my son riding the last section of the Monday ride on the cement trail.

Apparently this kid is a bad ass.

Check out that smile, someone loves to ride the single speed.

My loops are ridiculous, but can be fined tuned. This is us crossing the massive pit, heading towards the power lines. The climb out of the pit is steep, I made it, but Lil man is hike a biking.

She says she might of made had little man not messed up the climb for her. If anyone ever wants to ride my sadistic west volusia loop, holler at your boy, I guarantee it will be something to remember.

Two girls one picture, I am in love with the HOT one!!!

Yea, I know I'm lucky but so is she trust me! Not many ladies get to have their own personal boy toy like me.

My good friend Magi I think he is doing blue steel!

We built a permanent fire pit, here is a picture of us enjoying it.

Camera phone shot, amazing composition.

On a ride the other night I passed a night a sign advertising fire wood. The 85 year old, sold me one barrel for 23 bucks, and threw in the another barrel for free, thanks!

Overall, it was a blast. We ate, partied, and rode our butts off, what else can you ask for,

Enjoy,
laters,
LOS

WHaT A DiFFeRance!

Two rides into the Beast build and I still felt powerless and was suffering from hip joint pain and knee pain. I thought for sure, I had lost my single speed mojo.

I tried several times to get up with Matt Goforth from On your mark performance, but stuff just kept coming up. I spoke to him and communicated my urgency. I know I got the Cohutta 100 coming up, my first 100 mile off road race, but I'm truly not worried about it. My focus is on the PMBAR in May. And its going to be a single speed race, in Pisgah Forests, point blank, a no joke serious situation.

Sensing and understanding my urgency he made the drive up last Thursday and checked the fit on my Salsa and applied my fit to the Beast.

The single most important upgrade a serious cyclist could make is a bike fit. You can ride 29 or 26, and make your bike light as a feather, but if your fit and function on the bike is lacking efficiency, you will be left with an expensive ill fitting toy.

After we were done with the fit, I immediately went for a night ride with my team mates Jason and Trevor at the snow hill trails. I could feel the difference with every stroke, I felt strong, fast and smooth. Before the fit I felt like I was sitting on the bike, even considering purchasing a different frame altogether. After the fit, I felt like me and the bike are working as one and the bike feels better then it ever has, even since I purchased it a year ago.

Went to Alafia on Saturday, first time since 2006, and I was killing it. With the exception of a couple of climbs in moonscape, I was cleaning the entire place, riding fasts, riding smooth, pushing a 32 X 17 on the 29 like it was no thing. And to what do I owe this great improvement in performance, the answer is so obvious, I wont even mention it. Truth be told, I was feeling an extreme lack of confidence of the upcoming challenge in May, Now, Im feeling like PMBAR will not be a problem and the Single Speed Mojo has returned.

If you want to enhance and maximize your riding experience; if you want to ride longer, faster and more efficiently; call or email Matt. He will measure you from head to toe and make your non custom bike into a beautiful boutique wonder. Its worth every penny that I paid to have both bikes done. In fact it wont be long before I have my surly done and that will complete my entire fleet on the Wobble Naught fit. Just do it, why not?

laters,

LOS

EaStEr!

Some days its just better to sleep in and enjoy the blessing of your family. And Easter seemed like a fitting day to take that opportunity. I am a self professed expert on coaching kids on riding. I have personally fathered and coached 2 Florida state champions and hope to soon coach a third. I had always wanted to take them thru the technical trails of snow hill but feared injury or worst discouragement for any further trail riding. The key to making riding fun for kids is to incorporate a destination. Usually its stop by the ice cream shop or the playground mid ride, this time it was a surprise dip in the river. I didn't tell them ahead of time, I kept it all secret, the destination, the mission, etc. It worked out great.

Kailan is really coming into his own on the bike and did exceptionally well. He wants to go riding with just daddy next time and I think I will oblige him.

Daddy and son, how much fun!

The beast in all its glory.

Gabriel and My lovely wife coming out. Gabriel is five and he did 7 miles of trails this day on his modified diamond back bmx.

Don't know how this guy ended up in Kailan's wheel, but I had to take several shots just to marvel at the glory of God's creations.

A grand way to end a ride with a dip in the river. The weather was perfect and the boys had a blast. I got to play trail guide, paying attention to every detail and every need, best Easter Ever!

Thats What She Said!

Exploring

This right here is what my team mates call Mission Control!

I do it often, Google maps is my guide. Satellite view, zoom in tight, look for the single track or the double track, get on the bike and explore!

I have found lots of gems in my area, and lots of duds. Usually the duds offer some good distances to cover, but I usually end up doing the dreaded sugar sand hike a bike. Hike a bike is almost a four letter word to Floridian MTBeers. Its a common and traditional trait for a Florida trail rider to want to Clear and clean every piece of trail that unfolds in front of them. I have learned, that Hike a biking has its rewards. But there is nothing rewarding about sinking sandy strips of trails, that leave you with a pair of sidi's and socks full of nature's finest granules.

Before I was trying to ride these trails by bike, I used to blaze some of them in my friends Honda civic. We would do some serious enduro driving, it is because of those days that I knew where to look for trails. One in particular that intrigues me is Old Train Road. It stretches from Lake Helen to State Road 415, at least that is what Google says. I went hunting for the connector that would take me to 415. But encountered a bob wire fence and some serious signage. It deterred me, but it still has me plotting a moonlight marauding run through the trail with no lights. You could clearly see, that a trail was there but the fence did its job. I decided to head the other way and sure enough I found a section that I could ride to add to my urban mtb loop which is currently at 45 miles.

I ended the afternoon with a bit of a scare. As I was dusting off the Mamasita which I am happy to have back in my possession, I noticed a crack in the frame. Right where the Scandium and Carbon meet. The odd thing was how defined the line was, I spoke to the good folks at salsa today and they told me that is the joint where the carbon and the scandium meet, that I should send them some pics, but they don't think I have anything to worry about.

Got to go ride more, everyday Cohutta 100 is just 5 weeks away,

enjoy,
Laters,
LOS