Raystown recovery

Sunday I went to Raystown to get a better feel for the trails. I convinced Yoda, Myers, and Amber to come along. I kept the ride to 'blue' trails because I didn't want to effort too much - I needed to recover from the saturday near century. We did buck, doe, switch, eagle, sidewinder, up a piece of Rays, Berry/LocoMotive, piece of redlegs, grippis, and allie back to buck. I forget but I think allie is my favorite.

Short Sat Ride

Well, our Saturday group got big as we joined forces with a group wanting to do a century! My plan was to head back and cut it short. Conveniently where I wanted to cut it short you can do a loop and come back to town for a 80 miler - perfect! The centurians decided to do our loop then add another 20 on the other side of State College. It was too perfect...too too perfect. Our actual ride ended up being 90 and change with a terrible headwind coming back. I mean the wind even blew downhill into our faces on climbs. On the positive side, the wind dampened the 90 degree heat to a more bearable 80ish! Needless to say all were glad to get back to town and there was no 'extra' loop on this day! Stats came in 5000 vert, 18 mph ave - ouch!

Words to live by

Always have your Victory Dance Ready!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3RagZqtdnE

Aft recovery ride

After the previous day century I did house and barn work. Then napped. Then went up to check out the Southern section of the AFT no one rides. It is actually a good section of trail: pretty, challenging, fun. Not the greatest but a good, solid trail. The bad thing is it required leg strength and I didn't have any! In fact the little hills on the fireroad back were alot harder than they should be! All in all a good ride. Spooked 3-4 grouse.

April Century

Well I was sick all week. I mean sick-sick. Not doing anything sick. Sucky sick. Even the old and infirm feel bad for you sick. Thursday I started feeling a little better. By Friday I was able to ride my bike a mile downhill to the shop to get it fixed! Saturday - let's do a century. Advil? Check. Water? check. Food? check. Fever? yep! We started out with a climb up Pine Grove, I was not fast. This would be par for the entire day. Basically I did very little work, suffered enough on the hills to not be a burden and finished with 105 on the odometer. My friend said I am a nut. Takes one to know one!

HO

Another 'Cross Saturday

Well rain changed out saturday century plans. I showed up at the Creamery at 9am - not too psyched to ride in the rain. James showed but no one else. Then we realized the ride was cancelled and we were doing a cross ride at 10!!! So we met the group at Unimart and did a big loop from Kepler road - 40+ miles of cross fun. Actually there was a super long climb that had we very uncomfortable - burning up with heat. I'd like to try it again someday!

Michaux on the horizon

Crap, I saw a post today about the Michaux race - less than a month away. I went to MBM for more info and saw something about a less rocky course change!!! WTFlyingF??? Less rocks and Michaux should not be together. I love rocks, they help me beat better cyclist!!! More rocks please!!! Any you clones have more info?

The Curse of Seeger

Last Saturday 'the old man ride' got hijacked by bird-gurl who had a great idea...climb seeger on cross bikes. I usually climb this on a mtn bike 2 weeks before the 101 and then during the 101 - that's it. But I love rides with a purpose so the group went out for the challenge. We were having a great time crushing the fireroads from tussey to whipples to allen seeger. Then the climb. Unfortunately the state decided to grade the climb very recently so it was soft and extra difficult. But I guess searching for a 'good' line kind of made you forget the effort! Topping out was sweet, then down Kettle and back coopers to allen seeger and home to Tussey. 40+ miles with loads of vertical = a sweet Saturday ride.

Short Track Tuesdays

The return of short track Tuesday is upon us. JL has opened a new season of lap riding with elevated heart rate. Definitely not close to being in shape yet. There is very little in the tank and I never feel strong, not recovering well either. But it is STILL so early. These are really fun and after a few weeks I'm sure I'll feel better. Having a bike that shifts well and actually works may help too!