Two Days off, two days riding.
Sworks SJ SS HT on Church Rocks…
Yesterday I grabbed the new bike and headed out to the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. I spent the entire morning watching/helping my dad move huge rocks and plants and gravel and shit with the Bobcat. All the stuff we moved had to go to the dump so I had about an hour to ride before I had to be back to be able to finish the landscaping project.
It usually takes me an hour and 15 minutes to ride from the Cottonwood Trailhead and do the cherry stem loop of Church Rocks. I’ve been contemplating this almost impossible (for me) to break time. Last Friday I got out and did it in an hour and 11 minutes and felt like I was going to die, but I had faith that I could get it done quick enough to be back in time.
I grabbed the one dog that I thought could keep up and drove to the trailhead. Moco and I began the trail at 2 p.m. My legs were burning as I rode up the dirt road from the trailhead towards Prospector. I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make it, but once my legs got warmed up the pedals seemed to spin on their own. With that kind of momentum I figured I best give it all I had to see if I could do the loop in an hour.
Moco kept on my wheel. I stopped at the big water hole just below the red rocks to let her rest and get some water. And then I ran her into the ground. She kept up until I got back to the dirt road and then she decided it was more important to go her own speed than to try and keep up with me. This is the first time she has done that…
But all said the bike handled like a champ and I finished in 59 minutes and 57 seconds. I know that it ranks right above fist bumps on the gay scale but I set a new PR… All you tri geeks will know what I mean.
Making Cycling Difficult 101
In today’s installment:
- How to make dirt roads difficult to ride
- Three steps in destroying a Campagnolo Ultra Torque BB
- Plus an ironic tip on how to find the easy line on wet sandy roads
Today was day two of my weekend. As was forecasted, the weather did not hold so I could get some good riding in. The rain started last night and has been pretty steady since. I’ve been dieing all week to ride so I was determined to make sure that I got a ride in regardless of where or how the weather was. My stead for this outing was the High Life. She’s been a bit neglected since I got the Look and the SJ SS HT. So she needed a good ride.
I’d been eyeballing the dirt road at the end of Main Street in Washington for a while. It’s on my commute to work and it looked like it would lead me into some great views and a few places I hadn’t tread in Super Great.
I began preparing to ride around 2:30. The rain was coming down hard, the back yard was filling up with water and the street was more like a stream. It looked perfect to me, but KB declined to accompany me. I rummaged up the waterproof gear that I never get to use and readied the High Life. And then I headed out the door. The rain lessened and was but a drizzle as I headed North from the house.
I hit the dirt road and my speed went from 15 to 5 in a matter of feet. The sand was wet and didn’t hold very well beneath my thin, knobbies. But I was determined. I carried the bike around the motorized vehicle road block and headed up the hill. Not only was the road wet, sloppy and sandy, it also started out by going up hill. By the time I was about 5 minutes into my ride I was working so hard and going so slow that I couldn’t see through my glasses because they were fogged up. I forged on.
Once to the top of the hill, I stopped to remove my glasses and skull cap. I looked at where I had come from and where I was going, had some doubts, and then headed on. It seemed that every time I started to get some momentum my tires would find a soft section of road that would bring me back to a standing halt. I forged on.
I quickly learned that if you follow the wet sections of road they will be the hardest. I determined that the road tread was actually hard enough in those spots to keep the water from draining into the sand (that’s your tip). So I began to follow the water and started to make some descent progress. I made it to the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve boundary. I stood and look at the kiosk that I had never seen before and learned the names of the roads in the area. Then I forged on.
Once in the reserve the road was a bit harder and I was able to keep a steadier cadence. After about 40 minutes of riding the rain really started to come down. I stopped and looked at the amazing views of the mesas north of town covered in low clouds. I was getting close to being right at their feet but the road was getting more and more sandy. I tried to keep going but would make it about 100 yards and would have to stop. The rain kept coming down…
I turned around. This is when I noticed that I had actually been climbing the entire time I was riding. This meant that my return trip was fast, wet, slippery, nasty, and an absolute bomb. I made it home at the hour mark for a quick little jaunt on this awesome, rainy day.
Now, how to ruin a Campy BB.
Step 1
Install the BB on a bike that you plan to ride in the dirt completely ignoring Campy’s “Not intended for off road use” warnings.
Step 2
Decide to ride your bike on a wet nasty day offroad.
Step 3
Make sure that you take the bike with the Campy BB on that nasty, wet day and ride a sandy road. Guaranteed carnage…
Peace. Love. and Revolution.