balls

just what I needed.

went fishin'
then went ridin' on some

sweet, new to me trail

and saw some interesting

numbers on the HR gizmo.
talk about recovered and
firing on all cylinders, ohhhh shit!

that's the bounce I've been looking for.
only question is, how high?

101 will be a painful affair no doubt,
and I'm not walking away with
just a water bottle this year.

to the moon, bitch!
to. the. moon.

gone fishin'

needed a change of pace,

bit of a reboot, back to basics.

let's go fishin'!

cool mtn stream.
monstrous native brookies!

butterflies & beetles

love the skat!another friendly native
his knee deep home.
found a little snack during the hike out
then heard a flitter behind me, hello mister red bird.

color me relaxed, be well.

deepness

did I go too far, or just far enough?
kept piling it on, pile. it. on.

no regrets, the rides
were beautiful experiences,
16+ hours last week
legs still flat 4/5 days later.
can feel the big bounce coming.
hope it gets here soon,
the mental game is revving.
goals are set, no plan to hide behind
the fixed gear for this one.
I will unleash the power and the fury!

the 101 is going down!
or you'll find me fetal position
wimpering in the laurel.....again.

no Lykens 50 for me this wknd,
no need to ruin super fun time experience
trail sessions by associating them
w/ raceface suffer & slum.

And WTF is up with having to pay to camp?
80 fucking dollar registration,
and the promoter can't include a spot
on the grass for me to set up a tent?

$10 to camp in addition to the entry fee.
who's putting this thing on? Laird?

fuck that.

ooops

this is shocking, shocking I tell ya!, fucking moron.

Vino pinched for blood doping.

It must be one hell of a mindset to love something so much that you're willing to kill it in the process.

possible excuse: Well ya see, I had all these cuts, and lost a good bit of blood in the process, just wanted/needed to top off the tank.

What a douche.

days like these

Feelin' the love, legs having rebounded nicely. Time now for a bit of Tuscarora exploration, a 'one of those days' rides that kept getting put off. Now I know why. Original plan, altered; big goal for the day, aborted after spending 45 minutes to go 3 miles downhill with a bit too much gnarly ankle busting scree hike a bike. Time of day vs potential for more trail suckage = tail between legs. Had a very solid and enjoyable 5 hours preceding that point though.

The now familiar view from Elk Hill Rd.A bit of history along the way.yummmmm.Sheriff Trail is like a super Flat Trail, intense creekside love. Middle Ridge petered out on me before reaching Ant Hill, sort of a frustrating bushwack at times. But some nice scenery along the way.

A quick look near the Turkey Pens gate revealed freshy enduro trail. Nice session of riding the dusted over singletrack moto trail, working soft berms of pulverized loam. Tempo'd out the road to Fowlers Hollow, top off the water, look over the map, confirm the route and head out the back of the park. Eventually bump into Twig Trail and find an incredible climb and berry bushes up out of the hollow to Hemlock Rd.

Another shitty view.Looking at the clock, decide to bail on the BigSpring portion of the planned loop and head direct to the Tuscarora.

The first 1/2mile or so was pretty nice, typical techy trail, then it turned right and pitched straight up the fall line on laid in natural rock steps. Over the ridge and it plunged down through beyond ridable gnarl. Hiking was tough and pure sketch in spots, nothing like steep scree scrambles in Sidis w/ a 29er on your shoulder. Finally back down into the hollow, breaktime at the shelter and decide to bail, 5:45 elapsed. Figure that a 1.5 hour slog on fireroad is most direct route home. So, back out the hollow, down thru the park, pull on the gameface and pick up Laurel Run Rd at it's northern terminus then TT that sucker back to the car and the single warm beer I have waiting. Finish up with 7:20 elapsed, smidge under 6 riding, fifty couple on the odo, lots of fireroad hammering, maybe a bit too much shwackin' and juuuuust enough quality trail to keep me smiling and thinking of coming back, count it.

Slept in and watched the thoroughbreds go toe to toe in le Tour today. Damn, that's one hell of a race this year. Inspired, I climbed back onto the Dos, rolling out the door at a bright and early 11:30ish.

Head for the hills.

Spun her sweetly out to MarshRun, then up the Adams County side for a ripping trip across Ridgetop and down to Coach Duffy's. Follow the tarmac to Cold Spring for a lap up around Vista.

Loving the view.

Wrap it up by rolling across Flat Trail then slum home on pavement with a soak in the cool healing waters of the Letort. Takes strength to get stronger, this wknd was a step in the right direction for sure. Hope yours went well also.

peace.

why? v2.0

New places. Wind in your hair.Pushing limits. Podiums.

Well earned beer.

Friends. And Flow.Gotta have Flow.

Curse 100k --- ouch.

Seeexxxxxy.

Yeah, what a wknd. Props to everybody that finished, especially the one speeders, that was a tough, very tough loop. Pre-rode the whole thing 'for fun' on Saturday. Had a blast on the front loop, solo ripping the downhills, all day steady gunning pace on the climbs. Dos rode splendidly, other than the grumpy middle ring. Had to give myself a pep talk before heading out for the second portion, didn't want it to get ugly and the potential was there for sure. Kept to the gameplan, gettin' it big grin styley in the woods and staying honest on the climbs, gameface but not quite cramping race pace.

Backside of Grave's was a special treat, had to laugh out loud at the ridiculousness. Knew from Travfest that from the bottom of Grave's to Big Flat was a serious chunk of elevation, one of the biggest in the forest probably. And I guess there's a reason that we rarely, if ever, ride that atv trail up the backside of Grave's, that fucker is just plain rude. Deep roots with sippy holes, little headwalls and lots of quirky power moves. Then you turn the corner and get kicked in the teeth with what are probably the gnarliest sections of 'rock gardens' that you've seen all day, after about 8hours of punishment. It was neat. Dug in and somehow rode it all clean, then spun it up to Big Flat, clocking out at 8:15 elapsed, 7:20 riding.

Props to everybody that toed the line. From the seasoned pros (congrats Harlan!) to the folks that didn't know what they were getting into and everybody in between, way to step it up. That was one hell of a loop that ya'll just raced around. A splash of pics from the day, more up at the smug.

The rider formally known as Jake.

Big dog for the day, Harlan.

Chris E.Fuck it, just huck it! Harlan's buddy Pete.Buddy taking care of his 'single speed tax.'

Lonely Road.