Showing posts with label Cove Stiffee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cove Stiffee. Show all posts

Monday Suprise
POSTED BY Willis on 8:50 PM under , , ,
Since it was monday I didn't really plan on any sort of riding but instead thought about going to the Ping center to start my cross training.  Well at around 2:20PM Bryan "rigid" McClosky called me up wondering if I would be down to ride.  I have found that lately I have been somewhat addicted, no matter when, where or what I'm doing I will always accept an invitation to ride (strung out on the shit as Vince would say).  So I told Bryan I would pick him up in 10-15 mins and I through on my Bibs and grabbed a jersey and out the door I went.

After picking up Bryan we headed to Dow Lake to ride the trails there.  After Friday's ride at Dow Lake I was glad Bryan was up for something new and challenging.  Bryan and I decided to ride from the same place Aaron and I had started Friday and see how we were doing when we joined back up with the Lake View trail.  I had a meeting at 6 and needed time to take a shower and eat something beforehand.  We were riding great and as I would work my way away from Bryan I would wait and around the corner he would coming trucking up the hills, with no complaints.

We made the first section of the trail and rolled right into the second section of the trail which consisted of a section we had ridden the last time the two of us were at Dow Lake just in reverse.  This make is about 43% better since the last half the section is a slight rolling downhill section that makes for a sweet ride down to the Lake View trail.  Our time was at about 20mins into the ride with the first two sections done and a trail repair thrown in there at least another hour of ride time left.  So with Bryans approval we hit the last trail section for some technical riding.

Today I took it easy on the first two sections so I was ready for the mental pain of the final section.  But I had no idea the things I would be considering today... "What kind of poop was that?"  Thats right I just happened to look down at the trail and see a pile of what looked like mammal poo with some berry seeds in it and immediately thought better keep moving.  With the talk of some bobcats/wildcats/black bears in the area I figured it would be best if I just kept an eye out and kept right on riding.  Bryan was close behind and I kept a pace such that he was never out of sight.  Whether or not I was being parinoid or not I figure better safe than sorry, two guys on bikes look much bigger than one guy by himself.  This did however get me to look around and notice some of the hidden beauty of the area.  The leaves have started to fall and it is allowing alot more sunlight through into the forrest and the leaves also make it look like orange snow is covering the hillsides.  With the single track under us and only able to barely see where to go by following the other matted down leaves we made our way back up to some of the cross-roads over the horse trails.  This is where I informed Bryan of the poo I saw and we discussed possible animals that could have produced it all the time he reassured me that it was nothing too scary since the last time he rode that trail he ran over a Copperhead...

Ahead of us was the final downhill descent to the dam where we would follow the Lake View trail around the far side of the lake and end our ride.  However don't think that this final downhill is just any downhill it is a very technical section full of rocks narrow paths switchbacks washed out trails and steep drop offs.  What an awesome way to come to the finish, I rolled the front like I had been the whole ride taking all the spider-webs in my face but keeping an eye on Bryan.  With his lack of suspension it could be any root or small rock that could throw his bike and cause him to end up off course.  Well after finishing my descent I turned around to wait for him and about 45 seconds later I see him turn the last corner and bail out.  I thought he had lost his bike down the hill but a second later he was back on a riding down to meet up with me.  After a few words and some sips of H2O we praised the ride and finished our loop back to the Jeep.  I was on a mission I had planned to try to be back to my apartment by 5 so with us finishing the main part of the ride at 4:20PM I knew we would have plenty of time but still rolled a quick pace to allow us ample time to load up and chat at the end of the ride.

Bryan and I got back to the Jeep by 4:40PM and spent a little time chatting about bikes and other stuff like my wrestling suit... lol... We moved our conversation onto some economics and other bable in the jeep that ended with us planning for tomorrow.  It'll be Tuesday and that means a 4:15 ride, all I need to do is figure out where?


Willis out! 

Lake Hope Sunday
POSTED BY Willis on 8:22 PM under , , , , , , , ,
Sunday started like most other Sundays so far this school year, early.  I wasn't up for the beautiful sunrise, I wasn't up for the crisp morning air, I wasn't even up for those strange bird calls I heard overhead.  I was up for some riding.

With Vince, Zach, and I planning a morning start at Lake Hope I wanted to be up and as ready to ride as I could be.  I had plans to take a long underwear top to stay warm but in the confusion of packing up and getting ready I didn't even get it out of the drawer.  Instead I throw on my bibs, tights and sweat pants and hit the road.  I made a quick stop to pick up some extra water and some protein (beef jerky) at the cross-roads gas station on the way out of Athens to help fuel me on my ride.  I knew it would be a long day if I went on only my bowl of cereal.

After rallying the jeep through the hills I arrived to a full lot at the Hope Furnace, and I imedately thought "The Spoke Junkies are here"... I usually get their emails letting me know where they are riding and I always notice when they visit Lake Hope so why on this Sunday had I not noticed the email.  I didn't think anything of it since they were all on the trail already and we shouldn't have any problems riding.  There are enough trails for everyone to ride and the probability that we would ride the exact same ride is well not worth my time to calculate (I may throw a figure up there later...).  Even if we did ride with them it would have been fun.  Right at 9 Vinny and Zach roll into the lot and I can see they are both ready to get at the trail.

Zach a friend of Vince's had some misfortune while riding at Lake Hope earlier in the year and thanks to the lovely bike shops in Athens would be without a ride if it hadn't been for The Green Monster (for those with monster legs).  I let him borrow the SS and warned him he may be in for a little pain but gave him the option to switch out the rear cog from a 16 to an 18 tooth to make the hills a bit easier.  So after some quick parking lot repairs we got on our way.

Our first trail was the Hope Furnace Trail around the North side of the lake.  This was a good fast warm-up with Vince leading the way and setting a solid pace I was content with following today, I get to lead when I ride solo so its nice to see another tire in front of me besides my own.  Zach did a great job keeping up and after getting used to the riding I think he started to like it.  With our first trail out of the way we came to the base of Sidewinder and faced with a our first decision.  Sidewinder or road?

Sidewinder was dirt and the tires were fat so we ended up riding up sidewinder for a fun time.  Every time I ride it I think back to that Spring day when I first rode my mountain bike there.  We made good time and with plenty of rest breaks we pushed up to the top only expelling about 90% of our energy.  Vince lead about 90% of the way and Zach never let a gap form between us which for that trail on that bike is pretty amazing.  We got to the next major trail intersection and decided that we would go with the more fun of the two route of riding Wildcat Trail.

After ripping down Wildcat and explaining some Matrix algebra on the way we ended up down in the valley where we ran into our first group of other riders.  I let our a "bikes up" call to alert the oblivious riders that others were on the trail but still managed to startle them when they passed us.  An older rider tried to let us know we were probably heading the wrong way since the trail they had just come down was pretty steep, but little did he know that he was in for far worse of an uphill.  In fact we had spent more time coming down the hill he was about to ride up then it took us to ride up the hill he just came down.  I'm sure they made it just fine they looked to be enjoying their day on the trail.

At the top of Wildcat we hung out around the Trailhead to recover some when a large group of riders came off of Copperhead.  This was our chance to find out who these people were.  I asked if they were the Spoke Junkies and was firmly informed that "No we are CAMBA" to which I though ...You came all the way from Canada?... But after one of them finally braved up to talk to us "locals" I realized they were not saying "eh" and were actually from Cleveland (like I'm supposed to know/care what CAMBA is).  Anyway we chatted with a really nice guy who was riding what looked like a purple Gary Fischer 29er, most likely a supercaliber/excaliber or something along those lines.  Some nice bikes were in the mix and I could tell there were some tired riders.  We said our goodbyes and headed on our way back to the cars via Bobcat/Harbon/Hope Furnace to make it back to the lot.

Bobcat and Harbon were a blast and as we made our way closer to Hope Furnace Zach took the lead and well took off.  His gearing was perfect and he was flying, I had to work pretty hard just to keep up and just as I was about to crest a hill Vince comes tearing past me to take second position.  Immediately I knew "it's on!".  All three of us pushed through the fatigue of riding 15 miles 2 days in a row and you would have though it was a gold medal race for the olympics.  At least I thought so.  With the end growing near I knew I had to make my move so as we approached the last bridge a group of hikers on the other side Zach and Vince step off their bikes and I jumped off threw it on my shoulder and ran across the bridge tore past the hikers and barreled down the hill scaring a dog on my way.  Which I found out later was Bryan and his wife and their dog...  Sorry I was that @$$ who recklessly took up the trail, but I had full control and really only took up like 75% of the trail lol... Sorry Bryan.  Apologies aside I ended up racing myself to the finish and I'm sure it was all in my head but I could swear I tasted some gold when I opened into the field marking the finish.  I grabbed a few pictures and we headed home from some Jimmy John's and farewells to the couples.

It was a great weekend and I am happy that I could spend some time with Vince and Timarie.  Hopefully I will see them again soon and I'll bring the bikes home next time for some Miami County riding.

Willis out!

Today
POSTED BY Willis on 7:06 PM under , , ,
With mid-terms coming up fast I needed to take some time to myself and get a good hard ride in.  Not to mention that I really wanted to make it up that stinking hill.  So the plan was sit through class for the day then see if I could entice anyone into a ride.  Everyone was busy with class so I planned to take The Cove out for its last ride with Shimano components (about time).

I set out for some solo laps expecting to see a few other riders on the trail I had my eyes out.  Despite seeing cars in the lot on my first lap I was by my self only passing a pair of hikers coming down the Rock-house Trail.  On the first loop I got to my hill and unfortunately between slipping on the roots and being frustrated with my shifting I ended riding half way up slipping riding back down and doing it again.  But I was still unsuccessful.  But I was not done.  I went for another lap.

Lap two was spirited I was getting warmed up and the shifting was doing better but not perfect.  So I started up the hill and immediately had problems, a root at the base of the hill would either push my front wheel to the side or cause the rear tire to slip.  After 5 tries I finally found my line and made it over, I think 99.999...9% of it was mental.  Since I made it up that part but ended up riding into a tree that is no where near the trail.  Once again all mental but through the cursing at the bike and myself I made it to the top of the first hill and got it back together to power it over the last hill to the top of Athens Trail.  After making it to the bottom of the trail I checked the time and it was only 4:30!  With all the slow downs it only took 1hr to do two laps.  So I figured I have to end this era of The Cove on a good note and decided for one final Hot Lap.

The last lap was a good one.  I powered the whole way and I had a debt to repay to that last hill, so with out missing a shift I didn't look up and rode like it was a flat trail and made it all the way to the last technical section where once again the loose dirt got the better of me as I slipped off my right pedal and ended up letting out some choice words since I was so close I'll have to end up changing my line since this one seems to not be working, but who knows maybe with some proper shifting I'll be able to make it no problem.

I ended the day with 3 laps with a total mileage for the day near 15 miles on the Mountain bike.  Had it not been too close to 5 I would have done another lap but we can leave that for next week.  With Vince coming down this weekend Hopefully we can get some good riding in. ;)

Willis out!

2-4 Tuesday
POSTED BY Willis on 11:13 PM under , , , ,
After spending the weekend at home I had put of riding yesterday to spend some time working on projects. So today while going home from class I ran into Tyler, who lives across the hall from Brittany in her apartment complex, who rides mountain bikes. We had talked earlier this year about getting together to ride so I figured what time better than the present. After sorting out a starting time I told him I would be back at 4PM to get thing going.

Since Tyler rides a full-suspension bike I decided I would be better off riding The Cove today than messing with the single speed. I knew I needed to take care of my chain from this weekends ride, and removing the big chainring, but they were both easy parking-lot fixes.

Eventually we got on the trail and suffered through the first climb but the trail is moderately flat for the first half until the climb to Athens Trail. We were rolling smooth Tyler's bike really let him climb great being able to just power up hills I am used to waiting at the top of. We rode a moderate pace which kept me under control and both of us comfortable. The both of us made it all the way to the Athens Trail climb without stepping off the bike (except for a water break). So I had a good feeling about today and not to mention I had a set of gears today.

The hardest part of this climb for me initially is to make the turn into the climb, at an almost full 180 degrees I usually end up riding off the trail or needing to stop and re-adjust. Today however I made the turn successfully except I had slow so much that Tyler ended up having to bail out behind me but quickly got going again. The next major milestone for the climb is a small kick up next to the second tree with a few roots, but the gears were there to keep the tires moving. With a huge smile on my face I had made it up the first section now for the technical part. The next two sections are not steep, but very technical. The first is a tree's roots that without proper planning can have you spinning a tire and blowing your climb but I have been planning my line for the last three rides so this one was cake. The final technical section of the climb is another set of tree roots that have a deep dip and some very loose dirt that ended up claiming my victory today. I picked the low line thinking I would sit down to put the weight down but it didn't help I was forced to step off. Had I been alone I would have ridden down to the bottom and do it again. Like Crilli said sometimes it takes more than one ride to really understand a hill/mountain so this leaves me a new goal for the solo ride. 100% completion forwards then time to work on the backwards route.

On another note, I have some secret weaponry coming Friday (mountain bike related)...


Willis out!

The Wedding
POSTED BY Willis on 10:10 PM under , , , ,
Awesome day to ride!


Looking Good!
Chris and the Highlander Jersey

This weekend I came home to Troy for the union of two of my friends.  Over the last summer I have grown closer to both Vince and Timarie than I ever imagined.  Ever since parting ways at graduation I never thought I would see either of them in my life again but that was foolish of me.  I must first say the two of you have opened my eyes to a whole new view on life, love and well life...  So to be invited to witness their union as a family was an honor that I had to take them up on.  So Friday Brittany and I set out on our adventure to come back to Troy.

I had been out searching for their gift when I overheard on the radio friday afternoon that 33W was closed at the Athens/Hocking county line due to a major accident.  So my plan was to take 50 to 35 and end up in Dayton, but Brittany insisted on finding another way to Lancaster.  So after using Google maps to plan the route I was set to take 56 -> 328 -> to 33.  But since this was an adventure it wouldn't be so easy.  We made our way on 56 past Lake Hope and finally we passed the first section of 328 but Google maps insisted I make a left onto 328N so we kept going until we found 328 at  left turn and took it.  After driving through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen we found out we were really on 328S and Google maps had told us wrong, we should have taken that right.  But luckily I pulled out my WLMS (Willis Location Mapping Service, really just a map with my compass) and found out we were only about 5 miles from 93 which would take us back to 33.  So no need to turn around and we kept on trucking.  Finally after some sweet roads and fun driving we ended up in Logan and back on 33 and eventually home.

While driving I received a voicemail from Timarie that I really couldn't hear so when I got back in a service area I called her back to find out Vince was looking to ride Saturday morning before the wedding.  After letting them know I didn't bring a bike but with The Cove at home I said I would be down to ride anything, and we planned for a 9AM ride time.

After waking up around 7:30 I got to Vince's around 9AM with The Crew ready we decided to head out for the ride.  Vince and I were on our Mountain bikes but this was not a ride for speed, this was a quality ride.  


After spinning around for about 13-15 miles we landed back at Casa de Vee Tee.  Timarie was just leaving to head to Brookville to prepare for her big day.  After discussing some departure and arrival times I decided to hit the road so Vince could prepare for his big day.

Willis out!