Shuttle ride to Brevard

I saw a small opening in my calendar for last weekend. I knew right away what I needed to do, so I made contact with the shuttle pilot to see if there was a chance to hitch a ride to Brevard. It seems the stars aligned for me and with the weather and some other things working out, the call was made to tell me what time the shuttle was going to pass over.

My bike was not fairing too well after last weekends ride in the mud. I didn’t think it was that bad, but my bike sure looked like it was. I made sure to wash it off when I got home, but time was tight and I did not have time to lube everything up and make sure everything was working. Turns out it would have been a good idea to do that a little sooner. With the planned crossing of paths to be on Thursday, I better get a move on. I had things going on every night and had to change some other plans around to make this trip work. At first glance the bike was not going to be good, but after lots of oil things started moving again and I could get it in fair working condition for the trip.

Thursday was quickly upon me and before I knew what was going on I was headed east to cross paths with the shuttle. I met up with Scott at Moe’s for some grub. We swapped my stuff over and headed to the parking spot. Shortly after that it was south bound. With the rock slide on 40 the trip is an extra hour longer. This is not good for a trip that is plenty long already, but eventually we rolled on to 1206 and looked for a spot to land the shuttle.

Friday morning started out a little cold and we didn’t get things started real early. The good thing with sleeping in is that it was nice and warm when we started riding. With the route planned for the day, this meant we needed to pack the lights to make sure we could find our way back. With short and short sleeve jerseys on, we headed down 1206 to the gauging station and on to the trail. Now I am not the most knowledgeable for the area. I can get by with a map, but I am not sure of all the names. I think we were on South Mills to start. From there we headed up to the stairs intersection. From there the trip headed us down Black for all the fun hike-a-bike sections of Black. It seems like just as things get going it was time to turn on to Turkey Pen. Turkey was a blast to ride and with all the leaves down it kept me on my toes just trying to see what I was riding over.

From the Turkey lot, I think we headed down another section of South Mills road headed toward Squirrel Gap. We did not make it threw Squirrel before it was time to put on lights on. If you want to ride something interesting, try riding Squirrel Gap in the dark with thick piles of leaves everywhere and with one HID light. The ride was going well and then I kind of slid out and not fully over the bars. It woke me up and I figured that I better keep my eyes open. Well I must not listen to myself very well, because I did not wreck one more time after that, but I flipped over the bars two times in 10 minutes. I could not believe it when it happened the third time. That one also hurt the most and left several marks on me and some that are still showing up. Well I decided to take it a little easier after that point and didn’t have any more unexpected trips for the rest of the ride. I did have a back tire that was loosing air and I had to stop and air it up 3 times. I should have just changed it, but I was not sure it needed it. The back tire has been loosing some air over a few days. It was since Wed. at lunch that I put any air in and the trip down in the cold might have made it a little softer. Well, after the second time I put air in it, I knew it was not just the cold air, but we were getting fairly close to the van and I just wanted to make it back. At this point I had put my arm warmers on, but was starting to get real cold. I should have put my jacket on, but it seemed like it was too much work to dig it out. I sure wish I took that extra time! Just when we make it back to the start of 1206 I was feeling good about the ride. Then I remembered how far up the road we parked. That was not a fun climb to the van, but it was sure a happy sight to see when my lights finally spotted home base.

After I changed in to some warm clothes and we chowed down some pasta I was done. We were trying to find something on TV and ended up putting in a DVD. I don’t remember much of that. All I remember is waking myself up with my snoring. After doing this a few times I gave in and hit the sack. I needed some good sleep to mend my wounds and tired body. We have another full day to ride on Saturday and a partial ride on Sunday.

I hope to have the rest of the weekend up tomorrow.

More French Lick fun

I took another trip up to French Lick on Sunday. I was not sure if I was going to be able to get out or not and I didn’t know if the weather was going to cooperate. So, when I got the go ahead signal for Sunday, I busted out the door as fast as I could and down the road. I took the NRS for this trip. I have recently had the seals replaced in the old shock and wanted to see if it was working or not. The temporary shock I picked up is starting to show some signs of not wanting to work, so I thought I better have something done before it is too late. I also tuned a few things up and replaced a bent brake lever with one that I had. It was time to get it prepared for some winter trips to Pisgah.

When I showed up to the entrance of the trail there were two riders hanging out by the platform. I chatted them up a little and found out that we knew some of the same people. So, I joined them on the trip up the hill. Knowing they did some road racing, I was a little concerned that they would be moving too fast for me, but I held my own on the way up. I could have used a little more warm up and not riding any gears for the last several weeks made the sit and spin harder. The trail was very soft in some corners and some wet sections too. I kept up for the trip up and didn’t have any problem keeping up on the trip down. The one guy even let me by him, but I was not sure he needed too. It was nice pushing it harder then a normal ride. That makes the last two rides a lot faster then I normally ride. This is a good thing. I need to build some speed back in my legs so I can get stronger. I don’t need to be a speed demon, but it does not hurt to go a little faster some times.

I talked them in to doing another lap the other way and I took them out on a loop that showed them some of the new stuff. It looked like there is more trail out there that I need to check out. Maybe the next time I am up there I will head deeper in to the new section. After this part we tied back in to the main loop and continued on down the hill. They let me lead for the way down. I guess I was going strong enough that they thought I would do just fine in the front. The one guy kept up with me and we were having a great time. Since the pace was pushed the whole ride it didn’t slow me down on the hills either. I can’t believe I didn’t crash on that down hill. The leaves were thick in spots and the corners were slick. I had several times that I thought I was going down, but it never happened. I made sure to catch a little air when I could, just to make sure I was smiling.

After we made it to the bottom and everyone got there, they figured it was time for them to head home. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. They went home and I went back up the hill. I thought about going out the new section to see the new stuff, but I was starting to run out of time and I didn’t want to get home late. So, I just did a normal lap. The way up was a little slower, but I still found some stuff in me to head down the hill normal.

The NRS didn’t ride too bad. I figured there would be some good things and some bad things. It did feel like everything was flat, but it was not. The suspension was nice for some stuff, but for some reason I missed the rigid on some sections too. Over all I don’t think I went any faster or slower then I do with my SS. There were sections that I went faster, but there were also sections that I went slower, so it all netted out in the end. I plan on taking the SS the next time I head up there, but would not be opposed to riding the NRS.

It does look like I need to make sure the NRS is lubed up and in good rolling form for this weekend. The shuttle is heading to Pisgah and I will have my self along for the ride.

Probar – the bar to end all bars

I have tried something recently that was too good not to pass on to my readers and everyone that I talk to. I now have a new favorite energy bar that will be hard to beat. Let me give you a little back ground incase you don’t already know. I used to race mountain bikes most of the way threw the 90’s. This meant I was riding or racing 6 days a week for most of the year. I would travel to neighboring states if that was where the races could be found. After my racing interest started to fade, that didn’t keep me from riding my bike. I would spend 4-8 hours at a time riding my bike in the woods with my friends.

During all of this time nutrition was always something that I was trying to figure out. To race or ride at your best one must keep your body fueled for the whole ride. This need lead to me experimenting with lots of different products. I witnessed the very first gel that hit the market and lot of different brands of energy bars. Most of the products would do the job if you could make yourself eat it. Some products tasted better then others, but overall they were hard to eat. I did find some products over the years that seemed to be the best thing ever, but in reality they were just better then all of the other products that are available at the time. As I kept eating these things, they keep getting harder and harder to eat.

Over the last several years I had started to stray from the standard energy bar and start to pack real food in bags. It was much better to eat real food then try to choke down the dry compressed energy bars. This was much better for me, but there is an issue with packing lots of food on the trail, it takes up a lot of room. I could manage if I was to carry a water pack, but if I wanted to just use my pockets it was more of an issue.

I had heard of a new name of a bar, Probar that some friends had been using, but never had the opportunity to try it. Well this year at the Brown County Breakdown I figured it would be a good time to try them out. I had the good people at Indy Cycle Specialist bring me some bars to the event for me. My plan was to ride the 75 mile route on my rigid single speed. This was going not going to be easy and to make matters worse it was wet the week up to the event. Trails were soft and some spots were very hard to keep the bike moving.

I was out there on my own and riding well. As the tank was being drained I figured I should stop and try to re-fuel. This was the big moment that I didn’t know I was waiting for. I grabbed a Whole Berry Blast Probar out of my pocket and started to eat it. WOW! This thing was like no other bar that I had ever tried. It was packed full of food. Not only processed and dried stuff, but real food!  I could not believe I was actually eating a bar. It tasted like I was eating a bag of fruit and nuts mixed together. This was not only good, but was full of good stuff that recharged me and had me rolling down the trail again in no time. I truly think that the Probar got me over the hump and kept me rolling toward my goal. There were a lot of riders that cut their ride short because of a section of trail that was really soft and took a lot out of their legs.

Once I was passed a easy turn around spot, I kept going toward my goal. The next big turn around rest stop I was feeling shot and was trying to talk myself in why it was a good reason that I went far enough that I could head back toward the start. Well, after another Probar was enjoyed I got up to tell the guy checking in the riders that I was going back, but when I got there for some reason I said I was going in to the next section and I was on my bike going deeper in to the ride in no time. I still don’t know what happened there, but the only thing I can think is that the Probar did its job and got me ready to go for some more. I ended up with 70 miles for the day in some less then perfect conditions in a time that I was very happy with. There were definite times that I was trying to talk myself out of everything, but the energy that the Probar gave me kept me going toward the goal.

If you have not tried the Probar yet, I highly recommend trying it. It is a pleasure to eat and there are several good flavors to pick from. I have a few more flavors on my list to try. I thought they were so good that I am considering eating a Probar for my daily breakfast to keep me full and energized for work.

I am famous

Well not exactly but I have shown up on youtube. Here is a video from part of the French Lick trail. I hope you enjoy.

I would like to thank Dirty Beaver Productions for this great video.

Racing the sun

Another great ride at French Lick. I had been planning on taking off work on Friday and heading up to BCSP for a ride. I knew I would be camping all weekend with the scouts and would not be able to get a ride in, so I figured this was my best bet. After hearing the forcast for the rest of the week, it looked like there was a good chance I would get rained out. So, after some last minute planning, I rushed out the door from work and was on my way.

I hurried home to get all my stuff and headed down the road as quick as I could. I signed in at the pro shop right at 5:00 and headed down the trail. With all of the rushing to get there, knowing Beaver was out there and then seeing Alex’s car, I was pushing it fairly hard to see if I could catch up to someone. On the way up the trail looked to be in great condition. I was trying to figure out if it was getting enough traffic to keep the trail clear or if the leaves were actually blown off of the path. Right around the short cut I found the answer to that. I could see Alex heading down the other side with a back pack blower in tow. So, I busted it down the trail to meet up with him. It is always good to hook up with friends that you don’t get to see very often.
At this point I start to get a little bummed about my decisions. What am I talking about? Well let me step back a few steps here. Before I knew I was going there were a few options rolling around in my head. One was to head to BCSP for a night right with the group. But, with further checking I figured out that the groups were on Tuesday and Thursday. So, that left me on my own. Normally I am limited on my time for Wednesday’s since the wife has her bowling night and I usually take care of the boys. I thought about taking Thursday off work and heading up to FL after she got home from bowling to do a night ride. That was frowned upon and probably for good reason since I would not have made it there until about 10:00. During this point I promised not to head up there and do a night ride on my own. I am not sure why the big concern, but I said it and was going to hold up my end. I decided to not take my lights along, becuase I knew if I had them, I would use them. Back to my conversation on the trail and I think it was the second thing out of Alex’s mouth was the big question, Did you bring your lights? Dammit! I knew I should have thrown them in the car. I have wanted to night ride there for a while and to have someone to ride with would have made it even better. Oh well, all was not lost. I still had a good ride before it was time to head home.

One good thing that did happen is I ran in to Beaver on the way up. I think he took some video of the ride back down. I am looking forward to seeing how I look from the back. The only negative about that is for some reason I dropped my chain again and had to stop. Well, I think the record button was missed when we started again. This is a bummer too because I was rolling good and hitting up the jumps and features. Big smiles were to be had on that down hill. The ride was a good one no matter how I look at it. I could have been sitting at home eating pizza or something non-productive. The good thing about not having a lot of time, I was pushing it fairly hard and still got a good work out. I am starting to think that I should try pushing a bigger gear and see how well I do.

The new extension trail was broke threw to the loop yesterday. It still needs a lot of cleaning up before it is like the rest of the loop, but it is shaping up real nice. It looks like there is a long way to go before it is complete, but it is on the way. Not sure it will be rideable for the grand opening this weekend, but all the other trails should be in good shape.

I tried my luck at French Lick

I had another great day in the woods at French Lick this weekend. I was not sure what was going to end up happening because of the weather, but it turned out much better then I thought it would. Friday night I figured the weather would keep me from riding on Saturday. Sunday looked like the better day, but with soccer games and other stuff going on, I did not think it would be a good option.

The sun actually came out fairly early on Saturday. I was doing stuff around the house like cleaning up the bike shop. I have had a lot of stuff collecting in that area and some stuff needed to find a home. I now have more room to work around while I work on my bikes. I also thought of a few things to do to help with future issues of clutter, but we will see how long it takes to do that.

Well, I could only walk by the window so many times before the thought in my head said to go ride or you wont! This was probably a true statement and it was not too hard to talk myself in to packing up my stuff and heading north. I didn’t make it to the trail head as early as I wanted too, but I was within a half an hour. I quickly geared up and headed out the trail. I started out CCW and figured that the worst section would be right at the start. Well I was wrong. The new section seemed to settle in since the last time I was up there. Just down the trail I did find the worst places out there. There were about two sections in this part that were wetter then I would normally like to ride. They were short and everything else seemed in good shape, so I kept going.

I did a lap each way and then mixed in the short cut for some other options. I tried to stay away from the one section as much as I could and only hit it up twice. I did take the tour and headed out to check on the new stuff that is being built. It looked like there was a lot done over the last two weeks and I wanted to check it out. I didn’t think the dirt would work for a test ride, but as I rolled on to the trail it held up nice and was much harder then I expected. I cruised along this new section amazed at how fun this place keeps getting. The bad thing is it was shorter then I hoped and had to turn around to head back out the same way I came in. Maybe the next time I make it up there it will be busted threw to the main loop or at least to a fire lane that goes to the loop. I sure hope they don’t changed their mind about the cost of riding there, but if they do, I hope there is a yearly option that does not cost too much.

Dino 2010 Series Schedule

Well it looks like the DINO series already have the races dates for next year.

5/1 Warsaw: Winona Lake Trail
6/6 Nashville: Brown County State Park
6/19 French Lick: French Lick Resort (US Cup Regional Qualifier)
7/4 North Vernon: Muscatatuck County Park (AMBC)
7/25 Versailles: Versailles State Park
8/15 Logansport: France Park
8/29 Indianapolis: Town Run Trail Park

Other mountain bike events:
4/10 DINO Spring Tune-up, Avon
9/11 24 Hours of DINO, Versailles
Looks like this year would be a good year for a southern Indiana resident to fair well in the series. I think it has been a while since there were so many races in the southern part of the state. A lot of that has to do with all the new trails that have been built over the last few years. To add to the newer location of Brown County State Park and Versailles, there will also be a race at the new French Lick trails. This place is a good addition to the trails available for races. It should be interesting to see how it is set up and how well everything runs. I will keep my eye out on this weekend and I hope I am free to head up there to check it out or maybe even race.

I am not too much in to the XC racing thing for a long term solution to my riding, but I am open to doing some races if I am free that weekend and I don’t have to travel very far. I am not sure how well I will do, but it is always good to run in to some people that you only seem to see at races. Never know, I just might find some good legs by then.

I do hope to find some money to finally do a 24 hour race that I have been wanting to do for the last few years. The only thing about not actually being able to do one so far, is the fact that I keep getting stronger for the all day rides. The more I ride 5-8 at a time, the more I will be ready to do battle with my inner self and see who comes out on top. I just hope that some things will work out so that I can do a few more things that I have missed the last few years.

Breakdown part 2

After a little rest at the cabin, I was ready to make my way to Nebo. They handed out HNF passes as you left the cabin stop. We had to roll a little down the road to make our way over to the Nebo trail head. Nebo started out wet, but after most of the way up the hill it started to dry out some and was more like what I expected the trails to be. It had been a while since I been up there and was not sure what to expect. The trail was not a let down. It was not as fun or fast as BCSP, but fun no less. While I was riding this section, I kept running different thoughts threw my head on what the plan was going to be. I figured I should stay out of Hickory all together since I was starting to feel rough and loosing power. The back at this point was hurting real bad. At the Maumee stop I grabbed 2 more Hammer gels and sat down for a minute to try and stretch my back. The gel must have done something or I was just really getting dazed at that point. I knew I was supposed to check in, but I was waiting til I figured out what I was going to do. Well all of a sudden, I hoped up and went over to the stand. I told him who I was and that I was heading out on the 10 mile loop in Hickory. I hopped back on the bike and down the road I went. I am not sure what happened, but I was in Hickory. It must have been some of the thoughts about the fact that I had never been in Hickory and should not pass the opportunity to check it out.

So, I am heading in to Hickory with just looking at the map for a split second. I was following the markers and started to think I missed the turn that I needed to do. I didn’t feel like stopping to check the map. I thought even if I did miss the turn I would just find a new way to the loop  and head back my own way. Well sure enough, I rolled up to a sign that said 14. I didn’t think 14 was on the 10 mile loop, so I took a minute to check out the map. Low and behold I was right in thinking that I missed a turn. 14 was the entrance to the woods for the 30 mile route. Looking at the map I contemplated for a little bit if I should just go for the 30. But, after hearing someone else took 5 hours to do that loop last weekend, I figured I didn’t have that in me. The map didn’t seem to have any good ways back to the 10 mile loop from where I was sitting, so I decided to just head back on the road and to the rest stop. Since I have been home, I looked at this map again and can’t figure out why I didn’t decide to just do part of the 30 mile loop and then head back to the stop. There were a few different ways that I could have gone and not been too crazy.

On the way back to the rest stop, I ran in to 3 other riders that were looking for the 10 mile loop. I let them look at my map and while they were trying to figure out what they were doing, Ron and Alex H. came rolling up on their way out to do the 30 mile loop. It was good to see them out there and I wished that I could follow them, but knew better. So, I think the other 3 decided to just head back like I did and on the way we ran in to two more riders that missed the loop. It was said that we could hop on 20 there and work our way to the loop we were supposed to be on. That was an easy decision and I can’t help but think that if I would have stopped to look at the map sooner, I would have done that already. 20 was not too bad of a section of trail, but it was not very long. Soon we were back on the section that was the end of the 10 mile loop. For some reason I was no longer with the 5 other riders that I was with when we dropped in to that section. This turned in to some gravel road stuff. I kept following the paint marks on the road and soon things started to look familiar. Well what do you know, I came to the exact same intersection that we jumped on to the 20 at. How did I make it back here again with out finding the sag stop? Hard telling at this point. My brain was not working correctly and I just turned around and headed back. Sure enough the same road that I missed when I wanted to do the 10 mile loop was the same road that I came out on and went the wrong way again. To make matters worse, it seems like the sag stop is only 100 yards from this intersection. I have no idea how I missed it the second time. Oh well, I did what I wanted to do and that was ride some of Hickory and I put in 10 miles. I just didn’t want those miles to be made up mostly of gravel roads. After I checked back in with the sag, I headed on down to Combs road.

Now I have not been on too many of these sections too often. The first and only other time I was on Combs road was for last years Breakdown. But, I saw some other riders along the way and figured I was still on track. I was starting to second guess myself after what happened in Hickory. A few more riders showed up right when I was not sure if I was in the right place or not and next thing I knew we were on the right path. Combs road had some very tough sections because of the rain.  I had to push a few sections at this point. Some sections I thought I should have been able to make it if I was not so tired. There were also some hills that I could not believe that I climbed. I was even passing some other geared riders that were spinning out on the steep, slick hills. At this point in the ride everything started to blur together. I was just riding and ready to get back to the car. Most of the details are not clear as to where they happened. One thing that happened somewhere in this section that I thought was funny, so I kind of remembered it. I was riding along and came up on a few other riders. I have no idea who they were or what they looked like, but the one guy looked over and noticed I was on a rigid bike. He asked how that rigid was treating right now. I thought for a minute and just said that it was fine and I was enjoying the ride. He made some comment about it beating me up by now or something. I agreed that I was beat up, but still having fun. Not too much down the trail from this point, we came around a corner and there was a big log down. The first rider was already off of his bike and on the other side of the hill. Two more riders rolled up to the log and stopped to get off. I asked for some room and the one guy told his friend “This is how you do it” and I hopped over the log and disappeared. Not sure if I saw them again or not.

After I finally rolled back in to the cabin stop, I was looking for some goodies to fuel me up. It seems that the stop was mostly empty for supplies other then liquid. I remembered I still had one more gel in my pocket and ate it. I made a quick trip to the port-0-let and was just about ready to move on. I stretched the back some and loaded up on the bike. I don’t think I stayed at this stop very long, but I really had no need to do so. I was drained at this point and needed to keep moving or it might get harder to start again. The section after the cabin stop was one of the worst sections of the day for me. The path was so soft it really sucked in the tires and it felt like I was riding on two flat tires. It was so bad that on the down hills I had to keep pedaling or I would roll t a stop. This section could not end soon enough for me, but some how I ended up rolling in to the camp ground. That was such a welcomed feeling to know that I was back on the state park trails and almost home.

I had a little spark in me for this next section. I was rolling along quite well making some time and feeling good. However, I was not feeling good enough to take any of the rock bridges or have any thought about hitting Schooner Trace. When I rolled up to HP parking lot there was no one around. I was starting to think that there were not too many more riders around me. I didn’t stop to take in the good view so I was headed back down the trail again. This next section was still rolling fairly well, but any extended climbing sections were not near as good as they should have been. I even had a few moments that I thought I missed a turn and was not sure if I was on a loop or the HP connector yet. I did manage to make the turns for both short sections on the loop. I thought about taking a long way on the last loop, but looking at my computer I figured I would be close to the mileage that I was looking for and it was time to get off of the bike.

When I made it to the North Shelter I knew it was down hill from there. I let go of the brakes and let her ride me all the way home. I went straight to the check in table to collect my shirt and pint glass. I then worked my way over to the car to see if anyone was there or not. They were there and waiting for me, so I hurried up and started changing and cleaning up, but not before I could find a beer in my cooler. That first beer tasted so good! I changed quickly and loaded everything up. We then drove over from the parking lot we were in and to the starting area. I grabbed a big plate of food and started my recovery. The food really hit the spot! Fried chicken and pulled pork BBQ with some sides and I was ready for a nap. I didn’t manage to sleep on the way back to my car, but I did squeeze in another beer. When we made it back to my car I really did not want to drive the hour home yet, but I knew if I stayed, it would be hard to make it to work the next morning. Some how I managed to stay away and made it home safely.

For the day I ended up with a total of 70 miles and 6,200 feet of elevation gain. I also showed 7 hours and 45 min. of actual ride time. I am not sure just how long I was on the trails because I forgot to look at the clock when I was done or I actually did look at it and forgot what it said.  Either way it was a long day. I figure 9-9 1/2 hours in the woods.

I would like to send a big thank you to all of the people who made this ride possible. If you have not done this ride yet, I can’t express just how much fun this ride can be. This is the must do event of the year. I have heard that the cost is too much, but $50 for a shirt, food and 100 miles of trail that you just can’t link together at any other time, how can you go wrong? This event is also the biggest fund raiser for the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association and what better cause can you find for bikes? If it was not for HMBA, we would not have near the good quality trails in Indiana that we do have. If you are not currently a member, please take a moment to stop by and check them out and maybe even sign up. If you like riding your bike off road, they are the reason you have as big of smile on your face as you do.

Brown County Breakdown 2009

Another Brown County Breakdown has came and passed already. It seems like it takes forever to get to this time of year and then it is gone before you know it. After last year I really wanted to have a go at the 100 mile route. But, there are a lot of issues with that thought. Not only is 100 miles on a MTB a lot harder then doing it on a road bike but add to that the fact that I want to ride my rigid SS can make it even harder. I had been riding my SS a lot lately and figured I would do fairly well, but Hickory was going to be very hard.

With the weather being as wet as it was the week before the ride, I knew that would make all of the trails even harder. I was not too worried about BCSP because I know how well the trails were built and the substance of the trails to know they might be wet, but they should not be too nasty. I also figured Nebo would be a little wetter, but should be ok for most sections. Hickory was the section that I figured would be the worst and then add all of the crazy climbs and I talked myself out of riding any of Hickory before I even started. I rationalized my thinking by telling myself that I could take the longs both ways in BCSP and I could head back out for another loop to get the miles that I was hoping to put in. I signed up for the 100, but had realized that the 75 route would be a lot more realistic, so that was the new plan.

Sunday morning started out too early since we just went to bed. I fought the urge to lay back down and sleep some more and got up and started to get stuff loaded. To make matters worse, the house was with out power. So, I packed up and got our stuff ready with my flash light in hand. After all the possible reasons to be running late, it seems we all woke up and was ready to head down the road close to the time we really wanted to hit the road. The trip to the park was uneventful. So we busted over to sign up and got some things ready. By that time the riders meeting was getting ready to start. Running a little late I didn’t meet up with the rider that I planned on riding most of the morning with. So, I decided to leave after the first group started and had a good group to ride up the hill with. I fell in line following Griff for a while. The pace was moving along nicely and we were making some good time. I started to feel my back and legs start to protest my lack of sleep and no warm up time, so with the group that I knew was behind me I figured I would let a pack go when the time was right. So, after that I settled back in and worked my way up to HP.

When I got there I wanted to stretch my back out to increase my chances of making it past the cabin stop. I grabbed a cookie and soon I was headed down Walnut. I think I was sitting right at 1 hour in to the ride at that point. I felt like that was a good enough time. As I went out Walnut there was a voice in my head telling me to take Schooner Trace on the way out. I knew if I didn’t take it out, there was no way that I was going to take it on the way in. For some reason I talked myself out of taking the right. Maybe it was the best decision of the day, it is hard to say since it didn’t happen. It didn’t seem to take long and I rounded the corner by the shelter and headed on to the camp ground. It didn’t seem to take too long to get to the campground, but to be honest I can’t exactly remember how long it was. If I had to guess I would say I was there in 2 hours. It seemed like there was 1 hour between stops for some reason.

After the campground we cruised down some roads for a little bit before we turned in to a horse trail. This section just looked like a fire lane to me. The trails were also a lot wetter then what the state park trails seemed. There was some good skiing going on as I flew down some of those hills. The trails were very soft in sections and it was not easy to keep the bike rolling. There were even some flat sections that I should have been able to coast for miles on and I had to peddle to keep the bike from rolling to a stop. This was a very tough section of trail and it took some out of my legs to keep it going. I did find a little spot to pull off for a minute and grab a bite to eat and headed on down the way. At some point in this section my chain decided to fall off as I was trying to climb a tricky section. I could put it back on with out any tools, but the chain was looser then I would like it to be. I figured it would get me to the cabin stop and I could fix it there. The last down hill to the cabin was crazy fun. That thing is so steep and was very wet that it was very tricky to maneuver. I was following some riders down the hill until they slid out. After the pass I opened her up and let it roll. It felt good to hop out of the creek and in to the grass field surrounding the cabin. They wanted you to park your bikes over in one area, so as I was headed over there I saw the bike shop set up. I figured I might as will try to fix my problem before I forget to take care of it. I hoped in there and used the rack and a wrench to tighten my chain back up. That is the second time that I have dropped a chain since I put this new chain on there. I am not sure why, but I do not like this trend. I will have to dig in to it and try to figure out what I need to do to fix the problem. After the bike was ready to roll, I headed over to snag a bite to eat. I found a very good ham sandwich or something similar. I really don’t know what kind of meat it was, but it sure was good. I also saw they had some Hammer gels there too, so I put one in my pocket and downed another one. I then grabbed a cup of coffee and regrouped myself for the next section of the ride.

Check back tomorrow for the next part of the ride.

French Lick is now open

I made a trip up to French Lick this weekend to see the completed first section of the Buffalo Trace Trail. I had a sneak peak of this trail a month or so back.  There have been several sections completed since I was last there. The grand opening was held on Saturday and from what I hear there was a good group that showed up. Everyone that had any comments about the place said nothing but good things.

You park at the Valley Golf club house and take a short gravel road/path to the actual start of the trail. From there you can go either direction. I am not sure what direction was my favorite. There were sections that I liked going both directions. There is also a short cut path not too far from the start, so the hikers don’t have to do the full 5 mile lap. This short cut also gives you some options to ride in a figure 8 just to mix it up a little.

There are a few rock sections that you can ride, but some still need a little work. There are several sections that you can get a little air under the tires if you feel the need. I must say that I felt that need a lot on Sunday! The more I ride there, I will figure out where I can get some good air and where I should not. I just hope I don’t figure out where not to get air the hard way. There was one jump going CW that felt much bigger then any of the others. I don’t know if it is because it was a little down hill on the back side or it was just that good of a lip. It didn’t look like much when I climbed back up that side, but it sure was a fun one.

This trail is fun just as it is and I would not be happy if nothing would change, but that being said, they are currently working on a 3 mile extension section. This would make this place that much more fun. That is basically the only thing that could improve the trail is just more trail. I have seen a picture of the future so to say and it has 20-25 miles of trail. That would be too good to be true. I just hope they don’t start charging too much to ride there. I know they put a lot of money in building the trail, so I hope it works out for what they want it to.

Also, I feel I need to mention the accommodations for signing in. The club house is in a different class as to any other trail head that I have ever been to. The bathrooms are huge!! I felt like I should have cleaned up and wore a collared shirt in to the club house just to sign out after my ride. I did seem to get a few funny looks from some people out side, but I would think that I did look funny if I was there to play some golf.