A belated report, but last weekend I was all "man, I need to do a longer ride to get tuned-up for the Midnight Century" so I did part of the MC route on my XC hardtail (which is the bike I use for it, it's 40% gravel roads plus a bit of doubletrack).

http://www.midnightcentury.com/dunn.jpg
no, srsly

Ride stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96386041 Now if I can keep that up for five hours instead of three, I'll be all set :)
I keep planning to do another long ride after work, and then I end up working late... maybe tomorrow.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7230/0709spikefest15.jpg

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/194...pikefest21.jpg

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/3...pikefest24.jpg

Well, biffin' it is part of the whole deal when it comes to Mt Bikes.:thumb:

Indeed it is, what jumped out and tripped you.

I did ride yesterday, actually the 4th venture since December. Nothing to brag about, but I'm back to getting sweaty.

I took the XC bike for another boring multi-hour training ride after work, taking the Midnight Century route to about mile 55, then heading for home while reciting the mantra Pizza! to myself. Ride stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98591059 That's a mix of MUP, paved and gravel roads.

^^ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz . . . .

:D

Come out to Albi on Wed night and you can buzz some laps on the Dirt Jumper . . . and try your gate starts. That'd shake the cobwebs loose.

Haha, but I have no jumping skeels whatsoever! :D I bet it would be amusing to watch, though :P

This new bike is humbling me into realizing I have none either :o. Fortunately, the BMX track is a bit more forgiving - - it can all be pumped if you don't want to get too airborne.

The trail bends around the backside of the tree and my front tire hit a large, loose rock which threw me into a smaller tree. Caught my left shoulder and well, you can see the rest. Still got a nice bruise on my thigh from it. I'm just glad it was caught on tape, kind of cool to see myself wipeout.

This last Sunday my son and I completed the CCP100 (Cascade CreamPuff 100) - I beat my best time by over 1.5 hours (this was #4 for me) with a finish of 10:09. My son, the only junior, and possibly the youngest to ever complete it (he's 16) came in at 12:47. It was a great race for both of us. We each had a front tire flat (yes - each of us). His was a hole in the tube - mine was a stick jammed between my bead and rim on my tubeless setup - fortunately we both had what we needed and finished. His computer came in at 101.5 miles - here is my Garmin data - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98592678

Woot! Good job, both of you!

Had a good evening at the BMX track last night. Local club was running the start gate, so I got in some gate practice as well. Man I suck at balancing against a gate. Even the tiniest groms make it look easy. By the end of the evening, though, I managed to pull off a couple hole shots even. Now if I can just double the first jump I'll feel ready.

Met up with a couple of other 50+ guys and got to play-race with them some. I'm slower than one and faster than the other; but I think with some more work I might be able to give the fast guy a run for his money. They begged me to come out for Sunday's race to make a class so that they don't have to bump down to the 40+. Think I'll take 'em up on it; it's kinda addicting.

Still trying to get the hang of pumping the rhythm section and need to play with gearing to see if I can get a bit more speed to double some of the jumps that I know I can do. Fun evening all-in-all. Whole different experience.

Helping myself to some IPA.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1...y/IMG_0043.jpg

Got a couple of urban rides in on the new rig the last couple days. Getting used to riding a dually again. Testing the limits of the suspension. Did a few loading dock drops to flat...yup...I said it...to flat.

I was experimenting with the stairs a bit. It's funny how at certain speeds...you just bog down on them, but when you get past that breaking point...you just skip across the edges of the steps. You feel that breaking point really quickly like night and day.

rode horseshoe loops in Driggs, Idaho. tight twisty super smooth singletrack. very very cross country, i should have done it on a hardtail. great views of the tetons. on one trail called "sharks belly," which winds through the pines, i felt like an ewok on a stolen speeder bike. it was pretty fun.

people in driggs are super friendly and helpful. ate a place called "forage" which was spectacular. got the trail and food info from Troy who works at "Habitat," the gear shop in town.

the mosquitoes are voracious and evil. camping is difficult because of them, otherwise, you can camp right at the trailhead.

good times.

:lol:rode a chat MUP on the Parker today. Talk about out of place.

Found a 1-2mi singletrack near the chat. It was a dead end, but was lots of fun. Not as fun as the stairs downtown, but a hoot.

Took the Parker out to some technical XC trails yesterday. I've never puked on the trail before, but yesterday was close. When the trail is flat or pointed down, that thing eats it up! As soon as the trail turns up however...the short ST / short crank arms KILL ME! I rode probably 8mi or so and called it quits. Heat index didn't help matters any, but all in all...I had fun.

rode "butterknife" last night. i forgot how much fun it is. i also forgot how long it is. super tight and twisty in parts, really techy and rocky in parts, fast and flowy in parts, it has everything and keeps on going.

i realize that a red bull and a payday candy bar are the greatest energy food ever, beating the crap out of gu and hammer gel.

the ride ends with a 4 mile climb up a dirt road, you pay at the end, but it's worth every pedal stroke. just as, in my mind i heard paul sherwin and phil ligget say "this boy has cracked, it's over for him." i got to the top of the climb and the car.

weather was perfect, the ride was a blast, it was two and a half hours well spent.

Ride last week.

My chat MUP cru...
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...0167_edit0.jpg

Was having a great ride today on my normal long route..when in a speedy, curvy single track my back tire decided to go flat after a jump. I thought it had felt a little squirly earlier, but it didn't seem too low when I checked it with my hand. I didn't make the curve after the jump and slammed into a pretty solid stump. I thought I could make it over the stump, but it was higher than I thought. I went flying pretty far. Right forearm, ankle, hip, and back have a bit of bruising and road rash, but luckily everything is pretty superficial.

yesterday i rode the Blowhard trail in Brian head, Utah. so, it is the beginning of their season, at the top of the trail there was still a small patch of snow. trees were down all over the trail. also, i had screwed up my front brake the day before riding Rojo in Vernal, Utah, so my front brake was not happening. it took us about 5 hours to ride the 7.5 miles because there were about two miles where we would pedal for about 50 yards, then have to carry bikes over downed trees, breaking brush, bushwhacking, etc. a 30 pound bike gets to be super heavy by the 50th time you have to lift it as you climb over a damn tree. it was quite the adventure.

that said....

HOLY CRAP BLOWHARD TRAIL IS SUPER EFFIN AWESOME!!! the stuff we actually did get to ride was crazy non-stop fun. that trail is like 5 different trails in one. it starts off with some loose rocky scree, then into buffed pine tree trail, then down some rocky stuff, then some cool trail through a meadow, then fast flowy stuff. it is a shuttle ride, and 99.9 percent downhill. nothing but fun from top to bottom. i can't wait until they clear the trial and do some maintenance, so i can go back and just rail down that sweet sweet trail. it's a fun trail, it has great amazing views, it flows like a river of butter, it's absolutely a must do.

yeah, i would tell people it is worth driving to brian head utah just to ride that trail.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/...uly2311002.jpg

Started nice and easy at Colorado Bend State Park

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/...uly2311004.jpg
Got a little fun after a while