False Horizons

I guess it's time to write another blog post, now that the holidays are done and the new year is here.

Personally, I'm not too excited about the new year.  The best thing about it is that it means that 2016 is finally over. It was not a banner year for me, and I'm glad to see it go.  But the course ahead looks grim, and the prospect of watching the country go down in flames over the next four years really depresses me.  So I've made a decision to have a personal boycott of all news media until January 2021 - everything may suck, but I won't know about it.  As a part of this effort I'm no longer visiting Facebook - not because I believe that it's inherently bad, but because I don't want to see the news or all the ugly things that ignorant, evil people believe. I have been sharing items to the bicycling page I made for our area on occasion but I'm no longer actually visiting my page.  This is for my own piece of mind - if it bothers you, kindly keep it to yourself.

Since I last posted in October the fall riding season has long since come to an end.  But late fall might be my favorite time of the year, and I took advantage of every bit of good weather to get outside. There was a great camping trip with Diana at Kelly Pines in the Allegheny National Forest, quite a bit of trail work, and of course lots of bike riding. That includes some great mountain bike rides as well as plenty of pavement miles.  I made several trips down to Beaver Creek State Park to ride the trails down there, including the still to be finished new trail above Salamander Trail. I think that Beaver Creek might have the most mountain bike suitable terrain in Ohio, and the new trail takes advantage of it to the fullest extents.  The riding can be very technical, but I love that stuff and really enjoy getting out on Dogwood, Salamander, and the new trail.

Of course I also got in plenty of fall rides at West Branch, the park that's just 25 miles down the road.  Much of that was night riding, which doesn't really make for great photos but is still a lot of fun.  I just checked back on my MapMyRide ride log, and it looks like the only other singletrack that I rode in the fall was at North Road Nature Preserve, where I had a whole bunch of short, after work rides.

Apparently I never get tired of taking pictures of the West Branch skinnies.

Freshly raked trails at North Road Nature Preserve

Speaking of North Park Nature Preserve, I've finally finished the trail project that I committed to four long years ago.  So the last of the three trails, the one that took twice as long as the others, is finally finished.  The first two trails, Red Trail and Blue Trail, mostly went through a semi-mature forest where clearing the trail corridor and building the tread was easy.  This last one, Yellow Trail, has about half it's distance in a mature forest, with the remainder located in dense scrub.  The forest part of the trail was easy enough, but clearing and building trail through the scrub was incredibly difficult.  Just clearing a corridor was very tough, and since the trail wasn't finished and not getting any user traffic, it was a constant battle to maintain the already built trail.  And the ground in the scrubby section was an unbelievable mess of wet spots and pot holes, so that making a tread required several rock armoring and infill sections.

And then there was the wet spot - a short section of very dense scrub that tends to hold water way longer than anywhere else we built.  Because of the restraints of the property we had to build at least some trail in this wet area, or not build the loop at all.  Thinking that the only solution was going to be to build over 100' of turnpiking, we put this section off for last.  But with volunteer hours dropping off I was faced with the prospect of singlehandedly bringing back several tons of fill gravel with our trail wagon - something that would have likely taken me another year to do.  So I was very happy when Trumbull Metroparks agreed to give us enough money to build a 120' long boardwalk across this problem area.  I started construction in August, and finally finished in October.  Most of the construction and material hauling I did myself, but there were a few kind souls who pitched in for a work session or two.

The boardwalk with newly finished transition.

Stopping to cut out a downed tree while hauling more lumber back to the build site.

I'm very glad to have this project done, since it already has taken longer than I thought it would, and I'd like to get involved with some trail building at other parks.  But after finishing off the two loops and one out'n'back trail I started to wonder if there was a way to make that out'n'back into a loop.  Long story short - this winter I'm working on adding another 1/3 mile of trail through mature woods to make Blue Trail into a loop.  Next year I'd like to work on adding some mtb specific features to the trails, but I haven't committed to that yet.

New trail will run through the trees on the creek bank.

During the summer I had decided that I was spending too much time riding on the rail trails, and not enough riding my mountain bike in the woods.  So I started riding more mtb miles, but I still managed to get in quite a bit of different rail trail rides.  Of course I did the local trails - Western Reserve Greenway & Little Beaver Creek Greenway - but I also managed to hit a couple that I don't get to that much.  One trip on the Maple Highlands Trail had an unfortunate incident where I managed to crash on pavement in dry, clear weather.  I managed to ride through a small moist spot on the trail, which was slippery as owl snot and hit the pavement hard.  I was lucky I had my helmet on, because I banged my head off the pavement way harder than I really wanted to.

I also managed to put a large hole in my elbow, which is still not healed 6 weeks later.

I made a Thanksgiving day ride on part of the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail, doing some volunteer work for the Industrial Heartland Trail Coalition by checking one of the 'trail itineraries' that they are developing.  It turned out to be an interesting ride, with almost no one on the trail, rain most of the way - and a nice layer of crushed limestone trail surface spread evenly over me and my bike.

Covered with grit.

I also made a couple of snow rides in the cold periods of December & January, evenly split between mountain biking and pavement riding.  Keeping my schedule of riding 3 or 4 days a week was pretty nice, and I managed to hit my 2000 mile goal for 2016 by finishing with 2100 miles. Not sure how many miles I'll try for this year. I'll get in as many as I can during the winter, and then see how the numbers shape up when the weather starts to break.  

Near the end of the year I took a look at some of the video that I'd take while out riding, and put together a short video of my riding year in review (though there are some clips included from before 2016).  I did the same thing last year, and was happy with the result, but this year the song I found to be the soundtrack really added a lot.  This year's review turned out even better than last years, if I may say so myself!

Here's hoping that your trails are dry, the wind is at your back, and the hills are few.

The Roller Coaster Ride

Wow, it's been almost TWO months since my last post.  It's not for lack of things going on, but mostly just a lack of time!  But I'll try to hit on a couple of the high points of what's been happening lately.

My good looking kid on the night of the 8th grade dance.

Re-reading the last blog entry I see it was the high water weekend, when I kayaked Bear Creek, and was planning on hitting Deer Creek the next day.  Interesting story there...

I did head over to Deer Creek, and was elated to find that it was at absolutely prime water level for a run.  So I left the boat stashed at the put-in by the hump-back bridge, left the bike at the top of the hill, and headed back to the take-out to park the car. Then it was just a matter of hiking 3/4 mile up the 300 foot tall ridge, getting the bike at the top, and coasting down the hill to the put-in.

Within a couple of minutes I had the bike hidden in the brush, and geared up for the run.  I was fairly upset to find out that I'd apparently left the GoPro turned on the night before when I double-checked to see if it had a full charge - and now the battery was dead.  But the video was just gravy, the run was the meat of the day - and boy was it good!

Deer Creek is about 3.5 miles of class II read and run whitewater, through an isolated valley.  There are 23 class II rapids on the run, so you're always either in a rapid, just leaving a rapid, or just heading into a rapid.  It's a really great run that hardly anyone ever paddles because it's remote, rain dependent and doesn't have a decent USGS gauge correlation.  But it's one of my favorites in the area, and I always keep it in mind when there's a bunch of rain.

My run was pretty much perfect.  I managed to read and run everything, which wasn't too hard because there was barely any wood in the creek.  The creek has a bunch of islands, and I managed to pick the good side every time, and had a blast on all the little rock gardens and pour-overs.  Even though I was fairly conservative at times, I managed to have a good time and even got in a little bit of surfing down on the tasty double surf wave near the end.  I finished the run without incident, packed up the boat, retrieved the bike and headed home, tired but happy.

Coffee Run during the high water weekend.

It gets interesting the next day.  I woke up with a headache, feeling lethargic and kind of dizzy.  But Diana had the day off, so we headed out to do some stuff together.  Throughout the day I felt progressively worse - more dizziness, no appetite, and trouble thinking.  I went to bed very early and woke up feeling slightly better the next day, just in time to go see the doctor.  He took blood, did a bunch of tests, and came to the conclusion that I had a low blood sugar incident, complicated by dehydration.  He added that he has to tell most of his patients to get more exercise, but he told me that I need to remember that I'm 52, and can overdo it a lot easier than when I was younger.

The moral of the story I guess is to pay more attention to what your body is trying to tell you.  I know I have dehydration problems, but had no idea that by burning off a bunch of extra calories and then eating light afterwards I could be shortchanging my system that much.  And I'm sure that my diet that mostly excluded processed sugar didn't help.  But I did find out that I'd lost about 8 pounds in 3 months, so that was good.

In the two months since then I've continued on the diet and exercise regimen that I started in February.  I can definitely tell that I've lost more weight, as my clothes fit differently.  And when the trails are dry enough to ride I notice that my mtb skills seem improved - either by adding muscle from weight lifting or carrying less weight around, I don't know which.

In motion shot on Little Beaver Creek Greenway, OH.

I've managed to keep up a pretty good number of bike rides too.  Checking with mapmyride, it looks like I got in 126 miles in April and 172 in May.  Most of that was paved riding, but there were at least 8 mountain bike trail rides, including West Branch State Park, Beaver Creek State Park, Quail Hollow State Park, Rimrock Trail in Allegheny National Forest, and North Road Nature Preserve here in Warren.

Love the colors on this - first night ride of the year at West Branch.

Kenny went camping with the Boy Scouts the last weekend in April, and while he was out with them Diana and I took the opportunity to get a cabin at Cooks Forest State Park and spend the weekend over there.  I really love the Cooks Forest/Clear Creek/Allegheny National Forest area, and we had a great time getting out and having some quiet time.

Diana on the hikers bridge over Tom's Run.

We even headed up to Rimrock Overlook for a while - and I managed to get in a ride on the shortest loop at nearby Rimrock Trail.  Those rough trails over there are a treat to ride.

Kinzua Reservoir from Rimrock Overlook, PA.

The trails at West Branch State Park opened up a couple of weeks early this year, and I headed out that first day after work to get in a night ride.  The local mtb club, CAMBA, did a bunch of work out there again last season and the trail system is better than ever.  Now if it would only stop raining for a while I'd be able to get out there and enjoy them!

The West Branch skinnies are a bit mossy after a long winter.

Memorial Day weekend all three of us managed to get away for the weekend, to go back-country camping at Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania.  We got one of the dispersed campsites up above Loleta, with the East Branch Millstone Creek right beside our tent.

Our Memorial Day campsite.

Saturday we wandered around the area and had a nice lunch up at Marienville before heading back to relax at camp.  We took bikes, so Kenny and I got in a couple of forest road rides through the woods. The scenery is amazing over there, and even on a busy holiday weekend there was almost no traffic.  We had a great time and I hope we get the chance for a couple more long weekends together in the next couple of months.

Ken leads the way on the fat bike.

Here are a couple more photos from the adventures of the past month.

Rainbow on a Little Beaver Creek Greenway ride, on the road section near Lisbon.

Ready to head downhill at Beaver Creek State Park.

Hickory Run, a secret gem of a creek right by the OH/PA line.

And to end this post, here's a little video clip from a ride around town with Kenny.  The cottonwood seeds were blowing through the sunlight at Perking Park, so I whipped out the trusty smartypants phone and shot a little clip.

Only a couple of weeks of spring left.  Hope you all enjoy your summer!!!

Video Snapshots

For the last couple of years I've been trying to carry a digital camera with me just about every time I go do something (and no, I don't just use the one on my smart phone because I don't have - or want - one).  The result is that I take a lot of photos, most of which are not very good.  Sometimes though I take a video clip instead - just a short recording of a few moments, trying to capture the feeling of the time and place.  Here are a couple of the good ones.

This is Little Beaver Creek, in eastern Ohio.  The stone structure is one of the locks from the old Sandy and Beaver Canal built in the mid 19th century.  This one is the infamous haunted Gretchen's Lock, an appropriate subject for the Halloween season.

Headwaters Trail is a rail trail in nearby Portage County.  This little waterfall is just off the main trail, yet you can only see it after the summer foliage is gone.

Next is the mill and dam on Slippery Rock Creek at McConnell's Mill State Park in western Pennsylvania.  This is one of the main whitewater creeks in our area, and I've spend dozens, if not hundreds, of days paddling here.

My brother and I went camping at Mountwood Park, near Parkersburg, WV for a two day mountain bike binge.  There is a big campground a mile away, and seven sites by the lake - where there was no one camped.  This was our view in the morning.

Western Reserve Greenway is a part of the Great Ohio Lake To River Greenway.  It's the local rail trail, and I spend quite a bit of time riding there.  This is the leaf fall on the Ashtabula County portion of the trail, just north of Rock Creek.

This one is from the Trumbull County section of the Western Reserve Greenway, passing wetlands near the wildlife viewing platform.

One more WRG clip - this one heading back home on a winter ride.  The tire track is from me on the way out.

High water on Coffee Run, a micro creek 20 minutes from downtown Youngstown.  Looks like it might be good to paddle with just a teeny bit more water...

The view out my office window into the air shaft during a heavy summer storm.  Watch the rain go upwards in front of the window.

The view of Youngstown from on top of YSU's Debartolo Hall, during my roof renovation observations this summer.

This is the view from the top of the quarry at West Branch State Parks Quarry Trail on the mountain bike trail system.

Speaking of mountain biking, this is a section of Dogwood Trail at Beaver Creek State Park, Ohio.

Here's my brother Matt riding the upper spring crossing line on Quarry Trail at West Branch State Park.

And me heading downhill at Moraine State Park in Pennsylvania.

Finally, a quick clip of me trying to record night riding over rocks at West Branch State Park - and crashing.

Hope you enjoyed the quick clips.


EDIT:  Wow, I didn't realize how bad the Blogger video processing was going to effect the videos.  You can't see the falling leaves or levitating rain at all.  Sorry!

Summer so far

I keep on waiting for that ‘summer feeling’ to hit me, but it just aint happening this year.  I know the calendar says that we’re halfway through the season as of today, but that feeling just isn’t there.

 

The weather is part of the reason.  The last several years we’ve become accustomed to a slightly wet spring, followed by a dry, hot summer.  But this year we’ve only had a couple of days up in the 90’s, which happened pretty much all in one hot streak.  Most of our days have been much cooler, with many days that have had highs only in the 70’s.  And the night temperatures have been comparatively chilly, with a bunch of nights down in the lower 50’s – and even one or two in the upper 40’s!  I’m not complaining about any of this though.  Back in my youth I was pretty much heat resistant, but now I’m at the half century mark I have to admit that things have changed, and riding a bike during those 90 degree days really takes a toll on me.

The other weather issue that has been – uh, let us say OBVIOUS has been the rain.  We’ve been getting pretty significant rain events pretty much every week.  Some have been fairly minor, but then we’ve had a bunch of multi-day long hard rains.  So where I’m used to seeing brown lawns and empty creeks, this year it’s amazingly lush greenery everywhere, and water levels that are far above the usual summer lows.  But the big impact on my summer mojo has been that this regular rain has kept the dirt mountain bike trails soft for weeks at a time.  REALLY soft.  So soft that you’d have to be a mtb evil-doer to be rotten enough to go out and destroy them by riding.

So there hasn’t been much singletrack this summer.  Where I usually would be getting at least two days of dirt riding every week, this summer it’s been the norm to NOT get to ride dirt at all.  Checking my mapmyride stats shows that there were only 4 singletracks in June, and 4 in July.

I’ve made a couple of trips over to Moraine State Park in Pennsylvania – a trail system that is locally famous for the way that it holds up to rainy conditions.  And I got in good rides when I went, but with the wet weather Moraine has become the ‘go to’ trails for local riders, and all the extra traffic is starting to develop mud holes in the areas between the rocks.  And I got in a couple of rides between the rain out at West Branch, Quail Hollow, and Beaver Creek.  But the trails are just so soft that riding makes deep ruts – and that is a BIG no-no for mtbrs.

What do you do when you’re a dirt rider and the dirt is too soft?  Resign yourself to riding on the pavement of course.  I've put in way more rail trail miles this summer than I ever have before.  And as the miles have added up I've started riding further distances when I have the time.  Usually I have less than two hours of free time – so that gives me time to drive to the rail trail, ride for about 1-1/4 hours and then drive home with a distance ridden of between 12 and 18 miles.  This summer I’ve spent some longer days on the trail, and have several 35 mile days.  And I've noticed that my average speeds are getting faster, too.  So all the pavement miles have been helping boost my fitness so that when I do get on the dirt I’m feeling pretty darn good, and can ride to the best of my ability.

And here we are in August, when the dirt should be hard-baked like concrete – but instead it’s so soft that on my last singletrack ride – out at Quail Hollow this week – revealed the most EPIC (and I don’t get to use that word that often in relation to my riding) mudhole that I’ve seen on a trail.  Four feet wide and twenty feet long of nasty, grey Jello mud with no way around.  Sad.  I was hoping that the five days without rain would have been enough to soak up some of the water.

The weather forecast for the upcoming week: chance of rain today, tomorrow, Friday and Tuesday.  Damn.  Well, maybe it’ll rain enough that I can get a kayak trip in…

Dehydrated but Organized

And time passes for our hero, as it does for all of us...

Work continues to barely drag along, but the REAL world (note: there is no such thing as the real world) has been doing pretty well.  Our garden is at least sprouting, and there are a bunch of hot pepper and tomato plants in the ground, growing contentedly.  There are also sweet peas, beets, lettuce, green beans and cucumbers (don't count on the cukes though - they look a mite sickly).

A Simpson Design convertible at the Greenway trailhead.
Turns out it's a body kit that goes on Miata frames.

I've been trying to maintain a healthy level of exercise, which for me is riding five days out of seven.  Looking at my trusty MapMyRide calendar for the last couple of weeks I see that two weeks ago I only rode four days out of seven (darn that mythical real world) but the one day I got out and rode twice, soooo - it's almost kind of like I rode five days out of seven since I did get in the same number of rides.

Then this week I redeemed myself from last weeks shortcomings by riding six days out of seven.  Checking the MMR tally I see those six rides consisted of two singletrack sessions, three pavement rides and one stationary bike torture-fest.  And on the seventh day I got in three hours of trail building down at Beaver Creek (more on that later).  So it was a pretty active week, and I'm basically feeling mostly good, though I am still sporting a few fading bruises from my latest Off Bike Experience.

About a month ago one of my trail building buddies, Eric, and I started talking about what it would take to start a mountain bike club for our area.  Cleveland Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA) does a really great job and has helped me a lot, but they don't cover our county since we're 50 miles away.  I'd thought of starting a club a couple of years ago, but I seriously don't want to be the president of anything, so I put it off.  But Eric and I decided to see if we could get something started, so we made up some fliers and got them out to all the local bike shops.

The response was minimal, but at the same time another rider was having the same thoughts.  And when he met up with the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) rep for the Great Lakes region at a mtb event, things really started moving.  Thanks to the work and commitment of our new president, the Rust Belt Riders MTB is the newest IMBA chapter club (or will be when the final application is submitted this week).  I did end up with the job of secretary, but I think that's something I can handle.

We'll cover Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana counties in Ohio, as well as the area in Pennsylvania that's just across the border.  One of the main issues will be to get Mill Creek Park to change their policy and allow mountain bikes on some of their trails.  Another focus will be continuing the work I started with building new trails down at Beaver Creek, and making that park our showcase of trail building possibilities.  After putting in three years of negotiations to get this project going I'm really excited with the possibilities.

We had a trail building day at Beaver Creek this Saturday, despite the 90 degree temps.  The park was having a Civil War re-enactment this weekend (a fact of which I was unaware) so the place was PACKED full of cars.  We're working on the other side of the creek from the encampment and re-enactment site, so there weren't many people around - just a hundred parked cars.  But I found a space way at the end, and so did Eric.  We got to work on the trail and finished off our big rock work project, an 85 foot long rock roadway that contours across a rugged part of the hillside.  The next task facing us is a steep section that will require a good sized rock retaining wall and pretty substantial bench cutting.

Building a new retaining wall at Beaver Creek.

Partway through the day Ian showed up to help with the build.  And just about the same time Doug, the "ranger" (actually a Resource Manager, I believe) for Ohio DNR stopped by to look at the new trail.  He's actually an avid mountain biker, and was excited to see our progress and the quality of the new trail.  We got to talking about the Rust Belt Riders and he wants to set up a time to do a walk-through of 100 acres of land over in Lake Milton State Park that he thinks would be prime for development as a mountain bike trail system.  And I heard second hand that Trumbull County Metroparks might be interested in developing another one of their parcels with some mtb trails.  So it turns out that there are quite a few positive things going on with the new club, and lots of possibilities to make a real difference for riders in our area.

Then today - funny thing, today... 

Yesterday I ended up doing three and a half hours of trail work in 90 degree heat, followed up with an hour and a half of gardening, in the same heat.  The real problem there is that I am of Greek heritage and sweat like a lawn sprinkler, so in the heat I have to put considerable effort into maintaining my hydration - or I crash like the Hindenburg.

Yesterday I drank two 32 oz. Gatorades, two 12 oz. Mountain Dews, and two 24 oz. water bottles while trail building and gardening.  Then when I got home I had another water and a couple beers.  I added up the total input in my head and thought that it should have been sufficient and went to bed tired.  Then this morning I got up before 7:00 and headed out to West Branch to ride.  Even getting out of bed was tough, but I attributed it to a hard day's work and being 49 years old.  When I got out on the singletrack I expected to feel better and get my groove, but after the first half hour or so I felt like chewed gum.  Despite that I continued on the singletrack, passing on the bail trail that in retrospect I should have taken.  It wasn't long before I was feeling seriously low in energy - like "maybe I should lay down for a minute" low.  I'm used to draggin' ass now and again, and this wasn't it.  After several granny gear climbs I finally made it back to the car and drove home, where I once again poured in copious amounts of fluids.

After a bit of reflection I decided that I must have still been dehydrated from the day before when I got up, and that once again going into 'full exertion' mode in 90 degree temps might not have been the best idea.  This afternoon I just sat around and took in fluids, with short naps in between (I'm usually not a nap guy).  And after drinking a LOT of Gatorade, ice tea and water I seem to have once again balanced the system somewhat, as there is now at least some output to go along with the massive input.  And once again I've relearned the 'hydrate yourself, you fool' lesson.  Hopefully this time it takes!

Imagine that

It seems that I'm back in the groove now, and managing to maintain a fairly steady ride schedule again.  Looking back into the recent past of three weeks ago, I find it difficult to explain why I was missing so many opportunities to get out and do something (like ride a bicycle maybe).  Motivation is such a tricky thing, involving mood, stress, scheduling, percieved versus actual results, etc.  Realizing that it is such an incredibly complex thing makes me doubt any sort of "motivational" expert right from the start.  How someone can think that they have the methods to overcome all those individual motivational roadblocks is beyond me.

In my twenties and thirties, after spending years making myself lift weights, I found my workout routines lasting for less time and my desire to exercise vanishing.  Then when I started paddling all the time I found it was a mildly good workout for my shoulders and upper body, and I would do it as often as I could.  Now that I've started riding mountain bikes the workout level has skyrocketed.  Since I enjoy it so much it never seems like a chore to get a workout in. 

So it seems obvious to me - if you want to be fit, find an exercise that you actually enjoy.  Not something that you can tolerate, or make yourself do twice a week.  Make it something that you really like, so much that you do it as often as possible.  So much that you'll gladly do other, not-so-fun exercise to make it easier to do the FUN stuff.  Amazingly simple, right?

Hogback Ridge, part of Lake County Metroparks

Actually, I'm afraid that is likely to be WRONG.  That is the kind of thinking that convinces those motivational speaker guys that they should go out and tell other people their brilliant ideas in order to make life perfect.  Upon further consideration it would seem that some people are not ever going to find something physical that they can truly enjoy.  For some people the cost of extended effort, physical fatigue and risk of injury will never be worth the adrenaline and accomplishment of any kind of intense physical activity, be it running, dance, karate, swimming or even mountain biking.  For these people, overcoming this particular motivational roadblock must be even more difficult.  I'd make a lousy motivational speaker I guess, because with only my one insight - I have no answers for the difficult questions.

Looking at my MapMyRide workout sheet for back to the last time I posted 11 days ago, it looks like I had a ride every day except for two, and one of those off days I did three hours of trail work as well as rototilling my Mom's garden.  Those nine ride days included five days of singletrack, and totalled out at around 90 miles.  With the local trails at West Branch State Park finally reopening (actually, reopening early this year), I've been able to head out there a couple of times and get in quick rides when I have only two hours or so of free time.  Plus I also got in a longer ride too, that surprisingly enough didn't even make me feel like I was going to die at the end.  Things bode well for an epic ride day in my near future - if I can just get everything to fall in place so that I can get four or so hours of free time...

A friend of mine from the rail trail.

I'm also back on the regular schedule for trail work.  This weekend we had a nice work day at North Road, maintaining the old trail and pushing on the new. Last weekend Eric and I got in a good day of work down at Beaver Creek, cutting in more bench on the hillside trail above the creek.  It's not exactly fast work, but it is rewarding to see such interesting new trail slowly emerging from the hillside.  We came across a section that was just full of big rocks, jumbled up on top of each other with little actual dirt between them - Eric called it the cannonball farm, and that summarized it nicely.  We took a bit of extra time and fashioned a rock roadway across the section, made of rocks up to about 250 pounds.  This should be a blast to ride, and even a nice surface for walkers.

Eric on the roadway at the cannonball farm.

I got out this evening for just over an hour on the singletrack at West Branch.  I had a great time, and even felt good on the hills.  I'm lucky.  I'm lucky  that though things may be stressful in the rest of my life, riding through the woods can bring me back to earth and put things in perspective.  I'm lucky that something as simple as biking can give me so much.  And I'm really lucky that my one insight into motivation actually applies to me.

Keep on riding folks.

Striving for Rhythm

Human nature is a funny thing.  Or more correctly, MY nature is a funny thing.  All winter I kept on the stationary bike, spending hours down in the basement spinning and sweating.  It certainly wasn't what I wanted to be doing, but I knew it was good for me.  So I gritted my teeth, put on a John Wayne movie and pedaled.

Now the weather is much, much nicer.  Even if there are some cool, damp days and it seems to be cloudy more often than it's sunny, the contrast with cold, wet, muddy and grey is pretty amazing.  But I've been slacking - not riding when I should and could be out.  I've made a couple of singletrack forays each week - but the other days I've been doing nothing.  Most of those days the weather was good enough that I could have had at least a nice ride around town, but I haven't.  So now that I've confronted the problem I'm going to try to get in at least a short ride five of the next seven days.  And I'll even get back on MapMyRide and log my miles.  Yeah.

Friday afternoon I headed down to Beaver Creek with Dave.  My plan was to ride a bit, from the campground down to the picnic area.  Then I planned on hiking back up, rather than push the bike up the insanely steep and rocky 5/8 mile "shortcut".  Once I got back to the car and caught my breath I would hike the bow saw down the trail about 1/4 mile to a downed tree and cut it out.  So I geared up and headed on down the trail.  I finally got the mount and lens cover replaced on my GoPro helmet cam, so I tried mounting it on the front fork for a bit.  Unfortunately that needs a bit more work, so I switched it to my helmet.  Even more unfortunately, when I came speeding down a hill, pegged my left bar end on a sapling, and crashed onto the trail at a pretty good rate of speed, sliding at least 10 feet on my right side - I had accidentally switched from video to photo every 10 seconds.

Immediately after crashing - you can tell because the bike is LAYING DRIVE SIDE DOWN.

Thankfully I didn't do any damage, but that was entirely too hard for a 49 year old guy to hit the ground.  Kinda took the oomph out of the afternoon.  I continued on my ride, eventually getting back into a semi-natural groove, but my shoulder and hip were pretty sore, as well as my right ankle.  The flat section down by the creek was a lot of fun though, and I actually managed to get some of that part on the GoPro - before the SD card filled up and it stopped recording.



I'm not sure why exactly, but I didn't leave the bike at the bottom, instead hiking (mostly) and biking (a little bit) back up to the top and the car.  By the time I got back up there I was twice as sore as when I hit the ground, and I wasn't about to hike back down and spend another half hour sawing through three tree trunks.  So I had a nice cold drink and headed back home - good enough for one day.

Saturday morning I did something a bit different.  Diana was sick at home with a nasty bout of intestinal flu, so Kenny stayed at home with her.  I headed out before 9:00 to meet up with two of the adult leaders from Kenny's new Boy Scout troop.  They had an idea to do a canoe trip on the local river, a slow and muddy waterway that has something like 20 dams on it.  And since they knew I was into kayaking they asked if I'd like to go along on an exploratory trip to see if the river was passable.  We put in one town upstream, near the Bliss dam in Newton Falls, and paddled downstream in spotty rain and cool temperatures.  Over the next four hours we came across three river-wide blockages, the last of which was a huge mess in an area that was very difficult to portage.  So they may have to either find another place to paddle or find another way to use the clear sections in order to get in enough distance to make the trip worthwhile.  It was nice to paddle on the Mahoning in the upstream sections where I'd never been before, but what I really need is some whitewater.  I'm waiting for a weekend when the water level and my free time are both right and I can get in a nice ride on the lower Slippery Rock Creek.  Now that's some REAL fun!!

A fortuitously placed fallen log at Moraine State Park.

 

Sunday my brother and I had planned on a ride over at Moraine, but he was feeling a bit under the weather and had to cancel.  I considered heading over and riding myself, but with the chilly, damp weather I settled on going to the nearby North Road trails and doing some trail work for a couple of hours.  Now that the tread is solid enough to actually ride I've managed to get over there and put in some laps.  It really pointed out where the trail needed to be tweaked to make it more bike friendly.  The twisty, narrow tread is great for hiking, but once I rode it I found that the corridor pressed too close in some areas, the sight lines were obstructed in others, and some of the turns were too tight for a bike.  So I spent a couple of hours widening the tread, cutting back undergrowth at corners, and making re-routes for the sharp turns.  I only got a little further than half way, but I think that the changes should be pretty noticeable.  I need to get my bike back out there and ride it again to see.

A too-tight corner before...

...and after.

I guess it was another so-so weekend.  I did get some stuff done, and managed to get in some riding, but I certainly hope to do better in the upcoming week.  With a little bit of cooperation from the weather, and a few other things falling in line, hopefully I'll get more miles - and have more fun.

Here and There, but definitely not Everywhere

It was another slow week at work, but Friday eventually found it's way around again.  During the wet and muddy winter I'd heard that the trails at Quail Hollow State Park had been damaged pretty badly by irresponsible riders.  Apparently it got so bad that the park actually closed them for a while, something that they usually don't do.  But towards the end of the week I saw on the CAMBA board that the trails were not only re-opened, but in good condition.  I hadn't been out there for quite a long time, probably not even last summer, but I always enjoyed a spin around the loop there.

Quail Hollow State Park, Ohio

The trail there is a 3.15 mile loop, with one way travel.  The elevation change in the park is a whopping 50 feet, so there aren't the hills like at West Branch or Moraine.  And there are so few rocks that you could probably give each one a name.  There are maybe three stretches where you can see rocks and only one rock feature - and it looks like it was imported.  In short it's a beginners trail.  But it's still possible to have a LOT of fun there - if you just try to pick up the speed a bit.  The beginning is especially fast, as there are a couple of small descents that help keep up your momentum.  During the first year I rode Quail Hollow my record for  lap was 29 minutes.  A couple of years later I dropped it to 24 minutes.  On Friday I managed to tie that on my first lap, then I took a slower paced lap where I stopped and took some photos.

The boardwalk at the meadow at Quail Hollow.

I would have made another slow lap, maybe two, but I don't like to leave Dave waiting forever, so we headed home.  Still was a great afternoon and I was glad to get out and visit Quail Hollow again and see that it hasn't been destroyed.

Saturday I did some things that had to be done, but I did take an hour or so and get in a ride on the rail trail.  Time was at a premium, so I went to the closest trailhead and cranked out some miles.  It's nice to be able to head out for an hour and a half ride and still know you could easily ride for another hour and a half.  But sometimes you have to fit a ride in the available slot, so I was content with what I got.

Wildlife observation platform on the Western Reserve Greenway Trail.

Saturday afternoon Kenny and I headed down to Beaver Creek to camp overnight.  My brother Matt and his two kids also headed down, but since his boy has been feeling a bit under the weather they decided not to spend the night.  The kids had fun running around and playing on the playground while I set up the tent and Matt got a nice fire going.  Then he cooked an excellent steak dinner, with potatoes, beans, cider and pie - so good it was hard to believe I was out camping.

Trumbull County Courthouse on the banks of the Mahoning River.

Sunday afternoon when we got up Kenny and I had a fire to get warmed up, then packed up camp and headed down to the picnic area for trail work.  Even though it was Easter there was one other brave volunteer, Eric, who showed up.  He and I worked for over three hours to bench the top part of the new trail.

The new trail at Beaver Creek State Park (picture by Kenny)

The soil on the hillside varies from 80% rock/20% dirt to loam to clay.  Some of it is relatively easy to bench cut - and some not so easy.  But the two of us got quite a bit of work done in an afternoon, so that I'm fairly confident that we'll be finishing this thing off before the end of summer.  It's going to be a nice addition to the mountain bike trail system, but I think it'll be even better for hikers since it's a short scenic loop that's right by the parking areas.

Another pic of the new trail (by Kenny).

So there wasn't a great, grand ride this weekend like the one last week at Moraine.  But I did get to visit two places that I enjoy seeing.  There was a nice ride involved, plus another grinder on the rail trail.  And getting more done on the Beaver Creek trail was really great, as this is a project that I've been working towards for over two years. 

Nonetheless, I can't help but hope that next weekend I can get in both some rewarding trail building time AND a fantastic ride on some singletrack.  And maybe even a bit of a ride during the week, if I'm lucky and the weather cooperates.  Hey, a man can dream, can't he?

Time Warp

When I wrote my last post, the one talking about how I spent the whole weekend doing trail work, it turns out that I had an unseen passenger.  Behind my left knee, the one that doesn't move around so well so I can't actually SEE the back of it, there was a tick.  I didn't find the little monster until Tuesday, so that means that it was there at least two days, and according to what I could find out, that meant that there was a better chance that it could have transferred bad juju to my bloodstream.  Then when I got sick the next day, with a fever that just wiped me out, I really started to worry.

When I got hold of my doctor and described my symptoms he basically said "Get in here right now."  That's never a comforting thing to hear from your physician.  So I went in and they drew blood for tests and started me on some drugs in case I started to grow Lymes.  But regardless of what it was, I was miserable - fever, congestion, achy and it felt like my IQ had been reduced by 50%.  But I finally got the blood test results back after the weekend and found out that I didn't have Lyme Disease - just some sort of cold (ain't the power of paranoia a wonderful thing?)

But I did spend about ten days down and out.  I went to work the whole time - when you work at a desk with a computer there's not much difference between sitting at work being miserable and sitting at home being miserable.  But my head was so scrambled that it almost seems like the whole time I was sick didn't really happen - the Severe Cold Time Warp. It's not like I did anything that I could look back on, just sit around in a fog being sick.  But finally I'm more or less back with the rest of the world (as much as ever, anyways) and able to actually participate in living.

But after nothing going on for a week and a half I started to get my energy back towards the end of the week, and on Friday I headed down to Beaver Creek after lunch.  My plan was to get in a ride and then do a small amount of work on the new trail.  But as I've learned before, you're never ahead of downed trees when you're maintaining a trail.

There were two new trees down on Dogwood Trail.  I only had my small saw in my pack, so I couldn't clear them but I did get rid of all the branches so that you could at least lift a bike over easily.  That took up some of my trail work time, but I did get a chance to do some more benching on the hillside section of the new trail.  That has to be some of the rockiest soil I've ever seen up there, the exact opposite of the silty soil at the North Road trail project.

Next weekend there's going to be a big Beaver Creek trail work day, where I get a chance to do more than just a little bit of work at a time.  But this weekend it was time to work on North Road Nature Preserve.  Only a small crew showed up - just four of us - but we put in a good morning of work and finished cutting the corridor for the reroute around the wettest section.  The woods are waking up to spring pretty quick this year, which isn't suprising I guess considering we only had a quarter of a winter.

For TJ - this is the trail wagon from earlier in the year.

Then on Sunday afternoon my brother and I headed over to Moraine for a ride.  I was feeling a bit less than perfect with a nice headache going on, but I'd been thinking about riding all week so I was going to give it a shot.  And it turned out so fine - one of those nice, long rides in nice conditions with good company when it seems like you're firing on all cylinders and riding at the top of your ability.

I can hardly even attempt to describe how great it was.  A TOUGH ride, with lots of technical stuff to push yourself against.  No big falls, no crashes, no bike parts broke.  After a week and a half of time warp flu it was exactly what I needed.  I'm feeling sore from my legs to my shoulders, and I can tell I'm going to sleep like a rock tonight, but it's all good.

Also, this week my son Kenny graduated from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.  He left Webelos with the Super Achiever award, which you only get if you complete every single one of the Webelos achievements.  He did a heck of a job and I'm EXTREMELY proud him.