Paying My Dues

You might thing that I'd be of the opinion that I've paid my dues as a mountain biker.  I've had my left leg broken in two places, and a year later put a 2" tear in the cartilage of my left knee. And last fall I had an accident on my mountain bike right up the street from my house and fractured my skull in two places.  Those are just the big ones - that doesn't count the littler stuff like hitting a tree last August and rag-dolling off into the woods, which kept me off the bike for over a month with bruised ribs.  But that's just the way the cookie crumbles - if I wasn't out there pushing it then I wouldn't ever take an injury (and I'd likely weigh 300 pounds and live on potato chips and beer).

But when I think about paying my dues, what comes to mind are the hours spent on the dreaded stationary bike.  When the weather is too nasty for even me, or the trails are softened up into soup - that's when it's time to grit the teeth, climb down the stairs into the basement and work up a sweat on the stationary.  I can ride for at least an hour and a half without pushing too hard, but the boredom of it all just kills me.  So lately I've been riding in increments of about a half an hour each, at least one a day.  While it's still boring as watching paint dry, at least I can turn on the tv and ride through a half hour show and be done.



Yeah, I know - not a very flattering picture.

 But I've really been trying to get back on track with my fitness, which means I need to watch my calories and also try to get in some exercise every day.  Between the stationary bike, rail trail rides, and sneaking in a couple of short singletrack sessions, now I've had 18 straight days of riding.  And I've also been doing well with the calorie counting as well.  Hopefully if I can keep on track I'll be able to resume the weight loss that I had accomplished in the fall before my accident.  For me getting started is the hardest part - once I get in a routine I find it a lot easier to keep on going.  It took me a couple of months to after my recovery to tone up some and then get in the right frame of mind (it didn't hurt to get past the holiday eating either).




Western Reserve Greenway

 This week I got in one ride on the rail trail, and then a quick singletrack session as the weather started to get back to winter.  And with me pushing my legs a little more on the trainer I had a good ride, able to put more push to the pedals when I needed to.  All the time spent on the stationary bike pays off then, when you're able to keep the momentum up the hill, preload and lift the front wheel over the next rock and the POW! deliver the power strokes you need to push up over and down the trail.  Let me hear a HELL YEAH for getting to be a better rider even at the age of 49.

Now THAT is a mountain bike trail.

I managed to get a couple of good pictures this last week.  It might just be another of my delusions, but it seems like I'm getting good pictures more often these days.  Now if I just had a decent camera...

It seems like my pictures come in two categories - outdoor photos taken while biking, or photos of urban scenes taken on the way to or from work.

And decay - Youngstown certainly has enough of that.  There are way too many opportunities to photograph abandoned buildings and urban decay in general.

The weather gurus seem to think winter is going to make a cameo return appearance for a day or two - just in time for Kenny's Cub Scout "Winter Event" on Saturday.  Then the temps will rise again and the snow will melt and the mud will return.  And I'll climb back down those stairs and put in more time on the stationary bike.  Yay.

Groundhog Day Weekend

Remember that movie "Groundhog Day", where Bill Murray got stuck in time and had the same day over and over?  This weekend I had a more fun version of that concept - three rides on the same trail in three days.

I finished off my jury duty on Friday, and with a stress level that was off the charts I headed out to West Branch.  There hadn't been any rain or snow for a couple of days and I was hoping that the Quarry Trail, with its great draining soil, would be solid enough to ride.  And when I got out there and walked up to the trail I was elated (overjoyed?  ebullient?) to find the tread firm and nearly dry.  So I cranked out a quick lap before I had to head home - the best hour I'd had in a LONG time.



Fossil in the rock armoring.

 I'd managed to get in a couple of rides at Moraine earlier in the winter, but with my dismal autumn there had been no other singletrack since August.  I'd spent some time on the stationary bike trying to tone up the legs a little, but Quarry Trail has some seriously technical stuff and I was apprehensive that I'd be pushing more than riding.  But I surprised myself with how well it went.  Don't think that I didn't have dozens of dabs or didn't walk some of the rock gardens, but overall I did pretty good and made a couple of features that I usually fail.  I got there in a foul, depressed, distracted frame of mind and left with a smile on my face.  Can't beat that.

Saturday Kenny and I worked on his ski sled in the morning, but in the 4 hours of free time during the afternoon I headed back out to Quarry.  Turns out there was some localized snow out there overnight, which promptly melted once the sun came up.  When I got out there it looked bad - water on the road and wet weeds in the parking area.  But once I checked it out it wasn't that much different than the day before.  And so another great hour of riding as I got in another lap.

Sunday morning I headed out just before Diana got home from work, with the plan of getting in a ride and then heading to work to try and catch up a bit.  The sun was out and the sky was blue.  Even with temperatures around 40 I was able to ride in bike shorts and short sleeves.  And I got in a third lap - which felt even better than the last two.  I was making it over rock gardens that I'd rarely managed to ride before, and acing tech features that usually gave me trouble.  It was great.

The weatherman says that winter is going to make a return Monday night, so this weekend was probably it for riding during the next week at the least.  But after my own Groundhog Day experience I think I can face a week of stationary bike workouts.

Gotta take the good with the bad.  Three days of riding pleasure after five days of jury duty torture kind of evens out I guess.  I put together a little movie of photos and video from the weekend.