Well, it's a Karate Monkey

I took my new Surly Karate Monkey s/s out to the 'wood on Tuesday night. I picked up the frame from somebody locally for $300. It was still new in the box, so I felt it was a good deal. I had enough parts lying around (sans the crankset) to build it up so I thought I'd give s/s'ing a try. Pfood keeps telling me it's the way to build leg strength.

Since I'd never ridden a s/s before, I decided I would hit the flats first and work up to climbing on the rig. Calling it a rig doesn't seem right because it weighs in on the scales around 25.5 pounds, while not light, certainly isn't beefy either. (Similarities to it's owner perhaps?) I rode the Stining Nettle trails and all of the connectors for an hour and headed for the front of the park. As I crossed under the trestle, Paul Miller passed me and we chatted for a while. As we neared the trailhead for Grotpeter we decided to take a lap on the 'race course' and headed up Grotpeter in the CCW direction. I have to say I was surprised and pleased with the climbing efficiency of the KM. I only got hung in two spots and that was due to picking the wrong line which sapped my forward progress enought that falling became an option. The rest of the climb, while a definite workout for lungs and legs, was more rideable than I thought. We climbed all the way to the top of the Rollercoaster and Paul complimented me on my ability to clean the climb and stay with him as we 'rolled towards the heavens.'

After experiencing the ups and downs of the sweet offerings of the R'coaster trail which I must admit is simply built for a s/s, we started our initial descent towards the fireroad and then to the Love trail. The KM is fitted with the stock Surly rigid fork, which means s/s at it's purest. As I discovered further down Love, it also means you might want to consider picking a smoother line, because you're gonna feel every rock, root, rut, and imperfection the trail has to offer. (I guess I should mention my theory on downhills. I don't like to go slow. If I've had to suffer climbing the hill, I figure a little reward is due. Also I like DRJ's theory that every ride is a race and I'll only get better at descending if I continue to push myself while doing so.) I quickly learned to keep a lighter grip and flexed arms to help the bike bounce off of the trail debris and minimize the impact to my wrists and arms. I was actually enjoying the ride.

As we exited at the Ranger Station, I chatted with Paul and thanked him for making a loop with me. I then began to reflect on my ride. Does this happen to everyone on their maiden voyage on a s/s? Is this how a s/s wins your heart in a relationship only to tear it out days, weeks, or months later? Let's just hope my Karate Monkey is interested in a long-term relationship free from heartaches, heartbreak, or just a swift kick in the gut.

June's Travels

This month has been all about traveling. I feel like I've been gone more than I've been home. I guess I shouldn't complain too much though, as I've been to Sanibel Island, Florida and Hilton Head, SC. Nice places. The problem is the fact that I've been to both places for work, not pleasure. The good news is that my family got to travel with me both times. It's nice having them with me. I don't tell them this enough, but it does keep the road from being a lonely place. Eating meals alone is one of the worst parts of travel. I'll take the hectic airports, the frantic connections, or the 'theme-park' cab rides just don't make me sit alone at a table for dinner. As Americans, we eat too fast anyway and when you're dining alone, the pace only quickens.

I'm coming home Sunday and should be in town for most of July until we head to Europe for our summer vacation. My goal is to ride every day before we leave and really put my body through some tough workouts. I figure I'll have enough recovery time while I'm gone and besides, I'll need to lose 10 pounds to help with the vacation diet. I look forward to some tough workouts with the Pfoodman/Wapiti team and pushing the paces on some of the rides.

For this budding mountain bike racer, I've set a goal for myself of finishing the last 3 races of the year in the top 5. I really want to be forced to 'cat up' and be racing (and getting thrashed) in the sport class next year. Heck, I may even dive straight into the endurance class and really get my arse handed to me. Pfoodman tells me that's the only way to go and his advice has been pretty sage thus far. I'm also mulling over jumping into the world of cyclocross in the fall. I'll need a bike, but I definitely have the desire to push myself. I've been told it's the most painful form of racing. Sounds interesting???

Bike Handling Skills

Granted, this is a picture of a road bike accident, but it tells my story. My bike handling skills stink! I rode the mountain bike again tonight with a fellow rider, Steve O'Neal. I guess I could say I was tired, I was pushing too hard, or that it was the trail's fault. The bottom line is I'm not doing well in the bike handling department.

It manifested itself at Matson. I couldn't pick a line to save my life. Too much speed, too little or too much braking, poor overall positioning. Yes, the conditions were horrible at best, but they were the same conditions for every other racer.

I was hoping tonight would be different. It wasn't. In the course of our quick 75 minute ride at Castlewood, I punched the card 2 times. The first time was rather severe. While crossing a pseudo ditch, I wheelied to avoid bogging my front end down in the mud. The wheelie went fine, but as my rear wheel entered the ditch, my bike slid to the right. That slide caused my bike to lean severely to the left and track directly towards a trail marker constructed out of a 4x4 post. With no time to swerve or grab the brakes, I slammed directly into the post (luckily right at the face of my stem) and stopped like I'd just hit a wall. My bike was fine (you gotta love steel and aluminum.) My body however wasn't. My left inner thigh slammed into the stem and left a very nasty, 8-inch bruise. The only good outcome? My 'boys' were saved from serious damage. Try explaining that to the Mrs!

My second 'dabbing' was coming through the washout area on the way out of the Stinging Nettle trail. At the last climb out, I picked the wrong line (again) and almost fell 10 feet into the Meramec River. I saved it at the last minute, must to the disappointment of a couple of onlookers I'm sure. On Monday I tried another bad line in this area and it kept me from clearing this part of the trail, too.

Perhaps I'm tired. A lot has been going on at work. I just haven't ridden that much mountain bike in the last few months. All of these sound plausible, but they also sound like I need to ride more mountain bike. Pfoodman knows something about this. Just today, he told me in an email "the best bet is to train with those who do mountain biking." I know what I need to do, now it's time to do it.

Swamp Thing

The Matson Hill State Championship Mountain Bike Race was held this past Saturday. We've had quite a bit of rain showers over the past week and many folks weren't sure if we'd have the race or not. The conditions Saturday morning were somewhat dry and the racing began under overcast skies. As the morning progressed, the skies darkened and right before the beginners/women/juniors classes took to the course, the skies opened up. This wasn't a brief, light shower, but a good ol' fashioned downpour! And it kept on coming down as they called us to the line. Our race officials, Dave and Larry, called us to the line, promised to call the race in the event of lightning, bid us safe racing, and set us off.

The actual race course is a unique set-up. The race begins with a 1.5 mile hill climb up a very steep gravel road followed by a half mile section of paved roads which leads to a very tight singletrack course of roughly 3 miles.

My pre-race strategy was this. Make a strong effort climbing Matson Hill and attempt to stay near the front as we transitioned into the tight singletrack. I felt that if I was able to get into the singletrack ahead of the pack or very near the leaders, I could hold off the charge, so to speak. What I didn't know was that the organizers of the event decided to have a race within a race and offer a "King of the Mountain" prize to the first rider reaching the Matson Hill "summit" in each class. The prize was $20 and a 5-pack of O'Fallon Brewery's finest. Once I learned of the KOM prize, I thought my strategy may well go right out the window.

As we started, I let a fair amount of riders head off with a pace I knew they wouldn't be able to sustain when the steep parts of the climb hit, or so I thought. I then panicked and thought perhaps some of the riders were actually going to keep the tempo going. With panic as my motivator and a good measure of hill repeat training in my legs, I decided to shift into a harder gear and start some out of the saddle tempo to close the gap. I slowly picked off riders and kept building my pace. As we neared the first bend in the hill, I could see a few more riders and kept going after them. I kept alternating between standing and climbing seated and really thought about my pre-race strategy and the possibility of not only getting up the hill in decent shape, but also winning the KOM title! (Being a recovering fat guy and all-around poor hill climber, I felt like Michael Rasmussen in the Tour de France. If they call him "The Flying Chicken" what would they call me... "The Flying Ostrich!") As I neared the top of the hill, I was passed by the wonderkid, Zak Hafner, and that quickly slapped me back to reality. This kid is fast!!

I approached the trailhead and was cheered on by several folks. I also had a sense I was doing rather well and that boosted my spirits even further. Ten seconds later, I was almost out of the race. (I guess I should mention, I've only ridden Matson once and that was only for 1 lap before mechanical problems put an end to my day. ) As I set up for the entry into the trail, I thought the trail entered to the left of a trail marker, when in fact it entered to the right. As I set up for a fast entry into the trail, I immediately saw my mistake and corrected. I nailed the first corner okay, but was way out of line for the second quick left-hander and shot off into the brush. I was able to stay on the bike, but nearly smacked a tree head on. I quickly got back on course and discovered the trails were extremely slick and very hard to carry any sort of speed through. As I ran off course time and time again, I thought this will certainly be a DNF. Making matters worse was the fact that everytime mud flew into my eyes, my vision blurred and I would again run off course.

Jim Hafner (1st place) caught me not quite half way into the first lap. He must have been having a better day bike handling, because I never saw him again. He ultimately finished about 4 minutes ahead of me. I slogged and slogged through the slop and worked to not let anyone else pass me throughout the remainder of the race. The course got wetter and wetter while the mud thicker and thicker. I remember thinking at one point I'd rather be climbing Matson Hill Road for another 10 miles than negotiating this swamp.

As I made my last climb out for the race and came across the finish line I remember thinking there weren't that many racers ahead of me (there weren't all that many at the start either, but I was still in the minority) and perhaps I did fairly well. As I watched others come across the line, I began to take note of the classes and finishing positions. As it turns out, I was the first rider in my class to get into the trail, so I feel as though I accomplished one mission. As luck would have it I also won the KOM race and finished 2nd in my class!

Overall, it was a race I'll never forget. I felt I did the best I could under the conditions and while it was a smaller field than normal, I'll take it! When I finished and got back to the car, I looked in the mirror to see my face resemble the Swamp Thing and my legs and arms were coated in black mud. My jersey, shorts, and socks were completely mud caked. Perhaps I'm a mudder? Could this be the return of the SWAMP THING?

Congratulations to Jim Hafner, Zak Hafner, Mike Tieber, and Justin Suvarna! Great race guys! I took my wife and kids out for ice cream and concretes at the Malt Shop on the $20 I won (thanks for the recommendation Johan!) and I'm going to enjoy those O'Fallon brews, too!