The Road Ride

Brautigam posted easier this week about some great 85mile course.

So we met him at Bakers Ridge and Stewartstown at 7:30 to begin our journey in hopes of extending his ride to make a century. Of course, google maps has failed again listing roads that don't exist somewhere around mile 36, if you recalled the earlier post we shouldn't repeat the same mistakes.

So we ended up on Friendsville Rd, then got directions to head towards Wisp looking for Sand Springs Rd. In typical Andrew fashion, he had a timeline and had to call for a ride once he realized he wouldn't make his 2PM deadline. So Emily and I carried on with meager directions. When I saw Bishoff Rd, I knew it was hopeless and began to try to remember our old WVU RR course on Sang Run. We ran into a guy picking up trash who gave great directions to get to Big Bear, which we figured at that point we could either continue home, or get a ride from one of the Ultra racers. We chose the latter.

70miles/8k' climbing.

Trail Werk

4 of us went out to Wisp for the day to get some trail maintence in. We kind of expected to do some boring leaf raking and rock kicking, but nope, today would be trail building! But not some boring trail, no no, Northshore stuff.

So we started with this.

Almost 5 hours later...

That stuff takes a lot of work to make it solid, but maybe we'll include it in our DH race. We also built a 15' berm just after this.

Push!

So...Zerbe broke his RD like woah on our mountain ride last night...and since he didnt want to break a brand new chain to make it ss..Liew, Bala, and I pushed him all the way back to our house from Bakers...ok, well he walked up Riddle, and coasted down the hills, but on everything else...we pushed.



It is raining today...lame.

This is what happens when you ride!

Yeah, we clean up trash...

If you litter...I hate you.


Some team members went out to clean up our Adopt-a-highway section. Took longer than we thought, and we ran out of trash bags. I repeat...if you litter, you suck.

What do Liew and Bala think?

Tuesday Night 'Easy' Ride

The past few Tuesdays have had quite a bit of riding and excuses not to ride. Chad wanted to bring back the ride that was so popular last year, and early on was somewhat successful. There has been struggles between faster riders and slower riders trying to ride together, but we've been averaging about 5 riders each week.
The past 2 weeks, Phil has joined us from MBC, and today in particular Phil lead much of the ride. Halfway through the ride, Zerbe commented that Phil should be named Dr Dolittle as he nearly hit a cat,2 deer, a rabbit and a ground hog by the time we made it to Pt Marion. Then another close call with a deer on Ft Martin hill. Oh, and the gaggle of Canadian geese in Granville.
Always excitement from somewhere. 42mi, 2:45

Bakersfield Road Ride

After stripping/cleaning/rebuilding my bike two weeks ago, I had been so swamped with work I had not taken it out for a spin. Today that changed. I rode out of the city to the field office I work at to put in a little extra work. Riding was glorious.

With a clear sky, bright sun, 90 degree air temp, and 20% humidity, I had hit the pavement. After 5 miles I had realized two things:
1) I miss WV. California drivers ARE terrible.
2) Bakersfield is flat. Flatter than motown rail trail flat. The only real hills within 20 miles of the city are the river levees and the interstate ramps. =(

California drivers respect cyclists less than back country WV folk. (who at least treat us w/ good-natured, mild curiosity as they pass within inches) The CA DOT has made a point of installing bike lanes on most major roads through Bakersfield. Unfortunately, most local drivers use this as a convenient extension of their lane while passing and cutting corners. I'd play chicken with a coal truck on 119 anyday compared to a CA soccer mom in an SUV.

So while I try to find interesting routes to ride, I am anticipating my return to WV, hills, roads w/o bike lanes, and backroads I can't get lost for hours on.