Fun With Devices That Have Chains

more road

2011-02-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Photo By Denis Chazelle

Been hitting a lot of gravel roads lately. Mainly because I am sick of riding in the snow. I like to pedal my bike not push it.

Loudoun County Gravel Road Data Base

2011-01-25T05:28:00.001-08:00

Though this is not a new idea. I do believe I made a cleaner, more detailed map of the Gravel Roads of Loudoun County, Va.

Terror of Teaberry

2010-09-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Jim McGonigle

Sunday I headed north with Todd and Jim to race Michaux again. This time it was southern Michaux. The Terror of Teaberry. Michaux is a great place to ride and race. I have had mixed results in the different races I have done there. This being the about 11th or 12th race I have done in Michaux. 5 Maximus's, 3 or 4 Dark Hollow's and 3 Teaberry's. I have done well at Teaberry. The Maximus is hit or miss. Dark Hollow is always hot and tough. 2 years ago I felt like I was going to explode into flames at Dark Hollow, it was so hot.

Anyways, Rich (race director) likes to punish people. I guess he wants to make people remember his races. This was no different.

I decided to do the 20 miler. I guess because The 40 did not look so tempting with the rain that came in overnight. I think the 20 or 25 mile format fits me better. There was another Le Mans style start. I hate running. I twisted and sprained my ankle at this years Dark Hollow. I was able to finish the race but could not walk the next day. I took off running as fast as I could all the while watching the ground. I did not want a Dark Hollow repeat. I figured if I could get to the bike fast and get into the trail other SSer's would have to work hard to catch me. Not Me having to bust my ass trying to make up lost ground. I got to my bike in the first quarter of racers and took off into the woods. It quickly changed to a double track climb. I had been doing well with this climbs this year but today I was not feeling it yet. I was passed by at least 10 racers on this first climb. More importantly by 3 SSers. I was following one guy in my class up the climb staying in contact with him as we entered the singletrack. I was able to get by him on the next downhill. Yes I said I got by him on a downhill. Imagine that, me passing someone on a downhill. That does not happen very often. Anyways I got by him only to flub up the next short climb and he got by me.

At some point I settled down and started to ride like I should. On the climb to Rocky ridge I caught Arron, Matt and the dude I had just swapped places with. I was able to get by them and enjoy some wet technical singletrack. Even though it had rained the trails where in good condition. People where sliding around but I must have made the right tire choice. I got into a groove on Rocky Ridge and some trails beyond that. I was able to pass a mess of people. I think it was on Southern Gas trail. I caught a SSer and passed him. I asked him what place he thought he was in. He said he thought we were 1 and 2. That made me happy but in the back of my mind I thought he was wrong. Turns out there was one other SSer in front. But he turned out to be a non factor.

I kept chugging along, feeling good. I came a trail called the 3 Stooges or just Stooges. I saw a guy on the side of the trail putting his chain back on. I asked if he was alright. He said yes he had just dropped the chain but he was hurting. I was elated he was a SSer and now I thought I was in first and had a chance to win. Me! win a race! can't happen, not Me. Well I went up the first Stooge (hill) and this is where began to fall apart. while climbing it a guy (not in my class) caught me. We had been yo yoing all day. We were climbing and for some reason he said he heard someone coming up fast. I thought it was the guy who had dropped his chain. It turned out it was not. I looked back and saw no one. We hit the downhill. Which was pretty slick. I was getting tired. At the bottom it was slick and fairly technical. I could tell I was wearing out. I was making stupid mistakes and got knocked off the bike a couple of times. At that time the 2nd Stooge (hill) went up. I was caught by the guy who thought we were running 1,2. He got by. I did not panic, I figured I would catch him in a bit. I needed to save some energy.

Well we went up and over the second Stooge. We hit the bottom and began to climb the mother of all hills (OK I am exaggerating a little, but it was a bitch). I was right behind the leader. Then it happened.....he got on his bike and began to climb the fucking hill. I was having a problem just hiking it. My legs were screaming, I was falling into a depression. Do you know how depressing it is watching the race win slowing climbing out of sight. Well it is mighty damn depressing. Then I came around a corner he was off his bike hiking. Happiness came over me, hey I may have a chance. Then I had to dismount and watch him pedal away again.

I finally got to the top of the 3rd Stooge. The course went down from here. I let everything go on this downhill trying to make up some time. Knowing where the finish was and where we were going I knew there was a least one more tough climb. I was wrong there were 2 tough climbs. The first one would have been fairly easy if it was in the first part of the race. But it wasn't. It was a suck ass climb towards the end of the race. I was able to stay on the bike but probably averaged 3 miles an hour. I did see the leader near the top of the climb but could not catch him. I was bonking hard at this point. Actually I was past Bonktown, I was in Slumville. I came to the top and crossed the road. Here was the second climb. It went up hard. I did not have the legs to climb this and got off and walked. I was now in thissucksassburg In the back of my mind I waiting to get past by the the dropped chain guy. Luckly this climb was not long. I got to top hopped on the bike. Shortly I saw the finish tents and got a burst of energy. I went through the finish tent wasted, dead tired.

I know I finished 2nd. But was not feeling well about being first loser. Oh well! I won a new pair of shoes and that is something Papa needed.

Fixing a Sloppy Time

2010-08-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well it is about time I address the slop in 5 of my Time pedals. I can say I like Time pedals, they work great. But the Atac and Roc models have a design flaw. The flaw? Pedal strikes against rocks cause the springs to bend. Bent spring would not be a real problem. But when the spring is bent it becomes loose and the tension screw falls out. It is more common with the Roc's then the Atac's. (That is the tension screw falling out). So I sat down and looked at the pedals and came up with a fix. I am sure someone has has done this. I just don't go looking for answers on the web. That would be........well the smart thing to do.

Put pedal in vice, spindle up. The end of the rod is knurled and will not come out without damaging the pedal body if you try to push it through spindle down. Pound rod out (almost all the way) with an awl and dead blow hammer.

It is better if you leave the rod in just enough to able to remove the springs. Remove springs not the piece you clip into. It doesn't matter if you remove the clip piece. It just makes it easier to reassemble if it is not removed.

Also remove the tension screw. It makes reassembly easier if it is removed. The tension screw should just fall out if you tap the pedal on the work bench

Put springs in vice and slightly bend them out. It is important not to bend them to far. If they are bent to far then it is hard to clip into the pedal while riding. Trust me I learned this already.

Reassemble the pedal by placing the spring back in place. Then push the rod through the spring and pedal clip thingy. You may have to use the hammer and awl to get the rod all the way back into place.

With a small screw driver pry the first spring out and push the tension screw in. Do the same with the second spring. After the tension screw is back in place. Turn it with a screwdriver to the #1 position (or the lightest tension). Like I said earlier the pedal may be tight. But that is a good thing. Roc's are done in the same way. But they only have one Spring. And the tension screw is a little harder the get back in.

The whole process should take less then 10 minutes. Now you will not cuss your pedals if they become Sloppy.

Racing is not going to get in the way of my riding

2010-08-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Jake and Will hitting the Trail at Black Hills on Wednesday.

The world should have ended on Saturday. For two weekends in a row, Matt and I rode together. That has happened........well never. He convinced a 74 mile Canal/W&OD ride would not effect my racing performance the next day. Well it did, read below.

Sunday I met up with my BFF Todd, some Outlaws and friends at Schaeffer Farm for the first Cranky Monkey there.

I will say I was a little tired from the day before. But I am always tired and I complain a lot.

The race started with a road sprint. I gave it my all to make it to the singletrack ahead of as many racers as I could. I figured I could rest when we hit the singletrack. I was wrong. There were guys pushing me from behind. Plus there were riders in sight. The competitor in me kicked in I pushed it. I was able to get by 2 or 3 people when my team mate Ricky D was the next rider in line. I pushed myself to catch him. I caught him on a small hill. I wanted to pass him but I just did not have the go to get by. He put a rider between us which gave him a little space. I thought I would just pace myself and let him come back to me. It was obvious I pushed to hard. After a while I began to make up some ground. I just about caught him again. But I could not get on his wheel before we hit a downhill. He was killing me on most everything except for the climbs. At some point Greg got by me. He was pushing a little hard so I just let him go. The whole race consisted me chasing Ricky. Nearly catching him then him getting away on a downhill or curvy section. Ricky is really good on the flowing sections.

On the second lap I was about to catch Ricky where the Red trail connects with the Yellow. There is a root right at the intersection I had to pick a line. I have never had any problems here before. I picked a line which caused my front wheel bounced off the root. Which sent me heading straight for a tree. I locked up the brakes which caused me to nose wheelie a bit. I smacked my head squarely on the tree. It pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I waited a second, a little stunned. But I felt I could continue. I finished the race feeling stronger then at the start. I came close to catching Ricky on the last real climb. But he just killed me on the downhill after wards. I only passed 2 or 3 people and was only passed by Greg. It was like a boring Nascar car race where there is no passing. Don't get me wrong it was a great time. EX2 puts on a great event.

The race was painful, but aren't they all? Fun but painful.

3 Outlaws finished in the top 10. Todd finished fifth ( I never saw him after we entered the single track) Ricky D finished 8th and I finished 9th. I don't know how many were in our class. I was told more then 30. Great Job guys!

2010-08-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

After Michaux 2 Sundays ago, I could not walk on my ankle on Monday. But being to ADD to sit around and let it heal, I hit a road ride on Tuesday around Arlington after work. Then did some after storm tree clearing up at the Watershed on Wednesday. Then did a practice loop around Schaeffer on Thursday. The upcoming race there is this Sunday Aug. the 8Th. Friday, William and I hit Black Hills.

This pass Saturday my buddy Matt and I hit the gravel roads of Loudoun. Which I do believe are the best in the area. I have not rode with Matt in years. He just built up a Salsa Fargo. This was it's maiden voyage. Here are a few more Pictures from the ride.

Sunday, my buddy Chris and his friend Matt came up for some Small Mouth action on the Shenandoah. Sorry no pictures. But I do believe we all caught about 35 smallies. Great day for being out, hopefully we will have better luck next time.

2010 Curse of Dark Hollow

2010-07-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Photo by Denis Chazelle

I am not going to bored you with too much detail of the race. Just a few words about the race and a few pictures by others.

Photo by Denis Chazelle

I started the race by spraining my ankle on the Le Mans start run. It was very painful at first. Then I was able to ride through the pain. Walking up some of the hike-a-bikes sucked and were painful. I kept twisting my ankle while walking. I few times I let out screams of pain. But as a whole it was OK. Till after the race. Then it swelled up. Monday I could not walk on it.

Photo by Tomi McMillar

As for the race it was a tough hot one. the 40 miler lived up to the hype. Dishing out pain, making you push yourself hard to finish. There were times I was in those dark places, those places you only know of if you been there. At times I found myself in grooves where I felt real good. But then the Gettysburg boys would throw something in to cure that. One flat was my only mechanical of the day. I was able to help a few racers out during the race. Which is always good in my book.

Photo By Denis Chazelle

We were hit by a thunderstorm towards the end. Which made Camp #3 trail soft and painful. After the race we hit the Frontier Bar-b-que for some after race grub. It was a great race and a great day.

Liberty Jamboree

2010-07-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

Photo By Alan Santos

Jacob, sort of doing the kids race at the 2010 Liberty Jamboree. All the big kids just took off. I don't think any of them actually finished the race (as it was suppose to be run). Whatever, they all had a good times. I love his facial expression.

I did not participate in the actual Jamboree. I was resting up for Michaux the next day. The family and I just came for the swimming, cookout and kids race.

Jim, Amy and her parents always put on a good time. Thanks