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June 2007

6.30.07 Grad party at my sister's for her daughter- Brenden and I rode a lap at Custer then showered at the campground facilities before heading to Paw Paw for the party- tomorrow we go to Livonia for Brenden's girlfriend's party- no riding then either!

6.28.07 A week's gap in writing...where to begin.

Last Saturday we had a graduation party to attend- Joni's brother's son, Nicholas, graduated from Fruitport and is going to UofM for pre-med. Due to this family obligation I could not race at the 8 Hours of Cannonsburg, so I instead rode the bike to Fruitport from Grandville- 40 mile ride which took about 2 hours and 15 minutes (showered and changed there).

Met with Steve and Rafi this past Tuesday and rode the Poto- my Maxxis really are squirrelly on gravel and the Poto trail is a dry gravelly mess- I rode carefully in those sections.

I've been scoping out work at Ionia- trail day planned for July 15 (Sunday) to trim the grass back- the trail is really overgrown!

Busy weekend coming up- my sister's daughter's grad party in Paw Paw Saturday afternoon but we might get some trail riding in at Ft Custer that evening. Off to Livonia for a grad party Sunday-

So I've not been riding too much the last couple weeks and need to ramp up again. Due to work and other travel commitments coming up my only days to ride will be July 1 & 2, July 7 & 8, and then again after the 12th.

6.20.07 Seventeen mile ride tonight- not a difficult one, my legs were still sore, actually. I did the John Ball Park hill only three times before heading back home.

While riding I had a chance to contemplate my Lumberjack performance. I think I actually sabotaged myself! I was in from Lap Two at 1230pm which was 5-1/2 hours for two laps- quite respectable 2-3/4 hours per lap. But Lap Three took me nearly 4-1/2 hours. I reviewed my pit stop and I think because I deviated from my hydratation & nutrition system too much, I caused my body to crash. I had a Minute Maid OJ and a Red Bull- I should have stayed away from both and had only water. These two beverages created a sugar rush as well as sloshing my stomach as I left the pits, I didn't feel good heading out to lap three. (Minute Maid is one of the worst juices- as it has high fructose corns syrup- I should have just not drank it). Disappointing in hindsight. But knowledge for next year and the rest of this season

6.19.07 Found out NCT site only bans email log-ins from free email systems, such as hotmail, google. Apparently, if you want to use their site you must use a server provided email such as Comcast or such. Supposedly to prevent spam- blah blah blah

Third day off the bike and ready to ride again. But no bike- the Rush is in the shop for cable replacements. I started to head out on my old Puch road bike, but the rear tire has a flat bald spot and I can just foresee getting out miles from the house and blowing the tube- so I declined a ride today. I need to get my old Fuel road/trail worthy. I think I will also put straight handlebars on the road bike for the upright mountainbike position on the bike should I use it again.

6.18.07 Recovering from Lumberjack- turned the bike in to the shop for some cable replacements. I got involved in another hiker vs biker thread on the MMBA website, then went to check out the NCT site and decided to post a question there and found out THIS--> I've been banned from the fanatical North Country Trail Association website forum - wow.

6.17.07 Well, Lumberjack defeated me again! I did 75 miles of the 100 mile race this year, though, which is an improvement.

I drove up to BigM and camped on-site- arriving at about 600pm. I set my pop-up in the pit area, set up my tent. I cooked a pasta/tofu dinner on the camp stove and went to bed at 10pm. I slept well and had the alarm set for 545am, but got up about 530 due to the incoming traffic for the event. I shared my pop-up with Bill Mayer (MMBA president), Jason Jones (MMBA director of advocacy) and Scott Quiring (Quiring Cycles). Scott was doing support for Jason and Bill.

Lap one, mile nine, I was rounding a corner and the bike went out from under me. I stayed on my feet but when I picked up the bike it wouldn't go and I moved to turn it upside down to see why and the rear tire fell out of the dropouts! - a fluke, the rear skewer had gotten caught on fall and loosened. No big deal- re-install the tire and catch up to all those people that just passed me- which I did over the next couple of miles.

At one point I made a move to shift to the big ring on the front and the shifting did not work! The chain was rubbing constantly on the front derailleur- making for a noisy ride. I had another similar spill later in the lap which affected my front brake- causing it to stick when I had to squeeze the brakes hard. When I got to the pits after the first lap I found that the front derailleur cable housing was split wide open, the cable protruding like a compound fracture from the skin. No repair was possible at this stage, so I replenished drinks and went out for lap two. I raced the whole event with the middle ring, which wasn't a big problem. Any hill needing the granny gear could just as likely be walked up. I did miss the big ring for some of the flat winding sections where it would have been nice to spin in a higher gear.

It was a noisy lap two, due to the chain and derailleur issue. But I felt good and rode steady. I went into the pits after fifty miles at 1230pm, a full hour ahead of my last year's time of 130pm. I used the derailleur set screws and moved the derailleur out to eliminate the noisy chain rub, filled bottles, drank some juice and Red Bull, then went to lap three... where I soon became depleted.

I don't know if I just ran out of energy, or what. I wasn't dehydrated or hungry, I just lost the strength to crank out a steady pace. Lap three became a grueling affair, especially after starting the outer 17 mile loop. By the time I hit mile 20 of that third lap, my goal became to at least reach the pits by 400pm. I accomplished this, reaching the chute at ten to four. But I'd essentially rode that third lap in nearly 3-1/2 hours, much slower than the 2-3/4 hours of each of the first two laps.

Some highlights- it took Chris Etough (the 2006 winner- he would win again this year as well) an extra ten miles to lap me over last year's lap!

Lumberjack is, quite simply, the hardest mountain bike race in Michigan. Better riders than me dropped out at various points of the event. The postive side? I did three laps this year, 75 miles, before ending my attempt. Well- there's always 2008!!

6.16.07 I stopped by the two cemetaries in Mason County to check the gravestones. Riverton Cemetary (on the corner of Hawley & Stiles) is where Patrick and Margaret Murphy are buried. It's a small cemetary and only took me a couple minutes to find the Murphy graves- helped by the huge Murphy stone (see photos on the geneology page). I then drove into Ludington to the Pere Marquette Cemetary to photograph John & Susan Murphy's gravestones- again helped by a huge Murphy monument. Unfortunately, other than correcting or verifying ages and birth/death dates, the stones had no other information. They don't even appear to be the original stones, as they looked fairly new (1950-60's) and I suspect that relatives had the originals replaced at some point.

6.14.07 Nervous! Yes I am nervous... I did an easy 17 mile ride this evening to just spin out the legs and only did one tough hill climb at John Ball Park. I depart from work tomorrow mid-day for Lumberjack- the event I've been focusing on for months as my yardstick to determine the success of my training.. though not necessarily the failure. I am a stronger rider, that I do know, but two years of dropping at 50 miles has me determined to complete this event!

So I am nervous about ensuring I have all the stuff I need as I leave Friday- Friday night meal (pasta & tofu, likely), enough water (no water on site- I am taking two gallon jugs to keep at air temp for mixing perpetuem and a five gallon dispenser to chill for the heed, coffee, a breakfast item (bagel?), Red Bull, a couple bottles of Founders for, well, whenever hahaha, cook stove. I need to get regular clothes and toiletries packed- the bike stuff is already in the car.

I am taking a french press to make coffee. It's a lexan/glass type material, but should be okay at the camp. What I should get, eventually is one of those Nalgene French Presses for camping! I will have the bagel, maybe a yogurt, coffee and or juice for breakfast, then NO solid foods or other foods during the entire race (except maybe a Red Bull).

On a different note- I will be stopping by Riverton Cemetary and Pere Marquette Cemetary in Mason County on my way north to Big M to photograph the graves of John and Susan Murphy (GGG-Grandparents at PM Cemetary) and Patrick and Margaret Murphy (GGGG-Grandparents and parents of John). I am hoping their gravestones have more information of their birth locations other than just the Irish county in which they were born. I already have copies of their names from the 1870-1880-1890 census records which I will link on the Family/geneology page later. They are interesting but not much new information except that I will have to modify some of the information my grandmother put in her notes. For example, her notes (as relayed by my sister, Glenna) indicated Susan was few years older than John, but the census documents show their ages as the same. I also find it interesting that the children of Patrick & Margaret shown are listed as born in Ireland- at least four to six kids... which means they immigrated with several children, arrived in the US and had another seven children or so (since they had about 13-14 kids). But there is difference between even the 1870 and the 1880 census records as to birth years and ages.

No posts until Sunday night.

6.13.07 Lumberjack prep is on the agenda (though I took time out for a Freethought activity) I stopped by the bike shop- I needed a couple more tubes and compressed air canisters for the race as well as a chain- I will get the chain set up to the correct length and links and bag it in lubricant- it's a redundancy but I don't want to be out on the trail and have a chain stop my ride- the worst case scenario is being out on the longer leg of a lap and have to hike in to repair and continue. The course is actually set up with a smaller inner loop (8 miles?) and a larger outer loop (17 miles?) to make the whole 25 mile lap. This way spectators can see the racers twice on each lap as they come through the general set up area- so this affords a rider an ability to get to his pit to fix anything more readily than if one was merely out on a huge 25 mile circuit.

6.12.07 I stopped by Ann Arbor to ride the Poto with Steve on my way back home yesterday from a work trip to the eastside. It turned out to be an adventure. The trail was in pretty good shape, though we hit a muddy section about eight miles in. Steve got the worst as he went through the middle and hit a pit in the mid that took his bike to the axles. A bit farther and we came across the flood. I'd heard that the trail was under water on one area and when we arrived there it sure was- perhaps 70 yards across with standing water and algae growing on it. We weren't sure how deep it was, though Steve had attempted to ride it a couple days earlier and gotten wet. I was not inclined to trash the bike to get through and going back wasn't really an option because there was no trail around this- we'd be going miles back against the trail to find a bypass. So we decided to walk it rather than ride. Then the question came to the shoes- I first figured I could hose off the shoes but they'd be wet for days! Steve had the idea to go barefoot, so we took off our shoes and socks. I have velcro straps and strapped my shoes to the saddle. Steve walked his bike for balance, but I decided to carry mine. I wish we had a photo- this was too funny- it looked like some adventure race or perhaps some tropical bike ride where we had to slog through a marsh or some such at one point- we were in knee-deep water, carrying bikes, gliding through algae. We got to the other side and the mosquitos started dive-bombing. I had a rag in my pocket, so Steve cleaned one foot, handed me the rag, I cleaned a foot while he got sock and shoe on, then took the rag from me to clean his other foot as I got my sock and shoe on. After we had gotten shoes on we quickly got on the bikes to escape the tiny vampires, though I will have a few itchy spots for the next couple days.

6.10.07 Today- Sunday- we went to Ft Custer early- though not as early as planned. My personal goal was to hit 50 miles for the day (and then taper back my riding this week leading to the Lumberjack 100 Saturday. We'd wanted to arrive at 9am but didn't get there until nearly 930. My friend, Steve, was meeting us with two friends from Ann Arbor and was also running behind. Brenden, Joni and I rode the first half mile of the red loop and looped back to parking lot a couple times until they arrived. Once there, they got their gear out and we five men went out to the red loop while Joni rode a loop of the yellow. Once back to the trailhead, Joni and Brenden packed up in her car and went back home to go to a grad party. The remaining four of us went out to the green loop. After the green loop, Steve's two friends went to the beach to relax while Steve and I rode the red loop again. We returned to the trailhead at about 4pm at which point Steve and the guys had to return to Ann Arbor. I went out complete some miles, opting for the yellow loop to be able to put in some steady cadence (which can't be done on the red or green loops due to the technical nature of some of the trail). But I took a wrong turn and ended up on the green loop again. Next lap tried the yellow again! and mostly rode it, completing the day at 6pm with 47 miles on the odometer.

Next up- Monday, 20 miles- spin easy, Wednesday- easy spin, no riding Thursday (probably) and no riding Friday as that will be travel day to BigM.

6.9.07 Well, we didn't see Brenden at all on his birthday- he was at a friend's house the night before and didn't come home until after midnight Friday- which technically made it SATURDAYYY!

6.8.07 Happy Birthday Bud! wow. EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD!
Hard to believe- those years have gone by so fast.

6.7.07 More miles tonight- 20 miles that included SIX climbs up the hill at John Ball Park, which I'd previously only done four climbs!

6.4.07 Rode 23 miles last night, which included really good hills on Wilson and O'Brien, culminating in four climbs at John Ball Park- where I previously had only climbed three times maximum.

Apocalypto- rented and watched last weekend and have a few thoughts. First- darn bloody movie; second- hats off to Gibson for the sheer logistics of making this movie in an obscure language all directed in English and translated, the make-up, etc.; third- there is an apparent contradiction in a conservative catholic (Gibson) making a movie about the fall of a civilization apparently due to its reliance on mysticism and superstition in which the main hero character survives due to the use of REASON and LOGIC.

6.4.07 Late night- it's Monday night at 1230 in the morning, but I had numerous tasks to accomplish this evening. First, checked out the bike- the chain looks good, but I discovered why I had no rear brakes- after two races with gritty mud on them and a year on the brake pads, the pads were worn down to nearly nothing.. so off to the bike shop tomorrow for replacements. The computer works- it just became disconnected with the receiver base. I got the sending sensor re-mounted to the lefty fork and can install the receiver/display tomorrow. (I will look at Brenden's bike later as his next race is on the single speed, not his geared bike, so I have a month to ensure his geared bike is up to operation).

Other tasks- needed to gather info for Rick on the Luton park proposal for the chapter MMBA- I first proposed a trail in a Kent County Park in summer 2002!! wow- we've been working on this for five years.

Other major task was to complete CPS standings through Hanson Hills- which I did and which late-nighter David Moore already linked!

Finally- interesting movie- Apocalypto, by Mel Gibson- quite a bloody movie, interestingly done in all native language as close to Mayan as possible with subtitles. It was okay- when I missed it on the big screen, but after seeing it on DVD, it wouldn't have been that big a deal on the larger format. But from the specials on the disk, the sheer logistics of presenting an ancient civilization was amazing.

6.3.07 Jeez- can't it ever just lightly rain in Michigan? CPS race #3, Hanson Hills. I decided to race the event. We drove up to Grayling this morning, which meant getting up shortly after 6am for the drive. Sport racers started at 1230pm. The course was about 9.6 miles long. About halfway through the first lapI am riding pretty well, I've dropped to the back of my group and the 50+ group has also passed me. I don't warm up well and it takes several miles to get rolling. So I start gaining on people and begin passing some of the people that passed me. I am actually getting stronger on the climbs! Then the rain starts- lightly at first, then sheer buckets. It was raining so hard I felt I'd jumped into the lake- my feet were soaked and the mud was splashing and puddling on the trail. The mud got slick on the corners and my rear brake stopped working.

I came upon Brenden, who was fiddling with his gears. He'd crashed right off the start due to several of the young 15-18 testosterone-laden youngsters vying for the hole shot as they left the start line- he was thinking his derailleur was bent, but I think it was loose cable along with the mud. More later on that as I inspect bikes Monday- which will (again) be a maintenance day! Brenden dropped out as he got done with lap one rather than ride lap two.

Several of the riders I passed earlier now passed me as I assisted Brenden. But I crept along working my way to the loop - which seemed to take forever. As I got to the lap chute I saw the hose where people from earlier were hosing down bikes so I diverted and hosed my bike, cleaning brakes and gears. It seemed to work better as I got going the last 100 yards to the chute, so I decided to do lap two rather than drop out of the race- which a lot of people apparently did.

Lap two went fairly smooth, the rain had stopped but the course was really slick and many of the hills- even some of the flat sections- were so muddy as to be unride-able, so I usually dismounted and ran those sections. I continued to catch and pass a few people and worked to the finish to end up as 9th out of 13 racers... not bad.

The real downside- other than bike maintenance- is that I had wanted Hanson to be a warm up or practice for Lumberjack since the terrain was so similar, but unless Lumberjack is relocated to a carwash ! it wasn't much of a warm up for that event.

6.1.07 Summer already! WOW.

Well, I did hear from Ireland- no job offer. The feedback was that I was an attractive candidate but to over come the differentials regarding work permits and relocation, I'd have had to be fantastically better than any of the competition. Well, it was worth a shot and I don't think I will give up on the idea completely. Perhaps as I get to September or October I can peruse openings there and contact people, perhaps fly over for interview(s) during the Thanksgiving break or Christmas holiday.

Two days off the bike, the legs feel pretty good but the left thumb is really sore- I cannot even open a nalgene bottle with my left hand, nor grip anything really. Only 16 days to Lumberjack 100 , though for that event, Idon't foresee my thumb or wrist as a big impediment as there's only a couple areas on the Big M trail that require tight fisted handling- the climbing surely won't!