Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Cross starts when?

You can see Betsy's old and new frames/bikes.
But can you find mine?
They're buried.
Behind the box, behind our borrowed award-tandem.

I don't think I'm ready for Cross just yet.
But *my* legs don't hurt when I run...

Friday, August 17, 2007

Tales From the Bog

That's what the story is in this month's National Geographic.
And when I saw it I thought of Canaan Valley, WV.



The magazine and web article are talking about the bodies and what-not that are being found in some Irish Peat Bogs from way back when.
The bogs I'm thinking about are a bit closer to home and not so way back, and though there may be some bodies left over from the spectators during the last few Blackwater 100s, mostly the bogs contain some really interesting riding and probably more then a few pair of cycling shoes.

Besides the Moon Rocks and Plantation Trail, the Bogs are probably the most memorable feature of doing any riding or racing in the Canann Valley region.
Lots of stories about folks thinking they had the good line only to see someone else 30 yards away riding the bike while they themselves get "bogged" down. Yet again.
Or racing at the Original 24 Hours of Canaan, *seeing* the lights out there, wondering if they or you have the better line, and waiting to see who's lights go arching across the sky right as the rider falls knee deep into the bog.

The Bogs sure are a mean kind of fun.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

More Tails

iPlayOutside's story -
Black Bear Fiction

"Never looked back." Wrong. Denied.
I saw Steve on the long gravel climb.
I saw Steve on the last hike-a-bike and he saw me. He said "oh, no, not this time Gunnar." (in his thick Steve Heel accent) To his credit, though he was starting to cramp and such what not, he had the presence of mind to stop at the last feed station and get some food in him, then of course he really knew that last decent well, and I just went ass-over-tin-cups once, couldn't make one of the switchback at all, but was trying really hard to reel him in.
We had a good race.

And poor Betsy.
Had to race in Bean boots. :(
And flatted, and fell down a crevace. :(
And had that blotted wrist from those evil bees. :(

Well Betsy is at least pleased that her only mishap was at a race that wasn't particularly important.
All my mishaps happen at the more important ones -
* Greenbriar AMBC
* Stoopid 50 (not leading, but dern close)
* WV State MTB Championships
* NORBA National Championships
And at every one, I was leading when calamity struck.
Poopie pants.



Home finally and greeted by the Chris's feral cats





What we had to look forward to the next morning

Tails from the Black Bear, coming soon

But first, Big Foot in Kanawha State Forest? -
Puzzling Evidence

You saw it here first!

Trail Maintenance Kicks Butt!

And it really kicked ours too.

Regardless of how the points get added on or added to, Betsy and I are trying to do our part.

This year the WVMBA Series is trying out the Pay Dirt Program where by doing hours of certified Trail help and what-not will get you points toward your overall standings in the series.
So we got in contact w/ Mark Schooley at Big Bear Lake and arranged for a Trail Day.

As it turned out, it was just the three of us at first, then lot owner and fellow MTBer, Keith, showed up to help out too.
We worked from 10am to 3pm, and what took us all that time to mark, negotiate, and clear, we rode in about 10 minutes. That's how trail work goes sometimes, but when you piece a bunch of work together over a few weeks you've got some real trails to ride.
But the day was not w/o mishap and incident, as we stumbled (quite literally) a den of ground bees that swarmed and tried to make life more miserable than we already were. I got stung three or four time, Betsy got stung four times, Keith and Mark were spared. My tough skin proved usefull as all I got were some itchys, where as the tender-skinned Betsy swelled up, got dizzy, and generally had a bad time from that point until the next day.
I also lost my nice foldable Gerber saw. Poopie pants.

After working for 5 hours we decided to go on a "one" hour ride. Mark wanted to show us the new trail by the pines too, "shouldn't take too long".
2:45 hours later we were all back. No flats, just a longer ride, a misplaced rider, but some really nice riding on a really nice day.

But it crushed us but good!
We got home, barely, tried to walk dD around some, then came home, maybe ate some, and took a nap, then woke, tried to get things ready for the race the next day, and fell back to sleep. We were wrecked.
I also forgot to put Betsy's race shoes in the bus.
And of course that lead to a frustrating time the next day...



Betsy's normally thin wrist looking not so happy.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Friday, August 10, 2007

Wilderness101, Addendum

CyclingNews W101 Report and Results

Look for your favorite Team Bi-atch/Casdorph Piano player in the full results, we all finished! -
* Betsy "crush them Torg, do as I say"
* gunnar "more walking would have helped"
* Mike "when should I stop?" Yozell
* Chris "3 gears is plenty" McGill

And don't forget the WV Nite Club Posse -
* Benji "argg I need a heavier gear" Klimas
* Jon-jon "ahh, you just need to shift it" Martin
* Chris "I carried three tubes and didn't need any of them?" Phillips
Thanks for Caution Taping the bus guys...

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Wilderness101, Part I


Some of us faired better during the W101 than others.... I've never seen eyes roll back into someone's head like that before. Erica, I hope you are not reading this.