Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Gettin' (rainy) Days In
Was "watching" one of those reality fishing shows on OLN and the guy said :
"Wee-ah just aht hee-ya gettin ahr days in,
Ya got--ta get ya daze in...................... or ya wahnt have a good yeee-ah."
Truer words couldn't be said. Hard to believe the yee-ah is just about half over with. So I've been out there gettin' my days in. Got 2 nice consecutive days of MTBing in on Marl Ravine at YRSP. I love that place. Drains really well. Partly because of the Marl* and partly because of the Ravine. Most of it isn't too technical (although I wouldn't of said that a year ago), and has a really, really nice flow. A few nice ( albeit short and steep) hills (by flatlander standards) to get you a huffin' and a puffin'.
Chain snapped day 1 because of my sloppy shifting. Was middle ringin' the trail, then on the fourth lap, I decided to shift to the small ring for the hill near the 2 mile mark. Problem was - too many hours on the SS made me forget how to shift. I shifted to the big ring instead, then when I realized it, I tried to slam it all the way across to the granny gear. Caught the magic SRAM master link just right and popped it. Quick fix and rollin' again.
Yesterday the rain continued to come down here. The triple-diple-super-duper doppler-sloppler radar showed there might be a break in the clouds an hour up the road, so it was in the car and up to the Ravine again. Got 4+ hours in before a thunderstorm caught me. Was very nice. Trying to work on my weak MTB skillset by doing stupid drills. Did some "relaxation hill repeats". Got at the bottom of the last hill and rode up it from a standing start, trying to spin steady slow circles. Actually trying to go as SLOW as possible up the the hill without tipping over. Then back to the bottom to do the same thing in the next toughest gear. The crazy games we play. I think it helped. Wasn't very relaxing though.
RideOn
JB
*marl - n., A crumbly mixture of clays, calcium and magnesium carbonates, and remnants of shells that is often found near old seashores and makes an excellent substrate for mountain bike trails.
"Wee-ah just aht hee-ya gettin ahr days in,
Ya got--ta get ya daze in...................... or ya wahnt have a good yeee-ah."
Truer words couldn't be said. Hard to believe the yee-ah is just about half over with. So I've been out there gettin' my days in. Got 2 nice consecutive days of MTBing in on Marl Ravine at YRSP. I love that place. Drains really well. Partly because of the Marl* and partly because of the Ravine. Most of it isn't too technical (although I wouldn't of said that a year ago), and has a really, really nice flow. A few nice ( albeit short and steep) hills (by flatlander standards) to get you a huffin' and a puffin'.Chain snapped day 1 because of my sloppy shifting. Was middle ringin' the trail, then on the fourth lap, I decided to shift to the small ring for the hill near the 2 mile mark. Problem was - too many hours on the SS made me forget how to shift. I shifted to the big ring instead, then when I realized it, I tried to slam it all the way across to the granny gear. Caught the magic SRAM master link just right and popped it. Quick fix and rollin' again.
Yesterday the rain continued to come down here. The triple-diple-super-duper doppler-sloppler radar showed there might be a break in the clouds an hour up the road, so it was in the car and up to the Ravine again. Got 4+ hours in before a thunderstorm caught me. Was very nice. Trying to work on my weak MTB skillset by doing stupid drills. Did some "relaxation hill repeats". Got at the bottom of the last hill and rode up it from a standing start, trying to spin steady slow circles. Actually trying to go as SLOW as possible up the the hill without tipping over. Then back to the bottom to do the same thing in the next toughest gear. The crazy games we play. I think it helped. Wasn't very relaxing though.RideOn
JB
*marl - n., A crumbly mixture of clays, calcium and magnesium carbonates, and remnants of shells that is often found near old seashores and makes an excellent substrate for mountain bike trails.
