BPE III and the Beaver Freezer 2013

It is that time of year when things are starting to bloom, things are warming up, but the rain is coming down and the trails are getting really soft (and muddy).  It is also the time that the "events" start like the Freezer, Mudslinger, CPR, TOE, C2C, etc.  As part of a group that rides year round, we also have a few of our own events like the Best Plan Ever series of rides.  The BPE as it is know, is a quarterly event that can consist of anything as long as riding is included and most of the time is a surprise.  For example, take the latest BPE (III) event.

BPE
It started with the owner of the "BPE Card" let us know that we were to meet at my house at 10:00 p.m. Friday night (in March) and be ready for an all night adventure.  Then we drove to Newport on the coast and down the coast to Cape Perpetua (below Waldport) where we met some additional guides and then we went on one of my most favorite night rides of all time.

We climbed and climbed in clear skies (and 25 degrees) to the top of Cape Perpetua. After enjoying the view of the stars we had just a tremendous technical descent which ended getting back to the car at 3:00 a.m. and home at 5:00 a.m.

Beaver Freezer 2013

The next event was the Beaver Freezer in April which is a "sprint" triathlon that includes a mountain bike division (the only one I have found).  This is a well run very fun event that I would recommend it to anyone.  The swimming is short and indoors, the bike course is flat and the run is three laps around the quad.  I finished 17th for the the men in 2012 and 10th in 2013.

Mudslinger

While I did the Freezer, the next day several of the "old men" did the 2013 Mudslinger which is 30+ miles and around 6000 feet of climb.

Road Trips - Moab

It all started after a nice long Saturday morning ride as a bunch of us sat around drinking hot chocolates in the Adair Village coffee shop when someone said we needed to do a road trip to Moab. And that's all it took.  About 90 days later there were 7 of us in a rented 2013 Suburban loaded with 10 bikes.  We left at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and drove all night and arrived in Moab to our condo at 7:00 a.m. local time (just over 1,000 miles).  That morning we road Slickrock and then that afternoon we did some trails at the Bar-M.

On Friday we got shuttled up to the top of Koppopoli and road down 22 miles including Porcupine Ridge to the Moab city limits.  We hit up Rim, Hot Pepper and Poison Spyder Cycles. Then on Saturday we road the Amesa and the new Captain Ahab (my favorite) and then in afternoon we went out to Bar-M again and road some additional trails including Bee Sting.

After a second great BBQ at the condo we packed up the rig and headed out at 11:00 p.m. and arrived back into Corvallis about 3:30 p.m.  It was a perfect trip with no egos or issues, other than some mechanical issues with some of the bikes.

Moab lived up to its name.  The riding was incredible and way different that what we ride in the valley.  The town itself is fun, everywhere you look you see dirt bikes, crawlers, 4-wheel drives, and $4,000 bikes everywhere. It is nice to see a community that embraces these kind of extreme sports and that all the different sports work together.

Tips for a good road trip:
1. Have a rig with enough room
2. Have a nice place to sleep (the BBQ, Hot Tub and Pool were worth it)
3. Pick some place you haven't been
4. Make sure everyone knows each others riding ability
5. Be flexible - sit in the back, the middle or take a turn driving
6. Warn before you "break the barrier"
7. Leave the egos at home
8. Make sure someone knows how to do bike repair
9. Share in the clean-up, cooking, and buying of food
10. Have fun, you still want to be friends when you get home!

The Polar Bear Ride - Why Winter Riding is Fun

The Osborn Aquatic Center (our local swimming facility) hosts a Polar Bear Swim in their outdoor pool every January 1st. That got me thinking about doing something like that for mountain bikers. Thus the Annual January 1st Polar Bear Ride (climb) was born. The rules were simple, meet at the Saddle (a local jumping off point for riding) and climb 2.4 miles (500 feet elevation) on a gravel fire road to the Dan's Monument at the start of Dan's trail. You could only have on shoes, socks, shorts, gloves, a helment and a backpack. No leggings, skull cap, or shirt (sports bras for women were allowed). And you couldn't get dressed until the picture was taken.

The day was perfect, no rain, the sun was rising and it was 24 degrees.  It was not as cold as I thought it would be because we were climbing and you had adrenaline keeping you warm. After the picture we went put on our riding gear and completed the rest of our ride.  It was such fun that we we'll do it again next year.

That's what makes living in Corvallis perfect for a mountain biker, you can ride year round.  This cold was rare but the timing was perfect.  Bether than riding with no closes on in the rain!

1st Annual Polar Bear Outing

19 Degrees

Top of McCulloch

The Hoar Frost

Your Mom Was Right!

Here is your medical warning to start 2013 - I noticed a dry spot on the top of my ear and let it go for about a year before having it looked at. After a few visits and tests, turns out it was Basal Cell Carcinoma (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001827/) a slow growing skin cancer. It is the most common skin cancer in the United States and since mountain bikers are outside in the sun, something you need to be reminded of. Most basal cell cancers occur on skin that is regularly exposed to sunlight or other ultraviolet radiation. This includes the top of your head, or scalp. Turns out mom was right and we do need to put and keep our sun screen on. Nine days before my 53 birthday I went through 4.5 hours of Mohs (the best way) surgery and came out with 23 stitches and a clean bill of health (plus yearly doctor visits for skin exams). Put your sun screen on, watch for changes in your skin and get them checked early.  Now go ride!

Keeping my skills sharp

But will I hear any better?

What everyone wants to wear to work

The DSR & BPE Rides 2012

This has been the year of the "epic" rides and events.  The latest was Dave's Stupid Ride (DSR) and the Best Plan Ever (BPE) ride.  Both of these are night rides.  One of the best things about mountain bike riding is riding with great friends and a second thing is riding with great friends at night.  We've talked about night riding before, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it again.

First, night riding doesn't have to be expensive.  I'm using lights that cost less that $100 each. For a successful night ride you'll want to use two lights.  One one the bar and one on your helmet.  The reason for this is that the bar light keeps the trail lit up, and the helmet light allows you to look into the corners and hairpins. 

The DSR came about from Dave, one of our "old men" who tried to come up with the craziest night ride he could come up with that hit all the hard trails and climbs.  It was approximately 20 miles and 4300 feet of climbing. It included the Face, Skillings Trail, Southside Slip, etc. Just a great ride.

Best Plan Ever (BPE) came about as a result of wanting to do something very memorable before the rains set it.  It turned out to be an all night bike ride adventure.  It started by picking up team members about 9 p.m. and driving to Sisters Oregon where we road the Peterson Ridge Trail, then we drove to the McKenzie Trail head and riding down about halfway and back.  Finished this ride about 5:00 a.m. and back to Corvallis for breakfast at 7:30!  Thus, the best idea ever.  Needless to say we also slept a lot of the next day.

These are the kind of rides that break up the regular weekly rides, build friendships and give you something to talk about for weeks!

C2C 2012

Just completed the 7th C2C (Corvallis to Coast) Invitational mountain bike ride. This year we had 11 riders and perfect weather. It was 48 degrees when we left at 5:45 a.m. and 70+ when we arrived in South Beach for the BBQ at 2:02 p.m. Time in the saddle was 6 hours and 2 minutes and total time was 8 hours and 17 minutes. The route includes 6000 feet of climb. This year we had a mix of bikes, hard-tails, 29'rs, carbon, full-suspension, and even two single speeders. We had only one flat about five miles in and one broken derailleur hanger about 25 miles in (and we had a spare).  Even with all that we still set the second fastest time, which is impressive considering the large group we had (which included 5 first time riders).

The route this year had a lot of downed trees because of all the snow the coast received this past winter (there was 4" to 6" inches in Newport on the beach). So there was a lot of getting on and off the bike, especially through the Nettles section. The late rains then warm temperatures over the past two weeks really made the vegetation grow, many of the old fire roads are single tracks this year.  The best part is always the BBQ at the end. The families are there to meet us and we spend the afternoon eating, enjoying the hospitality of our hosts and laying in the sun recovering. It was a perfect adventure this year.

Made it

Adventure on the Nettles

Lots of Green

Lunch on the Randal Saddle

40 miles in at the Clear Cut

Heading down to Big Rock road

Party Time

The Rig

All Smiles at Mile 10

Steel Bridge Damage

The ground and a Camelback never felt so good



TOE 2012

The year of races continues with the Test of Endurance (TOE) on June 16. It was the first mountain bike race event I have ever been in and as it turns out, I made all the classic rookie mistakes. I was part of the Old Men Couch Potatoes team and we trained for this ride by doing longer and longer rides which included doing several course rides (one lap). So I was feeling very comfortable going into the race.

The day started bright and sunny.  I watched the weather report and for most of the time leading up to the TOE it looked like it was going to be overcast and damp. But on race day the sun was out with a forecast in the 70's. I took my brother Darin to the race at 5:30 for his 6:00 a.m. start of the 100 race (I was only doing the 50), and then came back at 9:00 a.m. for our 10 a.m. start.

There were 170 people signed up, and that was my first mistake, not riding my race. I'm not a racer, and I don't climb fast, and I stop at the top of climbs and catch my breath. In this case, with the temperature almost 30 degrees warmer than any ride that year (it was the hottest day of the year), I didn't follow my ride plan. At the rolling start I caught caught up and went out to fast with the peleton. Then I didn't stop to settle at the top of the first two climbs, and by the 3rd of 6 on each lap, I had been in the red zone to much. I got very light headed and thought I was going to pass out, from then one every time I started to climb, I would get dizzy and my skin was clammy.

I was eating, drinking, and taking electrolytes, but I didn't rest long enough (my guess) to get things under control. I could fly down the downhill, but bonked on the climbs. It went that way for the first lap (approx 25 miles). Two of the other riders on the team also were in bad shape and started cramping really bad. The three of us found ourselves together and limped in doing one lap.

While we felt bad, it was a great experience.  Mike Ripley and his team at Mudslinger Events (http://www.mudslingerevents.com/) do an amazing job of running a first class event. The two aid stations had all the food and drink you would need, bike mechanics, medical staff, etc. I just wish more of his events were on Saturday. The Couch Potatoes came away with 4 age/class awards, including Darin for his 2nd place in his age group for the 100 (he did it in just under 12 hours).

Redemption for me, came two weeks later when a group of the Old Men did the Tour de Blodget (the TOE again). We did our first lap under cloudy skies in about 3 hours and I felt great.  I knew I could do a second (though I was still very tired, the 23 mile gate to gate TOE course has 5000 feet of climb), and we were scheduled to do it, but I just didn't want to spend another 4 hours doing it.  Turns out that was a great decision as the skies opened up and it rained hard for the next 3 hours and we would have been right in the middle of it.

So I learned a lot of lessons about myself how to do a race, but the main lesson was I'm not a racer, I'm a rider, and I live in a great place to ride, with great people to ride with. Next stop is the C2C.

The Old Men Couch Potatoes
 (less Darin who was on the course)

The rolling start - my first mistake

Darin on the course of the 100

The downhills were great

 

As were some of the climbs

Who's in better shape, the 50 or the 100 guy?