Hard Climbing!

My parents moved to Northwest Arkansas 13 years ago.

Ever since that time, I've wanted to ride the roads near where they live, but something has always gotten in the way.

Well, this year, I decided nothing was getting in the way. I rode from their house out to the peach orchard near their home. It was only a 14 mile ride, but the climbs were absolutely insane....... Some of them were over 20% grades.

The ride was definitely fun however, and definitely worth it.

Happy Father's Day!!!

This weekend started a bit rough.... I headed out after work on Friday to Shelby Farms for some MTB riding. Unfortunately, approx 2 miles in, I endo'ed hard and did a massive faceplant. I hit so hard I shattered my helmet. I finished the lap, but did not go for another as planned.....

After buying a new helmet on Saturday, I managed to get out on Father's Day for some riding. The wife asked me not to go out on the road because of the heat, so I decided to head out to Herb Parsons on the singlespeed. I rode 3 laps out there in the heat and had a dern good time.

I felt stronger out there than I have all year. I could not believe how I was able to pull through areas and climb on that single gear.... I was really happy with how it went!

Maybe 'cross season won't be so bad this year. Maybe I'll even not finish last!!!!!

Shelby Forest Road Ride

After the weather last night, I should have figured that the park would be trashed. Memphis had 80 mph winds heading towards it, and the river bluffs where Shelby Forest resides were the first to feel the brunt of the weather.

Mark and I headed out into the park and hit Jackson Hill. I ended up walking up part of it again. However, Mark's Garmin told us that the steepest part of the hill is at least a 20% grade!!!!!!!!

We continued on and did another 20+ miles before heading back into the park. Once back, we decided to hit the 3 Pigs. I think I got SwineFlu on the 3 Pigs too! His Garmin put the hills at 18%, 16% and 14% respectively. I did well on those hills, but they kicked my arse.

Back out of that section of the park, and out onto Watkins again to push our mileage up to 44 miles. I would have liked to continue, but my head was pounding by then.....

All in all, it was a fun ride.

Cyclocross Practice

I'm really hoping to do better at the 'cross races this year. Last year, I was terribly out of shape, and my form over the barriers just plain sucked.

This year, I'm in better shape (though no where close to any of the other competitors in my area) but I'm hoping to have much better form.

To get there, I decided to do at least some 'cross practice every 2 weeks until then. Today, I rode out to Shelby Farms on my SSCX and rode the MTB course. Then after one lap, I pulled up on the empty RC Airfield runway and practiced mounts and dismounts repeatedly at a slow speed.

By the end of the practice, I had done approx 30 dis/re mounts at a slow speed. While they were still ugly, they at least were smoother than before, and maybe closer to my ability when I was younger : )

Another Killer Road Ride

I guess sometimes things just come together right. Last night, the group ride at Bike World was simply huge. There were approx 2 dozen riders there and the weather was cool.

We took off at a reasonable pace and then shifted to a significantly harder pace almost immediately. I managed to keep with the A group for approx 12 miles before I got dropped. Then I came around a corner a half mile later and there they were! They had made a wrong turn and took a 20 second diversion.

That gave me an opportunity to get back with the group. I spotted DavidF and decided that I was going to try to stay on his wheel no matter what for the rest of the ride.

A few miles later, we split off the back of the A group and formed an 'A minus' group between the A's and the B's. We managed to hold that to the finish and finished out the ride with an avg speed of just over 18mph!

When I got home, my new computer mount was there, so I spent a few mins installing my computer on the bike.

Yesterday was definitely a good day!

Great Road Ride

Well, Sunday the heat finally arrived. I managed to get out on the roadbike for a 43 mile road ride. It was a great ride in spite of the heat. I think staying out until 2am the night before and the heat took a lot out of me, but it was a lot of fun anyway.

Also interesting was the fact that the ride was a bit like a highschool reunion. : )