Mountain, Cross and Shuffleboard Nats

We arrived at Snowshoe WV yesterday and I got 2 laps on the course. It is more fun than I thought it would be. It includes a few of the enduro sections, which are super fun and flowy. It has a token man made rock garden, some road climbs, a long loamy rooty XC single track and a wet rocky road. I would not call it technical or roady, but a nice mix. I believe it will favor fitness, but requires some handling skills in a few spots. I went out again this morning for a lap and feel comfortable enough to rest until my race on Thursday. I have some fast ladies in my class including last years CX National Champion. I think I have done everything possible to prepare on short notice, so I am just going to do what I usually do and try to enjoy myself out there Thursday.

There is no cell service down here, so I am feeling a bit retro, having to actually have to look for people or find some wifi to send an email. How quickly we take for granite being able to instantly reach everyone. Needless to say, I will not be taking care of any Paydirt inquiries until the weekend. This is race time!
 
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Todays race start was crazy fast and way above my level of fitness right now. I am not sure exactly where I was as they did a mass start for all women. I made a good effort to get up front as much as I could. By the time I hit the single track, my heart rate was so pegged that my hands were numb. I had no heart monitor b/c the strap battery must be dead. I finally had to just race my own race. I did not see any women from then on and finished up 5th out of 10. I passed plenty of older men and exchanged encouragement out there. They are all super cool and just happy to be racing. I am feeling sort of the same these days. Race for health!

My team mate Tom took 3rd today. I am super stoked for him. He has been pretty sick for several years, had an organ removed, and got back on the bike and took 3rd today in the 70-74 class. He is one tough cookie! It makes my little complaints look like nothing.

Anyway, not a super good day racing for me, but I am happy for motivating myself to get out and race this year. In general, I am feeling healthy again and on my way to get in better shape. Looking forward to racing as a 60 year old next year!
 
Yesterday something very exciting happened: mountain bikers sat down at a table with NYNJTC and discussed a joint maintenance plan on multi-use trails for Sterling. For anyone that started riding bikes in the last 5 years, you may not even be aware of how far mountain bikers (JORBA) have come over the last decade. Close to 2o years have past since Art, Mike Vitti and a few other mountain bikers served on Sterling Forest trail assessment study groups to help NY state create a master trail plan. It has been a long haul with resistance and disappointments along the way, but today multi-use trails are being built by the NYNJTC, and plans are being made to work together. Sterling may be used as an example, so we are urging volunteers to get out and work on the new trails to show how excited mountain bikers are about building new trails.

Art and I are dug in at Ringwood trying to connect these two parks together. We have a big work day tomorrow, but if you are local near Ringwood, this would be great time to put in some hours at Sterling as well. The crews there are getting discouraged with low volunteer attendance. I also encourage anyone to check out the trails by bike. They are really fun for many levels of mountain bikers. Check the Sterling section for work details. I will try to post some weekend dates as they come available.
 
As exciting as all the new trail stoke may be right now, working has been rough. My back has not been right since a few days after nationals. I ended up taking a few days off of the bike and working. Well, I ended up putting the new trail tags up today which does not take any bending or swinging of tools. As much as I love having all these rocks around to work with, when you strike any tool into the ground, it feels like sending a spike into my neck and back. How Art does it 4-5 days a week amazes me. My body just can not handle it that well any more. Good news is that the new connector trail on the Ringwood side is almost done!

Monday we worked with one of the the Sterling crews, and witnessed some major rock moving. The stuff they are doing there is amazing and inspiring. After a day there, Art came back to Ringwood and re-benched some more of our trail to create more flow. There are builders of sustainable trails and builders of awesome sustainable trails. I think we all can get in a rush or into a pattern and just build uninteresting trails. Not all sustainable trails have to be dumbed down or boring. I appreciate the opportunity to observe and work side by side with some great trail builders. This area in which we ride is lucky to have a variety of builders, trails and awesome natural features. When I ride in Arizona, the scenery and weather is awesome, but much of the trails systems are all the same flavor. I feel they lack some variety, not sure if it is the natural terrain or because one builder overseas all the trail building in town. It always makes me appreciate northern NJ trails.

So, after working on a cool trail, I could not help but think about how lame the course was at nationals. I know USAcycling wants to make courses beginner to pro friendly, but it kind of takes the fun out of a race for just us regular mountain bikers. I suppose I expect more than a crit on dirt with a few man made rock gardens. Well, not looking to rant, just trying to figure out where I fit in with racing, if I fit in at all.

So I have taken a few light weeks on the bike since my back has been sore. I hope I feel better next week. I also have been sticking to my plant based lunches, and eating lots of fruits and vegetables at all meals. I have not made the leap to vegan, but have cut way back on animal products. There are times when I think I may go all the way, and after taking a few days off animal products, eating cheese feels like a heroin fix. So, I suppose I may not ever go that far. ....Moderation.

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As you can see, I have been enjoying all the mushrooms in the woods, both while riding and working. The new Stateline Trail in Ringwood is done and marked, and Art and I have started the next stage of approved work in Ringwood. I am excited to report that we got approval for a bridge over the stream. We had not counted on that thinking that it would never happen, so this is great news! No wet feet in winter, yay! We have had some restrictions with when we work, so Arizona will have to be delayed a few weeks again this year. :( However, waiting because of good news, does not feel as bad as waiting because Art broke his neck. As much as I want to get out there before the frost is on the pumpkin, this is an outstanding opportunity worth a schedule change.

As far as AZ, we had a leaking pipe under the slab the week after we left and had that promptly fixed by our plumber even though he warned us that the existing pipes are not to code. Unfortunately, there seems to be another leak. So it looks like we will abandon the pipes under the slab and have the plumber run new pipes between the walls. So, now we plan to fly out to poke holes in the walls and make a plan with the plumber. The money pit continues...

Today Art built a hidden closet in our condo living room. When all painted, it will look like a paneled wall. He does amazing stuff. I would have never thought of doing this type of thing. Here are some pictures during the build. I will post some up after painted.

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So this is is my summer vacation week. I am out in State College for 3 days of riding with our Az friends that live in western Pa. I really wanted to do cranks this year, but Art set this up not knowing about cranks. We never made it out here last year, so it was a priority this year.

This is my first time riding Rothrock, and our friends are giving us the "best of" tour. Yesterday we rode Tussey Mt. It was really cool. Lots of big rock gardens and deep woods goodness. Plenty of great mushrooms out here too, I just did not take the time to take pictures. This is a riding vacation.

Tussey Mt trail traverses a ridge where you can look out over the mountains. Apparently it burned not to long ago and left the ridge with no big trees allowing for some great views. Very unusual for north east woods. To get up there, we went though some major rock gardens.

Near the end of our ride we hit Jon Wert Tr. It reminded me in some parts of Wawayanda, and ended with some major awesome rock gardens. The rocks here are angular and flat sided. Not as round as Ringwood. Either way, there were plenty of rocks in spots, and kept my mind busy on handling.

Today we rode Cooper Gap. Plenty of rocks here too. This ride was equally fun, but maybe slightly less technical, or maybe I was just riding smoother today. There were some more spots that reminded me of Wawayanda, mostly the dense vegetation and roots. There were some really cool features from a trail building point of view.

Tomorrow we ride Rattling Creek a few hours east. My legs are getting tired and I experienced some arm pump today from all the rocks. Life is good!
 
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Riding last weekend was fun. I really can't decide which place I liked best. They all were fun, however, Rattling Creek had a bunch of "vanilla" trails in between the rocky ones. Considering it was a long loop, that was fine. I guess I am not accustomed to long rides with lots of pedaling since road riding does not seem to work for my neck anymore. I never would have believed how much of my fitness in the past came from road riding. Now that I don't road ride much, I struggle in some areas. This will probably mean less and less racing for me in the future, which is fine. Got to save energy for building trails and enjoying life.

The weather has been getting cool, and it is starting to feel like fall. The ferns are drying and the male hummingbirds are already gone from my feeders. I notice many females, probably getting ready for their migration to Mexico or wherever they go. They will probably all be gone in less that 2 weeks. I love the fall, but there is a little bit of sadness to the end of summer. Saying good bye to the wonderful green summer and experiencing another season and year turning over. It feels early this year.

This week Art and I have been hitting hard on preparing for our super trail build week in November. Dates are posted on the Jorba calendar. We have a DEC open window between Nov 15 and Jan 30 to build a causeway and bridge across a low area and stream. The build site is a mile in from the parking lot so we are preparing and old extraction road to get into the site. Even the extraction road crosses several difficult areas that need some help to get stuff in later. We are hoping to stage gathered material just outside the restricted site. I am pooped today after working and hope to get in a nice ride on Monday.

This is the dog leg we prepared today. There were multiple blow downs in this area and a drainage issue. We cleared a distinct drainage and built up the trail. I transplanted ferns to an area near the drainage that will get wet tonight when it rains. Lucky to have the root ball right there to salvage rocks and dirt. Made things a little easier today.

If you have not ridden between Shepherds Lake and Ringwood Manor in a while, it should be getting easier every week as we clear the way.

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Thanks, glad to see you and Art as active as ever in making the trails better for us as well as future cyclists.
 
There is no doubt that it is starting to look, feel and smell like fall out there. It is coming too fast this year!

Art and I have been plugging away on trail work. Art much more than me. I am only good for a few hours at a pop and a few days a week. The digging and heavy lifting get to my neck after a while, so I try to pace myself. Then there are the moments that I have to stop because my glasses fog up. I had no idea this could happen. Aging is peculiar for sure. First your eyes fail to a point where you have to wear glasses. Then you get hot moments when your glasses fog up. Crazy! So if you see me at trail work with both my glasses and my shirt off, you will know what is going on. I am not as crazy as it may look like. Just trying to cool off and not cut my foot with a hoe. The trail work is going great by the way! I wish we could have more done for the upcoming fest, but we are atleast a year away from anything complete down from Shepherds Lake.

The plant based diet is going good too. I have a connection with an organic farmer in Warwick, so I have been able to get some great vegetables: beets, carrots, lettuces, kale, cukes, tomatoes, arugula, escarole, turnips, squash, peppers, scallions, fennel, radishes to name a few. We pretty much eat salads for lunch and have a mostly vegetable dinner with our local farm selection. We add a rotation of pasta, risotto, quinoa, potatoes, legumes, grains and beans, but 3/4 of the dinner is vegetables. We also have homemade pizza once a week and chocolate ice cream for desert. We also have small portions of chicken or fish a few times a week. I can't say I feel better or have lost any weight, but I feel like it is better for my health. I do not miss meat yet.

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We had a great group trail work day last weekend and the trail we plan to use to get in to our November work site is clear and ready for access. We are hoping to use the Jorba Canny-com (mechanized wheel barrel) to move large rocks and lumber. So this week we are jumping around a bit.

We cleared the corridor on a long section of re-route for next year. That section is going to be a pain. Round rocks everywhere and very little dirt. Just enough dirt to be infested with prickers and invasive plants. It is very dense, good habitat for ticks. I am using lemongrass oil and geranium oil this year. I have not found a tick since I started using this stuff. I mix the lemongrass oil with coconut oil and rub on my legs before I get dressed. Then I dab the geranium oil on my socks, shoes or pant legs once out of the house or car. The oil is potent and can stink up the house. I am not looking forward to working on this section next year.

Today we jumped down the hill to start another re-route section. Art pictured below having his mid- morning muffin and coffee. When he was done, he wrestled out the rock he was sitting on. It was 3 times bigger than what was exposed. He managed to get it into place in a crib wall. Same section pictured below when we quit work today. We got some steep side hill benched which was very rewarding.

Well, tomorrow is the first day of fall, and I am sad to report that I have not seen a hummingbird in 3 days. I believe they have all left on their migration. I will leave the feeders full for another week just incase. Just as one exits, others arrive. Yesterday was my first seasonal spotting of male wood ducks waiting for the females to arrive on the pond. They start courting in fall .

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While out riding yesterday, I found 2 trees down across a trail. One small and one large. Went back today with my newly retired teammate to tackle the small one. Bang! done in 15 minutes girly style. The large one will be left for a chainsaw or super lumberjack. Awesome weather these last few days! getting all in I can before the green is gone.

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Now that the festival is behind, back to blogging...

My mostly plant based diet is going well and never feels like a diet. It is just eating at this point. Each week I still eat my 4 eggs, 1 serving of chicken or fish and some occasional cheese, butter or yogurt, but most of what I eat is veggies or plant. Before I started, I weighed in at the doctor at 126. That is 5-8 lbs more than my ideal or normal according to me. Not sure if that is realistic. Art seems to struggle to keep weight on, and I struggle to take off. Funny how that works. The first day it got cold, I grabbed for some long pants, not realizing that they were pants that have been too small for years. Oddly, they fit. I went down to the bike scale, since I do not have a people scale, and weighed myself several times. I was around 120. So, I guess that is good.

My neck is feeling a tad better this week. Not sure if it is my neck, or the fact that I am using Art's fork, while mine is out getting serviced. Either way, I will take it. I have now only 2 more weeks of the 2 months I have been waiting to see an acupuncture doctor. I have no idea if that will work, but it is worth a try. If I am comfortable enough to get through a ride, and a nights sleep, I usually feel better for it. So I have been trying to keep up riding. As much as I like technical riding, smoother trails have been better for my neck, so I am grateful to have Sterling in the mix of close trails, because Ringwood can really beat me up. Interesting enough, I have become more interested in flow style trails, due to my aging body. Things always do evolve. I am thinking hard about selling my cross bike. Riding without suspension does not seem possible anymore.
 
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