The Road to Somewhere

[xc62701]

January 25th check-in. I've been looking at this upcoming weekend for a Fatbike race in West Virginia. I figure it would be cool to do one in a spot I have never raced in. There's a 50k in Davis, WV.....but looking at finishing times from previous years, it seems that it would be a finish of 3 hours or less - typically on groomed trails. 3 hours of racing is not what I would call worth driving 6 hours each way. So I came up with a new plan. Drive 6 hours to a different location and make it worth my while. I'll be driving down to Harrisonburg VA this Friday, and I'll be doing the Stoopid 50 course, and then Sunday I'll do the 60k course. They both start from the campground in Stokesville. If you've ever been down to the Shenandoah Mountain 100, it's the same site. I actually talked to the promoter for all these events and he said they got a bit of snow today, but everything should be good for the weekend. It looks to be mostly sunny and 51 on Saturday!!! I'll take full advantage of that. On Sunday it looks to be cloudy and a touch cooler - especially since I'll have to ride early to make the drive home better. Either way, I'll take it! I love those trails and it'll be good to get some peace and quiet since my wife has been traveling a lot for work. The kids have been great but it's nice to switch it up and get some ME time. And did I mention climbing. Holy Schnikes, it'll be a lot of climbing. Looks to be 8-9k vert for Saturday and 5k vert for Sunday. I'm curious to see if the legs are up for the challenge! Links to last two previous attempts are attached.

 

[ChrisG]

Looking at that elevation, the Stoopid 50 route is aptly named.

Have fun!

 

[xc62701]

Looking at that elevation, the Stoopid 50 route is aptly named.

Have fun!

Yes, for sure! They advertise it as 10k for the 50 miles, so I don't know if my GPS didn't get all of it or it felt bad for me...lol. You feel every foot of climbing, that's for sure!

 

[xc62701]

Part 1 done. Drove 6 hours down yesterday and hit up the Western Slope trails of Massanutten. It was awesome thanks to a great recommendation! Flowy, climby, and some good rock chunk thrown in. I’d definitely like to come back and hit these trails in the light.

On a side note it felt weird to be riding my xc bike after riding the fatty primarily. This thing rips! And will be for sale shortly.

 

[xc62701]

God damn. That. Was. Hard.

Stoopid 50 course was extra Stoopid. Throw in snow, ice, frost heave, mud, and water just to make it interesting. I kept wondering if I had enough light left to finish the ride, but I just made it. Day 2 done and I’m annihilated. I had no idea it would be that challenging, but I got it done. Gonna try to ride more tomorrow before the long drive back. Time for food and beer. Lots of beer.

 

[xc62701]

I capped off the trip this weekend with a 2 hour ride on the Narrowback/Tilman's area. What a great climby/flowy area and the downhills are just a hoot! The hard part was getting up to the top of the ridge with very sore legs. I made it work though and it wasn't too bad. Looking forward to some easy spinning and recovery this week. I need to get my shit in gear and get planning for this upcoming season. That means a better focus on diet and training. I listened to a bunch of podcasts on the 5+ hour drive back and it gave me a lot of good info to experiment/look into. I'm also looking at going back to this area in early March to do another similar long ride weekend. I hope that can get worked out.

 

[jShort]

Where did you stay?

 

[xc62701]

Where did you stay?

I stayed at the Clarion Point hotel just off exit 247A on 81. It was a step up from slumming at the Howard Johnson’s across the road. Good proximity to food options and easy access to Massanutten and Stokesville trails.

 

[xc62701]

I'm thinking of doing a repeat of this weekend in early March if anyone is interested. It looks like the Stokesville 60/40k MTB race is March 5th or so. I may go down for that and ride the Stoopid course again because it's just awesome. Or I may go the weekend after the event as that just works out better family wise - but I'd love to do a repeat. My body is starting to feel a little bit better with some rest and recovery after all those miles and vert. I want to do a bunch of big riding President's Day weekend and then aim for that VA trip to follow. Hopefully that can start getting the legs to fire up as Rattling Creek is my first actual race. So far the lineup looks like Rattling, Jungle, Iron Furnace, and 12 Hrs of PJ to start off the early season. That gets me to early May and then we'll see from there. Of course it's always up in the air depending on how the legs/family feel.

 

[xc62701]

And I'm sick again. Damnit! I don't know if it's my kids or my working environment, but being sick sucks. It feels like the cold I had for a month that started around Christmas. I hope it doesn't last that long. I'm going to try and be a little bit more proactive and rest a bit at the start of this one to help kick it quicker. A long ride and a ridiculously long day doing chores and making maple syrup may have helped this one. I somehow taught on 2 hours of sleep yesterday and was able to function. I did all I could to stay awake and then go home and sleep. I'm feeling a bit better today but the plan is to do recovery or active recovery the rest of the week and not push it. In the meantime I'm working on getting rid of some bikes. I hope to have 2-3 posted up for sale by the end of the week. They're a Pivot Mach 4 SL, Specialized Epic FSR, and a Specialized Fuse in case you're curious. It's refund season so maybe there's some cash out there for these bikes.

 

[xc62701]

I picked up an ultrasonic cleaner a couple of weeks ago and yesterday I got to do some bike maintenance on some long overdue parts. I try to stay on top of maintenance on some bikes but others I just don’t get to as often. I had time yesterday to take a look at some of my gunked up drivetrains and had some pretty great results. Check out the before and after pics.

The chains I can usually get pretty clean, but the cassettes just get funky and they are hard to clean. A few cycles in the heated solution and they are like new! I’m hoping the little investment in this cleaner will help me stay on top of maintenance and helps save $$$ in repairs too. So far I’m more than satisfied!

 

[onetracker]

Nice!! What ultrasonic cleaner did you buy?

 

[xc62701]

I picked up this one: Amazon product

I needed one big enough(10L) to deal with the big eagle cassettes. Currently running it with Deionizied water and Shooter's Choice ultrasonic cleaning solution. Seems to kick ass at the moment. I have cleaned 4 drivetrains and my mechanics will thank me for sure!

 

[onetracker]

I picked up this one: Amazon product

I needed one big enough(10L) to deal with the big eagle cassettes. Currently running it with Deionizied water and Shooter's Choice ultrasonic cleaning solution. Seems to kick ass at the moment. I have cleaned 4 drivetrains and my mechanics will thank me for sure!

How do you dispose of the solution?

 

[xc62701]

How do you dispose of the solution?

I haven't had to deal with that part yet. I'm hoping to use the solution forever since I'm cheap but I'll let you know. If it comes down to it I'll probably using something to absorb it and throw it away. I have to look into safe disposal.

 

[soundz]

 

[Dave Taylor]

And I'm sick again. Damnit! I don't know if it's my kids or my working environment, but being sick sucks. It feels like the cold I had for a month that started around Christmas. I hope it doesn't last that long. I'm going to try and be a little bit more proactive and rest a bit at the start of this one to help kick it quicker. A long ride and a ridiculously long day doing chores and making maple syrup may have helped this one. I somehow taught on 2 hours of sleep yesterday and was able to function. I did all I could to stay awake and then go home and sleep. I'm feeling a bit better today but the plan is to do recovery or active recovery the rest of the week and not push it. In the meantime I'm working on getting rid of some bikes. I hope to have 2-3 posted up for sale by the end of the week. They're a Pivot Mach 4 SL, Specialized Epic FSR, and a Specialized Fuse in case you're curious. It's refund season so maybe there's some cash out there for these bikes.

I did the 60k last weekend and it was awesome! Weatherman said low 30s to start but we all started in regular kits with no warmers…yea that perfect. I had never do e it and this course was so awesome. I actually caught air on 2 wheels for the first time in a long time on the super fun Tillman trails. Huge smile.
Also, always welcome down my way and about 2 hours closer than Harrisonburg. We can meet up with Gordon and Rob Campbell. I have room if you want to stay too.

 

[xc62701]

So if you’ve seen from the BIYF thread, my season definitely took a turn for the worse. I was up at Snowball’s Chance Saturday and having a blast. I was finishing up and coming down the bottom of Painted Apron when I hit an icy bridge and fell off to the right onto the rocks below. As I went down I folded my knee back behind me to hopefully lessen the damage upon impact. Well my knee snapped behind me, and I heard a sound that I couldn't characterize as bone or ligament. I was helped out of the stream by the group I was riding with, and told them I was ok. I said don’t worry I’ll finish up. I took a few steps after they left and my right knee collapsed, as did I onto the trail. I yelled but everyone was gone. I got back up and hobbled my way back to the gas line then to the trail by the lower reservoir and hopped back on and pedaled back to my car. I debated about turning in my cards and hanging for a bit but I had realized what I’d done. I knew I needed to get to the hospital for an evaluation. I chose Morristown over Bon Secours.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I was warned they wouldn’t do much and that thought was spot on. I got in, they took X-rays, got me some ibuprofen, gave me crutches and a brace and said go see a doctor. Yay. That was a great 3 hours wasted. Today, I finally got to see not one, but two orthopedics. One group I had seen previously, and one that my buddy highly recommended.

The first doctor I saw told me that most likely I completely tore my MCL and partially tore my ACL and meniscus. An MRI would be needed to confirm but it’s a tricky surgery and a long recovery process. The second doctor I saw said it seems my ACL is gone, my MCL could be partially torn, and the meniscus may be torn but not much of a concern. Again MRI would be needed to confirm.

The worst part of the whole problem so far was the timeline of the MRI. The first doc ordered one but my insurance needs to approve it. It would take a few days so they have me a date do Monday for the MRI. Really?!?!? It’s a necessity at this point. The second doc I went to wrote me a script for an MRI stat and I had it done within 20 minutes. That was amazing. So hopefully I’ll have a report with specifics as to what I did to my damn knee. Either way it seems that surgery is in the horizon, it just depends how much needs to be fixed and the recovery time. Stay tuned. I’m the meantime I have bikes for sale…

 

[Dave Taylor]

So if you’ve seen from the BIYF thread, my season definitely took a turn for the worse. I was up at Snowball’s Chance Saturday and having a blast. I was finishing up and coming down the bottom of painted apron when I hit an icy bridge and fell off to the right onto the rocks below. As I went down I folded my m we back behind me to hopefully lessen the damage upon impact. Well my knee snapped behind me I a sound that I couldn't characterize as bone or ligament. I was helped out of the stream by the group I was riding with and told them I was ok. I said don’t worry I’ll finish up. I took a few steps after they left and my right knee collapsed and so did I onto the trail. I yelled but everyone was gone. I got back up and hobbled my way back to the gas line then to the trail by the lower reservoir and hopped back on and pedaled back to my car. I debated about turning in my cards and hanging for a bit but I had realized what I’d done. I knew I needed to get to the hospital for an evaluation. I chose Morristown over Bon Secours.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I was warned they wouldn’t do much and that thought was spot on. I got in, they took X-rays, got me some ibuprofen, gave me crutches and a brace and said go see a doctor. Yay. That was a great 3 hours wasted. Today I finally got to see not one, but two orthopedics. One group I had seen previously, and one that my buddy highly recommended.

The first doctor I saw told me that most likely I completely tore my MCL and partially tore my ACL and meniscus. An MRI would be needed to confirm but it’s a tricky surgery and a long recovery process. The second doctor I saw said it seems my ACL is gone, my MCL could be partially torn, and the meniscus may be torn but not much of a concern. Again MRI would be needed to confirm.

The worst part of the whole problem so far was the timeline of the MRI. The first doc ordered one but my insurance needs to approve it. It would take a few days so they have me a date do Monday for the MRI. Really?!?!? It’s a necessity at this point. The second doc I went to wrote me a script for an mri stat and I had it done within 20 minutes. That was amazing. So hopefully I’ll have a report with specifics as to what I did to my damn knee. Either way it seems that surgery is in the horizon, it just depends how much needs to be fixed and the recovery time. Stay tuned. I’m the meantime I have bikes for sale…

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Damn it dude! When I met you at the Erie 80 you were jist recovering from knee surgery. Hope it’s not as bad as it sounds and you heal up dude.

 

[Kirt]

So sorry to hear Ryan. I know you’ve been putting in the time, so wishing the best for you.