Hidden Valley

anrothar

entirely thrilled
are they open during the summer, aside from the race? i'd like to ride the area before the race to get a feel for it. if they're not open, is there a back way in? on google earth it looked like there was an ungated dirt road going right to the top from a cul de sac....
 

NJ Jess

Active Member
No, not legal

However, go to Town Cycles and try to hook up with their team rides. They are the ones that put on the race.

Hey Mergs, help this guy out, will ya,.......Smiles, Jess
 

pixychick

JORBA: Ringwood
JORBA.ORG
The trails were fun last time I raced there, but unless you do laps, there is only enough there to keep you busy for about 30 minutes.

If you were hoping to check out the trails before the race, doing it in the morning, day of should be doable for most. The course is usually only a few miles long, and you do a lot of laps in the race. Bring you abacus to keep count.;) I know I can never keep track. :confused: :D :confused: :D


Ellen
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
so who's all going to be there? i'll be the big lanky guy with a beard embarrassing myself in my first expert race(on a singlespeed). name's sean.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
anrothar said:
so who's all going to be there? i'll be the big lanky guy with a beard embarrassing myself in my first expert race(on a singlespeed). name's sean.

Expert - nice! I'm considering doing some of these H2H races next year, and jumping right into expert for the sake of getting mroe miles for dollar paid.

Good luck!
 

NJ Jess

Active Member
H2H hidden valley

I will be there in the women's 35+ Sport category with a TeamBulldog jersey. I do hope to meet you guys, cause it's always fun to meet and ride with Mtbnj buds!
Norm, the series is great especially because the venues are all different. there are fast courses, techy courses, hills, downhills, everything. As for the Expert class, go do the preride course as many times as you can at race pace and Then decide what category to be in.
Sean, what gear are you running? You do realize this is a ski resort, right? Up one ski slope, down the next, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat (experts do this 7 laps?). Hummmm, might need an ambulance, not a beer. However, should you survive and podium, I'll buy you your first beer. Good Luck to everyone, see you there, NJ Jess
 

Maurice

New Member
anrothar said:
so who's all going to be there? i'll be the big lanky guy with a beard embarrassing myself in my first expert race(on a singlespeed). name's sean.

Two words: low gear. That race is one of the reasons that decided me to get a geared bike FWIW. This year I'll be slugging up that hill on the Yeti.

Norm, right into Expert, eh? That's brave. Don't you want to try a Sport race before though? It's pretty fast already. Blue Mountain would give you a great idea; plus it's an awesome course. Then to imagine how it's like in Expert, take off 3-5 minutes per lap and do one more.

Cheers,

Maurice
 

pixychick

JORBA: Ringwood
JORBA.ORG
anrothar said:
so who's all going to be there? i'll be the big lanky guy with a beard embarrassing myself in my first expert race(on a singlespeed). name's sean.


Way to go Sean. I'm the little one, and probably the only lady on a ss. If I remember correctly, this is sick climbing for a ss. I will be running experimental small chain ring gearing. :confused:

Hope the weather holds, and welcome to the expert class.

pixychick
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Maurice/Jess,

I'm really just kicking the idea around. My focus is more long distance events, so coming at it from that angle the beginner/sport races do nothing in terms of helping me train for the longer races. I'm not an XC racer by any means. It may end up not being a good fit regardless. Since I'm absolutely sure to come in DFL in sport, I might as well get a few extra miles and come in DFL in expert.

Won't be able to make the 10/1 race at Blue Mountain, as we've committed to a family gathering that day.

Norm
 

pixychick

JORBA: Ringwood
JORBA.ORG
normZurawski said:
Maurice/Jess,

I'm really just kicking the idea around. My focus is more long distance events, so coming at it from that angle the beginner/sport races do nothing in terms of helping me train for the longer races. I'm not an XC racer by any means. It may end up not being a good fit regardless. Since I'm absolutely sure to come in DFL in sport, I might as well get a few extra miles and come in DFL in expert.

Won't be able to make the 10/1 race at Blue Mountain, as we've committed to a family gathering that day.

Norm


Hey Norm -

I like the way you think. More for your money and efforts. That was my thinking too when I went expert. Not only was I DFL in every race, but by the time I finished, everyone had gone home. One race, they took down the markers and I almost got lost. But you have to start somewhere, and in a few months (years in my case) you get better and soon the race does not seem so long anymore. Good luck with it and always keep it fun.

pixy
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i'm more worried about the pace than the amount of climbing, but we'll see. should be fun. the last race i did at a ski resort was probably mt peters in ny back in 93 or 94. that was always a fun course. can't wait to see what this mogul section i keep hearing about is like.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
pixychick said:
Hey Norm -

I like the way you think. More for your money and efforts. That was my thinking too when I went expert. Not only was I DFL in every race, but by the time I finished, everyone had gone home. One race, they took down the markers and I almost got lost. But you have to start somewhere, and in a few months (years in my case) you get better and soon the race does not seem so long anymore. Good luck with it and always keep it fun.

pixy

pixy,

Good stuff! That's what I was thinking, that it would appear some random guy happened to be riding down the trail at the very end when the street sweepers were throwing out the trash. I'd cross the (now removed) finish line and ask, "Did I win?!?!"

I guess I should have also thrown in the fact that I do dumb things. I'm not one of those people who do dumb things to talk about it later. It just happens that way. I once hiked 26 miles of the AT In PA with a boot that had a sole falling off. That ended my hike. A friend and I once camped out in 10 degree weather. By about 4:00am, we were cuddling with the dog (a huskie). We've built a catapult before - seriously. Nobody was injured. I rode the 24 hour race this year with a 2:53 ride as my long ride of the year.

Here's part of a post from the endurance racing forum I posted to a week or so ago: "My wife asked me why. I said otherwise my life would be a series of mundane days of waking up for work and going to bed to go to work the next day. That, and I feel justified eating a pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich after I do these rides. The rest of the year it's too much of heart attack risk to chance. Generally my wife rolls her eyes. But she takes the 3rd slice of pork roll I take off the sandwich, which tastes much better with only 2. So it's win-win."

We do this to have fun, right?

Norm
 

NJ Jess

Active Member
way to go

Norm your quote is funny,....." That, and I feel justified eating a pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich after I do these rides. The rest of the year it's too much of heart attack risk to chance. Generally my wife rolls her eyes. But she takes the 3rd slice of pork roll I take off the sandwich, which tastes much better with only 2. So it's win-win."

There is a beginner woman racer that smokes a cigarette after the races too. funny how life is to each of us, good luck
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
killer course, destroyed me. i think i'm still fatigued from the 24 last weekend, because i could barely eek out three laps before i dnf'd. shame shame. i'm gonna punish myself with hills all week.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
anrothar said:
killer course, destroyed me. i think i'm still fatigued from the 24 last weekend, because i could barely eek out three laps before i dnf'd. shame shame. i'm gonna punish myself with hills all week.

Be careful there. If you're really in need of rest the best thing to do is rest. At this point you're only going to make your funk worse. Take a few days off, if not the week.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
would riding the five road miles to and from work still count as a day off, as long as i don't push myself? it's only got one, easy 150ft climb.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
anrothar said:
would riding the five road miles to and from work still count as a day off, as long as i don't push myself? it's only got one, easy 150ft climb.

You should be fine with that. But you want to be just out for a "Sunday ride" so to speak. I've read one coach's opinion that to fully recover from a 24 you need 6-8 weeks! Not sure I buy that but take it into account.
 

Maurice

New Member
anrothar said:
killer course, destroyed me. i think i'm still fatigued from the 24 last weekend, because i could barely eek out three laps before i dnf'd. shame shame. i'm gonna punish myself with hills all week.

Well, you didn't exactly pick the easiest course in the series. That climb to the top is hard enough on foot... And a week after a 24 hour race? Impressive.
I think I saw you; hard to miss that nice ZZ-Top beard. I was in the group starting after yours.

Get some well-deserved rest and see you on the trails (race course?).

Maurice
 
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