Moon Shadows are Evil

Mountain Bike Mike

Well-Known Member
I had my chance to finally get revenge for the MBM meltdown of 2015... I decided to snap a pic instead... that old dirty bastard is lucky I aint mad about it anymore.. Protect ya neck! Lol
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Continue the re-write

Yes, @jShort , there is some irony below in declaring I am not MTB222 and then do this:

In April I was scheduled to go to Little Rock Arkansas for a conference and I would be leaving the day after HOH. With some other stuff going on that weekend, the HOH streak would come to an end after 8? Years. It is no secret I boner hard over HOH; one of my annual go-to’s; on my home dirt roads (still) and I was certainly disappointed. However, it wasn’t worth the MBU inferno it would have been before being away half the week. So it was done. RIP HOH streak.

However, not having HOH to ride towards, it further pushed me to ride the 5010 and continue my solo TM efforts. And then we have one of the wettest springs in recent years, which kept me off the trails. Oh well, always have the skinny plastic and steel bikes to ride.

At said conference, I did squeeze in a few rides and while everyone all triple BBB over AK these days, Little Rock isn’t so BBB like the NW part of the state, which was 2-3 hours away and I couldn’t squeeze it in. I went with the road bike and was pleasantly surprised at the insane facility that the Arkansas River Trail is and that there are some nice short hills around Little Rock. Downside was that it was dark for 75% of my rides so limited picture opps. Be sure to check out the Big Dam Bridge while there (this isn’t it):

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Big Damn Bridge are those green lights down river.

Later in April I found out I would be going to a conference in Irvine, Ca and I started dreaming of some of the road stuff I would ride while there, having been there two years ago. Now given my current mtb stoke and there being some legit mtb’ing out there, I still boner all over riding my skinny tired bike uphill and I find road biking is much more accessible for traveling / not knowing where you are going.

The wet weather in May allowed me to bring my road form up to somekind of reasonable level and I started riding sourlands at least once a week to get some hillage as they are the longest climbs in my immediate area where the climbs around me in PA are steeper, so shorter in length. I started to feel pretty good by the end of May.

I would be out there with a co-worker I supervise, and I had him rent a car so I could potentially drive to a legit climb. I knew Mt Baldy was within an hour and the wheels were in motion to get there. After researching some rental options and the prices being $$$, I looked into bikeflights and with @mountainbikemike coming through with a travel box, stoke level bumped a notch knowing that I would have my EVO out there. It is alittle nerve-racking sending your most expensive bike across the county in a plastic coffin, but it got there just fine and was in my room 20 min after checking in. Another half hour and I was out on the road, mid afternoon on a sunny Sunday.

Immediately I notice the lack of humidity and shortly after that, the lack of shade. Irvine is a 100% planned community and uber uniform and uber Pleasantville type shit. The last time I was here, I felt uncomfortable with how everything is the same. Sure as shit wouldn’t be surprised if the people were robots. Telsa’s are our equivalent to Honda Civic’s and within a few min, a Bugatti pulls up at an intersection. WE AREN’T IN NJ anymore TOTO. After stopping to nab some Co2’s and stopping at roughly 36 stop lights, I was finally in the hills. I rode one short hill that had some sick switch backs and then onto Santiago Canyon Road. Ultimately, I was headed to Silverdo Canyon, which is an out and back climb.

I hit this climb 1:45 into my ride and the lack of shade was getting to me. I was simply getting baked and while the guy at the bike store said there would be shade here, I would say like 5% of the climb was shaded. There is a mom and pop shop at the bottom, but I decided to hit it on the way back.

I just kept a steady pace and at only 5%, I was in the big ring until some little kickers bumped me for maybe the last couple miles. The road just keeps getting worse and worse and turned into dusty dirt around 6.5 miles and I wasn’t in the mood for flattage so I climbed a small dirt rise and then turned around. The downhill for this climb wasn’t particularly exciting and lots of debris, so I was just taking it easy. I also filled my bottles and grabbed a snack at the store at the bottom. So strava tells me 6.54 mile climb at +1,751 elevation gain, so it was a good opener for the next day. I felt ok about 10.1 avg speed up it too for 38 min and change.
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California Dreaming

After the ride, had a vendor social at the conference and was pretty dead by the end of the day and tuned in fairly early…
 

Mountain Bike Mike

Well-Known Member
Its always interesting to read a transformation post like the last one... I’ve been meaning to go to the first page of this thread to see where you started... ..Giro climbs, Castelli Italiano extraordinaire kit

65 pages and 8 years later... Baldpate TM, Santa Cruz trail bike...

Good stuff
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Wow, pushing a year on posting in this..

However, this year marks the 10th anniversary of my wife being diagnosed / beating breast cancer. Some of that journey was in this thread, but most of it was in my previous thread. This thread started when we went on a vacation to Italy to celebrate a milestone of the end of the bulk of the treatment and surgeries.

Some of you know my wife utilized and volunteered for Young Survivor Coalition (YSC) throughout her cancer journey and my small part of giving back to that is raising money via the Tour de Pink. So in support of young woman facing breast cancer, in recognition of 10 years of my wife living beyond breast cancer and in honor of woman we have met and lost to cancer, I am riding the first day of the Tour de Pink again. Your support is much appreciated, no amount is too small. Link below and in my signature,

https://east.ysctourdepink.org/kevinmcelwain
 
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JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
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stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Thanks to all that supported me from mtbnj. Y'all came through strong and bumped me over my goal!

I'm hopefully that the next generation, including my son and girls below, don't have to deal with this disease. And if they do, they will have the support of organizations like YSC to help them through it.

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The ride is two weeks away, more to come!
 

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
So we just found out about the Beyond Meat sausages this week, and wow they are fucking ridiculous!
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Thanks again everyone that supported me for this ride and especially the peeps from MTBNJ! In the end, MTBNJ folks helped to obliterate my goal of $500 and we raised $995!

The day started out cool and I typically take the first hour of this ride to hang with some survivors that are riding and typically I know a number of them. This year I couldn't find the people i knew, so I soft pedaled for awhile and hung with a group of 10-15, mostly woman. One woman was a two-time survivor from Brooklyn and I rode with her and another woman through the first rest stop. Since this is my local area, and that I know every road, crack, hazard and scenic view, I was these woman's personal tour guide through Hopewell. However, on the first hill after the rest stop, I was going slow and we picked up a group of about 15 people. I honestly wasn't pushing the pace (i swear), at all, and the group was falling off. Before I knew it, I am by myself. I am not sure if they stopped to rest, but the group is no where in sight. So, i decided to motor off and before I descended into Lambertville, I was caught by two guys from Pfizer, a major sponsor of the ride. I ended up riding to the end with these guys. The 65 mile route went back to the hotel and I continued for the 100. Pretty quickly I was going with the 15mph winds and I realized the route was going to be full on headwind for the last 15 miles. So, I circled back through Princeton and picked up the 65 mile loop for the last 4 miles. All and all a good day.

While I do this ride to support my wife, my girls, an aunt who recently had a re-occurrence; numero uno is for my wife's friend who lost her battle with cancer in 2017. R.I.P. Laurie.

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Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Thanks again everyone that supported me for this ride and especially the peeps from MTBNJ! In the end, MTBNJ folks helped to obliterate my goal of $500 and we raised $995!

The day started out cool and I typically take the first hour of this ride to hang with some survivors that are riding and typically I know a number of them. This year I couldn't find the people i knew, so I soft pedaled for awhile and hung with a group of 10-15, mostly woman. One woman was a two-time survivor from Brooklyn and I rode with her and another woman through the first rest stop. Since this is my local area, and that I know every road, crack, hazard and scenic view, I was these woman's personal tour guide through Hopewell. However, on the first hill after the rest stop, I was going slow and we picked up a group of about 15 people. I honestly wasn't pushing the pace (i swear), at all, and the group was falling off. Before I knew it, I am by myself. I am not sure if they stopped to rest, but the group is no where in sight. So, i decided to motor off and before I descended into Lambertville, I was caught by two guys from Pfizer, a major sponsor of the ride. I ended up riding to the end with these guys. The 65 mile route went back to the hotel and I continued for the 100. Pretty quickly I was going with the 15mph winds and I realized the route was going to be full on headwind for the last 15 miles. So, I circled back through Princeton and picked up the 65 mile loop for the last 4 miles. All and all a good day.

While I do this ride to support my wife, my girls, an aunt who recently had a re-occurrence; numero uno is for my wife's friend who lost her battle with cancer in 2017. R.I.P. Laurie.

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Wish i was downtown when you went by - would have cheered you on.
Thanks for putting in the time to raise the funds -

----
The trestle in your last pic will become part of the somerset east-west greenway someday.
 
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stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Sorta wild to think that this blog was started about 18 months after my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer (the trip to Italy was a celebration trip) and here we are 12 years since she became a survivor. Since that time my son is almost a man (14) and what was a Hail Mary at the time turned into my twin girls, who are now 6.

Time is funny sometimes, I have lived 1/4 of my life since then and in some respects it feels like yesterday. Cancer changed my perspective on many thing, mostly in that you need to live life to its fullest. I think I fall short on that some days, but I know most days I feel like I got more out of the day than just punching the clock at work.

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Mitch

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Sorta wild to think that this blog was started about 18 months after my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer (the trip to Italy was a celebration trip) and here we are 12 years since she became a survivor. Since that time my son is almost a man (14) and what was a Hail Mary at the time turned into my twin girls, who are now 6.

Time is funny sometimes, I have lived 1/4 of my life since then and in some respects it feels like yesterday. Cancer changed my perspective on many thing, mostly in that you need to live life to its fullest. I think I fall short on that some days, but I know most days I feel like I got more out of the day than just punching the clock at work.

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Amen.
 
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