Ouch. Never trust a Trail Liason.

Damn busy week last week while off, the weekend before was busy with stuff. Monday became a day of house cleaning, and passing out forgetting about a MORE BOD meeting. oops. Tuesday was a relaxation day. Wednesday I went to Fountain Head and rode. Thursday was a 2x ride with a stop at TBL. Friday I don't recall but I think it involved b33r. Saturday was trail work and ride at Fountain Head. Good to see a bunch of folks I haven't seen in a while including Paul H from Rosaryville. We moved a LOT of lumber again. Probably a couple tons. Then we moved a couple of tons of rocks a short distance building a wall.

Then we got to ride the new stuff, the new entrance loop is AWESOME! Then we only did the blue loop and rode the new SOB alternate. Very cool, better than it was on Thursday. Then we tried the new exit loop. It will be really cool once it's done and compacted down.

Sunday I was too sore to do the Shed Ride, which had 70+ riders in 7 groups. Thats awesome. So instead I lounged, helped at the old house, and TCB'd.

Now I'm back at work. Back on the self fitness chain gang, though I'm still sore from Saturday. Trying to decide if I want to ride tonight or not, the rest of the week is looking pretty shitty.

Tuesday the Paragon goes in for new chain, new (already owned) cogset, and a rebuild of the fork (seals and fluid). Didn't know it was supposed to be done once a season, it's been a year and a half.

Triple Shot.

Yesterday I went 3 for 3 and bagged my third ride in 3 days at CJ. Wasn't feeling awesome or fast but it was a pretty good ride. Nearly made it up the climb of doom on my 3rd and 4th try. May need to drop rear tire pressure a hair. Probably a bit hard for a quick climb then rock crawl up a pretty steep grade. Did see a guy on F/S make it. Also in general I know I'm not trying with enough starting speed.

But a solid 10 miles. Clipped a small section also, but I can see where other area's are gonna need TLC by the next trail day in mid-may. The current plan is to put in a small bridge then go from there. I'm stoked.

Off day today, dealing with sick Cat. Ugh. Poor old fella's 13 and some issues can be expected I guess.

Big IMBA ride at FH with big-wigs on Friday. Thursday is no looking bueno.

Clip and Ride and Walk

Did my good deed part 2 for April. After riding a fun lap at Laurel Hill yesterday I retrieved the trusty hand clippers and went out and clipped back the Giles Run trail from say Too Cool Hipster Length to more like slightly Shaggy Pretty Boy Length. Took a couple of hours, but when I re-rode it after wards it made a huge difference in not having to twist myself like a pretzel to avoid thorns, leaves, etc. Though I did see 2 spots that needed improved trimming. However I was done. 15.24 miles of Riding and probably 3 miles of walking with back and forth trimming on the trail.

Thursday was a good ride in Accotink land with a good pre-ride and a solid regular ride. 15.63 miles. So probably about 34/35 miles last week plus the clipping. I'm down with that.

Gonna have to sneak and peak rides in this week as we have lots of storms/rain. Thursday isn't looking good at all.

And taking the un-frickin believable award for the month? Dicky ate found shot blocks while riding down at Amelia Island. Scroll down about 2/3'rds of the way.
Dicky loves found food!

Beer fermentation has slowed to a couple of bubbles a minute from its rapid ferment Thursday. But it's still going.

Tonight I disassemble the cranks and see just how annoying these new press-fit bottom brackets are going to be. The guys at the bike lane (At least burke) haven't had to service one yet. Hopefully mine won't be first. But I'm not counting on it. Grrr. Best case scenario is that I can clean the grime/stuff out, re-grease the crankshaft and it will be G2G.

Black Rock Mill Trail

Did a quick pre-ride with Neil of a bit of Schaeffer before we went and toiled on the BRM Trail. It was nice to be back out at Schaeffer. I think that was my first trip this year honestly, with the snows staying till late and how crazy the spring and summer was I never made it up there. I'm hoping to hit it at least 1 more time after the first managed hunt but before it closes for the year.

The Black Rock Mill trail is going to offer some great views in the winter! It covers some REALLY rolling ground. We found an old house foundation the park was at least partially unaware of while examining an old car. Cool stuff. We benched and clear a quarter mile in one direction up to an old wooden bridge. Then we went the other way and did a major bench up off an old trail bed getting a nice 4 foot wide tread that required in some spots near 2 feet of material removed. We then went on further and helped cut another hundred yards of trail of low to moderate bench.

Felt good to get out and work. A bit sore today but nothing like after my previous trail day. No hauling big ass rocks I think is the main reason why.

Another TrailWork Done

Had a big project yesterday with a rather burly re-route of the CJ trail entrance off Democracy. Should have some pictures soon. But it was a lot of work and I only had 4 others show up versus the original 16 that became 10 that were supposed to be there.

The bigger brush/old logs were supposed to have been pre-cleared by the parks dept but weren't so that took a lot of wrestling, cutting and extra work.
Also we didn't have a ton of hill to work with and so we had to build some water bars and hauling those big rocks down and up the hill sucked. Also hauling tools sucked, may try and get a bob trailer eventually. Turned out pretty well but the exit to the bridge will require more work in the spring I suspect and there is a lot more reclaiming work to be done on the old trail. I stayed after the group left and planted a tree and bermed up the top so water hopefully won't run down the trail. We'll see. I may take a weekday off and go work on it in a few weeks. Riders like it in some ways, others missed the fun old descent. Shades of Fountain hell.

Photo's by Neil of Trailwork

Today is my first non-riding Sunday but the flesh is simply too sore for doing something llke the EF figure 8 of hate. Maybe I'll go look for a digital camera today. I'm tired of not having my own photo's.

Had an awesome german hefe with dinner last night. Review to come!