Peezy's Black Magic 2013

I appreciate Norms large photo, especially since when you scroll... it just works.

Saturday rolled around and I had a couple of mountain bike rides to make sure my bike still worked after vacation. I knocked the pollen off my the bike, but now I needed to make sure my legs still work. I went out for an hour and just spun them around. Probably wasn't the greatest idea to go out at 11:30 in the heat, but so it goes.

Rumor had it parking at Capers driveway for the Megalympics would be jam packed, so we decided to park at the CVS down the street. Everyone thought we were crazy, but we made it

http://app.strava.com/activities/57558182

And had a grand old time. Great time seeing everyone and socializing it up. Thankfully the bat cave has plenty of shade and tents were set up. Good grub and good times. Before we knew it, it was 8pm and I still needed to gather my stuff up for Saturdays death BS50.

Yes, The Bearscat 50. Not sure how I can remember everything, so I will go Normbrero Style and use bullets. If I start feeling saucy, I will expand.

The goal was to finish and ride with RU and Young Rob as much as I can. This will be the group for the Stoopid 50, what better time to work together than now.

  • Line up about 4-5 rows from the front
  • The beginning felt like a cross race, little roller into some sketchy double track
  • Chris makes an aggressive pass across a rock bridge and I lose sight of him, Rob is behind me.
  • Chris is peeing on the side of the trail
  • Chris and rob catch up to me before we hit Rattlesnake, where I get tripped up and lose them

    DSC_1768-L.jpg

    Wait for me Chris! At the top of Pines hoping I find my homies again.

  • I find them at the start of Pines
  • Chris cleans a lot of the uphill tech sections with ease, while Rob and I have a little more trouble
  • See Utah at Aid Station, he broke his bike on purpose
  • Head out of the aid station feeling great and fresh, push up a climb or two. We reunite in another tech section.
  • Towards the end of the lap we lose Rob.
  • Towards the end of the lap I lose Chris.
  • Lap 1 is done, Chris is at the tent and says hes been here for a couple of minutes. I don't feel dead, but I'm starting to feel the wrath of Wawayanda. Chris says he will stop if I do. I saddle up and say "You ain't quittin' because of me!" As we are getting set to go, Dustin rolls in and we hear that Rob broke his bike. So the 3 of us set out together. I almost forget my Camelbak and head back to the tent for it.
  • Almost go off course where many people did. Chris was smart and remembered the turn.
  • I hear Chris on Pickle and we exchange words of encouragement.
  • Thats the last time I heard from Chris. I would look back for him but he nor Dustin was around. I was on my own.
  • Minus the people who were passing me.
  • At some point my arms are totally shot. My legs are okay, okay in the sense of 4 hours into a mountain bike race, but they were still working. I was sloppy in tech sections and just a danger to myself. I decided I was going to call it at the Aid station.
  • I keep thinking, maybe i can do it, maybe I should keep going, but I'm a hazard to myself at this point. I stop and catch my breathe a couple of times. Every time I would look down to see how fast I was going, I was going 3 MPH. I could do 3MPH the rest of the ride. Doing the math, 12 miles left from the aid station at 3mph = a long ass 12 miles.
  • Take the road back and I'm excited to say that I lived to tell about this race.


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/322047592

Looking at my heart rate you can see where I pop. It was a loud one. Survival. I would have loved to finish and be one of the few, but it wasn't meant to be. I don't feel like the heat was really the death of me. I was surprised at how much I drank and was still dehydrated, how much I ate and Gu'd and was still hungry. I think you're never going to feel full during one of these events, you just need to have enough to keep the fire lit. Need to start doing some pushups or something. My arms felt like linguini the whole way home as well.

The food was good afterwards and seeing people finish was great.

So the next event is the Stoopid 50. Hearing mixed reviews on which race is harder. I felt like the death of me was the tight twisty rocky sections where the upper body strength was so important. When the trail was straight and rocky, uphill or downhill, I was okay. Think of the one section in the race where the three wooden bridges were. That was where I was a sloppy mess.

Monday Morning hurts. I don't think I have a left calf. Some of the muscles I never knew existed in my arms are gone. So how did I ever miss them in the first place?
 
Great job out there. I realize now that this course in particular makes it very tough to stick together because there are so many places to get hung up. I think that may have added some extra difficulty to the mix. We probably burned too many matches during the first 30 minutes of the race, then as things settled down we probably wasted some energy catching up/waiting up for one another. I'm looking forward to the Stoopid 50, I think we can dial things in a bit more and the course lends itself a bit better to sticking together, since half the race you are just grinding uphill :drooling:
 
Good news. The Stoopid 50 is technically easier overall. But there are some stout climbs in there that will just put a hurtin on you. The first ridge that you ride is probably as techy as anything in the BS50 and it's so much fun. You'll have a blast. I'll see ya out there.
 
Nice job. You should do better at the stoopid 50.
Your lefty shock seemed like it had a lot of psi in it, what do u run in that thing?
 
I've heard a mixed bag about the difficulty of BS vs Stoopid; I'm not sure which one will suit me better. Being south of 78 I think the pedaling is my strength vs the technical stuff. If more fire roads and elevation is involved and less technical slow rock sections, I may be better off. I don't think I'm a roadie, but maybe my road skills are now stronger than my mtb skills. Who knows. I have ridden Tussey Ridge and I didn't feel overwhelmed. It seems like it isn't as raw at any of the Bearscat course. Who knows!

Monday afternoon was okay. It rained and I thought it was going to cut the humidity, but never did. Wish it would be 70's forever.

Mandi made some burrito fixin's and we hit the road immediately after. We should have waited a little, mexican and jumping on the bike makes my stomach jump around. But it was delicious, no reason it wouldn't be delicious on the way back up on the bike. I didn't puke though.

Mandi and I rolled around canal road with a flowers and a cup of tea. My legs didn't feel as empty as I thought they would, but my arms and upper body are smoked. Triceps, what triceps. Jeez. Also noticed my sit bones were pretty beat up. Like I sat on a stove or something.

I think this is the stingray loop:
http://app.strava.com/activities/58039058


Then we got the ice cream we so deserved after that.
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with Calvin.

I did check my air pressure in my fork and it was at 120psi. After a little discussion with Utah the God, He yelled at me and told me that was way too much. I could have swore i thought 85-105 was too low and felt it bottom out, but maybe I will play with this more.
 
jShort said:
120psi? Really? Ha ha ha
Click to expand...

I do stupid stuff like this too. I raced JH with around 115psi. When I went to RV with you Kirt & Woody thats when I backed it off to about 90.

JP, Thats why I checked you lefty fork when you said your arms hurt. Lowering the pressure def. helps smoove out the ride and stay on your line.
 
Had a rough, rage filled day Tuesday.

Came home and was feeling kind of bummy, mostly because my body was still tired, but Mandi convinced me to get out and get ready to ride. I get ready and check Facebook to read this:

Screen-shot-2013-06-06-at-816_zps260f8e3e.jpg

Am I out of line at all? I wanted to twist my phone in half.

Why does this make me rage so much? I usually don't have to "go in" on people, my FRIENDS, on Facebook, but I couldn't hold it in anymore. Why would you want to purposely injure another human?

Even on our ride someone gave us the horn. Sadly they didn't have anything to say when I rolled up next to them and asked "Where you honking at me?" Window stayed up, hands in the air like "huh? me?" Grrrr. We eventually get to ride our bikes and try and enjoy the day.

http://app.strava.com/activities/58275801
Thankfully Mandi was nice enough to go slow with me 😉

On the bright side I was able to spin my legs out Tuesday and my sore body is coming around. The weather has been beautiful and it's really hard to not get out and enjoy the sun. The other great part about this time of the year is after we ride, clean up and eat dinner, playoff hockey is on :getsome:

Yesterday I checked the pressure in my fork and dropped it down after our ride. I was curious to see how much it was going to make a difference. Tried to recruit some homies to ride CR, but it didn't work out yesterday. I head out alone and just tried to be smooth. I noticed the difference in the fork, but I couldn't see or feel if I was riding better in the first 10 minutes. I got over to yellow and I was really starting to feel it smooth out the trail. I felt like I had a really good ride. Lots of improvements going on at CR. Some sections are a little overgrown and more than forgettable at this point, but the meat of CR was in perfect condition. I also think the Cicadas invaded CR. They are here.

http://app.strava.com/activities/58483313

I think the Bearscat course made CR feel like it was paved. Even the elevation didn't hurt as bad. I think my body and brain learned a lot last Sunday. There isn't any trail around that could compare to that experience. I DNF'd, but I walked away with a BOAT LOAD of new found technical skill. Just need to keep it sharp enough me thinks. Starting to forget the pain and negatives of that Sunday and remembering and embracing the positives that came from it.

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Lou was late, Lou got his wipers put up. I tried to wait for him but he took too long.

More food, ice cream and playoff hockey. Mandi wanted to eat ice cream in the car, I said NFW. If it's too cold to eat ice cream outside, we shouldn't be getting ice cream.

On my drive in Thursday Morning I heard the BOS/PIT game went to double OT. Glad I turned it off when I did 🙂
 
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i think you went too easy on that person on fb. regardless if they're your friend or not it sounds like they don't understand what it means to pilot a 3,000lbs death machine.

i can not wait until self driving cars are the norm for schmucks like those.
 
I don't know what's dumber. The statement this person made or the fact that they posted it publicly, not considering that he/she may have friends or family that are cyclists. Dumb fool.
 
not too harsh at all in my book. i see the same crap on my FB feed. actually i even had my dad say something like that to my uncle once at a family gathering. that was a fun conversation.

even though its totally useless to argue on the internet, sometimes you have to say something - you're human. and you weren't even arguing - what you typed was well said.
 
Don't bother trying to present a rational argument to a ranting moron on facebook. Have some fun with him instead.
 
I read that five times and still have no clue what they're trying to say.
 
Ok, it clicked on the 6th try.

People are idiots. You were fine In the response. I would have concluded with "now go fuck yourself", but that's just me.
 
Very controlled response, in my opinion. Douchebags everywhere.

I had my worst run in on the road last week where the driver actually swerved towards me as he went by to screw with me. I caught him at a traffic light and said nasty things about his mother. I'm usually fine with stupidity, but actually swerving at me made me lose my shit.
 
I think you are pretty restrained in your reply there. People say stupid things when they are angry or if they are just plain stupid. In either case, at least on FB, I don't think you will ever see anyone say, "I was wrong. I see your point now." So I wouldn't hold out hope for a reasonable reply. But do look over your shoulder on the road from now on!
 
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