Fat & Slow vs. Skinny & Fast

Last night I went with a new mountain bike buddy, Rick, out to Lake Ahquabi to do some recon for his race there on Sunday. Rick is relatively new to the mountain biking scene but he has taken to it like a duck to water. He finished 2nd in his first race at the steep and technical 7 Oaks course outside of Boone. You can read more about the Ahquabi ride and his race here.

He hadn't ridden out there before so I showed him the big hill fat people have trouble climbing. We got to the top and he was all-like "yeah, that's a pretty big hill", but he didn't have the common decency to be red in the face and out of breath like yours truly. Some people, I swear.

On the second lap Rick said he wanted to pick up the pace to somewhat simulate a race. I said, "sure" but the extra 50 pounds I carry around over Skinny said, "you know, I'd rather not." Rather quickly my girthyness lost ground to his thinitude. If he hadn't been so far ahead of me I could've shown him how to avoid crashing in the mud by giving an example of how to crash in the mud.

Oh well, his loss.

Okay, I didn't go down right in the mud, luckily (?) I flew past it in mid air. There were several muddy patches along the way with almost all of them having a relatively dry path around or through them. One patch, however, had its path run out about halfway through where you were confronted with a decision to hop over a little log that was angled in the mud or go around it. The first time around I quite adeptly hopped right over the log. Swoosh, smooth baby. I'm Batman........

The second time around - you know, I can't tell you why I would even consider anything other than a hop - I was going faster and decided to go around the log, then realized the mud was really deep over there and changed my mind (note: never change your mind) and instead tried to hop the log. This time my front tire came down on the log, washed out from under me and that was that. "Breaker, breaker this is Gotham City dispatch. Be advised, Batman is down. I repeat, Batman is down."

As sad as it was, you can't keep the Caped Crusader down for long. I hopped back on my rig and peddled off. We can't keep Skinny waiting now can we? When I rolled up Slim asked me if I had gone down again. I smiled and said, "no, why?" Maybe it was the head-to-toe dirt strip I had on my right side that had him wondering.

The rest of the ride went off without a hitch, but I think I might need a new bike. I keep falling off this one for no particular reason (other than the laws of physics). Since it can't be me, there must be a malfunction of some kind with the bike. I looked for a reset button, but couldn't find one, must be time for something new (but don't tell Jackie).

The Little Things

In my blogging endeavor I have begun to amass a group of pictures that, when taken alone, don't make up much of a post. A (sane) person might be tempted to just discard these random images.........but that's not how we roll at Careful Documentation of Nothing Much. Here we look out for the little moments too - after all, sometimes that's what its all about....

Captain has lost 17 pounds in the last few months. I think it has something to do with doing things like this.

Trail Dog requires water on the go. TD handles his hydration with this sleek but rugged collapsible bowl.

Another pic from an impromptu hike and battle with clearing overgrown weeds at the Banner trails. We fought the weeds and we lost. Allie vows to return with a maniacal smile.

This is my tick containment system. Of course, you always take a change of clothes with you when you go on a mountain bike road trip. You change after the ride and put the old clothes in a plastic sack, but if you don't close it securely you could get ticks inside your car - several of them. Don't ask me how I know that.

This effectively traps any little intruders, but CAUTION! If you use this method of tick containment DO NOT leave your clothes sealed in the box, inside in your hot car for more than 24 hours. If you do, be prepared to extract your laundry under the protection of a Haz Mat suit. Don't ask me how I know that.

I put my trailmap in a plastic bag so it doesn't get to be a sweaty, smeary incomprehensible mess. Don't ask me how I know to do that either.

Quite awhile ago I posted on Katie's and Allie's scooter/babyseat/2x4/duct tape contraption. Not to be outdone I had my own entry in the Little Rascals buggy race. Its a trike, in fact, its my trike from when I was a kid (otherwise known as "where it all started") and its combined with a two-wheeled dolly. It wasn't wicked fast, but it was smooth, stable and really easy to steer.

Corey and I sometimes try to ride up the slanty under-part (whadda ya call that?) of the 7th Street bridge. We often almost make it.

The Standard By Which All Others Are Measured: Sugar Bottom

I remember when Sugar Bottom became my measuring stick for mountain bike trails. I think it was around 1994. Even though I'm not sure of the year, I am sure that I was screaming down the front side of a gravity cavity (think giant V in the earth) the locals call Cyclocross Hill. Repeating the fate of many would-be hillclimbers, I stalled out about halfway up other side, running out of momentum and leg power. Inconveniently, I was still fastened to my bike via toeclips (how's that for old skool?). At some point, while trying to yank my feet off the peddles so I wouldn't cartwheel backwards down the hill I thought, "You know, this Sugarbottom place is pretty hard.......and sweet."

Luckily, I was able to bail out sideways, but my trusty old Trek 7000 wasn't so fortunate. She flipped and flopped her way down the hill, probably very disgusted with her inept rider. She was fine though, sturdy ole' gal she was.

Since then I have rated every trail in relation to SB. For those that don't know, Sugarbottom is a trail system located in the recreation area next to the Coralville Lake right outside North Liberty and near Iowa City. It sports 10.5 miles of trails that are one directional and rated according to IBMA's standards, similar to ski runs. They've got a very nice mix of twisty, rooty and hilly tough singletrack along with some beginner and intermediate trails you can just fly on.



Unfortunately it got hit very hard by the flooding eariler this summer, so only a small portion of the total trail is open. I had heard that nothing south of the service road that bisects the area was open. I stuck to the 101, 102, 103, 104 trails and just did a few loops around. I didn't take my trusty map with me and now, after the fact, I think I missed out on some riding over in the 2's and 3's that are back from the (newly defined) shore. I didn't see the T intersection on 101 to get over there...or maybe it was blocked off (?) I probably just missed it. I'm such a freakin' idiot.

You need to ride up the park road from the beach to the highwater access point to begin.



Made necessary because of:



and:



Jackie worries about me when I ride alone. I told her SB was popular, so I wouldn't really be completely alone. She called BS. Now, I produce this visual evidence:



Ha! I was RIGHT. Okay, maybe a couple of those cars belonged to people who were using the disc golf course, but the others were bikers.

Here's a rooty drop into a sharp turn that's pretty typical of the black trails at SB. The view is looking back up after the ride down. I didn't capture the hairpin very well, but it heads straight right at the bottom.



And another one right after the first. This view is looking down from the top.



Here's a rooty climb, I actually think this is on an intermediate trail. I might be mistaken about that.



it contines to be steep and rooty after the inital section. This is looking back down the hill. It doesn't look too intermediate to me.



The pine grove areas (there are a couple of different ones when its not flooded) at SB are very enjoyable. They are basically long twisty climbs and decents, they really inspire s-p-e-e-d.



I cleaned (rode up without putting a foot down) this climb for the first time ever (x3). Pretty pleased with that.



Semi sketchy rock drop off.



There are certainly trail systems that are bigger, technically tougher and physically more demanding all over the country (don't get me wrong SB holds its own). Places like Decorah can even challenge SB's title as best riding in Iowa, but there's just something about Sugar - for me anyway.

In closing I couldn't have asked for more this weekend. I got to ride at Beverly and Sugar and do-up the waterpark. Now I'll turn it over to my main man, on his trike, to send us out proper.