Snake, Rattle & Roll

Thursday, May 25, 2006
I gathered with the boyz for our weekly "get dirty at the cove" ride. We had a HUGE group this evening...16 people! Wow! We were so big we decided to split up. One group of 6 decided to climb the 1000' climb to Clownhead, and some of the upper trails. The remaining 10 of us decided to stay on the lower stuff.

The ride was filled with lots of excitement. If we had brought the camera, I don't think we would have had the opportunity to play Jeff Corwin. (he's the other wildlife dude on Animal Planet who loves to play w/ snakes and other assorted slithery creatures) Anywho...As we rode through the Enchanted Forest, thoughts of big black bears kept running though my brain. We saw one last week along the same trail & my hubby ran into one on the 1000' climb the other night. (in case you did not know, I'm not too fond of bears...I think it's from watching too much drama on tv) As we cruised on the trail, Warren was frantically waving us along, shouting, Don't Stop, Don't Stop, Keep Moving. I thought to myself...Mama bear is near & he is making us ride away from her. No problem. After most of the group rode past Warren, a few of us stopped to see what all of the commotion was about. Bear? No..worse....Snake...not just any snake...Rattlesnake!!!!!!! What is it w/ snakes this year? First at the WV race, now the Cove!...Oh did I mention I'm not too fond of snakes ?


Well they scared him far away from the trail...Warren even tossed a rock at him which hit him on the head.. He was not a happy snake. He rattled the whole time. As Mark & Curt rode up I was screaming Stop!...Halt!....(I don't know if it was some deep rooted maternal instinct to protect or what...but I didn't want anyone getting near this thing)

I can honestly say that's the first time I've ever seen a rattlesnake in the wild..and hopefully the last. What's in store next week? Bobcat? Stay tuned

Thc chicky's rocked

As the chickys have been doing their weekly ride at Explore Park, I've observed some tremendous improvement in everyone's riding. From handling the technical switchbacks, to barrelling downhill, to grunting up the climbs everyone is doing great!...this week we decided to go straight to the intermediate stuff and test our skills.

Prior to the ride, I thought I'd sneak in a quick lap just to get the legs going and the heart pumping. Skippy arrived just as I was about to depart. I told him I was going to do a quick spin so he joined me. We took off for the intermediate trail and did the first downhill loop section before going back to the parking lot. Man he's fast. I hope/pray one day I can get that fast on the bike. I was able to hang w/ him on some parts, but others, he kicked my butt. No worries though. I was able to do a couple of the uphill switchbacks which gave me constant trouble on the night rides in the winter...so I know I'm improving. After getting back to the parking lot, I felt kicked....I guess that's why I normally warm up first before riding that hard...this o' gal can't get going that quickly anymore.

Oh well, I met up w/ the other gals and the 6 of us ventured out. I thought for a change of pace, we'd try the outer loop. Parts of the outer loop are a little tricky but nothing too overwhelming. Everyone did fantastic, especially the downhill sections. Angelia was flying through the downhills ! We cleared logs, rocky sections & some of the gals even attempted the "technical" rooty section. Woo Hoo! Once we got to the road, we rode back up to the back entrance of the park. We are not quite ready to tackly the steep, rooty downhill on the other side of the road..maybe later this year. I think Jennifer was feeling quite energetic as she sped up the hill to the entrance. I did a couple of sprints just to get the blood flowing, then went back to check on everyone. Everyone was doing great.

As we got back to the park, we decided to do the inner loop. We went back down the steep downhill, and started to climb. I think everyone cleared the climb where the large wooden bridge is. Awesome job ladies! As we continued, we had a couple of bobbles here & there but that's proably due to the fact we were a little tired. We continued on the inner loop w/ the ladies looking like they had been doing this all their lives. We all cleared the next log in the trail & continued on. Man We Rock! Maggie had a couple of bobbles one of the uphill switchbacks. I encouraged her to try it again...the third time she aced it all the way up the climb to the main intersection of the inner/outer loop!.. She even did better than the guy that passed us..he had to get off & walk!

We made our way back to the road, then did the beginner loop in reverse. As we made our way down, Jennifer had to once again eradicate the stick of death. It has a way of sneaking back onto the trail when you least expect it. Maggie & I stopped near the stick of death to work on the downhill switchback. After a few attempts, she cleared it again! Way to go girl.

Upon return to the parking lot, everyone was in great spirits. I kept hearing "man this is soo fun" ! That's what it's all about! Nex week....inner loop, then outer loop. Who's up for it? :)

Let's go Racing!

Sunday, May 14, 2006
The Hancock 100..formerly known as the Tour De Tomlinson. was held at Tomlinson Run State Park in West (by God) Virginia. This was my first race of the year & a good test to see how the rehab has gone for my knee. In a previous post I talked about how I sprained my knee so I’ve been on hiatus doing rehab & getting back into the riding.

Anywho. This course was to be a good one for the first race of the year. Not too technical, fast in some spots, huge hike a bikes sections, some fun downhills, and even a snake!...Yes ladies & gentleman, a snake. I’ll get to that in a little bit.

The race was timed. Expert class rides for 100 minutes, Sports/Vet Women race for 75 minutes & Beginners/Jrs race for an hour. (In West Virginia, the Vet women (35+) are all lumped together in one category..sports & experts alike. (I knew one of the girls was a expert so it would be some tough competition). The timing was sort of screwed up…if you came in past the checkpoint under your allotted time, you got to do another lap. So in actuality you race for longer than the allotted time. If you came in over your allotted time, you were done.

Expert Class started first, then there was a 1 minute delay before the sport class, then another minute, beginners/juniors. They do mass starts in these West Virginia races which basically means the women and men start together. What a mess! The sport class is the biggest class of all so imagine if you will, 60 -75 people all vying for position to get into the singletrack. We have about 100 yards of road before the singletrack section. There were bikes & people everywhere. We had to hike into the singletrack b/c everyone was soo bunched up. There were about 6 of us in the Vet Women’s class. I was going to have my work cut out for me. I kept most of my competition in sight at the start but then got bogged down once in the single track section & did not have a clue where I stood. As the first lap went on, I found places to pass some of the sport men and work my way up. Then came the snake…..there was this steep, winding downhill section towards the end of the lap. Along the first curve, there was this black snake…he was in what looked like a defensive/strike position. Oh Crap…he’s eyeing my leg! We’re all shouting snake, snake! As I went by him, I prayed he would not bite me. Yikes! Although we had that bit of excitement, it still seemed as though the first lap took forever.

Into the second lap, I was able to get into a groove. I soon caught up with 3 of my competitors. We traded places back & forth through most of the the second lap. We were riding together when one of the girls in front of me went down on a steep descent. I checked to make sure she was ok then put the hammer down. I soon got to another steep uphill when I say another girl hiking. As I got closer to her, I realized she was in my class. She wasn’t moving real fast so I could either keep her pace hiking up this thing, or hustle up the hill and get going. I chose to hustle. I wondered where the other ladies were & what position I was in. As I continued I noticed another person on the side of the trail…It was Ruthie..(the really really strong fast one!) She had flatted. She was bummed but shouted a word of encouragement as I zoomed by.


As I neared the checkpoint, I checked my clock….cool 3 minutes under..I can do another lap. I know the other girls were not far behind so I had to keep the hammer down (or so I thought) I slowed somewhat in the third lap…the pack of riders had stretched out so I could maintain an even pace but I could tell I was getting tired. As I continued, some of the expert men started passing me. I made sure I gave each of them enough room to negotiate around the “old lady” shouting words of encouragement as they went by. Boy those guys are fast..how do they do it? After the climbs, descents & climbs again, I neared the location of the feared snake. I did not see him the second lap but he was back on lap #3, although he was not looking too good. He was on the ground, writhing. He still had his mouth open but he was hurting. I alerted one of the course marshals as I completed my descent. Finally the finish line was in sight. As I crossed, I checked my time. 1 hr 47 min. I noticed one of the other ladies whom I had passed was already at the finish..I was a little confused. I thought she was only 30 seconds behind….When she came through the checkpoint at the end of her second lap, she was over the time limit..so she could not continue. I still did not have any idea if I even placed. We stuck around for the awards. My nephew TJ Platt won the Expert category… He’s crazy fast. I actually ended up with a second place finish in the Vet Women category. Woo Hoo! Did not see that coming but I’ll take it! Oh..the knee held up well for the most part. A little stiff afterwards but nothing that some ice & a beer won't fix!

Ridin w/ the boyz

Thursday, May 4, 2006
Tonight was our first night back at Carvin's Cove. It's been a loong winter riding most Thursdays at Explore Park. I think we were all ready for the change of pace. Here are some pics from the evening. We had some mud & some blood but it was a blast! For a complete story check out: http://bicyclesoup.blogspot.com/














Pookie & the boyz

Traversing the gorge

Ewwwww Blood! Yuk

RAINBOWS & STICKS OF DEATH

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Aaaah. Another beautiful night for a ride. Temps in the 70's, partly cloudy, chance of rain but that's ok..we won't melt! 6 riders joined this past weeks "Chicky" ride. We had the 4 regulars ....Angelia, Jennifer, Moe, and myself & two "newbies" who joined us halfway into the ride: Jannie (who rode w/ us last week, too. sorry if I mis spelled your name) and Meggan. (who was sporting a very chic skort made by Terry www.terrybicycles.com ) Skippy & Aaron from the Thursday night ride also came but they were doing their own ride. Skippy's Rig was sporting a new magenta/purple color chain. It was actually a BMX chain but he was trying it out on the single speed. I wanted one..it was really cool.

Angelia, Jennifer, Moe and myself ventured out. We started out the beginner loop. I pushed the pace a little harder than normal just to see where everyone was on their skill/confidence levels. As we made it to the first clearing, everyone was together. No spills, tumbles, maybe one mechanical, but other that we were in good shape. We proceded on to the end of the beginner loop. As we completed the loop, I wanted to make it a little more challenging. I suggested riding the first part of the intermediate loop again. It's all downhill for the first part until the wooden bridge..then we start climbing. I wanted to do it early in the ride while everyone was fresh..plus, everyone is getting faster each week so I felt it was time to kick it up a notch and offer a bit more of a challenge.

Down we went, through the right hand turn..down to the tight, left hand switchback. As I went through I noticed Moe heading straight. Where ya going???? Moe said as she came up on the turn she decicded to take the scenic route instead. It was a little too hairy to negotiate. No worries though. We continued down , over the two small bridges & on to the longer bridge. We crossed the bridge & started up the hill. negotiating the roots as we went. I rode up to the first left hand switchback after the bridge & took a break. Everyone did great getting up that first hill. I decided..ok..far enough..let's go back & see if anyone else is in the parking lot. We turned back around & headed back up the hill....ugh. As we got back to the road...I mentioned to a couple of the girls..."I'm not trying to kill you...I just want you to get better & I think you are ready for it based on your skills"
I figured the only way we are going to improve is to try more things.

After a quick check of the parking area, we rode the beginner loop backwards....just for a change of pace. It's much different going that direction. As we came through I noticed I kept getting too close to some of the trees. At one point, I clipped my handlebar on a tree but was able to stay upright. About the same place I clipped the tree, Jennifer mentioned there was a "stick of death" on that part of the trail! It almost took her down as well...Yikes!

We met up with Jannie & Meggan & started back up the beginner loop. Both ladies were still getting used to their clipless pedals . Meggan was a little scared but she would do just fine. I stayed towards the middle of the pack as we rode just to be sure everyone was ok. Everyone sailed through. We decided to go backwards again on our return to the parking lot. Before we got started, Jennifer rode ahead to eradicate the "stick of death". We started back down. the eradication must have worked b/c this time through, I did not come close to clipping that tree near the area of the dreaded stick.

As we completed the lap, it started raining. the brief shower felt good. The temps seemed a little warm as we rode throughout the evening. When we got to the parking lot we noticed a beautiful rainbow. then it turned into a double rainbow. (man I wish I had brought that camera) What a great way to cap off a great ride. Thanks ladies..As usual you all rocked!!! Off to ride w/ the boyz at the Cove on Thursday.