Father's Day Epic

I had high hopes all week of getting out for 3-4 hours of riding on Sunday. The weather looked crappy and not many folks were responding to the emails I was sending out to see who wanted to ride. I figured it would end up being DEA and me but I was surprised when Charles pulled in. We moved our ride start back an hour from noon til 1 as I had some errands to get done and DEA had a bit of a hangover to get over.

Just as we were getting ready to roll out the rain started again. It was coming down pretty hard but when I went inside to look at the radar it did not show up. Maybe the radar is getting tired of the rain too. At about 1 the three of us headed out for a 3 hour tour. We started on Davis Hill and rode a good bit of the network there and were disappointed to see that there had been some significant logging operations that had ruined a real nice section of singletrack, bummer. We then proceeded around the end of Conway Lake and then through Redstone to some new trail that I do not know the name of but was just soft enough that it was sucking the life from us. We could never really get any momentum going or any flow.




We finally arrived at Sticks & Stones and did most of a lap there and while doing so bumped into Carl from the Red Jersey and the Michelin Mike (not sure he should be called that anymore) who were out for rides too. After seeing them and chatting for a few wee decided to test out the new pump track. There were 6 or so folks at the track which was nice to see. Either I suck at pump tracks or my bike is too big for them. Not sure they were designed for 29ers.



About this time we alldecided it was probably time to start back. I asked which way we wanted to go, left or right, and we chose right. That meant a good climb up Peaked Mountain to the Sidehill Trail. Once we got to the top of the climb I think we were all feeling pretty spent. The trail was a good ride as usual and I showed DEA all of the new stuff that seems to be popping up all over as we rolled along. We then hit the Power Lines and then back through Redstone and on to home.

Overall it ended up being just over 3 hours of actual ride time and 26.5 miles. I had a blast regardless of the rain. Nice to have 3 SS 29er riders out on the trails together. Like a freaky bike gang.

So here's the data from the ride:
Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 3:34:16 8:05 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 3:05:03 6:58 pace
Distance (mi ) 26.50
Moving Speed (mph) 8.6 avg. 27.3 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +2,007 / -2,008

Avg. Heart Rate 144 bpm Zone 3.6

Temperature (°F) 68°F avg. 69.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) NE 8.0 avg. NE 11.5 max.

Might head down to Pat's Peak and pre-ride the 24hr course on Saturday. It would be nice of it dried out some before though.

JJ