Mike's 2010 Bike Ride Log Blog

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Mike's 2010 Bike Ride Log Blog
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flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 17, 2010 at 17:45 Quote
3rd ride of '10 today.

Was super pumped to jump back on my personal Trek Remedy once again! Its been about two (maybe three?) months since I've ridden it as I was putting some time in on the Specialized Enduro S-Works that you'll be able to read about soon. I was pining for a quality XC ride since the weather was so nice, about 8 c and not raining, but ended up doing some shuttles w/ the DH crew instead. That was fine with me as I was half expecting needing to stop and make some adjustments a few times during the ride (which I did) and would rather do that during shuttles than some rad XC ride.

We did two shuttle runs, one from about 3/4 way up and one from the very top that requires about 20 minutes of hiking. I ate some shit on the first run, pretty funny. The Remedy takes more attention that the less agile Enduro and I obviously wasn't doing that. Its funny, only half a degree on paper and a bit longer and slightly more forgiving but an entirely different beast than the Remedy. It was very slippery up there today so we all rode well within the limits and had a relaxing ride.

photo
Spencer about to drop in to Two Cents. So much hate for these kits but I think they are awesome!

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The trails were not that muddy, I just managed to find the best of it. I love pressure washing the shit out of my bikes!
flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 19, 2010 at 23:01 Quote
4th ride of '10


Killer ride tonight! I try to get out and ride with our local Tuesday night XC crew as often as I can. These guys are rad, I think they've been meeting for about a decade, almost every Tuesday as long as there isn't three feet of snow. It's obviously night riding right now as it gets dark here around 5 pm right now. There were 6 or 7 of us that climbed about half way up and then three of us (me, Scott, and Steve) continued up to the Den. We had a relaxing climb up to the midway point which was nice because I had some juice left over for the steeper singletrack climbing up to the Den trailhead. I usually don't climb too much of this part during this time of the year as I always find it quite hard, but I managed to get up it with only one little slip out on a wet root or log... happy about that! It took maybe 20 mins longer to get to the top than when we are working harder but it was nice to chill out a bit on the lower slopes.

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This is the top of the Den. Singletrack from here on down to the Van.


Trails were in amazing shape! Wasn't really feeling the DH quite yet, will take a few more rides until I start to feel at home on my own bike again. Strange skipping under load while descending, made it hard to put the power down. Must find out what that is. Pretty much all dry and fast with assloads of traction. Scott was fun to follow on the downhill portions as he is getting quicker (but he still SUCKS). Had a shit ton of fun on Femur when he dropped in first and I kept working my front wheel to his inside on a few corners, much giggling ensued. Took a dirty cheater line at the bottom and snaked him on the last 20 seconds.

Beer, music, and lawnchairs after the ride. Must have been 8 or 9 degrees out, shorts a few jerseys.. In the middle of January! And I just found a short and curly hair in my noodle dinner as I'm typing this. Damnit.
flag spoiledgoods
Posted: Jan 20, 2010 at 9:07 Quote
dirty cheater line on feamur by chance? Smile
I know what you speak of Smile
flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 21, 2010 at 23:26 Quote
5th ride.


Again with the killer night ride! Met at 7-ish (well, Paul was actually there @ 7:30 because he had do his makeup) and after a bit of a gong show while trying to decide who's truck was going up we set off. I ended up being at the mountain a good 15 minutes early so I did a quick sprint up to Femur solo before we did a shuttle, nice quick warm up!

photo
Sick new decals courtesy of Jordan!

Once again the trails were dry and mint. I heard it hit 14c during the day, must have been 7 or 8 degrees tonight! I'm thinking that the reason I'm enjoying the night shredding is because I'm forced to slow down a few notches and end up having so much fun playing about on the trail. I think I must be making a lot of trail work for others though... Good crew out tonight: Me, Gerald, and both Paul and Kevin! Tyler drove, what a trooper.

photo
Paul's gay dog that actually rips on the trail

So effing pumped on riding right now! Hope Sunday is dry so I can put in a nice long ride w/o getting soaked!
flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 22, 2010 at 23:14 Quote
6th ride.

Night Den run once again! Me, Gerald, and Steve. Felt great on the bike today, lots of manuals and getting loose in the corners.
Got there early again so I could do quick solo lap on Femur - fun!

Was having a bit of a laugh while coming down Two Cents and playing about instead of paying attention... ended up smoking the right side of my bar into a tree just as I was popping over a hole. Lucky my front end was in the air at the time as it hit hard enough to turn my bars 90 degrees! Managed to ride away but I surely deserved to hit a tree.

Reformed XC rider Steve is killing it on his V10, he is getting faster every ride! Rode Femur faster than I have in a few months, felt great.

photo
Mandatory picture.


Big plans for this coming Sunday (if it's not pouring because I am a sissy). Should work out to a good 50 km solo ride on dirt, must not forget to charge le GPS so I know exactly just how shitty I actually am this time of the year. The last time I did this ride was last August and I was 20 lbs lighter! I feel a suffer fest coming on... Will make room in my pack for a single beer to drink while at the top.
flag wavo
Posted: Jan 23, 2010 at 9:47 Quote
I thought you had an Enduro?
Man one nice week here and its finals all week Really Mad
flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 23, 2010 at 10:18 Quote
PNWFreeride wrote:
I thought you had an Enduro?
Man one nice week here and its finals all week Really Mad


The Enduro was built up for an upcoming test (here is the preview) and now that I've beat the tar out of it for the last few months I'm back on my personal Remedy.
flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 24, 2010 at 17:31 Quote
7th ride.

54.9 km's
5.5 hours
1464 meters/ 4803 feet of climbing!


Today was a big day. Would have been a big day in the summer, but in January it feels even better! Of course I didn't roll out of bed until well after 8am, despite having good intentions and setting my alarm for 7:45. I was a bit worried regarding available light so I wanted to start early. Out the door by 9:15, WTF happen to the weird warm January weather?! Colder than expected but we have been spoiled lately. Massive headwind while riding to the mountain was a bit of a deflating way to start the day off but once on the mountain it was much nicer!

photo

Lots of goodies incase of nearly anything.

The first climb once onto Vedder used to be an easy grade that was doable even on a DH bike, that is no longer. Due to some landslides the property owner basically shoved the old road down the hill. Thats all well and good, especially since we were left with a nice bench cut single track climb instead. The bad news is that its unrideable in the wet and on top of that he fell about 10 trees over the trail to stop motorbikers. What used to be a 30 min climb now takes nearly an hour.

photo

Much preferred the original road climb...

Managed to get by Larry (he lives in a van up on the mountain) without him talking to me! He is crazy as batshit and can talk for 20 mins without stopping to breath. Rode Majuba trail down into Yarrow and quickly regretted not bringing glasses or goggles with me, the cold air made my eyes water within seconds of letting off the brakes. Descent was ok, didn't get loose as I couldn't see anything, but was fun regardless. From there I climbed back up to the ring road on a rather steep gravel climb that I didn't suffer on as much as I thought I would. Nice surprise! Climb went quick and before I knew it I was at the base of the Hang Gliders climb. Managed to ride nearly all if this until I cramped up so hard I though I was going to die. My right quad seized as I put a foot down when I spun on some loose gravel. Over I went and it took nearly 10 mins until I was able to drag myself off to the side. I've cramped a number of times in the past but this was on another level. After it loosened up I decided to walk the last 200 feet to the view point as I was petrified of it returning. I couldn't physically make myself drink any more fluids before or during the ride so I'm disappointed that I cramped that bad.

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View from Hang Gliders looking across the Fraser Valley at my other favorite mounting, Sumas

Back down the way I came up and all the way around the mountain to the climb up to the Den. Cramps never returned even though, probably because I took it pretty easy on the way up. Once at the top it is all single track descending down to the bottom. I managed to have a massive crash while on Turd Fergeson and walked away unscathed. I took the Kenda KOT mud tire off the back and put on an old Small Block Eight, but kept riding the bike like I had limitless traction, duh! Too fast into a loose corner and squirly coming out of it, waaaaay off line and into a stump, over the bars and down the hill I went. Lesson: don't be an idiot! A bit later on I pulled the bead off of my front tire in a corner near the bottom and couldn't get it to reseat good enough to keep it from having a slow leak. Had to ride home on a very low front tire... just what I wanted to do after 4800 feet of climbing!

photo

Self portrait at the top of the Den

All in all it was a great ride, one that I would never have expected to be able to do in January!
flag pbuser102331
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 12:43 Quote
I'm only slightly jealous.Cry
flag whattheheel
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 12:46 Quote
I am only slightly curious on how you got your schmidt on remedy? I have mine on my sx but it would be fun to swap over. Does yours have any iscg mounts?
flag scott54
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 14:07 Quote
If you weren't so concerned with riding alone to get an advantage on your buddies, you wouldn't have to take a a self-portrait with a pretend pose as if you don't realize someone is taking a picture.
flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 18:08 Quote
whattheheel wrote:
I am only slightly curious on how you got your schmidt on remedy? I have mine on my sx but it would be fun to swap over. Does yours have any iscg mounts?

It does have ISCG tabs
flag crankinstein
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 18:43 Quote
I wish I was out riding right now....freezing rain!
flag mikelevy
Mod
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 21:09 Quote
scott54 wrote:
If you weren't so concerned with riding alone to get an advantage on your buddies, you wouldn't have to take a a self-portrait with a pretend pose as if you don't realize someone is taking a picture.

I was going for the introspective look... obviously you don't think that I nailed it.
flag Chornbeak
O+
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 22:44 Quote
kakah wrote:
scott54 wrote:
If you weren't so concerned with riding alone to get an advantage on your buddies, you wouldn't have to take a a self-portrait with a pretend pose as if you don't realize someone is taking a picture.

I was going for the introspective look... obviously you don't think that I nailed it.

eh don't listen to him. It definitely captures the moment. lol

 


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