Nothing but Mud!

This took a while to get clean

Mud Fest

I had high hopes of a wonderful weekend of mountain biking which started on Friday. I went to Rock Bridge with John to get in a little workout. I did not know what I was in store for, but i soon realized when a rider came off the trail and was bunny hooping his bike to knock the mud off.

We asked how the trails were and he said, a little muddy on the flats, but the inclines are good. What a lie. We rode up the bench cut incline and sailed down the single track into the bog that was once a trail. The "Freeze-Thaw" effect is pretty amazing. It was like pedaling through wet concrete. We only lasted an hour before we were so fed up that we left. I did discover my new favorite climb that will help me with not only my stamina, but my technical ability too.

So after being out of town for 2 weeks, I spent all day Saturday with the kids. I could not help but wonder if the trails had dried out a bit. After talking to the "Beast" later in the day, he informed me they were still crap. Who the heck made the call to open up Rockbride?

So Sunday arrives and I drive to Landahl Park to meet Cole and Jason for a little riding. I am pleasantly surprised to find 6 other cars in the lot when i got there at 9 am. A jogger was just getting back to the parking lot and said the trails were OK. Being once bitten and twice shy, I decided to look for myself while I waited for my buds to arrive. The trail looked nice. I went maybe 50 to 75 yards into the trial system was very excited for today's ride.


Once suited up, the 3 of us headed in. Swoosh, into a turn, swish over a rock and plop into mud. The trail suddenly changed from tacky to wacky as we entered into the bottoms. The mud acted like a leaf vacuum and picked up every leaf on the trail. Soon my derailleur was jumped up with mud and both my tires looked like a rolling pile of leaves. Cole and I had to stop many times to clean the mud, sticks and leaves out of the rear tire and the frame. I felt like I was riding with the emergency brake on. At one point my chain sucked and had to remove the chain to fix it.

We ran across another biker heading in the opposite direction. he said the trails were fine once you leave the bottoms. So we headed on. From previous experience, and one wrong turn, we ended up riding everything we had ridden before backwards and it all felt uphill. But we kept riding and soon left the mud. We cleared Root Canal, Rim Job, Mike's Tantrum, Swedish Erotica, Gun Barrel, Turkey Poop, Little Moab and Death Drop (Which I am pretty certain that is where I did my endo).

By the time we made it back to camp, thank god for the Garmin, we were all ready for a beer and some cooked beef.

The day did not live up to the expectations, but I think I got a better workout then if it had been pristine conditions. I never regret hooking up with friends and having a fun time.

After a Week of This!!

Having to review 35,000 letters in 2 weeks is bad enough, but to have to accomplish this in

Bloomington, IL makes it even worse. With snow in the forecast and the temperatures in the single digits and low teens, the trainer was my only option to continuing to train for Kokopelli.

Pedaling in a hotel room really puts a damper on the fun.

With the arrival of the weekend, I did manage to get out in 27 degree weather and ride in 4 inch deep snow. What a work out. It tested both my endurance and my balance, trying to navigate the snow. Comlara park is located north of Bloomington by Evergreen Lake. I parked next to a cornfield and the wind was blowing at a steady 30 miles an hour. The snow was crusty in areas and as long as I stayed on top, it was not so bad. As I plowed deeper into the trail system, I found myself trudging through 4 inch deep snow and struggling to keep my balance as I bounced between ruts. After 3 miles, I decided that I might want to turn and head back as I was quickly running out of gas as there was no roll to the ground and I had to work for every foot I adventured. My tires were nice and clean by the time I got back to the car though:)