Slickrock

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

Tags

29er, canyon, Dead Horse Point, hard tail, Intrepid, Moab, Mountain biking, sand flats, sandstone, slickrock, slickrock trail, Stumpjumper, white rim trail

I’ve been a bit absent from posting lately. I just got back from a family spring break vacation, and it was actually somewhat bike related. Back in ’94, I took my first road trip to Southern Utah canyon country and fell in love. I had my ’92 Stumpjumper Pro with at the time, and my brother in law and I rode the famous Slickrock Trail in Moab. It was a memorable experience, and caused a few repeat visits over the next few years. My last time there was in ’97 when a friend and I rented a jeep and some bikes and did a portion of the trail in addition to jeeping around the White Rim trail in Canyonlands.

“Slickrock” is sandstone laid down during the Jurassic period (200 million years ago). This area of Utah was once a giant inland sea, as well as a desert the size of the modern Sahara. Over time the dunes and seafloor were compressed into the sandstone, and then erosion took over to sculpt the landscape into a serious wonder. The Slickrock trail is like a stroll across frozen sand dunes. Well – more like a struggle to get through them over and over again. The really cool thing about mountain biking on these is the amazing traction and grades that you can climb. The traction is like sandpaper pavement. When I was there in the ’90s, some folks were using nearly slick tires – kind of early cross tires. The knobbies only help in the fairly infrequent sandy drainage areas eroded at the bottoms of some of the rock dunes, and are as worthless on the slick rock as they are on pavement.

If you look at this picture, you can see the white painted trail on the rock. This is the only way you will find your way back to the parking lot before you pass out from lack of water! Seriously, it’s not too bad in the spring and fall. The temps were in the 70s (F) while we were there. You still need to pack water – a 64-128 oz size camelback would be the best option if you choose to do the entire trail depending on the time of year. I would also suggest bringing some energy food with – you will need it. This trail is listed as advanced/strenuous.

I only had time to do the practice loop (2 miles) this time, but I’m not in my 20’s anymore either. I can tell you that randonneuring doesn’t prepare one for slick rock. The riding here is like repetitive short burst climbs followed by short steep descents. It is really vertically focused. The whole trail is only 10.7 miles long, but it encompasses about 1000 feet of climbing. I’ve always seen plenty of varied fitness levels in the folks riding, however, and you can surely walk the trail if needed, so don’t be discouraged if you’re not in top shape.

Bike notes from the trip: I rented full suspension 29’ers from Chile Pepper Bike Shop on the main drag in town. My rental experience was good as far as the shop goes. My personal preference for riding this trail would be to do it on a light hardtail. I had a bit more trouble climbing with the big, heavier full suspension rig, and I’m not sure the 29″ wheels helped me on that account either. I couldn’t really lock out the shocks for the climbs as they happen constantly, so I left it in the XC setting. The bike was a Giant Trance 29er.

My wife and daughter also got the same bike (daughter had size XS and we had Medium). For our more mellow rides, we chose to go on the Intrepid trail system in Dead Horse Point State Park. This is a really nice beginner/intermediate series of 3 loops of growing lengths that rides along the canyon rim.

We all had a great time, and it was cool introducing my daughter to the area that inspired so much adventure for me. I hope we planted a seed that manifests in her own adventures in the future!

Here are some links to the Slickrock and Dead Horse Intrepid trail systems:

http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/slickrck.htm

http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/dead-horse-pt.htm

The Weapon of Weep

14 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Brooks Pro, canti, compass, CX70, diamond bar wrap, dirt drop, harlequin wrap, Miyata, RidgeRunner Team, scrambler, thumbie, u-brake, v-brake

I plan to become a stronger rider. That much is for sure. One way to do it is stop eating big fat lunches with the workmates, and go out on my bus/carpool/motorcycle days to ride intervals. I don’t really have a great bike for that, however. Wait… Maybe I do? The old Miyata RidgeRunner Team that was my Bosco’d lazy bike might fit? I’ve always sort of loved this mutt – it has a great fast, low feel to it. Awesome Compass tires that feel like 26″ Hetres!

But, there is that high bottom bracket which was made to fly over fallen logs and various obstacles on the ’88 downhill circuit. That’s the achilles heel for this bike, I fear. Then there is the obnoxious U-Brake. Hmmm – I guess this may still work for a 1-hour lunch ride slash torture session. Better than sitting barless and sad in the basement bike heap. OK – first things first. Put on an old dirt drop cockpit setup I have laying around. I hope the reach isn’t too short.

Nice! Even has the diamond tape! Not really a match, but I’ll add a little blue to the drops. There. Much better… Now about shifters. Hmmm – I could do the stem setup like I had on the clown bike?

Nope. Too much hand movement – can’t deal with that while I’m cranking up a hill at top speed, right? How about something more ergo – perhaps thumbie style?

Awww yeah – that’s more like it… Now is this a scramblin’ interval machine or what?

This sucker looks fast just standing there. Like it’s going to jump the start and kill the field. Those lugs! Those fenders! That raked cockpit! Damnnnnn. Better put some clipless pedals on this beast. Need maximum torque. Let’s put a Ti Brooks Pro on there, too. Keep the weight and comfort down – no sense getting complacent and sitting down on the ride…

Hmmm – that old V-Brake’s gotta go. No problem solver rig this time. This bike was built in the golden era of cantis. Hey – I just got a pair of CX70s for the rando bike that I didn’t need (had centerpulls). How about we try one out on the front? Crap – gotta put a cable hanger on there somewhere… Hmmm… I know I have one lying around somewhere. There we go. Got it. OK – now comes the fun part! Get it to work. It’s raining tomorrow – perfect day for a transport stage. There’s life in this old steed yet!

Zoo Hill Permanent

14 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

100k, brevet, permanent, Seattle, Toussaint, zoo hill

I rode my first permanent today. Did the 100k solo, and it couldn’t have been a nicer day. A permanent is different from an organized brevet in that it is an approved route that can be ridden on your own time of choosing. There are permanents that span from 100k to 1000k. Some are well known brevet routes.

It was interesting in that there were three controls where I bought snacks to collect receipts. Generally during a brevet, the store cashier signs and records the time on the brevet card. This was all solo with no real interactions.

Two of the controls were questions about the spot in focus. I took photos of these just in case. Not a bad experience, overall. I felt pretty good, the bike was flawless, and the weather was glorious. The ride took just over 5 hours, and I added 21 miles in transport to the start and from the finish.

Zoo Hill itself was intense. It climbs 1000 feet in a mile or so. There were amazing views, and the descent was smooth and fast. My favorite part of the ride was May Valley Road. New blacktop on a sweeping fast flat farm valley. Very picturesque!

Taillight Wiring

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, bicycle, bike, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, dynamo, dynamo lighting, dynamo taillight, fenders, hilsen, light wiring, rivendell, taillight, wiring

Since I haven’t sprung for a custom bike with wiring guides or internal cable routing, I’ve had to improvise on my taillight wiring schemes. The first few times I just strung the wire along the down tube, chain stay, and up the fender stay to the light. I fastened it with zip-ties. This was fairly clean from the drive side view, but resulted in some zip-tie mess on the non-drive side. The last few times I’ve wired up rear lights, I’ve managed to put them under the fenders, eliminating the mess from the down tube. The key has been aluminum tape and careful fender drilling. Someday, I may get up the courage to drill into the fork or frame, but for now, I’ll play it safe.

https://flic.kr/p/mRi2Y6

You can see the white bike in the background has a similar setup, but instead of routing the wire up the fork leg with zip-ties, I glued shrink tubing on the inside of the fork leg, and the inside of the front rack. This is used to guide the wire without the use of tape. Note – on the white bike, the electrical tape I’m using to fasten the wire to the down tube is starting to peel off a bit after a few hundred very wet miles. It may be replaced soon. That is one area that the zip-ties win – I haven’t had one come loose yet. I’ve even taken to loosely tying the wire to the derailleur cable. Only an issue when you change cables, and the small zip-ties are pretty unobtrusive.

Bahn Mi Brevet

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

300k, acorn bags, brevet, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, harlequin wrap, nitto, noodles, rando, randonneur, Seattle, Selle Anatomica, SIR

190 miles in a day is a long way to ride your bike! I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that part of randonneuring. It’s a simple fact that most people will look at you funny when you talk about doing this sort of thing. I hate to say it, but I feel that way when folks talk to me about running 20+ miles. I think “why would you want to abuse your body like that?”. I am a serious hypocrite.

This guy doesn’t look particularly abused, right? He was in great spirits for the first 100k while I rode with him. He was chatting with me and several other riders. Jason really loves these rides for the social aspect, I’m sure, as do I. We were riding side-by-side for 10s of miles in the rain and wind when drafting would have been the prudent thing to do, just chatting about bikes, trips, rides, work, etc… We were having a great time even after we bombed down a brutal climb (500+ feet at 13%) only to realize we should have studied the queue sheet harder at the control up top. We had missed the turn and ended up climbing up Lorde Hill again with 3 bonus miles and an extra half hour on our day.

At the first control, an espresso stand, I realized I had forgotten my wallet. After a short moment of panic, I decided the prudent thing to do was continue. I had a lot of drinkable food (Perpetuem, Tailwind) and knew that I would be able to stock up on some goodies at the lunch stop. Calories were not going to be the problem. If I didn’t have a major bike issue, it was simply a matter of getting the ride done. It did feel a bit strange to not buy anything at the couple of controls where I had a cashier sign my brevet card. I’m sure this is really just my own issue, right?

This seat continues to rock. I had no saddle soreness. When you are pedaling for 15+ hours, that says something. There is no way any of my other seats would have been this comfy. As for the other contact points – no issues there either other than wetness. Even with “waterproof” gloves and booty covered shoes, both were soaked by mid ride. I am especially amazed that my hands were not numb with only a thin glove, and cotton tape wrapped bars. The diamonds really help with hand comfort! 😉 As for my knees, they ended up not tightening and bothering me on this ride. I would like to chalk it up to the 100k, 200k, and hip abductor exercises I’ve been doing, but I’m sure the Aleve helped.

Luckily we had sun on Camano Island at the apex of the route. Several hours of dry weather, even. That made things much more tolerable – I almost dried out, even…

Turkeys were out. Also, hawks, rabbits, lots of worms on the road, and a couple crazed barking rural road dogs that surprised the heck out of me and 3 others riding nearby. Luckily we were at enough speed to get past without incident. I would expect that Darwin will take care of those guys before we pass by that way again.

As I was pedaling out of Arlington and joining up on the Centennial trail for a really nice woods ride, it started pouring again, and didn’t really stop until I was back in Seattle. I’ve got to work out a better way to see the queue sheet at night. With this much moisture, it was wet (from having to change it in the rain), and was fogging up the plastic cover on my rando bag. The tiny light was OK, but my odometer was off enough at that point that the math I had to do in my head was becoming a chore for my weary brain. I ended up teaming up with Bill and Patrick for the ride back to Woodinville and the Burke Gilman. At that point I knew the way back, so it was auto pilot. At one point Bill came up behind me after a bit of a weave and asked if I was OK. That was a good wake up! Shortly thereafter we just about ran into this tree/bush that had blown down across the trail.

flic.kr/p/mB5uDF

That last encounter kept me awake for the last few miles home…