For the Love of Titanium and a Dog Fang
This coming weekend is the Shenandoah Mountain 100, and I am not ready.
Yes, I have biked over 100 miles/week for the past 3 months.
Yes, I am now at a level I have never thought possible.
Yes, I have modified my bike to get rid of the unnecessary things and make it more conducive to enduro racing.
But I am not ready.
Why?
Because it takes more than that, and I have found out recently that if I stay on the course I am on with biking, I will be ready NEXT year. Read on...
So at the beginning of this year, I thought that I would try for the SM 100. My goal was to finish the race, not necessarily place. So I have been riding 10+ miles every day, 20+ miles on the weekends, and have been able to get 100+ miles in every week for nearly 3 months.
What I didn't realise at first was that I really wasn't hitting any serious hills.
When I went to Sherando last month, it was my first indication that I was not training properly for this. My biking up to that point had very little hill climbing in it, as there are few opportunities for that sort of thing here in Richmond. I had been turning out 15-20 miles of singletrack riding in 2 hour stretches, until Sherando.
2 hours. 5 miles. Holy shit.
I thought that I just need to rachet things up. 15-20 a day, 30+ miles on the weekend. And I would be ready.
Then last weekend I went home to the Motherland, and biked Coopers Rock outside of Morgantown.
10 miles in 2 hours. Beat me senseless uphill and downhill. Goddammit.
It was all 5-10% grade comprised of fist-sized rocks in loose soil (due to lack of rain). So every downhil was a slippery rollercoaster and every uphill was a 3-steps-up-and-1-step-back bouncy ordeal. Too loose to be able to properly stand n' hammer without slipping and too bouncy to sit in the saddle and grind. Argh.
I console myself with some of the more positive things that have been happening with my riding. The first is that I got rid of my front shifters. I now only run my 34T midring with my 8-speed rear. Only issue now is that I bounce the chain off at a maddening rate, making me have to stop and put the chain back on the ring. I left my granny cog on for now as a "chain catcher" so I don't have to stop immediately when the chain falls off. I am going to try out a "dog fang" chain keeper to see if that will help. I am told that this along with an actual single-speed chainring can nearly eliminate the issue. I'll invest in the chainring when the current one finally wears out (not too long from now, I suspect).
The second is that my overall fitness level has improved, and my riding skills have also markedly improved as well. I am thinking about returning to Sherando this weekend and trying it again.
I invested in a set of Jones H-bars to see if they were more comfortable for the longer rides.
They are. Believe the hype.
Expensive as hell (they are titanium) but worth it. SO comfortable, and make such a difference in climbing! I really feel like I am standing in the pedals, crushing them into the ground during climbs. My uphill sprint is faster, and I can sustain it for longer periods now. This is a combination of my overall fitness going up and my body position due to the h-bar. Getting the shifter situated has become a bear, but I just invested in a set of Paul Thumbies and some used barcon shifters via eBay. I think that using the Thubies will help my shift issue by placing the shifter above the bar instead of below. Pete says this was what he ended up doing, and I can see the logic.
But these bars flat-out ROCK. Period.
Rained a lot last night, but you can hardly tell. it's been so dry, it probably just made the trails damp enough to be tacky but not slick. The best kind of trails.
Yes, I have biked over 100 miles/week for the past 3 months.
Yes, I am now at a level I have never thought possible.
Yes, I have modified my bike to get rid of the unnecessary things and make it more conducive to enduro racing.
But I am not ready.
Why?
Because it takes more than that, and I have found out recently that if I stay on the course I am on with biking, I will be ready NEXT year. Read on...
So at the beginning of this year, I thought that I would try for the SM 100. My goal was to finish the race, not necessarily place. So I have been riding 10+ miles every day, 20+ miles on the weekends, and have been able to get 100+ miles in every week for nearly 3 months.
What I didn't realise at first was that I really wasn't hitting any serious hills.
When I went to Sherando last month, it was my first indication that I was not training properly for this. My biking up to that point had very little hill climbing in it, as there are few opportunities for that sort of thing here in Richmond. I had been turning out 15-20 miles of singletrack riding in 2 hour stretches, until Sherando.
2 hours. 5 miles. Holy shit.
I thought that I just need to rachet things up. 15-20 a day, 30+ miles on the weekend. And I would be ready.
Then last weekend I went home to the Motherland, and biked Coopers Rock outside of Morgantown.
10 miles in 2 hours. Beat me senseless uphill and downhill. Goddammit.
It was all 5-10% grade comprised of fist-sized rocks in loose soil (due to lack of rain). So every downhil was a slippery rollercoaster and every uphill was a 3-steps-up-and-1-step-back bouncy ordeal. Too loose to be able to properly stand n' hammer without slipping and too bouncy to sit in the saddle and grind. Argh.
I console myself with some of the more positive things that have been happening with my riding. The first is that I got rid of my front shifters. I now only run my 34T midring with my 8-speed rear. Only issue now is that I bounce the chain off at a maddening rate, making me have to stop and put the chain back on the ring. I left my granny cog on for now as a "chain catcher" so I don't have to stop immediately when the chain falls off. I am going to try out a "dog fang" chain keeper to see if that will help. I am told that this along with an actual single-speed chainring can nearly eliminate the issue. I'll invest in the chainring when the current one finally wears out (not too long from now, I suspect).
The second is that my overall fitness level has improved, and my riding skills have also markedly improved as well. I am thinking about returning to Sherando this weekend and trying it again.
I invested in a set of Jones H-bars to see if they were more comfortable for the longer rides.
They are. Believe the hype.
Expensive as hell (they are titanium) but worth it. SO comfortable, and make such a difference in climbing! I really feel like I am standing in the pedals, crushing them into the ground during climbs. My uphill sprint is faster, and I can sustain it for longer periods now. This is a combination of my overall fitness going up and my body position due to the h-bar. Getting the shifter situated has become a bear, but I just invested in a set of Paul Thumbies and some used barcon shifters via eBay. I think that using the Thubies will help my shift issue by placing the shifter above the bar instead of below. Pete says this was what he ended up doing, and I can see the logic.
But these bars flat-out ROCK. Period.
Rained a lot last night, but you can hardly tell. it's been so dry, it probably just made the trails damp enough to be tacky but not slick. The best kind of trails.
posted by cowboy00242 at 10:04 AM
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