Feeling Kinda Growely

Not really feeling the ride tonight. I'll be back in town on Saturday, maybe catch the gang then.

Hope everyone else makes it out tonight. Have a good time.

one mile down

Randy and I cut another mile across the trail. Just a little benching and its done so don't be shy to pick up a shovel. I discovered a large section of old single track already cut down the hill towards Karnes, it is awesome back there. We will have many miles of riding ahead.

Different Trails on a Rainy Day

Sooo Jav, what did you do today? Some rid'n? Cool.

Any hills on that ride? Oh, just a couple big ones huh?

See anything else? Oh, there was evidence of other trail use huh? Quite abit huh? Well, that's the shits, isn't it....

So we went to Waubunsie State Park in Iowa today. Left at dawn. Trails were different, so it was a good trip, although trails are more suited for equestrians and hiking. Still, saw some great vistas and rode some really fun downhills.

MWSU Speed Challenge

Rode the "woodchip" trail loop out there for the first time since this past Spring. I shattered my personal best by over thirty seconds. Did the entire lap in 9min 31sec... so that's over 14mph average for the entire 2.34 miles.

So the challenge is simply to do a lap and then see if you can beat your previous time. When I started out there I was in the 30 minute range... so don't be intimidated by my current time. Just go out there and do your best... it's really fun to see yourself go faster and faster over time.

Whoa

Just ran across this pic, made my guts churn, thought I would post.

Nice Work!

Shawn and Randy, I have to hand it to you guys; you really know how to build a nice trail. The Girlscout camp trails are looking pretty sweet. We rode Girlscout, Krug, Girlscout, Corby North today. Almost rode Corby South, but we were so shelled we called it quits. Shelled... and we didn't even ride all the trails in a 3 mile radius. That's a good problem to have, isn't it?

Trail Work Day!
We're still planning on doing the trail work day for December 01. We'll get started at about 8:30 AM and will wrap it up when ever. I'll have a couple hand saws, a polesaw/lopper, shovel, hoe, and a sythe. Sounds like we have a couple chainsaws lined up and a weed whacker or two. We should be able to make some pretty good progress pretty quick, I think. If enough people show, maybe we can finish the loop in one day. Of course, that assumes Randy and Shawn don't finish the whole thing before we can get to it.... Heee Heee Heee, just kidding.

BTW, if you aren't feeling lucky today - take a look at the Folks From Lincoln Blog. Our brothers up North are in the middle of another skirmish with the city. Makes me feel pretty lucky that St. Joe's parks & rec department is so cool about building and maintaining trails on city property. Other places are not so lucky, to be sure.

Saturday

Would like to ride Sat AM. Probably Corby, Girlscout, Krug. Any takers?

I'm looking for steady the whole way. Not much stopping, but not super fast either. Just cruising.

Meet at Corby, 9:00AM.

New trails done!!!!!!!!!

Randy and I have completed The next section on the Scout trail between the walking trail and the road. The entire area between the two have trail now. It needs some mild trimming to get sprigs , some bench cutting done and one small bridge. Randy says ride new trail to pack it in or else!! I have started new trail on other side of just follow the flags That needs loping and chainsaw work it will be a bear because it is really thick. Please come out and work on the trails in your spare time so we can make quick work of these new trails and we can get to riding them.

Good Showing Tuesday Night....

There were 5 of us in the dark last night, it was a good group by any standards for any time of year. No mechanical problems, smooth riding, and nice trails. The leaves are starting to pack and form what I hope is a protective, regenerative layer over the trails. I guess we'll see next summer. I'm still convinced that leave blowing the trails last fall did more harm than good. Wish I would have never done that.

Beautiful Sunset last night...

Got a call from Randy. He said that he and Shawn have cut most of what has been marked on the Girl Scout Camp trail. Not sure of the mileage so far, but Randy claims the trails are pretty sweet so far. Can't wait to see them and start mapping them out for the site.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE TRAIL WORK DAY 01DEC2007!!!!!

TNR - Tuesday Nite Ride

Well, I need to be home by 7, so I have about one lap, maybe. If I'm not there by 6, don't wait.

Have a good ride if I don't see ya.

TRAIL WORK DAY!!!!

Time to get the Girl Scout Camp trail going again this winter. Randy and Shawn have been busy marking routes and will be ready for a builder crew to start making some headway.

Here are the pertinents:

1. Date: Saturday December 01, 2007


2. Time: 8:30 AM


3. Meeting Location: Bike Path Trail Head on the Parkway


4. Parking Location: Park along the road that connects the parkway with Karnes Rd.


5. What do we need?: We need at least 2 chainsaws ; 2-3 Polaskis, shovels, or heavy hoes ; 1 Weedwhacker ; Everyone should have a folding handsaw if you can get ahold of one.

A cooler of water will be available, and I'll get ahold of some sodas and beers for a couple post work refreshments.

We'll probably work till 2 PM or so. With a good group, we should be able to get through most of what is currently marked right now.

SEE YOU ALL THERE!!!!!

New Group Ride Format

We have been struggling with developing a ride format that is both fun and challenging for all riding levels and goals. So far I think our group rides may have discouraged and turned off some, either because they are too fast or too slow. This isn't the intent of the group rides, and our goal is to have 20, 30, or 40 people showing up, and everyone feeling like they got a good ride within their respective capabilities. Here is what we are thinking we can do to fulfill this desire and goal.

Each ride advertised on this site will abide by the following format:

1. Ride will begin within 10 minutes of the posted start time.
2. The first segment of the ride will be geared to keep everyone together. The "keep it together" part of the ride will be between 1/2 hour and 1 hour in length, and will be chosen based on the group that shows up.
3. At the end of the first ride segment, we will stop and make the decision on what's next.
4. If everyone wants to continue on at the same rate and pace, that's what we'll do.
5. If there are diverse riding abilities and goals present, riders may split. One group will continue to be geared for a cohesive group ride. The other group will be geared for higher speed and a more "race pace" type of ride. The higher speed group may hit several different trails and will not be as concerned with maintaining the group structure.

We'll give this methodology a try on Tuesday night. Hopefully lots of people will be able to make it out and we can try out the format.

See you all at Corby - start the "keep it together" ride at 6-ish.

Saturday AM

Jim and I will be meeting at Corby, 9AM, Saturday AM. All are welcome to join.

The tentative plan is to ride Corby South, North, Girl Scout, and Krug. Should be a nice ride, if not a little leafy. I'd like to keep a smooth steady pace, maybe do Krug twice if the mood strikes.

See ya in the AM.

LM

I do believe...

it's a ride night tonight. The light is on the charger, and I'm ready for some Corby fun in the dark. Anyone else cruising with me?

Cold, Burrrrr

Went out last night, but was late for the 6PM ride. Knew I would be, so I took the dogs with me. Looks like Jason rode, but we never crossed paths. It was a great night, and even though the wind blew like crazy on Monday, not much was on the trail in the way of branches and trash.

The dogs had a great run, and it's not quite as spooky going through there in the dark when you have two mouth fulls of fangs on your side. They made it two full laps before Wednesday was ready to give up. Lily was still raring for more, but 2/3s of us were cooked.

Rode by myself on Sunday. Jim was out at the same time, but I think we both figured we only had time for a quick ride - and neither of us planned ahead far enough to make contact. Ended up riding Krug - what a great park. Here is a shot over the fence row on the Power Line trail -

Fall Trails

Had a great time on a ride this morning with Randy, Rusty, and Jason. Awesome ride!

SS Madness

Now almost everyone has one! Ran into Spellman, he's riding a single speed. Rusty pulls one out of his trunk and starts ripping it up on one. Who's next?

Great ride. No pictures, but they would have just been black anyway.

Jason was ripping it up, getting faster every day (kind of scary). Jav and Rusty were in form as always. I only did one lap, but it was still a great night.

See you Thursday.

Not a Bad Ride

Rode with Javier, Rusty, and Joel on Saturday. It was great to be back on the bike after a week of just running. I felt kind of dull, but still had a great time. The fall colors are just starting to "pop" at Subridge and Krug. All of us maintained a steady pace, and even though Joel and Javier ran out of water, they still rode like a couple of champs. Rusty climbed the big hill at Sunbridge again. After three attempts I still couldn't make it, and I gave up. It is climbable, and doesn't look like it should be that hard. I just loose footing about 2/3 of the way up, then when the rear spins - I'm done.

Over all the trails at Krug and Sunbridge were in pretty good shape we had to stop a few times to clear down trees, but nothing that took more than 10 minutes to clear.

Saturday nite was the St. Joe Bike Club Night Ride. I opted to watch game 3 of the World Series instead - go Sox. Sounds like it was a fun ride with pretty good attendance.

Did a 2-hour Corby Ride Sunday Morning with the dogs. Pretty un-eventful. Fast and fun but not much interesting happened. One weird thing though. Kept seeing dead mice on the trail. Think I saw 7 or 8 in all. Not sure what that was about, was kind of strange though. The dogs sure enjoyed it.

Sounds like we will have a good turn out on Tuesday night. Make sure you have a light. Be there at 6:00 PM and we'll have a good ride.

Maine Is Sweet

I'm in Maine for work this week. Have never been here before, but if I could afford it would definitely consider the location. It is probably the most beautiful country I have ever seen.

Ran on the beach this morning before sunrise. It was awesome.

Watched the sunset on the ocean. It was awesome.

Crawled around on the rocks during low tide. It was awesome.

Sat through some training classes (no pictures, and not awesome), then went and had seafood. Food was awesome.

I'll be back and looking to ride on Saturday. Hope some folks are available.

WET and NIGHT

Well dark riding is here. Bring a light if you are coming out after about 4PM, cause you'll be seeing some twilight for sure. It was getting pretty dim about 7pm on Tuesday when I ran into Jason. He was out riding with Ryan, a guy I don't know. Jason is pretty new to the trails, but is improving quickly and I'm thinking he'll be out running me pretty soon. Keep it up buddy!
Just before dark I was enjoying all the crazy mushrooms and fungi that are blooming in the Corby areas right now. There is a whole different flora in Krug. This is one of my favorite times of year for hiking and riding for that very reason. Kind of makes me think of going to another planet or to the deep ocean some of the organisms are so big and exotic. Here's one with my bike in the foreground for scale.
Keep in mind those are 29" wheels, and these crappy photos don't do the fungus any justice. Still one of my favorites are the huge white ball mushrooms. I saw bigger ones last year, but there are definitely more numbers this year....
Pretty much since I finished riding on Tuesday, its been raining. The dogs have not been enjoying it (this is a picture I took when I got home from work to find two very wet dogs in the back yard). They have a dog house, but they aren't smart enough to go in there out of the rain. Apparently sitting in the downpour at the door is more comfortable. I'll tell you, these two are getting ready for some winter riding. If you think you can outrun these two on your bike, think again. They are also great for trail work, they've got backpacks, and the backpacks carry supplies (mostly beer). They've got to earn the right to run on my rides, and they're happy to oblige.

Hope for dry on Thurs. If so, I should be out around 6-6:30.

Have a good one.