Still training

Last Saturday I meet up with Steve Twining and his friend Eric at Mohican Wilderness to ride the 25 mile single track loop that will be part of the Mohican 100 at the end of the month. Both Steve & Eric are top competitors in the OMBC series and getting the chance to ride with them outside of a race was really a good time. In case you've never ridden at Mohican let me explain that there is a marked loop just over 25 miles long of 99% single track. Thats right there are only a couple of road crossing and one 200 yard stretch that you travel pavement. Other wise you're riding man made single track and its awesome.

So I arrive at 1:00 as scheduled & catch up with Steve and meet Eric while throwing my stuff together. Since the trails where going to be mostly dry I pulled out the Paragon wrapped in DryX rubber for this ride. I took both bikes because I couldn't decide which I would want to ride but after seeing that it was going to be a nice day I decided to leave the Superfly in the Cranberry Tart (red Escape) and show the other two guys ust how well the DryX work. Steve was piloting a new Trek 69er hard tail and Eric would be the man on his Superfly. Immediately after starting out I took note that both Steve & Eric were weight watchers (bike weight) as they seemed to know weights of almost everything they had on their bikes. I must have looked stupid to them when they asked what numbers the Paragon puts up on a scale. Never the less we continued on and I took note of Steve's handling on the semi 29er. In fact I wouldn't mind giving one of these half breed rides a spin on my local trails. Steve seemed to ride the 69er smoothly and its handling was visually different than that of my Paragon. Better you ask? Well I wouldn't say better but differant for sure never the less I've become a solid 29er fan and have no intentions on going smaller anytime in the future.

Moving on, we rode most of the 25 mile loop only skipping the last 1/4 mile because of some creek flooding & I must say that I enjoyed every moment of ride. We finished up maintaining a 10.1 mph average with approx 2500' in elevation. Steve and Eric called it a day but I had a few hours before meeting up with Bob for a night ride at Ernie's bike shop so I figured I could ride the "short loop" again. Steve explained the route and told me to look for the short loop sign part way up the first climb which would bring me back down to the lot for an extra 12 miles of riding. Goodbyes were said and off I went. 

Somehow (not surprising) I missed the sign for the short loop. Probably because the damn trail is so much fun that I was always thinking of the section ahead and lost track of how far I had gone. Once I rolled past the 8 mile mark (yes there are mile markers on the entire length of the trail) I realized I had missed the short loop. OK, no problem I'll roll through to the roadway, right?  Which I did but then I thought .. well it would be more fun to ride the trail rather than the road back down. So I stayed on the dirt, only it switch backed back and forth through the woods and didn't take a straight path. Next I come to the realization that I'm doing an entire second loop. I was not prepared for this so I skipped one section and opted for the road climb. This only shorted the loop by less than a mile. I pushed onward and finished my second loop with a slightly higher average speed closer to 11mph. Wow the legs were tired and since I hadn't taken enough water they were on the verge of cramping.

Rolling into the lot much later than expected I called Bob (who was waiting at his house for me & had called me several times concerned of my whereabouts) and told him I was on the way. I explained my accidental second loop while he chuckled. I hit his house with just enough time to load his bike and drive over to Ernie's for the night ride. More to come on the awesome time I had with the guys at Ernie's. very nice people!

stork

A Big Thanks to Steve & Eric for the tour of Mohican

Bob & Pete for the night ride and wings after

Ernie's and the employees for supporting the Night Ride. Look them up if your in their area!