Sunday, February 7, 2010

Rock Road Report

I went for a quick recon ride in the tundra. I figured it is possible to ride the North O Rock Roads but a little hairy. I took a few spills along the way but managed 30 miles of the course. I averaged a sluggish 8 miles an hour, this would make the 100 miles take me about 12 hours in these conditions.
A bunch of the way was frozen snow. Pretty, but dangerous. I figured out which tires not to run. Don't run the Stan's Raven...too slippery.
I put together a little video montage..I start out thinking I'll only go for an hour or two...I get lost due to EVERYTHING looking the same...and do a 30 mile 3.5 hour lollipop as I do a big loop at the end of my planned out and back reorienting myself...I realized that I whipped past an obvious intersection as I came back around. Thankfully, I saw a huge water tower with a city name painted on it. I knew where I was and got back on course...I was 2 hours in and figured I had over an hour to get back. I broke down when I tried to shift gears on a mud slathered hill...front der totally useless, rear der only giving me two gears..I took the back tire off while I stood in 2 feet of powder unbent the rear der hanger and got 3 gears for the last 7 miles. Needless to say I was muddy, cold and wet when I got home. My plate of pasta and a protein shake went down really easy.

About 10 seconds after shooting this clip I bit it putting the camera back in my pouch!

3 comments:

RF said...

nice! these were my routes:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24279316

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24279331

Matt said...

You crazy--strong work, my friend. Wish I could be there to ride with you. Looking forward to Camp Jackrabbit 2.0. Your videos made Cora giggle, but not as much as your roller-skating one! Classic. Keep up the training for your super brutal dirt road race.

Bigdave said...

Yo, RF my Loop was shorter, but it may have been stupider. :)I wish I knew my way around local roads like you...I prefer getting lost on the gravel...at least there is a semi grid format I can use to find my way back...and way fewer cars.