Vacation Week Mountain Bike Ride

Well last weekend, I did not ride since we were heading to South Dakota for a week of vacation. We headed out on Friday morning with the mountain bikes in tow. The goal was to visit Mt Rushmore and see the sites in the area. The first few days were nice, highs in the low 80's and lows in the mid 50's. Tuesday and Wednesday were cold and rainy. Thursday was the day to ride. The rain stopped and the sun came out, and the temperature was forecast to be in the upper 70's. Vanessa and I woke up early, and got ready.

I was a little concerned about riding, the temperature was in the low 40's first thing in the morning. Since the only cold weather gear I brought was my light weight jacket, I expected to be really cold. We headed out and it turned out to not feel to bad. I guess Houston makes cold feel colder. As Vanessa and I headed into Custer, we passed the bank, and it showed a temperature of 39 degrees.

After a brief stop at the Mickelson trail head in town to pay our daily usage fee, we both headed east toward Custer State Park. As we left Custer, the trail was paved to the State Park. This is the only section of the Mickelson trail that is not a old rail road track. This section also had a few climbs that were short but much steeper than any of the old rail road sections. I climbed one which was 14% grade. When Vanessa got to the top, she decided to turn around. We were about a mile to a mile and a half out of town. I headed on to the entrance to the park.

At the park entrance I asked the ranger if the Centennial Trail was passable. Since it had rained all day on Wednesday, I did not want to ride the trail if it was wet. He asked another ranger station, but they had no reports for the day. So I decided to head off and attempt to ride up to the trail head and see for myself. My plan was to head up to HWY 87 on one of the gravel county roads, then pick up the Centennial trail head at the Iron Creek Trail Head. The gravel road was a bit on the wet side and I threw mud all over the bike. As I got into the park, the road was much dryer and did not stick to my tires as bad.

I found the trail, which crossed a grass covered field. No big deal, I will just head across it. Well, turns out that the grass hid the fact that the ground was wet and that there was water standing between the clumps of grass. Then as I got to the far side of the field there was a small stream to cross. I was able to walk across the field by staying on the clumps of grass. When I got to the stream I was able to move quickly and get across, but not before feeling a small amount of water dampen my socks. Now I was officially on the trail. Aside from the low area at the start, the Centennial trail was very dry and good to ride.

The trail was well marked and even had some nice climbs, decents, and over all a good ride. I stopped a few places to take some pictures. After climbing the first section I came into another grassy spot. As I entered the spot, I thought, I hope I don't see a buffalo while on the trail. Luckily, I did not. The trail had another climb and when I got to the top there was a big rock formation there. I did not see the exact direction of the trail so I stopped to scout it out. It was also a good time to catch my breath. I found the trail and walked the bike across the rocky double back to find the next section of trail. I took a few pictures.

The path ahead.

Just climbed this hill.

Look at the downhill section ahead.

Yeah!!!!!

Another stop to view the sites. Being that am from near sea level, this was quite a ride. How high was I? Bike computer shows 5444 ft. No wonder I can't catch my breath.


As I headed on down the trail I came to a break in the trail. To the left Legion Lake. To the right, keep following the trail. My plan was to head to Legion Lake then catch the road back to Custer. So off I go to Legion Lake. Little did I know that the path ahead was not rideable. The trail went up a 22% grade. So I got off and walked my bike. Take a look at the up hill section.

After getting to the top of this climb, it was quite fun heading down the other side. As I was heading towards the campsites, I saw the first person on the trails. We talked for a few minutes, then I headed along the road back toward Custer. I did stop at the sign for the divide in the park. My official altitude at that point is 5383 ft.


As I followed the road down the other side of the divide, I decided to see how fast I could go. I hit 40mph on the bike. That was quite a rush. At the entrance to the park I got back on the trail heading back to Custer. I did stop on the way back and find my 3rd Geocache. All in all, this was one of my favorite rides on the mountain bike. I want to head back to Custer State Park some time and ride some more.

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we decided to take this holiday weekend and get in some good riding. Vanessa and I rode on both Saturday and Sunday. We met one of our friends in Montgomery on Saturday. Then joined The Woodlands Cycling Club on Sunday.

Saturdays ride was a short 45 mile ride in the hills. We left out a few minutes behind another group. We ended up not seeing anyone for a while. I split the ride between riding with our friend and riding with Vanessa. A few times I took an opportunity to leave Vanessa and catch our friend. We took the short route because we had plans for the afternoon and had to be somewhere by 1:30.

Sunday we rode with The Woodlands/Bike Lane group. Since the group had a no drop beginners ride, I was able to ride with the faster riders. I was not able to keep up with the fastest riders, but was able to keep in the middle of the group. As we headed out on 242, I had my first puncture in my tubeless tires. The sealant worked well. The guy behind me did not much appreciate getting sprayed in the face. I finished the ride wet because we got rained on. All in all it was a good ride because I finished with a 19.5 average for 38 miles.

Bike Education

Well after taking last week off to do some cross training (yard work),
this week I helped teach a bike safety class. We had six attendees at
the class, four of which were from NWCC. The class consisted of
classroom discussion on Saturday, then all the on bike work on Sunday.
We decided to ride to the class Sunday morning. We finished with a
little over 20 miles of riding. Not bad, and I got to share my
knowledge of cycling with others.

No bike ride this weekend

I did ride to work on Friday, but we decided to get some much needed work done around the house, AKA yard work! We pulled weeds and laid down new mulch. So after 55 bags of mulch, I am sore and ready to get back to riding the bike. Next weekend involves teaching a Traffic Skills 101 class. Maybe I can get in another ride to work this coming week.

2009 GHORBA Big Ring Challenge

Today was the Big Ring Challenge at Double lake. Vanessa and I decided to make a weekend of it. Yesterday we went up and pre-rode the course. Vanessa also sat in on the beginners clinic held on Saturday. While she was in the clinic, I headed out for a easy warm up lap. I got back and they were still talking. Once they were finished, Vanessa and I headed out for a easy ride. She ended up falling while getting out of the way for another rider, and bruised her arm. Needless to say she sucked it up and suited up and rode today. I am proud of her considering that she was finished with about 3 miles to go to a bail out point in the trail. The trail was a little damp in a few places but not bad over all.

Today the weather was a little crazy. When we pulled up, it had just finished raining pretty hard, but the race went on. The course was a wet, muddy mess and it was slowing everyone down. In fact they decided to make the Cat 3 races only do 1 lap instead of 2. After we finished, I was glad. My one lap this year was within 10 seconds longer than last years lap average. So considering the places in the course that slowed me down, I am pretty pleased with my results. I finished 23 out of 34. Luckily by the time I raced, the track was not as muddy as the previous races. I came in pretty clean over all compared to the Cat 1 races. Next mountain bike race is at Hotter'n Hell. Friday night is the mtb bike time trial.

Mountain Bike race

Double Lake is next weekend. This will be my first mountain bike race since I raced at Double Lake last year. This week I hit the Cypress wood trail on Wednesday night. The trail was a little damp in a few places, but in pretty good shape otherwise.

Saturday, NWCC had their club camp out at Huntsville State Park. Vanessa and I headed up for the day. I only took the Mountain bike, and got in a good easy ride with Vanessa, then headed out for a lap on the race course solo. I finished the lap in about 1 hour. I hung around the camp site for a while, then a group of us went out for a lap. I finished the day with 27 miles in on the bike. Pretty good training for next weekends race. Huntsville is in bad need of rain. The entire course was littered with loose sand. Several palces were almost impossible to ride. All in all I was glad to only ride 2 laps.

MS150

Well, the second day turned out pretty good considering that the first day was canceled. We rode from La Grange to Austin. I got in at 5:09 pm. Partly due to stopping to help 10 different people along the way. I finished with a little over 5 hours ride time and just over 3 hours stopped time. The tubeless tires worked great. I did not have any issues with flats or my tires. In fact they were working so well, I did not even feel bad about giving out my last tube.

I am debating if I will do this ride again next year or not. Time will tell. I guess I will have until October to decide.