Abraham Lincoln Park

Regarding my consideration of the Camp Arrowhead races, I decided not to for the reasons I expressed.

It's been four years since I last rode at East Bay.  When I blogged about it, I said, "I probably won't go back for a long time."  The hills were too frequent and too steep.

Today I went back, for several reasons.  It's now renamed Abraham Lincoln Park and actually has an official parking lot on Empire Blvd, which has a family friendly park and a trail head .  In the past I started at the BayView YMCA and explored my way into the trails.  Now the county published a map of the trails.  With a more established park I thought I might have a better experience.  I also assume I'm a better rider than four years so maybe the hills wouldn't be so bad.

Trail Map

The hills were in fact so bad.  The park is like West Bay was before GROC made new trails.  For hiking it might be ok, but for muni, and I suspect most mountain bikers, it would take a good number of reroutes to avoid epic or impossible hill climbs.  That being said, there was still a lot of riding to be had.

Riding my ungeared 24, I worked my way north staying on the main White trail and passing occasional trail signs for other colored trails.  White was hilly and at the end I climbed Smith Rd, still in the park, up to the YMCA.  It started as gravel and changed to paved.  At the Y,  there is a network of mowed grass paths, a few of which I rode.  The Blue trail-heads weren't easy to find because this rail was somewhat overgrown and could use a good pruning.   It's an advanced-beginner trail with no crazy climbs so I rather enjoyed the break from the hills.  There were loads of cottonwood seeds covering this trail, reminding me of snow.  Kinda cool.

The only reasonable way to continue was to go back was down Smith Rd.  I did so with the plan to hit all the colored trails as I could.  Red was hilly with some unrideable climbs.  It had a nice lookout point over the bay.  Green might be rideable in the counterclockwise direction, but I went clockwise.  It was an easy descent down the the water and the bay bridge could be seen in the distance.  The climb out was a bit too much, but would have been a rideable descent.  I rode the Yellow trail clockwise.  It had a leg burning climb that I came close to completing, and then a steeper descent that I'm sure I couldn't climb.  So clockwise is my best hope in the future.

The map has dozens of unlabeled trails.  The ones I tried were more overgrown and more steep.  Some that branched from the main trails were blazed with that trail's color, but with two blazes.

I probably won't wait another four years to try this park again.  There aren't many options to create a great route for muni through this park, but I might be able do something riding the White, then the Green loop, and then backtrack through Yellow, and repeat or just keep it a short ride.

Unfortunately something when haywire with my gps and I lost the last 25% of my ride.

Camp Arrowhead Test Run

I've been considering the Park Ave Bike Weeknight race series this year.  Last year I skipped it.  Today I rode the course I remembered from 2012, assuming this year's course will be the same.

I rode my geared 29er, hoping to ride faster than the 24" that I'd raced in the past.  It was fine except for the part of the course I hate... the sports field.  On my 24 I'd shift into my high gear because the field is "flat", but the constant bumps make it hard to ride and fatigue my lower back quickly.  My 29er seemed the same, except the high gear was too hard with the bumps and I chose to stay in my low gear.  I still used my high gear on some smooth sections of trail, so it's still useful for this course.

Looking at last year's results, I see the course is almost identical to what I rode today, but it juts out into the field, which means even more bumpy time.  Ugh.  I also see I'm more than 15 minutes slower that the slowest beginner.  I was kind of hoping my 29er would get me closer to competing against mountain bikers.  That's not happening.

There are six races.  Signing up for each race individually is $20.  That's too much for an hour ride where I'm just kind of just joining in for fun.  Not to mention the extra hour of waiting around for the race to start.  But if I sign up for all six it's $75, or $12.50 each, assuming I did them all.

I'm not sure I want to commit.  I can ride anywhere for free and choose days when the weather is optimal.  I have a few days before I need to sign up.

Whiting to Hojack and Back

Today I rode from Whiting to the end of the Hojack and back on my geared 29er.  Nothing too exciting.  I occasionally saw some other trail users.

I had a mix of failed and successful hill climbs.  I want my 24" uni sometimes.

About 14 miles:

Hojack with Kyle 2

Awesome weather this weekend.  50's and sunny.  Today I decided to ride but choosing where was a chore.  I thought of West Bay but my 24 uni still in pieces in my garage since the last time I swapped parts to my 29, and I'd prefer it on those trails.  The problem is I only have one brake and moving it from one uni to another is tedious.  I should probably buy another brake soon.

For today, I didn't want to spend time moving parts so I chose to ride where my 29er would be fun.  Also, Amy wanted Kyle to get some exercise before he played video games, so I decided the Hojack would be best.  Kyle rode his mountain bike.

The ride was good and about as exciting as can be expected for the Hojack.  The areas that are muddy continue to be muddy.  Kyle didn't complain that I was going too slow or too fast, but I suspect he could have ridden faster on his bike.

Looking back, I did an almost identical ride a year ago with Kyle.

We rode close to 13 miles.

At one of the crossroads, a man who looked like a runner made some comments, and mentioned a unicyclist named Eric Scheer who rode some big rides and something about Mt. Washington.  I had never heard of him, but he shows up on Google.  Anyway, just leaving myself a note here in case it comes up some day.

Tour de Webster 2

I haven't been feeling super excited about muni lately.  I like to have some kind of goal to be riding for.  Sometimes my goal has been riding specific trails successfully.  Maybe that's wearing out. Upcoming races are good motivation, but there aren't a whole lot in the month of May.

Though there are a few events this month in Pennsylvania, including The Six Hours of Brady's Run.  I was very close to doing this race on Saturday and even had hotel reservations, which I canceled.  Registration was open until Thursday and I hesitated because rain was looming, and because it was in Beaver Falls, PA.  It's a 5 hour drive which means staying the night before and likely the night of the race.  Time and money add up quick and by Wednesday I was feeling like it wasn't worth it. This race is most similar to the local Suicide Six race I've done in August.  I've only ever been able to do two laps in that and I've left the race well before it officially ended.  Again, maybe not worth the costs of a weekend trip to PA.  Sure I'd see some muni friends, but not much during the actual race.  I really wish it were local.  But the Brady's Run race was able to get 8 muni riders and I don't see that happening locally.

Anyway, I didn't feel much motivation for riding this weekend.  Yesterday was crazy windy.  So today was the day to ride, despite a headache.  Looking for motivation and a good place to ride, I remembered the Tour de Webster ride I did in 2012.  So that was the plan:  road from home - Webster Park - Whiting - Gosnell Big Woods - Big Field - Vosburg - Hojack - road to home.

This time I rode my geared 29 which made the roads and Hojack more exciting, as I rode between 10-13 mph.  The trails were good, but I often wished I was on a smaller wheel in the more difficult sections.  Parts of Webster Park where I entered were swampy as expected, but I'm not sure of a better entrance on the east side.  Unlike last time, I didn't respect the "Pedestrian Only" rules and rode through the Big Woods.  It has some nice features and I don't see why bikes aren't allowed.  In any case, my 24 would have been better on some of the rooty climbs and descents.

ended my ride at the photography studio

At Vosburg I stopped and called home to see if my family wanted to meet me at North Ponds Park, which I'd soon be passing on the Hojack.  It's Mother's Day after all!  Amy already had a plan to go to the Webster Arboretum for some photo shooting of the kids.  As I cruised down the Hojack at breakneck speed I thought I'd possibly extend my ride and head to the arboretum instead of home.  That's what I did, and after meeting up with my family, I ended my ride with a loop around the arboretum "trails", and hitched a car ride home.

It was a good ride and I feel more into the sport than I had during the week.  My lower back muscles got rather fatigued, but that's often a problem.  It looks like I rode close to 17 miles.

Webster and Whiting 29er

I can't remember ever riding my 29er at Webster Park and Whiting.  I'm always trying to conquer the the hills and I figured my 24 is going to give me an advantage for that.  But after riding my 29er before and during the Singlespeed-a-Palooza race, I got accustomed to its speed.  My 24 has a geared hub, so it can be fast, but I only engage the high gear on longer stretches of relatively flat trail.  It has been seeming too slow in the non-technical areas where I don't Schlumpf.

So today I chose my single-speed 29er and rode at Webster and Whiting.  As expected, I appreciated its speed on most trails.  And on trails where I normally would have shifted my geared 24 into high gear, I didn't miss anything.  Unfortunately my climbing ability on the steepest hills took a hit and I failed on most of them.

This is the plight of the modern muni rider.  Wheel size and gearing.  If only these could vary while riding.  The Schlumpf gives us a high gear, but that's only good in a handful of situations.

I may be going to another race soon, and I'm thinking the ungeared 29er would be my choice.  I'll miss my smaller wheel for climbing, but I think it will be the best compromise.  Race details to follow.

I enjoyed today's ride.  It was in the 50's and was threatening to rain but only sprinkled.  The trails were still just as muddy in places as a week ago, because it has been raining most of the week.

Whiting and Webster Mud

It was close to 50°F today and I rode at Whiting and Webster Park.  In the parking lot I was putting my CamelBak on and saw two horse riders enter Webster Park.  I didn't want to follow them in and have to pass so I rode at Whiting first.  The Blue trail is still quite wet and muddy from the spring.  Most other trails in Whiting were ok with only a few soft sections.  I rode through the Green trail and liked it.  This was my first time riding the final extension since I helped complete it.   There have been several nicely constructed bridges added as Boy Scout projects.  The last and steepest hill was a bit slick and I did not successfully climb it.  I don't feel my climbing skill is quite where I left it in the fall.

Webster Park was also muddy.   It was horribly worse than Whiting is many places, as would be expected in a trail system that doesn't have a dedicated trail crew.  Throughout my ride I saw signs of the two horses that had just entered: horse crap and hoof prints.  Later I saw them riding on an adjacent trail.  On my way out I noticed the horse crap was gone on the first trail.  Maybe the riders stop and clean up on the way out? 

I rode my geared 24.  I'm starting to wonder if my 29er would be better at these trails.  I might try it next time.

With the spring here and no race looming I am finding little motivation to spend time in my basement working out.  It looks like I'm back to my routine of one or two rides a week.  I do have several events penciled in on my calendar but no definite plans for May.  Perhaps I should commit to something for the sake of staying in shape.