Monday, May 22, 2006

Dry Run 2 - Electric Boogaloo

Greetings.

2nd weekend at Island Lake Recreation proved to be a positive one. This weekend Nicki and I decided to take on the yellow off-road trail, while Chris and Joe took on the paved trail. Although the blue trail is longer, I found the yellow trail to be harder. The weather was awesome. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold, and this time we didn't get rained on. Despite all of this, I still managed to crash and fall off my bike two times and also "run in into the woods" two times.

I'm positive now that my breaks are crap and the reason I keep crashing is because I can't slow down enough on the down hill parts, then I end up having to make a split second decision, and if I hesitate I run into the woods, often being dismounted by varies branches and spiky shrubery. If I don't hesitate and end up making a wrong decision, I end up crashing. My two crashes involved me falling completely off my bike. The first crash, I ran into a tree, got thrown off, and landed on my back. The damage to the bike was bent front fork, which later I was able to beat into place with a hammer. The second crash was a little cleaner, but nonetheless hurtfull. I ended up going way too fast and I had to make a sudden turn. My front tire dug into some soft sand, sending me over the handlebars. No damage to the bike, but I suffered some superficial cuts.

Towards the end of the course I realized that there was a major problem with my rear wheel. While cranking on the pedals it sounded like the rear axle was rubbing something, and would make a dull squeak with every rotation. Also, with about a mile left on the course the rear gears busted completely out. I would literally pedal in place and not move forward. I thought I would have to walk the rest of the way, but I ended up getting bored and I tried all of the gears and I found one that had resistance to it, and I was able to pedal on that one. It was one of the weaker ones, so it took me a long time, but I did finish the course on the bike and not on my feet.

So what now? I've got about two more weeks before the Tour de Cure and my bike is completely messed up. I need a new wheel, or the gear cassette part anyway, probably a new hub. Should I spend some money and get this fixed? Should I just buy another Schwin knock off and hope for the best? Should I get a quality bike and risk breaking it while going off road? I have a lot to think about, but not a whole lot of time to finish. In the mean time I will be looking around for people setting out (throwing away) old bikes and perhaps I could salvage some rear wheel parts from those... but its not something I should rely on. No matter how hard I try to escape it, the drama gets me.

Nicki had some drama of her own. In mid course her handlebars came loose, and it was very hard for her to maintain control of her bike. Nicki and I got very lucky. We noticed that the yellow trail runs parallel to the entrance of the Island Lake Resort, so we decided to pit stop and call Joe and Chris to bring us some tools and some Power Aid. Once we fixed the handle bars, we were back in business. Other than this, Nicki had a great run, only getting a few small bruises.

Joe and Chris did about 3 miles on the paved trail. This is great because Chris has been struggling in the beginning, but now he's putting it all on the line. Its looking like we're getting to our personal goals and we'll be ready for the Tour.

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." - Japanese Proverb

Monday, May 15, 2006

Dry run

Howdy yall.

On 5/13/06 four of us (Chris, David, Nicole and I) went to Island Lake Recreation Area to do a dry run of things to come. The weather was cold and rainy and no one wanted to go, but we ended up getting there. David and I decided to do the Blue off-road trail, while Nicki and Chris chose the tarmac trail. The blue trail was 9.2 miles of ups, downs, spills and thrills. Within the first minute of the course David and I both fell. David fell first because he rode into a sand trap, and his forward momentum screwed him up. He landed on the ground. I was right behind him, and although I stopped, upon my dismount, my left foot got tangled in his rear spokes, and I ended up falling partially onto his bike, with my own bike sandwiching me in a Boston crab type configuration.

It sucked, but we got up and kept going. Several times we wanted to go back, because the blue trail was very intimidating, but we kept saying, lets go a little further, lets keep moving to see if it gets any better. It didn't get better, but we reached the 4 mile marker and at that point it would have been pointless to turn around. The uphill climbs got harder and the downhills got faster.

Since it was raining, we couldn't use our brakes effectively, because the old style clamp brakes need friction to stop. Wet metal + rubber = slip and slide. Not that it mattered, David lost his rear brake in his first crash and I ended up loosing my front brake in my second crash. David was able to stay on his bike the rest of the way, I ended up falling two more times. The worst one, I drove the handlebars into my chest and knocked the wind out of me, and as I finished falling a tree root broke my fall, which was chin first. If I was a boxer, I wouldn't be able to make the 10 count, I was down for the count.

Despite the fact that this course was very tough and scary, it was by far the funest and most exciting bike experience of my biking career. I can't wait to go back next week.

In other news. I'd like to welcome Ana Rodrigez and Chris Rummel officially. Both members have committed by registering and making themselves part of team BBS. On the same token I'd like to thank a few people for their generous donations. Judy Jackson, Toni Payton, Cristina Dargis, Sue Tasse and Diane Pawlak. Thank you all very, very much for all of this.

I'm still in the process of getting donations from my company. It looks like we won't be getting any cash, but I'm trying to get team shirts for us all. Basically these are going to be lime green with black "Minacs" logo. But I told them that I would modify the shirts by ironing on our last names and team numbers on the back (the number 13 will be mine), as well as sponsors on the sleeves and the front (assuming that we actually get anyone to donate anything).

"One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people." - Dick Gregory

Monday, May 08, 2006

Tour de Cure

Hello Everyone.

Looks like the second season is off to a slow start. I hope I get to see more faces next Saturday, that would be great. There is an event worth mentioning which is coming up on June 11, 2006. Its called the Tour de Cure. You can read a little bit about the Tour de Cure at this address.

This coming saturday, although the regular scheduled practice is still on, I and several others will be going to the Island Lake Recreation Area where the Tour de Cure will take place. We will be scoping out the 7 mile road course and the 8 mile mountain bike course. These are two of the shortest routes that are available, but if you feel like you can take on some of the other courses, the go up to 70 miles. Its all defined right here.

I will be creating a team on this website, and I would love for you all to join my team. Secondly, I will try to see if my company will donate any funds to this cause, so that we can do our part and maybe get some free t-shirts out of the deal :) The name of the team will be BBC, which stands for Brentwood Bicycle Club. If you aren't interested in riding, perhaps a small donation to the cause would better suit you. Just a heads up, it turns out that in order to do this event the registration is $20.00.

This is the link to join the BBC in this cool event, or to sponsor:
"Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90-percent chance or a 50-percent chance or a 1-percent chance, but you have to believe, and you have to fight." -Lance Armstrong