Wakefield

I told Austin Kung Fu class is on Sundays, not Saturdays




Wayne and Austin


Henry and Andrew


Lindsay's Chain Snapped (I think it was from the cold)


Austin's Sweet Middleburns

broken crank part 2

Fall is in full effect and we still ride...well at least some of us...And this is another reason why I have to pass on the next ride. The weld didn't hold.

WaterShed

Found out from Austin that Ricky was setting up a group ride at Watershed. Heard a lot about this place so several of us (Andrew, Austin, Lindsay, Henry) decided to go and join Ricky and the gang. It ended up being 11 of us total. The place had lots and lots of rocks. But it was not as rough as I thought it would be. There were several technical sections but a portion of these sections were on flat or downhill. The only big climbs were toward the end and they were some long climbs. Overall, it was fun and I would go back. And it's not too far.











A few pictures I took from Ricky's site of us.

Blackhill

It was Austin, Andrew, Lindsay and Henry taking on Blackhill. I think it's located in Clarksburg or Boyds. Anyway, it's right off of 270 exit 15. Blackhill was a much better ride than I thought it would be. It starts out on a paved sidewalk with several stations that have equipment like monkey bars. Then it turns into dirt road that is about the width of a car. Then it turns into some singletrack and winds through the woods. It a good steady climb since we are on a mountain. There are also some rocks on the trail but nothing like Grambrill. A couple of good downhills. One of them you have to watch out for since there is a stream at the bottom with some rocks. And at one point, we found the Hoyles Mill trail. So we rode part of that as well. There is one section with several small jumps. That was fun.



Couple of bruises someone endured during the ride.

Wakefield - Race Course

We went to Wakefield on Friday July 4th. We thought it might be closed because it looked like it rained during the night in Maryland. But I called the rec office at Wakefield and the guy said they didn't get much rain. So a few of us headed out there. It was Wayne, Lindsay, Henry, and Andrew. We had a great time out there because it looked like they just had a race or preparing for one. A course was laid out with yellow signs with black arrows. It was a very fun course to ride that was fast with lots of twist and turns. We rode it several times and had a blast!

Cranky Monkey 12 Hour Race at Quantico

(Story from Andrew's Perspective)
Friday 6/28/08 - Day before Race.

We all decided to stay the night before near the base since we had to be there at 7am for race briefing the next day. Lindsay and I left around 4 and took us two hours to get there. Traffic was horrible! When we got there, tons of people were already there. Austin was already setting up the tent. We wanted to see what the trail was like so we went for an easy ride. Unfortunately, we didn't start until 7 so we only got to see a 3 miles of the trail before we had to turn back before it turned dark. Didn't want to get disqualified for getting stuck in dark :) We headed to the hotel afterwards. We were all starving and got some chinese food. We were not called "3 Grains of Rice" for nothing:) We also worked on Lindsays bike. We were also concerned because Austin had a fever and his leg was hurting all week from insect bite at work. In addition, he messed up his shoulder the week before.

It was Saturday 6/29/08 - Race Day.

We got up at 5:45 am. Freezing from blasting the AC all night. We packed up and got to the base around 6:30. Unloaded all of stuff at tent and met at the main tent for race briefing at 7am. From 7:15 to 7:45 we got Austin setup since he was going first. The start of the race is Le Mans. This means, for the first lap, you run a certain distance before getting on your bike. I guess this helps spread out the racers so it's not so crowded at the start. The countdown starts and all the racers are off. For the run, Austin is somewhere around 10th place. Andrew starts getting his bike ready and I head over to the transition area about 30 minutes in. I was thinking I would just relax at the tent for another 1/2 hour. Then I get announcement on PA says, "Team 235, please report to the tent." It took me a few minutes to realize that it was us. It was so unexpected. The guy tells me that my teammate had broken his crank. So we had to cancel his lap and I would start. Unfortunately, when you can cancel a lap, they give you the start of time of the cancelled lap. In this case, they already tacked 30 minutes onto my lap before I even started. Also, the lady took 10 minutes to get me setup. It seems she was shocked also or didn't know what to do.

I started my First lap. I was excited. I was also fortunate in some ways because of the cancelled lap, my lap didn't have anyone around because people hadn't finished their first lap yet. I couldn't believe it but after the first hill in
the race, I was already tired. Not sure what it was, but I was struggling already. I went ahead and popped a GU pack immediately. It took about 15 minutes before I got surge of energy and then took another 15 minutes to get into a groove. This course was really hard because of the combination of short steep hills and 1/4 mile long hills. In addition, it was around 9am and started to feel the humidity already. It was going to be a tough day. Halfway through the course, I was shocked to see some riders. I thought they would've finished by now. But these people were walking down the hill. I started to feel surge of energy because I felt really fast to catch up with someone and I was starting 30 minutes back. I was realizing biking through winter had paid off because I was able to rebound fairly quickly after a tough climb. Around mile 9 though, I started cramping which is unusual for me. I had to walk any hills on last mile. After finishing my lap, I was so tired that I didn't know if I could do another one.

Lindsay and Austin do their first lap. My second lap was more exciting. I felt more energy and was familiar with trail now. I start going fairly fast pace and passing several people. However, around mile 6 started really slowing. Realizing that I went too fast first 1/2 of loop. I also started cramping again around mile 8. Had to walk several sections of last two miles.

Before starting lap three, my wife, son, and Austin's wife came. It was refreshing to see them. They brought some refreshment and boiled eggs. I was taking nutrients from all over the place just get more energy. Oh, on the last lap, I needed to be in by 7pm because it was the cut off time for last lap. I started cramping and had to stop and rest several times on last couple miles. It was funny because there was a group of us just hanging out because eveyrone was cramping and couldn't move. When I came in, I missed the cut off by only 3 minutes. Oh well.

After all the results were in, we still got 3rd place....Yahoo!!!

Picture of top 4 teams getting awards in our division. Lindsay had to leave early so he wasn't in picture.


Austin and Andrew smiling with their trophies and prizes.


Austin, Andrew, and Lindsay


Our Tent!




The beginning of the race. For the first lap, one person from team must run 400 yards, then pick up bike and start riding (Le Mans Style). Austin kindly volunteered :)


After the run, they pick up their bikes in this field.


Video of area.


Video of start of race


Cam Videos while during the race. I divided into two videos because of size. Warning: It's a little shaky.

Cranky Monkey Race 2008

Well fellas,
Here we go!
The time is here and we'll see if winter riding pays off.

Seneca Creek

Austin, Wayne, Lindsay and Andrew tackling Seneca Creek.

Schaeffer

Here are clips of Andrew and Lindsay riding white trail at Schaeffer.

Patapsco

Andrew decided to do a solo ride this day at Patapsco in Ellicot City, MD. I started from Landing Rd. This is an awesome place to bike. It's really huge and can usually find any type of trail riding you want here. These videos consist mainly of trails filled with rocks and roots.

Schaeffer Farms Tuesdays

Fellas,

Everyones back to riding schaeffer on tuesday 5:45ish (-/+). The ride today, 4/8/08, was a moderate to fast paced ride(Austin, Andrew, and lindsay). The trail was muddy but not to bad. I don't think we ruined the trails either so don't point fingers. Special thanks to the people who maintaned the trails for everyone! They cleared a ton of junk out, re-blazed the trails with new colors, and did a lot more than we noticed. We'll try to ride every tuesday if we can.


cheers!

Log Hop

Here's a trick for going over logs from Ricky.

http://tuktok.com/loghop/

Schaeffer - Ricky tackling big log

On this day at Schaeffer we rode with Ricky. I have some videos below of Ricky tackling a huge log. Hope Ricky doesn't mind me posting these.

Schaeffer Farm

It was opening week for Schaeffer Farm so we decided to head out there. It was around a cold 40 degrees and riders were Lindsay, Randy, Austin, Wayne and Andrew.



The Start


Going Downhill in Open Field. Randy also cuts off Wayne at the end.


At 4 Corners and Going Down Fast Downhill


Here is some other info from Lindsay's GPS

This is map of the route we did


This is elevation of route we did


More stuff coming next couple days...

Fountain Head/Wakefield

On this weekend, we headed to two places. First was Fountain Head in Virginia. Then second was WakeField since it was on the way back. Fountain is always a challenge because this place seems like it's 80% uphill. It was fun but really tough for me(andrew). I look forward to going back in a month. I provided a ton of footage below of both places. These are all cam footages from my brother and I.

FOUNTAIN HEAD CAM VIDEOS



At the playground. From Lindsay's cam taking on the see-saw's.


Near the end of Fountain Head is a vicious downhill. First I'm recording Austin and Lindsay coming down the hill. Then 1st person view footage of me going down the hill. Then Lindsay's 1st person view footage of going down the hill.


Not sure why I put this in here. I thought it was funny.


Map of Route we did (from Lindsay's GPS).


Elevation of Route we did (from Lindsay's GPS). Only look at from 0 - 7.5 miles.



WAKEFIELD CAM VIDEOS





Austin doing some jumps in this one

Great Seneca

Using my (Andrew) helmet Cam at Great Seneca. Andrew, Lindsay and Austin are in this video (well, mainly Lindsay and Austin since I'm wearing the cam). This is on the Watkins Mill side across from parking lot. Very tough with lots of hills. Good training grounds.

Great Seneca

This on the corner of Brink Rd and Wightman Rd. Cross the street and hit the trail. There are decent hills and around 11miles round trip.

Gearing Up


Where were going


Map of trail








Lindsay crossing stream


Austin and Albert coming from woods


This is a clip from Lindsay's Cam (currently mounts to his wrist but getting a helmet mount for better angle and stability)

36er

Pictures below from blog
http://www.speedgoat.com/blog.asp?p=1323







Pictures below from
http://twentynineinches.com/2008/02/23/36-inch-wheels-update-part-ii/

Wakefield

Where's Lindsay?


Austin's New 29er


Everytime we go to wakefield, we try to get up to top of this hill. So far, no one on a single speed has made it up. Wayne made it up on his geared bike.

WakeField

Sweet switchback!!!
























Andrew, Wayne, Lindsay, Austin