Cranky Monkey 12 Hour Race

Here is final post for Cranky Monkey merging all the videos and pics.







Video Cam 1 of 6 - Lemans


Video Cam 2 of 6 (0 - 15 min)


Video Cam 3 of 6 (15 - 30 min)


Video Cam 4 of 6 (30 - 45 min)


Video Cam 5 of 6 (45 - 60 min)


Video Cam 6 of 6 (60 - 70 min)

Cranky Monkey 12 Hour Race GPS Info

This is Andrew and just wanted to give quick update on how I did at the race. First, here is a little background about the race. It was at Quantico, VA where the Marines train. Each loop was 9.5 miles and around 1500 feet of total climbing. The weather was great and trail was in excellent condition. There were total 400 racers and 90 of them were solo. Here is link to more details - http://www.ex2adventures.com/12-hours-of-cranky.php

I ended up doing 6 laps, 57 miles, 9000 feet of climbing. I met my personal goal which I didn't think I was going to meet after 1st lap. The final results haven't been posted yet but I was probably 8th or 9th out of 11 in my category. I think everyone in my category did at least 6 laps which was ridiculous. Personally, this was a very tough trail. There was just a lot of hills. And some of the downhills were bumpy and tough on the rigid.

Anyway, here is GPS info. The last lap was an extra 30 minutes because I forgot to stop timer. If this doesn't show up in email, please go to blog.

I will post videos later this week.

Gambrill Park Rd

On Saturday Austin and Andrew did some training to prepare for the 12 hour Cranky Monkey Race. We hit Gambrill Park Rd (the dirt road portion) at the Watershed in Frederick, MD. It was great (but hard) because the road is basically a big hill. We did 4.5 mile descent and then made our way back up. Check out the elevation charts in link below. The descent is a lot of fun and you gain a lot of speed. Each climb back is over 900 ft over 4.5 miles. It's constant climb with hardly any flat sections. This is like something you watch on TV. On our last lap, we went down Gambrill Rd and then looped back up Fisher Creek. Fisher Creek is even more steep than Gambrill Rd. Another great part about this road is that you can veer off and take a trail. We actually did Trail of Tears twice which if you've done this, you know it's a lung buster. The last great feature about doing this is that there are hardly any cars.

Also check out below the Black Rattlesnake we saw.

Fountain Head

I did a solo ride at Fountain Head couple Friday's ago. Yes, I took off work to go riding. Did 3 laps and 4000 feet of climbing. This is a pretty tough trail. The trail is filled with a lot of roots and a lot of hills. The hills are tough because several are steep and have roots and loose dirt/sand mixture. Unfortunately, this place has gotten worse over the years and starting to erode badly so more roots are appearing making it a less smooth ride (especially for rigid bike). It's still a great place for good hard technical ride and still a favorite trail for a lot of people. So check out the video. There is a new feature I didn't see before around the 3:30 mark.

Make sure to switch to high res for best video.

Cabin John/C&O/D.C.

Austin and Andrew did a round trip from Cabin John to C&O to D.C. It totalled around 33 miles. I did some different angles in this video towards end. If you are getting this via email, hit the blog at bottom to see video.

Hoyles Mill

Today I rode at Hoyles Mill. Just did an out and back that was roughly 7 miles total. This trail is a mixture of single track, dirt road and paved roads. It's also a connector between schaeffer farm and black hill. This video starts from Schaeffer side.

Black Hill Night Ride

It was Andrew and Austin joining Saxman from MORE to do a night ride at Black Hill Regional Park in Boyd's, MD. There was a very slight drizzle and spring time temperatures. There was only 3 of us which was great so we got to talk with Saxman about night riding. We hope to get permission about how we can do our own night rides. I think we can, we just need to join MORE. Anyway, it was a nice ride. We did 14.5 miles in couple hours. They only get permission to ride couple hours so we rode from 8 - 10.

The go pro video didn't turn out well. You can see from video clip below. It only picked up the brighest spot from the night lights. In reality, the night lights lit up the path very well. I was also very pleased with the Magicshine. I was able to see ahead very clearly. Add everyone else's light, you can see far enough ahead to go at a decent speed. Since the video, didn't turn out well, I only made a 1 minute video. Austin suggested having the light mounted on my handlebar instead of helmet. I will try this next time. Also, no audio since I used the waterproof casing on camera.



Direct URL to YouTube here

Clopper Lake

Here's a quick ride around Clopper Lake in Gaithersburg, MD. The trail is easy+ with lots of roots. It felt like 4 - 5 miles around the lake. It's a nice scenic relaxing trail.

New Pump Track

There is a new Pump Track in Germantown Recreational Park. I'm not sure if it's finished yet but here is video clip of it.



Click here to see directly on youtube.

Magicshine - New Night Light

This is Andrew. I got my new bike light for night riding today. It's a magicshine 900. I charged it up and tested outside my house. Below are couple pics. I might go night riding sometime this week if I can get someone to come along. Later this week I should be getting my handlebar mount for my go pro. This way I can take a video of night riding (not sure how that would turn out). This light is way cheaper than a lot of lights out there for same brightness. This one cost $90. It got a lot of bad press lately because of battery recall but seems to be fine now. You can get from here.

Picture in my driveway just to show you how dark it is.


Picture with magicshine. I'm not using a flash on my camera. I'm definitely impressed.

Austin's Epic Training

First long ride in a while... Special thanks to Wayne for providing water. 56.54 miles (22 miles dirt) 6hr 51min total time 5hr 27min moving time Water,water,water...


View Epic Training2011-05-07 07:24 in a larger map

Black Hill

I did another local ride at Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds, MD. This park consist of nice scenary with a beautiful lake. Trails are paved, single track (some with loose rocks). There are 3 nice size hills. It's a great place to take the family. Sorry for corny narration :)

Little Bennett

Did a short ride at Little Bennett in Clarksburg, MD. Video below is sample of several trails throughout the park. Only 1/2 the park is open to bikers. The entire side for biking can be covered in 2 hours. It's a good mixture of road, dirt road, single track. It has several technical short climbs. There also couple of long climbs also. You can definitely get a good workout. This is best watched in HD.

Watershed

It was just Henry and Andrew hittin' the shed in Frederick, MD. It was another nice day and fun 2+ hour ride. For those of you curios as to what Watershed is like, check out the video. The video might be hard to watch because of all the rocks.

We Did Viper > Pit > Trail of Tears > Ridge Line > Blue > Viper















Headcam Video (higher quality, more shaky). Click one below for lower quality but less shaky.




GPS Stuff

Schaeffer Farms

It was a gorgeous day to do our usual Tuesday evening ride at Schaeffer. Check out Austin, Lindsay, Wayne, Henry and Andrew as they ride through the trails. View is from helmet cam. Make sure to watch the crash at the end around the 4:30 mark.

Note: This video is best watched in HD mode. If you are having speed issues, play the video, then immediately pause and wait for it to fully load, then play again. If you are getting this via email, the videos do not show up in email. You have to go to blog at bottom of this email.










Helmet Cam Video


Here's a link directly to youtube video
http://youtu.be/Azoz9eExWng?hd=1

Schaeffar Farm - GPS Video

This is Andrew. My brother gave me his Garmin Edge GPS unit for my bike. I've been using it lately but only recently started uploading videos to Garmin site. They have this neat feature on their site where you can play your route. You can't link to it directly (at least not that I know of) so I made a desktop recording of it. I might have to work on resolution next time but thought it was cool for now.

Note: It's best to watch in full screen and HD.

Schaeffer Farm

I believe Schaeffer Farm opened last week. A few of us (Lindsay, Austin, Tim, Henry, Andrew and Randy) went for ride there yesterday. It was a good ride! The trails were in great shape.

Randy's Fat Tire Setup (Surly fork for fat tire and 100 mm hub)










Randy making it look easy with fat tire.


Austin




Tim


Andrew


Henry




??


Helmet Cam

Little Bennet

I went for lunch ride at Little Bennet in Clarksburg, MD. It's next to Black Hill Regional park. I've never been there before so wanted to check it out. I liked it. It mainly consists of fireroads, some single track, and there are some good short steep hills. I ran into about 4 of them and were challenging because it was full of ruts, rocks, and some mud. It kinda reminded me of watershed with the long fire roads but only shorter. Note: Only 1/2 of the park can be used by bikers. But it was big enough that I can only cover 1/2 of the section allowed by bikers during my time there.



The trail "Logger Trail" was what I started on.











Video of Logs I tried going over. I fell when I tried coming back.