Switchgrass pics

Lake Leatherwood Video

Eureka Springs Arkansas,
While not on the IMBA epic list, it is a very fun place to ride.  I rode it just after a Xterra. We had rain in the AM but it was very dry in the late afternoon. about a week later I was not so lucky. It was very slick and it was like Jersey in August. Sweaty rocks and roots.  Punctured a tire and Stans would not seal it. That is what I get for crackin' wise, when the guy that did support for the Xterra said there were a lot of tire slices during the event. When these rocks are wet they are like ice and extra sharp!
 I fared better on Monday. With rain moving into Hobs, a trail system about 45 minutes from home base, and supposedly not at Leatherwood, I decided to ride there again. I had been getting chain suck and my chain was somewhere between .75 and 1 on the old Park chain gauge. I put on a new chain. All seemed fine on that first ride, but Saturdays ride was nearly intolerable, big and middle would skip under high load, usually I can where these in, but this time I just wore them out!. Back at home base I had a 33t  E13 gear that was not round enough for the SS in my spare parts, so I took the opportunity to experiment with a 1x9. I changed the crank as well and the granny was not compatible with Hollowtech. Except for the fact that I did not lock out the front derailleur and should have checked the low limit on the rear derailleur, the drive train now functioned properly, barring human error.

I now knew the area well enough to get a warm up in, instead of going straight into a climb! But it did start to rain on me. But I new to respect these rocks when wet! I had two local GPS files loaded in my Garmin. I did not start out using any this time around, but I saw the sigh to Eureka Springs via trial, I had to pull up the file for what a couple locals call the Rowdy Beaver Epic. No doubt named after one of the fine establishments just down the road from home base! There are lots of trails here that you would never see. Hell I had trouble finding them with a GPS, even when backtracking sometimes. I managed a good deal of the Rowdy Beaver, but turned away from some cool looking switchbacks, due to a no trespassing sign. I got poured on first in Eureka Springs and had to skip a couple trails, due to previous shenanigans, and got rained on again as I got back to the car at Lake Leatherwood.

Lake Leatherwood Eureka Arkansas

Almost a week since my last ride and boy did this fit the bill. Decent climbing, twisty single track a fair serving of rocks, made for a excellent ride in low humidity, despite passing rain the previous twelve hours. Very little mud. I was following a GPS file and missed and could not tell which purple line to follow sometimes, so I did a 4 mile section twice :-) The trails are really packed in there and turn in on themselves, but you hardly ever see the other trails, only their purple line.

Munson Mondays Video

They have a time trial series at Munson, here in Tallahassee Florida. I sort of had my own.  The guys and gals get together and kind of roll out in two groups. I uploaded my preride Strava file to get an idea where I stood. I went out with the first group.

Important note, most folks ride the loop counter clockwise.  It is a two way trail and the there is an arrow that points in the clockwise direction. The loop definitely flows better counterclockwise.

The surface is undergoing a change from it's natural sand (very deep at times) to imported clay. The clay, for the most part, has been formed and shaped into berms and some bump/jumps.

The clay is much debated locally. Some say the sand was too tough for many folks. Some say the clay makes it too easy. All say that it makes it faster. The clay does open it up to more casual riders, I even saw some hybrids on the trail.  The nearby Twilight trail is still in it's natural sand state for the purist. I only got a brief glance of Twilight after a wrong turn on my first CLOCKWISE lap of Munson.

Shenandoah Southern Traverse In The Sun

So, I admit it. Yea sometimes I get swayed by Strava. I know some of you love it and some of you hate it. Well I don't go out to cherry pick, but when I do a ride and I miss the KOM by a margin that I know I can make up, it is enough for me to do the ride again. Even less than 48 hours later, instead of a local shop road ride. Only few dozen riders have uploaded this ride to Strava, but still!
I started in the morning, instead of my usual noonish or later start times. This was to beat the heat coming later. It was still a bit damp and humid, but the fog had burned off and most of the rocks in the gardens were dry. My short warm up was a little better too. I took 30 seconds off the 28 minute climb at the start, Still in 2nd by 8 seconds, oh well. I knew I could take the loop KOM as my Rolling time was better than Levi's KOM from last year (I bet he is faster now) and I spent a lot of time finding a cell signal to ward of my wives worries. I was happy getting a total time under my previous rolling time. The conditions did help. I was able to see more than a hundred feet, so I could go a little faster. Except for the trail near the edge of almost a cliff, but not quite. I still have a hammer mentality and am happiest moving at a healthy clip. I actually road more of the rock gardens the first time around. I am glad I went back. I had much more fun the second time around. I downloaded an app, so Tammy could follow me more closely via the phones GPS. This app did not need a cell phone connection. I also down loaded an app to tell me when I had a signal, so I could make more efficient use of stop time to check in. Helps my wife worry less when I am out there alone.

I got video of the final down hill. I edited out the fire road though. Fun to blast down, but makes for boring video.


I was treated to a nice view when leaving the National forest as well.

 

SST Epic not so Kwik Stats

Due to the SETI dishes, the only cell service is via DSL at businesses and some residences. No cell towers as they may cause us to miss a call from ET.
It was very humid and cool. Not my favorite conditions. But it was not cold. It rained some and the rocks were wet. But I rode most of the rock gardens. I stopped towards the end of one and as I went to remount, I almost took a tumble down the steep embankment that most of the trail ran along. I stopped at an overlook and forgot to turn on the GoPro for the main 5 mile descent. I may go back Tuesday...

Beyond the Thunder Dome!

Rich Hobbie (Hobbie Heat and Power) has been way too good to us! Here is just one example. He made this awesome bumper for our motor home. It includes a Park work stand donated by Brendan (Terminus of the Buck at Cycle Craft).

Got it's first use today, taking the pedals off off Tammy's bike.