Pictures Maah Daah Hey 30 miles

For the story see Maah Daah Hey 30 miles + 50 dirt roads

Maah Daah Hey 30 miles + 50 dirt roads

If it rains wait at least 2 days to ride the following part of the the Maah Daah Hey trail!

Don't take my word for it, click on the picture for a closer look



A good storm passed over the National Grasslands Monday night. So I decided to not ride on Tuesday and extend our stay one day, enabling a Wednesday attempt of the Maah Daah Hey. After getting the 411 from Dakota Cyclery in Medora and my second ride to the south, I opted to start at road 50, about mile marker 73, instead of at CCC trail head at mile 98. Tammy waited at the trail head for half an hour in case I found that it was still too bad to ride. But it sucked me in and was just OK enough for me to keep going, thinking "This is not too bad and it should get better as the nice sunny day and low humidity goes on". Well I was so wrong. I would get the bike muddy and then shake some off on a fast section. This pattern repeated over and over again. Each time adding a little more than would shake off. Then the turn for the Ice Caves. "Oh, I want pictures of that!" I thought to myself. I had to give it up, after only a tenth of a mile, maybe less. I had to find a stick and dig mud and grass out of the bike, only for it to start building up immediately again. I am glad I brought the derailleur free bike with lots of mud clearance. While there was some sweet single track, it was too far and in between mud, creeks, rivers, deep ruts and trails overgrown with tall grass, sometimes all at once! The scenery is spectacular in places, but starting from Bully Pulpit was pretty damn scenic too and I could see most of this scenery from the dirt roads. I have over four hours of video, I doubt that any of it is that interesting. Just tall grass, cows and me finding my way through creeks, rivers and bogs.

Maybe after a drought, this trail may be OK. But fun, I am not sure. If you want to test your resolve and stubbornness, this is the place. Ride south of Medora if you want. I considerthat  fun single track, before it overgrows. According to the shop, the sequester has taken a lot of park workers out of the equation and trail upkeep has been suffering. Hopefully they get it together for the August race.

I wanted to stay on top of my H2O. I filled up a bottle at the camp Magpie hydrant, with water nearly as brown as the creek of the same name that I just crossed. I still had most of my Camelbak and part of the other water bottle.

Then at about 29 miles, "I had all I could stands, could stands not more!" to quote Popeye. With no race on the line, I jumped on the fire road for the next 50 miles or so. I did detour to the camp Elkhorn trail head in hopes of finding clear water. The water was clear, cool and refreshing. As it was a long down hill dirt road to camp, I thought I would try the trail again. I soon turned back and took my knocks on the dirt road, preferring the climb to the mud and the tall grass trail, that only hinted of a trail.

I was temped once more. With less than 10 miles to go, the dirt road crossed the trail again. The trail I saw from the road looked good. It turned out that once again the cow path was rideable, but the MDH only paralleled it for a short while before getting back into deep ruts obscured by tall grass (a bad combination!). I went back to the dirt road. There was a short section on 94 (apparently legal to ride a bike on, in North Dakota), before exit 24 to Medora and paved bike path into town, where Tammy was waiting for me.

I will reiterate,  for a good time, ride the Deuce from the Bully Pulpit trail head a few miles south of Medora!

Maah Daah Hey Epic

Day one found me starting at the Sully Creek trailhead of the Maah Daah Hey.The creek crossing itself was not bad, only a couple feet deep and water was only moving moderately swift. But don't be deceived by what appears to be almost dry or dried mud. The mud on the MDH is insidious all by itself! Put that mud on a partially dry river bottom and surround that with at least a quarter mile of river sand! Let's just say it does not make for a good time. I tried to talk a group of helmetless riders, some on rental bikes and hybrids, not to start there. In this case, ignorance is not bliss, but they thought better of my advice. Another couple of mountain bikers saw my bike after I cleaned it up after just a couple mile jaunt and chose another trail head and told me about the Bully Pulpit trail head just down the road.

I had the good fortune to run into Lance Larson, Kelly, Steve and Ashley, just as they were getting ready to embark from the Bully Pulpit trail head. See them in action in the preview below. The trail for 15 miles south of Bully Pulpit was really nice and easy to follow and seemed to be getting ridden in. These are newer but more mature than the trails out of Tom's Wash.

It had rained early on day two. I had planned to do Buffalo Gap out and back but the north sections were still wet at noon, so I drove the dirt roads south until the mud did not instantly accumulate on my shoes.

Maah Daah Hey from Tom's Wash south was a lot of hunt and peck for the trail and crossing a lot of fields with no apparent tread. Although there was machine packed trail up to the gate and a new bridge near the next trail head (which I turned around before); I had had enough. But was glad I did not stop when I got back to the car. The trails north of Tom's Wash, were hard to follow in some places, all in all it was much better with more steady riding. The views were great from both sections.I did not make it up to the new campsites for water, but it was getting late anyway, due to the late start letting the rain soak in. The whole ride was less messy than the few miles around Sully Creek trailhead. The first one to ten millimeters seem to dry quickly, but in some areas a greasy goo awaits the uninitiated. particularly where the hillside has sloughed off due to a previous rain.

It is hot today with severe thunderstorms forecast from this afternoon into tomorrow. Ride tired today or see what the ever changing weather brings tomorrow? Hmmm.  

Switchgrass IMBA Epic Wilson Lake

Warning there are biting flies!
This is one of the most scenic rides yet! My wife even enjoyed the video!!
The humidity of Kentucky and Tennessee was behind us, as was the flat lands of southern Kansas. We had almost given up hope of seeing anything else. That is until we turned north on 232 towards Wilson Lake.

The vista became much more aesthetically pleasing. Rolling hills that opened up to reveal the man made lake, that is ocean blue due to the high salt content from it's source river, aptly named Saline and flows towards Salina.

This trail epitomizes What an IMBA Epic should be. It has stacked loops, so that you can bail out and make virtually any length loop you want. There is a easy loop as well as a kids loop.

All are very well marked. All though it took me a while to figure out that the Lettered signs signified decision points. Dashed lined arrow pointed to the short cut and the solid lined arrow sent you along the full loop.

There are 3 main loops, Golden, Marina and Hell's Creek.

Day one it was very hot, near 100 degrees and I was trying to follow a GPS file from the race on May 5th. I missed a turn on the prologue and ended up missing some of the golden trail.

Every one I spoke too was there for the first time. While popular it is over 2 hours away from Kansas City.

One rider said he was not used to so many rocks. I thought to myself "What Rocks?" I must have missed something. I went back and did the Golden loop.

It was getting hot so I skipped the Hell's Creek section.
I came back the next day to overcast skies and steady degree temps. As I was driving the next day, I wanted to keep it short. But at just half an hour I needed more, so I banged out the whole course in 2 an a quarter hours. It was good to be on the Single Speed again, it had been a while.

Bone Collector Screaming Beagle

This trail is just down the road form Buzzard's Roost and the trail building is just as good, maybe better, with the added flare of bovine skeletal remains displayed as if to say, "These could be your bones if you are not careful"! Throw in some forest road climbs and rim trails and you get 20 plus of good solid riding to. I followed a GPS file from Strava (while you still could) and I am glad I did. You can not even see some of the trail markers until you are on the trail. I wish I was able to hook up with a local. I mostly know the system now, mostly. I have to come back to the Black hills when I have a month or a lifetime to ride them.

Buzzards Roost

I rode this small (10 miles) trail system before riding the Bone collector down the road. It is a blast to ride and just four miles out of Rapid City South Dakota. It kinda reminded me of the rocks of northwest New Jersey, with a little of that sandstone I came across in in the Kansas Switchgrass, but with greater elevation changes. The Video should be good! A guy from Fargo, which is almost Minnesota, where I was born and raised, he thought some of the trails were so rocky that they impeded the flow. But my Ninja Jersey honed skills was loving it. After all New Jersey is the Rock Garden State, at least the northwest corner!

Tatanka 100

Tammy asked me how finishing the Tatanka 100 made me feel. This is because I am "Sense of Accomplishment Challenged" (I am sure that it will become a diagnosis and treatable by pharmaceuticals in the very near future) :-)
Well, my answer was that everything else pales in comparison. The athletes that take on these events are my new heroes. Before the Tatanka, 100 was just a number. At this point, I am not sure if I will do another one, but maybe....

How did I feel?  I felt AWE!

It transcends a sense of accomplishment.

The race started at 5am. Anybody that knows me, knows that I am not a Morning person. But recently being on the East coast and changing a couple time zones did help, albeit slightly. I slept well and got up ok.
Ryan Heerschap and I were the first ones at Woodle Field for the start. The shear wall of the cliff behind the stadium glowed ominously from the WoodleFfield stadium lights. The neutral roll out from Sturgis, South Dakota, famous for the motorcycle rally, had us pushing about 20 miles per hour. I spun my single gear and drifted back, while up front, Ryan felt like he was already on the rivet. We climbed Bulldog Canyon Road (see us coming back down from our pre-ride in the video below)
I was staying conservative and would ride up onto someone's wheel and many would just let me by, even before I asked..

There was walking involved, particularly the infamous vertical skree climb to switch valleys. I would catch people, only to be dropped later, and catch them again or not.

Endurance sports really are an equalizer between the sexes, six women came in front of me and I was not ashamed to take a draft from one of the ladies. I found out that I walk up hills slower that a lot of people and most gearies walked what I had to walk. And then there was the Mickelson, with my 34 chainring and 20 tooth cog, I could not wait for the incredibly shallow grade of the rail trail to end. I could only manage 10-11 miles an hour. Ryan said they were only doing 12-13, so I did not feel so bad. But I did draft that woman at 12-13 as long as I could; about half a mile total. Then a guy came by at 14 and I could only hold that for about a minute.

I took a little long at the Englewood aid station (last bag drop), almost leaving then deciding to leave my Camelbak and fidgeting with that way too long, a few gearies got in and out faster. I was pleasantly surprised that when the topography turn more jagged I could still climb and was immediately on two that made speedier stops than I. They split and I went right by one gearie and was closing on the next as he caught a third. One caught me back on the, not flat, but still too gradual descent, leading to the final aid station. As I could only coast around 13 mph and could not pedal faster, I ate my molasses cookies. So I only had to take on water. That gearie was trying to get an idea what next lay in store, I just went. Then another gearie, older than me even, pedals past me as I am coasting around 20 mph. He asked "Will this ever end?" I answer, "They tell me it does", then he exclaimed "What! another climb!" I just start pedaling up and past him. There was hill after hill with wicked fast descents after each one.  I was making every climb and was in the zone on every descent. Just as I entered the culvert leading back to Woodle Field, I caught up to the woman that towed me for a bit, back on the Mickelson. She was with her SO or husband and teammate. None of us were in the same class and I could not break them up as they crossed the finish line holding hands.
Finishing in 11 hours and 19 minutes. 14th out of 17
So all said, a reasonable first 100 mile mountain bike showing. Particularly since I have hardly trained for even short races. I climbed more in the first 22 miles than I have done on some of my 30 to 40 mile rides this year and twice as much as in the 50 milers and almost exactly twice the duration, from last year. See the Bear Scat Strava Link below. Consider that my average training time has only been 6 hours and 45 minutes and my longest week was 16 hours.

I have done Hillier Than Thou with that much mileage and climbing but that was on the road!

Bulldog Canyon

Tatanka 100

I was going to say and that ain't no bull, but I am sure that cliche is as tired as I will be after the race in Saturday. 5 am start. Anybody that knows me knows that I am not a morning person.

There was one big happy coincidence. We cut our stay short at Wilson Lake, near Sylvan Grove Kansas, because it was forecast to be 100 degrees or more, most of the week. "So why not extend our stay near Mount Rushmore". That way we could do more site seeing and there has to be good riding in the area as well.

Well, one of my Bulldog teammates Ryan just happened to be coming out to do a 100 mile race that weekend. I managed to get a late entry.

Of course I was running low on my favorite calorie and electrolyte source Powerbar Perform.

Ryan had left before I could wrangle him into stopping by Cycle Craft to get me some more.
So Gatorade and rest stop fare will have to do!

On single speed, I have done the Bear Scat 50 a couple a times and a 4 hour race at Iron Hill Maryland (I think)
Years ago I did the Twelve O'Muchy, which ended up being mostly on a single speed, due to the mud. Not only was this my first time racing a single speed, but my first time riding more than around the block on one!

The Mickleson is what concerns me. It is 10 - 20 miles of barley up hill. It makes gear choice tough. High enough to rock this section and I may be walking a lot more of the other climbs. Hmmm

Here is the course profile;
 

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.

Douthat State Park Too

I rode with Carter. Carter, the self acknowledged intermediate, represented himself pretty well, here at Douthat. We started with the east side and were treated to only slightly more moderate climbs than I rode the previous day. I was going to ride gears again, but Carter showed up on his Spot belt drive SS,

so I pull out the Lynskey SS and made the tires have my happy pressure and we were off. I could not let Carter enjoy more suffering than I. Evil Grin.

The first climb, while more moderate in general, still seemed to keep going forever. With some steep sections that were just a little too much, on day two and with one gear. I would stop and Carter would say "You don't have to stop on my account." I would have laughed if I wasn't still catching my breath as he made his way up to me. I normally do not stop for much, when I have my way or don't need photos, but On this day on this mountain, I was more that happy with all the stops for scenery and snacks.

The Rock over look

Tuscarora Overlook

Stony Run Water Fall

 The Garmin Stopped adding elevation about half way through.