Key West... sharks and scooters oh my!

Back from Key West and a very different vacation than I was expecting. I was thinking that we would have plenty of down time based on how long we were going to be there and that we'd never hung out as a group. Wrong... Basically non-stop activity from Thursday morning till Monday night. Highlights...

- Snorkeling on Friday at the second reef we went to I happened to run into a Bull Shark. We were taking pictures of some Nurse sharks at the first spot, but I wasn't expecting that. Swam over a reef and then the shark (about 5' long) came right at me. At about 6-8' away it turned away. I backed off and then went back to the boat. :)

- On Sunday we did our bar crawl on scooters. What wasn't a good choice was to race through the sand with them. My brother decides to skid the rear wheel and stop his scooter sideways while he was leading. Well, I couldn't stop fast enough and couldn't turn in the sand so I low sided. No harm to the scooter and only a bruise on myself so I guess no harm no foul.

- Saw lots of other really cool things while snorkeling. 12" Queen Angel, Emperor Angels, the nurse sharks (adults and babies), a pipe fish (a type of seahorse), etc... We got some pictures, I'll try to post later.

And I didn't get on a bike... I know... this is going to hurt. Anyway, I'm in Montreal now, hopefully this weekend will be good riding weather.

Revelation... the legs still spin

Interesting, the last two rides I got to a situation where I was tired, mentally worn down and starting to day dream. The legs just kept on cranking on their own with no real effort. I'm hoping this is a major break through and will work for me when I'm doing the soul crusher climb...

Break in training...

So I'm worried that the next 2 weeks could be what causes me not to finish the SM100. Granted, I should be more ready by now, but I really need a good few more weeks of training to give myself the best chance of making it and to fix any mental issues. On Thursday I fly to Key West for my brothers bachelor party, I come back late Monday night and then have to fly out early on Tuesday to Montreal for work finally coming back on Friday. Nine days of no biking (really 10 since I can go on Wednesday)! I guess I'll go looking for a Spin class in KW, not sure if that will really count.

I guess it is what it is...

1 month, 9 days, 17 hours, 49 minutes and 20 seconds to the beginning of the SM100!

Road Ride - Thurmont

Yesterday me and two other guys did the 72 mile shorter version of the civil war century. It was a great ride and some great scenery. The hill of Rt. 491 was a terror 4-5 miles of a 6% grade or so and the last few miles home in traffic wasn't great but overall I did real well. No cramps or getting too tired which was what I was hoping for. I figured this was about 1/2 the effort its going to take to complete the SM100. I had gas in the tank, but not sure about still having 1/2 a tank left. I guess some of the SM100 will be all about how you do with no gas left. About 5 hours of ride time although we were on the road for 6 hours and change.

Things I learned:
1. Bike computers wheel magnets are not all the same. I found I had 2 on my bike on Saturday night and I took one off. Oops, wrong one.
2. GPS doesn't work w/o batteries.
3. Following a cue sheet w/o any mileage idea can be frustrating.
4. Long hills will make you talk to yourself. :)

Hike with the kids... long ride tomorrow

Lynn had a baby shower today in Baltimore which basically means she's going to be gone the entire time and I would have the kids. It's beautiful out and I figure if I can wear them out they will take a good nap. Went to Sugarloaf Mountain and parked in the West parking lot this time. Green -> Red -> Blue to the parking lot. Kids did really good. Angie walked the whole thing and Nick made it except for the last 1/2 of the blue. Nick fell asleep in the car... Angie just decided she was tired. Fun trip with lots of rocks. Lots of climbers, got to give that a try one day.

Tomorrow the road bike comes out... 77 miles and 7000 feet of climbing around Thurmont. It will be the furthest I have gone on the bike by 22 miles or so. Hopefully I don't die on the road somewhere.

Time Trial and Weekend Training Ride

On Friday, someone in the MORE forum posted a loop and asked for times. I've been looking for something to make Schaeffer a little more interesting and had some stress I needed to blow off from work. Went over Friday after work and did the 9.3 mile loop in 51 minutes on the single speed. I was real happy with the time even though I know some of the fast guys will be deep in the 40s if they do it.

On Sunday, the idea was to do some hill training. Nick was going to join me at the Watershed and we were going to go up and down the Fishing Creek fire road. Its about a 9 mile loop and 1200 ft. climb. Right away I realized that the run on Friday wasn't a good idea, I wasn't recovered. We did 2 loops and then went to single track and then finished the loop. About 30 miles and 3500-4000ft of climbing. Not as much as I wanted to do but the heat really sucked. Training rides like that take all the fun out of being on the bike... :)

Only 1 month, 16 days, 21 hours and 34 minutes to the beginning of the SM100... Ugh!

OMG... what a long commute in today!

So I'm sick, but its only a cold. I've ridden the last two days with it so no big deal. Coming in today though, no power what so ever. The first hill had me feeling the burn. Top it off I find out I forgot my water bottle...

Going home should be fun, with my luck today its going to be hurricane winds, monsoon rain and hail! :)

Week in the Poconos

Took a vacation for a week with four other families in the Poconos. 10 adults and 10 children, how the chaos remained confined I will never know.

One of the first things to do was to look for trails in the state park across the street. Most of the "bike" paths were either old paved roads or gravel trails that were as good as paved. I was disappointed until we took the hiker trail back since we were late. Now I think the hiker trail is not to restrict bikes, but more of a bikes can't do this path. Needless to say it was a wonderful 5 mile rocky trail that make the watershed boring. About 80-90% was ridable and was about as challenging as it gets. Interesting thing about it was there was no real elevation change to talk about. I went back and the entire trail back and forth two days later. Boy I wish I had something like this close by.

Our first big group thing we did was to go to was to go to Bushkill Falls which has 7 or 8 waterfalls and plenty of hiking. We did most of the trails even with the little ones who did great. It was nice, but a little too civilized with steps and bridges almost everywhere. Felt more like an Ewok city than hiking in the wild.

After the hike and lunch the kids went to the playground before heading back and Nick split his head wide open... too much excitement for the little guy. I was worried at first that we were off to the emergency room for stitches but it stopped bleeding and we used some butterfly bandages to put him back together. He's a tough guy and didn't even cry that much after the first minute or two.


The next day we went on a hike at the park across the street with just the family. We needed the kids to have a day off and a good nap day. What was interesting is about 100 yards from the parking lot a black bear crosses the trail, stops and looks at us and continues on. I thought it was really cool, I like seeing animals like that in the "wild". Had to convince the wife that the bear was not waiting at the top of the hill to take Nick off as lunch... :)

The last big thing we did was the Leigh Valley bike trail. Its billed as a one-way downhill easy path which it was. I screwed up and couldn't get the trailer hooked to my bike but luckily one of the other couples wheeled our children down the trail. Wife was sick so she didn't have the energy to do it herself. It was a fun ride even if a little boring. Ended up doing the 13 miles in 2 1/2 hours which isn't bad considering that 3 of the kids were riding their bikes. Saw a rattle snake on the trail also... One of the other guys and myself biked back to get the car instead of driving around again. The gearing on the SS really wasn't ideal and 14mph is about all I could muster. Took an hour to get back.



All in all a pretty good vacation...