1 Ride=1 Mechanical

Although not quite recovered from the beating I took yesterday, Brayden & I managed a quick 45 minute ride at Mt. Blue Job this afternoon after work/school. I'm always a little eager to put in the first ride of the season and today was no exception. It's a curious endeavor to witness how much riding-specific fitness is lost after a winter out of the saddle. Obviously I don't hibernate, but I actually focused a little more on snowshoeing and a little less (ie. none) time on the indoor trainer this winter. I've actually got two 24 hour mountain bike races planned with the possibility of squeezing in the Horror at Harding Hill Mountain Bike Race again this year. The clock is ticking and it'll take doubles to assure I'm race ready by the middle of July. We rode up to Little Baldy and then over to Big Blue. As I pushed off to ride back down from the summit sitting back on my saddle I immediately felt the seat disappear from underneath of me. The clanking of metal parts on the exposed granite told the story before I lay eyes on the problem...ANOTHER &*^$@# broken seat clamp bolt! As the seat post narrowly missed my delicate undercarriage I came to an abrupt stop, not 2 meters from where I began. Last year during the NH-12 adventure race the same thing happened. Except I was no less than 5 miles from the next TA. With the seat duct tapped to the post I became an anchor to my teammates as level riding became a quad burner (with no serviceable seat!). I had contacted Easton when I returned from the race and explained what had happened. They explained, at the time, that the single bolt set-up was somewhat of a design flaw and that future generations of their seat posts boast two bolts as a standard feature. To their credit, their customer service folks were pretty receptive and offered to send me as many bolt/clamp replacement kits as I wanted. It was that replacement bolt that failed today. I guess the good news is that it happened on a training ride less than a mile from the car. With a bottom bracket and rear hub ready for the scrap heap it looks like my next bike-related expense will actually be a new seat post.

[Photo credits: mountain biking Mt. Blue Job, Duct tape: Use #458; backcountry seat repair]

Dirty Moose Adventure Race

As outlaw "adventure races" go, this one went pretty well. Originally conceived as a team "adventure run", like many things that go bump in my brain it evolved into something much more involved (and interesting...I think). Eight pairs of acidotic RACING teammates (plus one team of 3) raced against the clock and each other in this two part two hour training session. An initial 40 minute prologue familiarized the group with the trail network and prominent features of my own training playground...Mt. Blue Job. The race began on the summit of Little Baldy with teams given the following riddle to solve;

More powerful than God;

More evil than the devil,

The poor have it,

The rich need it,

If you eat it, you'll die.

What it is?

The race "began" for teams as soon as they solved the riddle. During the prologue, the answer to the riddle was actually revealed to all the teams. The answer, written as a word jumble appeared on a sign near an important feature known as Porky's Cave. Some teams astutely took note of the clue (before it was revealed as a clue) and memorized the letters. When teams correctly solved the riddle they were able to proceed on to the first section of the race, a geocaching game of Worst Case Scenario. Several teams answered the riddle within moments of receiving it including Brent & Tim, Ri/Austin & Sherpa, and Nick & Justin. Following closely behind them were Amy & Dana. Three teams choose to send a 'mate down to the base of Little Baldy (approximately 200 meters) to find the answer; Jim & Brayden, Jen & Carolyn, and Erin & Jake. Teams then spent the next 60 minutes finding a series of seven geocaches. Each geocache contained a question and series of possible answers from the game, Worst Case Scenario. Points were awarded for 1.) successfully finding the cache and 2.) correctly answering the scenario. For instance, the first cache contained the following question;

HOW TO CURE A HEADACHE IN THE WILD

A. Eat a concoction made from willow leaves and bark.

B. Lying flat on your back, place a smooth cool stone against each temple.

C. Eat raw grasshoppers; they contain salicin, which is a substitute for aspirin.

Each cache contained the directions to the next cache. Three of the caches included additional *BONUS* tasks that teams could choose to perform for extra points including lifting information from a old family graveyard in the woods, a rock wall scramble leading to an animal print identification, and a ledge strewn bushwhack contouring rope tying challenge. In the final part of the race teams had to carry three short logs, a medium sized rock, and a 5-6 foot log (weighing from 15-35 lbs) over a roughly 1.5 km bushwhack leading back to the summit of Little Baldy. Once teams arrived at the summit with their "materials", one teammate was blind-folded while the other climbed a 2 meter glacial erratic and cued their "blinded" teammate in the assembly of a specific pattern with the logs and stone. The final "catch" were the forbidden words that the cue giver couldn't say. Naturally, they included words like "long", "short", "log", and "rock". The winners were determined by the total points scored with finish time as the tie breaker. Although Brent & Tim were the first team to reach the summit and successfully assemble the pattern, the trio of Ri, Austin, & Sherpa scored the greatest number of points...followed closely by Brent & Tim.

After the event many of the contestants joined Karen & I at the homestead for a BBQ and "beer festival". The beer was provided thanks to our great friends at Redhook and featured a couple of my new favorites, Longboard Island Lager and Fire Rock Pale Ale from Redhook's sister brewery Kona Brewing Company. Everyone had the opportunity to take home "door prizes" in boxes of 6...know what I mean? Although still recovering from her minor setback, Sarah was a trooper and scampered around taking video of much of the action. As soon as she sends it along I'll try to post it on this blog. What's the answer to the question and riddle? A and "gniothn"...it's still a word jumble.

[Photo credits: Ri, Austin, Sherpa with Jen & Carolyn at the Warden's Cabin on Mt. Blue Job; Amy & Dana on the summit of Little Baldy; Tim & Brent at the start; Jim & Brayden rushing back from Porky's to solve the riddle; Snakes on a Mountain]

Off the beaten path...

It struck me the other day when I was bushwhacking around Mt. Blue Job, that while I love to run in the woods...I really love running through the woods. Maybe this is why I'm drawn to adventure racing and orienteering? As I reflected about the difference between running in the woods and running through the woods I thought about how running reflects life. Before I discovered trail running I ran on the roads like everyone else. In my naivety I thought I could run anywhere. The reality was, I could only run where the road took me. It was an illusion of freedom. I thought the world was mine to explore and discover. In fact, I wasn't an explorer but rather a mindless drone following the path that someone else determined for me. Then I discovered trail running. Asphalt and car exhaust were replaced with roots, dirt, and the intoxicating smell of balsam fir. Now I was free. Or was I? Thursday as I crashed through a tight hardwood sapling stand I realized that I had once again been lulled into a false sense of freedom. I had traded roads for...trails. Again I was following the path chosen for me by someone else for no other reason than it was easier. There's really no growth in following a path, be it made of pavement or dirt. Growth comes from learning and learning comes from getting off the beaten path and really exploring. During my hour long bushwhack expedition of a place that I had run (and mountain biked) several times a week for the past four years I found treasures there I had never imagined. No less than 50 meters from a trail I've run a hundred times I found a small cave with a generous amount of scat kicked to the entrance. I generally have a pretty wild imagination and my heart immediately began to race when I remembered the black bear (and cubs) I had seen near Mt. Blue Job last year. As I moved away from the cave I noticed a 10 meter high rock wall scramble that I had never seen before. After a moment of risk:reward analysis I decided to see if I could make it to the top. With a running start I bounded up the face, perched on a small shelf, hopped to a rock ledge, and made my way to the top. So exhilarating was the challenge I actually climbed back down and did it twice more! How many times in our lives do we get (or take) the opportunity to get out of the "commuter lane" and follow our own path? And what is freedom after all? I saw and experienced many other treasures during that run this week and none of them would have been revealed if I had "stayed on the trail". I'm going to make an effort to explore Mt. Blue Job more by getting off the path and going where I want to run.

Oh, and by the way...it wasn't bear scat after all. It was my friend the porcupine's leavin's. I looked it up on the internet. You know the one...the information super-highway.

Training Grounds

Quick update on the Granite State Snowshoe Series final standings...they're still not done. Last week I started a contract with my friends at Equest to once again provide a twice weekly fitness program to some of their riders. Although this is quite possibly my most challenging and rewarding work, it does result in my fairly precise regimen being thrown off by an hour. This, by the way, isn't a whine. My schedule is what it is because I have chosen it to be this way. Right now it's 8:00 pm and I honestly don't have the energy to crank the numbers. I will, however, have the series standings updated and published by the weekend...promise. Tonight's workout was scheduled to be a :30 snowshoe run. It turned into a :60 snowshoe slog as I broke trail in knee deep powder the entire way. I'm extremely lucky to live in very close proximity to a hidden gem, Blue Job State Forest. By the way, "Job" is pronounced "Jobe". For me, this place is a year round playground with miles of trails for running and mountain biking. I have been lucky enough to run across all manner of wildlife up here including deer, porcupine, raccoon, fisher, and even a mother black bear and cubs. There's no place I'd rather train and it's less than a 5 minute drive by car or :45 mountain bike ride on logging trails. I brought my camera and planned to hustle to the summit of "Little Baldy", Blue Job's smaller, balder sister summit. It's actually Little Baldy (LB) that the above sunset photo was taken and by far the better "sightseeing" peak with views of both the White Mountains (in the daylight) and Newington, NH (at night). Typically in snowshoe's I can make the gradual climb to LB in about 10 minutes. And typically the rail is very tramped out as I'm not the only one around who enjoys 'shoeing' here. This afternoon was a completely different story however. The last snow storm had dumped over a foot of fresh powder on the mountain and resulted in many of the white birches bent and twisted with their tips buried in the snow. The normally hard packed rail was instead no wider than singletrack and appeared to have been travelled by only a very few in the past 48 hours. What should have taken me :10 took almost :25 as I ended up breaking trail in knee deep snow to the summit. I was, fortunately, in time to snap the above picture before darkness closed in around me. The wind always blows on the summit of LB and tonight was no exception. In February, in the dark, is no time or place to spend more than a moment too many here. It's very cold. I made my way down past the frozen swimmin' hole and up toward LB's more famous sibling, Mt. Blue Job. Again, the rail was narrow and only freshly trekked making running impossible and merely walking in snowshoes not far behind. Just before I began the climb I actually reversed turtled...in the dark I missed the change in snow depth and caught my tip in a snow drift sending me lunging forward. As my hands hit the snow my arms sank up to my elbows as I postholed thigh high in the deep drift. I was absolutely and utterly stuck. I managed to gain a little bite on the snow with my hands and push myself back to a semi-seated posture and free myself. By this time the :45 I told Karen I'd be gone was already spent and I still hadn't made it up and over Big Blue. The power hike up and down Blue Job was great training for next weekend's Frigid Infliction Winter Adventure Race in Bolton Valley, VT. The snow there last year was out of this world with waist deep powder in spots during the postholing section of the course. Although not exactly what I set out to do, the conditions did help me realize at least one important thing...I think I prefer the light wash from my Black Diamond headlamp because the LED's are arranged in a 2.5 inch straight line and provide a little better peripheral lighting. Had this been a typical Tuesday snowshoe run I probably would have been out of the woods before it got dark.

FLIGHTboot in Action

Full disclosure first...Kahtoola is sponsoring our three snowshoe races this winter. However, I will admit that I race in another brand and probably have nearly every snowshoe manufacturer represented in my garage. Even a pair of Tubbs circa 1930. The conditions for this afternoon's workout at Mt. Blue Job were best described as a 'tweener'...somewhere between needing snowshoes and not. The 1-2 inches of snow overnight and cold temps today helped to cover the icy rail with a serviceable surface. The inevitable and predicable bare spots still persisted however, particularly in the open easterly facing areas. Here is where the '08 Kahtoola FLIGHTdeck set-up with the FLIGHTboots was perfect. My ASICS running shoes slipped right into the overboot which are designed with a crampon-type bottom and binding which "clips" into the snowshoe. Literally, I was running in the snowshoes until I hit a bare icy spot at which time I clipped out of the snowshoes and within seconds was running with the snowshoe in my hands. No fuss, no muss, no straps...pull the lever and the boot pops right out of the binding. And, what's most impressive is the fact that after running through an icy creek, mud, and more snow I was able to clip right back into the binding without a hitch. Try that with your snowshoes. By their own admission, these folks aren't ready for the hardcore race scene yet, but to be very honest with you...they don't need to be. They've got a fantastic product that performs exactly as advertised. Now I just hope my brother doesn't want his snowshoes back.