Lunar eclipse over halfway covered.
Thin clouds blocked the view several times as the moon descended.
Visible again and getting smaller as it nears the treeline.
Red sunrise
February started with some warmer weather, but also very wet. I spent most of my days on the road trying to get in some longer rides and more climbing. Things kept happening that kept my rides shorter than I wanted with rain sneaking in on me several times and some broken spokes. Thankfully, a couple of broken spokes revealed a lot of spoke wear before it became a big issue and I ended up with a rebuilt, good-as-new rear wheel.
The second round of the Montgomery Bell Winter MTB Time Trial Series at Montgomery Bell State Park came early in February on the 4th. It was the nastiest race I have ever done here. The freeze-thaw had the trails slimy before the weekend came, then 1/2" of rain fell the night before the race and added some puddles to the mud. I decided to ride my Titus Racer-X to save the wear on my Epic. I knew it would be slower, but the conditions were going to make sure this round wouldn't be the fastest of the series. I knew I was still far from 100%. I worked hard in January and was feeling stronger on the bike than the month before, but I had only dropped two pounds of the extra weight I had put on in the Fall, so I knew I was still going to have some difficulty running a good time.
The saturated pine needles ate me up. You really can feel the difference of 26" wheels on that sort of stuff. The bike just didn't roll. It made me work hard, though in the end that's what I needed out of this race anyway. I have been working on my thoracic flexibility since going to a few Pilates courses tailored to physical therapy and athletics back in December. One class was specifically for cyclists. I learned a lot of things that I had been searching for, with ways to address some deficits I already knew I had. The exercises and extra training time I got with the course instructor have really helped my range of motion and I now can tolerate a much more efficient riding position. I spent most of the race focusing on staying in the new position. It was a little slower focusing on that rather than just going fast, but it'll pay off in the long run.
As expected, I dropped time on all the climbs. My time was 1:31 slower than last month, which I thought was really good since the trail was much slower and I was on a slower bike. I ended up 7th overall. I'm now in 9th overall after two rounds. It's your fastest round that counts for the series overall so March will mean everything to me if I want to make the podium.
The final few sections were really wet with water standing in many places. There's a lot of debate about the trails at Montgomery Bell on days like this. There's a trail running race here each December and many of the trails are blown clear of leaves for the runners before the race. The mountain bikers get mad because it makes the trails muddy on wet days in the winter and many feel like it has caused massive erosion. While pulling off the leaves definitely does accelerate erosion, so does benching trails that don't need to be benched. A lot of these trails were benched below ground level when they were initially cut. While it makes for a smooth, fast trail initially, benching down essentially creates a shallow ditch. The amount of soil over top of roots is reduced before the first tire ever hits the trail and causes roots to become exposed sooner. It also gives water a trench to flow in during heavy rains and traps water in areas where there is no drain. Some of the areas have water drains built, but many don't. The final trails used for this race either didn't have drains or they were stopped up with leaves. I know blowing the trail of leaves made this race much worse than it would have been, but going in after the blowing is complete and clearing the water drains of leaves would go a along way in eliminating these massive puddles. I only mention this because I hear SOOO much complaining about the blowing of the leaves within the mountain bike community, but not really any effort being put in to make the best of something that is out of our control. The park has made it clear that the trail run brings in a lot of money to the park and they don't plan on changing anything. I'm sure plenty of people won't agree with me as it seems as though this is a no-compromise situation for most on the mountain bike side, but I think we should make the best of it and do whatever we can to minimize the effects and keep the race course the best it can be. Even if the trail gets eroded beyond repair, you can always reroute and let mother nature reclaim the damaged trail.
I did an extra lap on the race course after my race. The mud began to take over my bike. It got so bad that I couldn't even push the shifter hard enough to shift to an easier gear before I finished this lap. That shifter cable and housing went straight to the trash when I got home. Dina did well to finish in these tough conditions. I managed to catch her before the end and we rode the last sections together. She took 4th overall in the women's group. I then hit the road for a few minutes so I could get in an even five hours for the day. Not bad for a nasty day!
When I realized that this year was going to be financially difficult for me, I started looking for ways to earn more race money. I immediately sold any extra bike accessories I had lying around the garage. From clothing and tires to all sorts of parts, I sold every single thing I could afford to part with. It helped a lot in the bank account and also in the decluttering of the garage.
We also decided to step it up with our farm. We have had a huge response to our peppers, selling every single bag we dried at the end of the season. We were able to get us some business cards and even a few t-shirts for us to wear while working on the farm and attending events. I also plan to invest a bit more in things we need like fence posts, fencing and a tiller. It's going to be hard to put money into the farm, but I feel it will pay for itself if we continue to grow. I'm ready to make this a real farm and put some real resources into it so we actually make some extra race money which has always been my goal with selling things from the farm. I guess I'm going to sponsor myself since nobody else will help. If you want to support my racing, support my farm. You can get some fresh veggies while helping a dude go after his dream!
Sweetwater Farms T-shirts
One of the perks of canning during the summer is getting to have tasty veggies during the winter months. Shannon had canned some pickles a few months back so we had not only pickles, but also fried pickles for a tasty treat with our February meals. If you've never fried pickles before, give them a try!
Fried pickles
The weather finally gave us some decent days and I got in two solid weeks of training after MB #2. We dusted off the tandem for some fun time together and knocked out a few night rides.
Visiting some horses on one of our tandem rides.
Shannon having fun on the tandem
Next up, it's on to March with race season quickly approaching.
