Nasty Steepness

Much building and carousing out on the Devil's Backbone course near Wintergreen over the weekend. If I could describe the course in one word, "Steep" would just about do it. I also might use "vomitous" or "narsty" or even "Shelmet." Basically, it's steep both up and down.

What's a shelmet, you might ask?

Good picture of a shellmet. It's less about the helmet and more the look of painful angst on his face. But yes, he's wearing a shelmet.

Back to the Backbone, it's not my picture, not taken at the Devils Backbone, not even directly related, but we're talking this kind of steepness:

Good strategy, holding the old girl by the front wheel and just yanking and plodding along.

Anyway, the preride is March 7th and the race is March 28th.

Linkage...

web: http://ors.cycleva.com/2009/dbc.htm

register: bikereg.com - which, interestingly, appears to have had a major hardware outage over the weekend and is currently down.

Anyway, come test your mettle on the good stuff.

Post Pantani Ride Malaise

Ride bikes today? Or bury my head in the grass.

Jasper has the right idea.

File under--worth seeing/don't try

Turning the cold corner

Yeah, so we're going to get down to 11 degrees again tonight. Despair setting in? Thinking about pulling the plug on your local life and moving to Florida?

Well don't panic yet. We're coming out of it. Here's the local:

That's right. 60 degrees all weekend, and then maybe another shot at it again later next week. I feel like we are, at this very 15 degree moment, turning the corner.

So let's ride. I've got a sort of schedule to stick to here, based upon various commitments I've made to various riding pals.

Friday, 2.6 - Nolan, Kevin, and I are going to rally some singletrack here at the rancho relaxo. Work is insane, and I've only budgeted an hour for his one, midday, 1:30 to be exact, although I can't imagine we'll be exact. It'll probably get messy. I wonder if anyone has a blinged out fender made from an orange juice jug I can borrow.

Saturday, 2.7 - Trailwork at Walnut. 9AM. Be there. Build trail. A reroute, to be exact, but from what I'm told it's a mandatory reroute, and it'll be singletrack. Then, roundabout noon, the CAMBC expert ride will start and hopefully not finish at 12:03 in a muddy, cancelled mess. If it does, we'll audible. You know, a hot route. I could tell you what the hot route is, but then it wouldn't be a hot route. The lack of clarity is the point.

Sunday, 2.8 - Dirt Roads. Gravel. If things go well, not cross bike friendly. If things do not go well, something more in the shape of this. So what does that mean, really? Cross bike, or no cross bike. You decide. Looks like we'll have Kevin, Danny O, Jim, Scott, and maybe a few others. Departing from Free Union at 8 AM sharp, and by sharp I mean whenever I get there after leaving my house at 7:30.

Monday, 2.9 - Full moon brownie crit, out here at the Teventrails. Conditions figure to be a)relatively warm, b) relatively dry, and c)fast, fast, fast. Bring your good legs, and bring your lights. 7PM start.

Next Saturday, 2.14 - http://bikefactoryracing.blogspot.com/2009/01/marco-pantani-ride-saturday-february.html. More details to follow.

Up, up, up.