Pinehurst Again, minor injuries too!

8-31-2010

I rode to Pinehurst with Jimmy a little before 6 PM. I rode about 3/4 of the trail on and off with Jimmy. I did notice the log we had seen over the trail was gone, but lots of leaves remained on the trail. The trail was still a bit slick on the logs in some portions. I don't think the sand ever gets better. I don't have a problem pedaling through the sand, but I had cleaning my bike afterwards. I took the reds for the 90% of the trail. Jimmy had his tire go flat again. I think it nay be the wire inside the tire itself popping the tube. The last tube was punctured on the inside of the rim. Maybe the rimstrip needs to be replaced. I had seated the tire right and made sure it was even and not pinched. Anyway, I rode back to the apt as he had a about half a mile walk out of the trail. I hustled back to the apt and put my bike in the back of his truck an headed back to pick him up. I met him near the entrance to Freedom Park and got my bike out of the back and proceeded to ride another lap. I was able to clear some obstacles that stumped me in the earlier lap and yesterday. I was running on all cylinders and then I flipped over the handlebars when I was in the cabbage palms about a mile and a half from the end. It's a part where I have had to get my front wheel into a slot between two cabbage palm trees and turn at the same time. I will try to take a pic or two next time I'm out there. I slowed down because I hit my knee pretty good. I was able to clear a log section towards the end that I hadn't been able to before, so I was pretty happy. I finished in 33 min and headed back to the apt. I knew I had scraped up my arm and it was stinging, but I held off to look at it till I got back. It was no bueno to irrigate my arm. Oh well. I kept the knee moving for another few hours and it seems fine. I did 13.15 miles I'm 1:36:38. First lap was probably near 50-55 min with stopping and helping Jimmy. Total miles do far 102.68.

A Brief History of Biking (according to me)

I like riding a bike. I always have. I've had many bikes over the years and still have several of them now.

I got my first bike from my grandmother and it was a no name, heavy, black BMX style bike. It had a coaster brake and it was what I had training wheels on to learn to ride. I graduated a year or so later at Christmas to a beautiful chrome GT BMX bike. It was so cool! The first thing I did was put my hands all over it. It was so shiny. The sprocket where the pedals met the chain was so awesome, I had to put my finger on it, which is the time my sister picked to rotate the pedal backwards. This meant my finger was stuck between the sprocket teeth and the chain. This was literally seconds after I opened the bike up. I rotated the pedal back further and got my finger out as quickly as I could. First blood, accomplished.

My sister loves to tell the story of our neighborhood talent contest where I rode around in circles in our cul-de-sac on my BMX bike accompanied by the talented Kenny Loggins singing Danger Zone. You know what I'm talking about. I was 8 then. I rode the bike to school, to my friends' houses, the park and anywhere else I could think of. Everywhere I wanted to go, I could ride this simple one speed wonder.

A few years later, mountain bikes became the new thing for kids to have and when I was 12, I got my first from Sears. It was a very heavy 18 speed mountain bike with no suspension. I rode that bike all over any trail I could find with my friends Adam and Brian. I ended up bending the handlebars in an attempt to go down a rocky hill at some point, but kept riding until I got to junior high. In junior high and high school, bikes gave way to girls, cars, and work.

In my last year of college I met Jay. Jay told me about all the mountain biking he did in the area. Mountain biking was cool again to me, especially after the first time I went to the Northshore trail on Grapevine Lake on my Trek 4900 disc. I had suspension to absorb the bumps, I had gears to help me out going faster and it was a ton of fun. I stopped riding a few years later for awhile when I got a desk job that literally sucked the life right out of me. I rode occasionally after that and eventually bought a road bike for myself and my wife. When I had time to ride, I would, but being out of town kept me from doing any regular riding. I tried bringing my Trek to places out of town, but it was usually more trouble than it was worth. I replaced cranks, cogs, cassettes, and paid about $200 in just labor to keep the bike rideable for a year.

Fast forward to 2010. My brother had just bought a Trek 6500 disc and wanted to go ride with me at Sansom Park in Fort Worth. It was great. I was severely winded, but I had a lot of fun. While riding, I talked to my brother and his friend from work about their bikes and I asked if either had tried out a 29er (see below) before they bought their bikes. My brother said he didn't like the way it rode. I was intrigued by this, mainly because I enjoy doing things opposite my brother. It's a sibling thing, what can I say?

Later that week, I was intelligent enough to go on a trail at a park in Arlington that had no signs. It was way overgrown and probably wasn't a trail to begin with. Did I mention it was raining? No, well it was hot, humid and wet! I rode home after falling off a few times and hurried to get to a party. A few days later, I found a nice surprise on my legs and my arms, poison ivy. It took three weeks to get over it and lots of meds. While sitting in my room itching like crazy, I knew I wanted to ride when I was away from home and I needed an inexpensive, but usable bike that didn't require much maintenance and would be happy with riding for several years. On a very late night in August, I was looking at mtbr.com (awesome resource for mountain biking) and found info on 29ers and singlespeeds. I was looking at each separately, but their references crossed paths a lot.

What's a 29er?

A 29er is a mountain bike having 29 inch tires. Most mountain bikes you see have 26 inch tires. So why would 3 inches matter? A 29er has an easier time rolling over things like roots, logs, rocks, etc. The bigger tires carry the rider over obstacles with more momentum than a 26 inch tire. I called bs on this at first. I mean, how could 3 more inches help that much? My interest was piqued.

Aren't more gears better?

Sounds pretty obvious, huh? The more gears you have, the easier it is to get past obstacles like hills and power down them with higher gears. The answer is that it all kinda depends. I mean, I was riding around with my brother and previously with Jay and remembered gearing down at the last minute hoping to make it up that hill that suddenly appeared in front of me on a trail. I experienced what's called chain suck. I stalled countless times. Come to think of it, I rode around most of the time in just one gear anyway on most of the trail. When I had my front chainring. Well, maybe single speed makes more sense then.

So, I started obsessively watching videos and researching 29ers and single speeds. Like I said, they crossed paths a lot, so I started looking at bikes that encompassed both. I saw some great bikes that ranged from $5k+ full suspension, geared bikes to Walmart specials. I wanted something that came from a bike shop instead of a big box store and was relatively inexpensive. One name that came up so many times, it was difficult to ignore.

The name was Monocog 29er. It was ugly, steel, single speed, no suspension, 29er and dead simple. Dead simple was important because I would keep it out of town and wouldn't have access to tools that I have at home. I was drawn to this bike because it was the right price and had the features I wanted. I wasn't sold on a rigid (no suspension) front end, but I was willing to give it a shot.

I pulled the trigger on the bike on August 7th. I ordered a 2010 Redline Monocog 29er. Over the weekend, I found out that Redline was about to roll out their 2011 bikes. Great, I'm getting last years model. It really wasn't a big deal, because the only thing that has changed from year to year was the paint job and the tires. I got a call on Tuesday that they were fresh out of 2010s and I would be getting a 2011. Woo-hoo! I also ordered a set of clipless pedals at this time and was able to pick up the bike on August 13th.

First Impressions

The bike is really simple. I mean really simple. No gears, no suspension. All I had to do was pedal. If I couldn't make it up a hill or past an obstacle, it was squarely on me, not the bike. I rode the bike for about 30 minutes and rode about 4 miles. I rode a little on Pinehurst Trail and a little on the road. It got dark on the trail early and was kinda hard to see, so I turned around and headed back.

For the next week, I rode the bike about everyday and put 60+miles on in a week on trails and bike paths at the local park (Okeeheelee Park). During this time, I purchased a chain cleaner to get all the Florida sand off of the chain. The bike chain was caked with sand and I was very happy with the purchase. In the next week, it rained a lot and I was able to adjust the chain a few times. The chain seems to get loose easier than my 26" bike, but not too bad overall. The headset also became loose and I was able to fix with a few turns of my bike tool.

I rode Oleta River State Park on August 28th with some of my friends and it was great, but very humid. There were not many hills or obstacles I was unable to overcome here. It was a lot of fun.

I've got only 73 miles on my bike and I couldn't be happier. The freedom of no choice in gears is quite liberating. I was able to focus on just riding the trail on my bike and not picking the right gear. I was a little worried about the fact that the bike had no suspension, but I am very happy with the rigid setup. I don't feel as I am missing out on having a suspended front fork. I have to lift the front end a bit and pick the lines I choose better than I did on my previous mountain bike, but in the end, it's completely worth it.

The Monocog 29er basically feels like I'm riding a big BMX bike. It's just plain fun. I really like this bike. It wasn't crazy expensive at less than $500 and the fact that I can't get riding out of my dreams means to me that I made the right choice with the Monocog 29er. I can't recommend this bike enough. If you are looking to see what the single speed or the 29er craze is all about, the Monocog will not let you down. Pedal onward friends.

First few weeks

8-30 Tires were a little lower than I thought they should be and filled them back up to 40 psi. I do remember not feeling the bouncing at Oleta yesterday and that may be why. I bought 2 tubes at $10 each just in case. I think the Stan's Ghetto Tubeless is the way to go and will probably do around Christmas or Thanksgiving when I bring my bike back to Texas. Did 3.07 miles total, just went to pinheurst, did the first part of the trail and it was really wet. Several trees were down and made riding through impossible. I went slow to keep Jimmy with me and it ended up messing with my normal way of picking my way through with some momentum. At one point, where I usually power over a log and then hit the rear brake as my front wheel clears, this time, I was rolling way too slow and stopped all momentum and racked myself. I missed tons of easy obstacles because I was going so slow. As soon as we were to Pinehurst Rd, I heard a sound coming from Jimmy's bike and heard the rear disc scraping. He said he thought he hit something with it and when I looked, I said no, you're tire is flat. We walked back to the apt from there. Walking in my bike shoes is not a good idea. My big toe was blistered by the time we got back. Total miles to date: 89.53

8-29 Went to oleta again. Did 7.13 miles and took about 55 min. Wasn't too tired. Lost Jimmy and found him back at the truck. Rode Gold Stick, Robinson ridge, stairway to heaven, strangler fig, rock mile, American corps, half pipe. I was able to pass some people on the full suspension geared setups that knew the trails well. They did not seem pleased. Took bike to Jims bicycles where I purchased and got a good idea of how to tighten chain properly. Cleaned bike and lived after ride. I cleaned the bike up and relubed chain. Will probably look to get some grease soon. I helped Jordy with his bike a bit. He had a really difficult time on anything with a grade at Oleta yesterday. I attributed this to being a bit out of shape as he had problems with Pinehurst too. Turns out, he was in the largest chainring up front and something way to high in the rear too. I set him on the small chairing up front and in the middle in the back. He exclaimed it was so much better when he rode later that day at Okeeheelee. At 86.4 miles total now.

8-28 we went to oleta river in Miami and I was able to ride 6.06 miles. Not a ton, but it was humid!!!! I rode strangler fig (expert) and rock mile first. Then it was part of half pipe along the back volunteer trail. Next was American corps, gator bank, and gold stick. I rode gold stick 2x. Finally, I rode area 51, and stairway t

o heaven with some great hills!!!! Then I found Jimmy talking to mike(guy we met on the trail) and headed for the truck. Winded for sure, but lots of fun!!! Had to tighten chain once during the ride. 79.27 miles so far.

8-27 rain or no rain, I was gonna go ride. Sick of being in the apt all week. Left at 5:30 for pinehurst and rode trail once. My seat was too low this time. It was uncomfortable to ride, so I readjusted and all was good again. Stopped once inside trail to check my bag and once at second trailhead. It was really really humid today. Trail took 36 min with 2 stops. I was able to navigate almost all of the root sections that have given me so much trouble before. I rode to okeeheelee and saw Jordy. Gave him the finger an he did the same to me. I rode 11 miles total today at a little over an hour. 73.21 miles total on the bike.

8-26 rain :(

8-25 rain again!!!! Gonna try in the am.

8-24 sadness of rain

8-23 looked to rain all afternoon, so i slept. Jordy slipped out and went to okeeheelee. Nbd. Wanted to take a day off after hard riding day before. Read some about anterior knee pain. Gonna lower my seat a bit to see if it helps, which does make sense. 25-30 degree bend instead of straight. Hopefully I'll get less bounce at higher cadences too.

Looking forward to weekend to convince Jimmy to go to Miami for some faster trails.

8-22 Rode to Pinehurst did 2 laps. Lost Jordy in the first part. Waited 20 min and found out he left. Rode to okeeheelee park for a few miles cooldown. Cyclometer says 13.61 miles for the day. 62.21 miles overall.

8-21 woke up late from oversleeping. Rained in afternoon. No riding today.

8-20 Rode to Pinehurst, did 1 loop testing new app, decided to get full version (Motion X GPS). Lap took about 35-40 min. Im speeding up! Started 2nd lap, was dark in the woods and exited by soccer fields and "large" hill. Rode to okeeheelee and found Jordan, rode with him and ended up with 13 miles on the odometer. 46.8 miles total. Not bad for 5 days of riding and a week of ownership. Goal is 50 miles per week for now. Looking forward to Oleta river with Jordan in the AM in Miami. Took some pics of Pinehurst with new app.

Trail Entrance about 3/4 of a mile south of Forest Hill.

Narrow place in the first 3/4 of a mile into trail, as you can see these trees have been hit a few times. If you can't navigate this, just get off your bike and walk it through, no need to ruin your bars or damage the trees.

Three way split south of the pond/lake area. To the left is a red trail that leads to a log which has always been pretty slick. To the right is a blue trail that is flat and sedate. The center is where the fun happens. Go up the hill, and down two more "large" hills. Be careful to slow down a bit before you get to the bottom or be prepared to fly some.

8-19 looked to rain then nothing. Cleaned up Jimmy's bike. Washed bike and cleaned chain 5x with degreaser. Relubed, aired up tires. His bike will be ready to ride when he gets back in a few days.

8-18 It's 1.6 miles to pinehurst trailhead from the apt stairs. Trail was right at 4 miles. Finished trail at about 7:15, would've done another lap, but I would have ended in the dark. Took about 40 min to do the trail pretty relaxed. Continued to okeeheelee park and rode till I got 10 miles total. 11 miles by the time i was back at the apt. Started 6:30, ended 7:50.-33.8 miles total. I love this bike.

8-16 to 8-17 rain/busy

8-15 Did about 6.8 miles in 55 min. Half trail/half bike path. Trail took up a 45 min of riding. -22.8 miles total

8-14 I rode yesterday about 2.5 hrs 4 miles on trail and probably 8 miles on paved.-16 miles total

8-13 I rode about 4 miles on Friday night before it got too dark. I rode to the park and found a trailhead south of the lake/pond thing to see a three way split. I walked the routes in and found the middle one and left ones (marked red) too difficult on the first day with the new bike. I rode in .5-1.0 miles in the trail and turned around before it got dark. The tires seemed to drag pretty bad on the road, so I pumped them both up to about 40 psi. 4 miles on bike total.