Bicycling Off-Road

Don_S · « **Reply #400 on:** 6 Jul 2010, 07:59 pm »

Your handle should be: Rocket_way cool dad_Ronny

Levi · « **Reply #401 on:** 6 Jul 2010, 08:17 pm »

Lewis Morris Park is good + free swimming afterwards.

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #402 on:** 7 Jul 2010, 03:16 am »

Quote

Your handle should be: Rocket_way cool dad_Ronny

Ha, ha. That is what the kid on the podium with Emily said when she told him I broke my arm skating a bowl.

Have to say though, not too many Dad's racing DH with their kids. It really is a risk taking sport that demands a go for it attitude. That is why I can get into it as skating is just the same, and pain is the initiation right of both sports. Although DH is a lot easier than skating a bowl.

By the way, I am not too old to skate. When I tell people I broke it that way they ALWAYS say some comment about me being too old. I am turning 48 in a month and am NOT TOO OLD. Any 16 year old kid would have been injured as well.

It was not the difficulty of the riding that did me in but that I hit twig and it completely stopped my board solid. So I did a superman, arms outstreached, into the bank. I did not bang my elbow on the concrete but it was the shear force of the impact from my hands hitting the concrete and the shock traveling up my arm. To understand this, run as fast as you can and then jump head first with arms out streached into a bank of concrete. I knew I was hurt but still did a couple more runs to try and shake it off. It did not work, I was down for the count.

Rocket_Way cool and injured Dad_Ronny

JoshK · « **Reply #403 on:** 8 Jul 2010, 06:43 pm »

For NJ, found a cool map of where the various trails are.

http://www.mtbnj.com/wiki/Category:Trail_Directory

Levi · « **Reply #404 on:** 8 Jul 2010, 08:23 pm »

Good find Josh. We share tents during a race with those guys at NJMTBers.

JoshK · « **Reply #405 on:** 9 Jul 2010, 07:22 pm »

Anyone want to go for a O/R ride tomorrow morn?

Levi · « **Reply #406 on:** 10 Jul 2010, 12:04 am »

I planned to go off-road at Stillwell Woods Preserve or Cunningham Park in the morning.

Where do you plan to meet for O/R?

JoshK · « **Reply #407 on:** 12 Jul 2010, 12:51 pm »

Sorry, missed your post. Maybe another time, like next week.

Levi · « **Reply #408 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 02:15 pm »

How's the group ride with MTBNJ group?

We went to Stewart State Forest to pre-ride DarkHorse 40 race course. That is 40 miles of off-road racing fun. Needless to say, the pre-ride course is nothing technical. It is a fast flowing single-track mixed with fire roads. Lots of fun!

Group picture at the trail head

Race course map

PhilNYC · « **Reply #409 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 02:44 pm »

Hey Levi...I was just thinking about giving Stewart State Forest a try next weekend. Are there many climbs on the course? Or is it mostly flat?

Levi · « **Reply #410 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 03:54 pm »

There were some short climbs. Nothing like Lewis Morris.

JoshK · « **Reply #411 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 04:53 pm »

Quote from: Levi on 19 Jul 2010, 02:15 pm

How's the group ride with MTBNJ group?

It was fun but I didn't actually ride with the group much. I go there late and they had started. I ran into part of the group at one point and tagged on the end, but that was the fast group (cat 1's and such) and couldn't hang for long.

Then we all gathered in the lot and went to a BBQ/pool party so I got to meet everyone. Its a good group.

Levi · « **Reply #412 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 05:10 pm »

Yeah, most group rides are pretty strict in time. When they say 8:30am wheels down, that means be ready to roll at 8:30.

. Just keep riding and before you know it, you will be keeping up with them or not be behind too far.

Invest on good cycling clothing! No cottons.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #413 on:** 25 Jul 2010, 10:48 pm »

Barring bad weather, I'm hooking up with Levi tomorrow (Monday) morning to ride Stewart Forest...anyone else who wants to play hooky, let us know! Hopefully Levi won't dust me too badly...

Levi · « **Reply #414 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 01:24 am »

Hey Phil, this is going to be a no drop ride. It should be really nice tomorrow. Bring at least 2 liters of drinking fluid.

JoshK · « **Reply #415 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 02:00 pm »

Did the ride happen before the rain? I partied too late on Sat to go riding in the morning. I got a good ride in on Sat morn.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #416 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 08:14 pm »

Levi kicked my ass today...

Great ride, tho! 22 miles in great weather and minimal impact from the rain over the weekend. Took me a little time to get warmed up and comfortable on the terrain, but I was able to get into a groove 7-8 miles into it and felt pretty good (albeit exhausted) by the end. Road biking definitely does not prepare you for the high-heart-rate/fast-twitch nature of mountain biking as well as you'd think!

Levi · « **Reply #417 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 08:27 pm »

22miles off-road is nothing to sneeze at. Stewart State Forest is huge which is over 6700 acres of wilderness. I definitely don't want to get caught in the dark without lights here.

Phil is a great rider. He actually powered his way on steep, wheel popping climbs most mtber will walk. I have pictures to upload. Stay tuned!

Levi · « **Reply #418 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 08:46 pm »

Here are some of the pictures that I took. We couldn't find anybody to take our pictures so we just took our turns.

Philnyc

Your one and only

Phil's rear when he was leading the ride

Phil, that's when I caught up with him

Phil inside the abandoned factory

Fight of stairs on the racing course. WTF?

We walked this one.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #419 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 08:59 pm »

The ride, despite not having any long climbs, was actually quite a bit harder than I thought it would be. Will go to my granny gear much earlier in the ride next time we go (I mostly stayed in my middle chainring, and only went to the granny gear in the last 2-3 miles when I was really feeling my lungs burn).

Definitely felt like I was holding Levi back for this ride. There were a couple of times where I managed to get ahead of him after some of those steep/short "power climbs" and push the pace, but for the most part he was breathing easy while I was huffing/puffing...