The Mt Nittany Wheelworks Blog

Can't get there from here

Its Bike to Work week here in State College, time for all to consider what it will take to get there by bike.  40% of all car trips in the US are less than two miles, easily a distance to cover by bike. Think about it; even if you crawl along at 10mph, a two mile trip will take 12 minutes. If you factor in finding parking and stop lights into your drive time, you can't really cover 2 miles in a car much faster.
If you'd like to see where two miles from home will get you, check out this site. You'll probably be surprised by whats within that circle. With gas inching towards $4.00 a gallon, can you really afford not to? 

two and out

April 7 – Headed down to Raystown early in the AM for more stumbling around in the woods. Once the work day was done and we had met up with Bill Blythe, the Sewco hired gun, I jumped on the bike for my first spin on the Raystown circuit. Shuey! Those are going to be some fun trails once they are broken in. The down hills were sweet, but the ups were a slog as the ground was super soft after a winter of frost heaves. There is also a ton of blow downs making the riding a little stop and go. Hopefully I’ll be able to do something about that in a few weeks. 1 and a half hour ride.

April 8- Day two at Raystown, and I figured on trying out the trails that we are replacing, the Old Loggers Path. IF by logger’s path they meant skid road, then yep, they got it. The decent from the trail head to the lake was fun in that teary-eyed fire road sort of way, but getting back out was not so sweet. The fire road on the other side was ok until it turned into a swamp, then a side option I took alternated between muck and steep, with plenty of winter deadfall to turn up the suck factor. Did I mention I was racing sunset too? 1 hour and not much more on the bike.

April 9 – I finished at Raystown at about 6pm and planned to do a night ride, only to get home to an oddly empty carport. There was no Single speed where I had left it and also no Nite Rider light, as it was on the now missing IF. Crap. So not only did I end my streak I also potentially was out a few grand. Double crap.

Epilogue – My IF was recovered by a couple of my shop mates, Andy and Tim, playing the role of bike vigilantes. The bike still had everything on it, including the light. My favorite part of the story was Andy (always Mr. Nice Guy) offered the kid a ride since he wasn't going to be leaving on the bike. Its now April 16^th and I have missed a few days, but I think I am going to try and keep it all rolling into May. We’ll see if I can do something 42 in 45 or something equally silly.  

First week down

April 1 – Started the month off right by spending an hour after mid-night typing out the schedule for the PA Mountain bike summit and sending it to everyone who had already committed. Then got up the next morning and went for my first AM ride in a while. I forgot how good it is to start the day coughing up a lung. 1hour advocacy and 1 hour ride

April 2 – Did the morning ride from home, but this time purposely did a much different route from the usual. That was one of my issues last year, got tired of the same old, same old. It was pretty good to seek out the new and odd. There were some places that were pleasant surprises, but others made me go “ yeah, theres a reason I don’t go this way”. 1hour ride

April 3- OK, today I just got a little silly. Wes the Conqueror returned his race bike from last year, which was basically a loaner from us. I eyed up the front end of it (a Paragon 29’er) and figured that it would only jack up the front end of my IF only 5mm. Fifteen minutes of stand time while Harry was out of the shop and I had myself a ghetto 69’er. Took it out after work and quickly realized what the fuss is all about. Trails that I had dialed I now could fly on, launch logs with ease and attack things with way more confidence. Damn that was fun. 1 and a half hour ride.

April 4 – Almost fell off the wagon, but so glad I didn’t. I spent the morning chaperoning a field trip which required standing around in sub-40 degree rain with a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds, then headed to the shop which was slammed. Did I mention I was out at Otto’s until almost 1 the night before? I Didn’t get home until after 9 and really considered going to sleep. Instead, I hooked up the lights, and did a big loop of the sort of bandit trails in town. I forgot how much fun night riding is, that edge between being way creeped out and totally calm. Good times for sure. 1 and a half hour ride.

April 5 – If one day bleeds into the next, it still counts right? After finishing the ride so late the night before and with rain starting at midnight, I decided to sleep in and plan on another night ride. Well, after one of the busiest days in Wheelwork’s history, I had dinner plans. I was an invited guest at an awards banquet for the Recreation, parks, and Tourism management department at Penn State. I received an award for my contributions to the department, which mostly consists of me coming in a couple of times a semester in being a guest speaker in whatever someone feels they can shoehorn me into. It’s always a good experience and I appreciate the chance to talk to students and see what the future holds. Unfortunately, over the course of the night, I probably put away 5 drinks and heading to Otto’s afterwards didn’t help. So when I finally went for my ride, it was a little closer to midnight then I had hoped for. I did mention that this isn’t really a training exercise as much as a motivation, right. 1 hour ride and not much more.

April 6 – after reviewing the options for what promised to be one of the nicest weekend days so far in 2008, I decided to load up the dog, the bike and the chainsaw and head up to Black Moshannon and the Rock Run trails. These are some of my favorite trails, and I only make it up there about 5 times a year. Unfortunately I had a little run in with “the Man” (in this case, a lady), a forest ranger who had a slightly different interpretation of state regulations than I did. After a fairly civil discussion, I handed her my IMBA business card and left it with “I look forward to getting the citation so we can actually get this settled” and continued to ride. I spent 2 and half hours riding and sawing, but didn’t get as far as I would have liked because I snapped my derailleur hanger. It was a great day, but more frustrating than I had hoped for. As an aside, the Dakine Builder Bag is awesome! 2 and half hours bike and advocacy time.

30-30 in April

So last year I did the 30 rides in 30 days thing and April and although it was cool, it seemed a little self indulgent (the whole recovering Catholic thing). So this year, I am going to do 30 rides, but I am also going to do 30 hours of advocacy to offset my guilt.  This will include clip and ride-rides, volunteering at a couple of charity rides, hours spent hassling people on the computer for better trails, attending some questionable PR event (I'll clue you in later on this one) and at least 10 hours of busting my ass building trails. I am the state IMBA rep after all, so it shouldn't be hard, but I think if I focus on it and have other folks waiting to bust my chops if I fail will make it happen. So not only will I be better come May, this might just be a better place to ride.