Weekly update

Last week was non-exciting during the week, just riding and preparing for the Addison Oaks race this weekend. Same for this week, just not as much riding or as hard.

I rode a few laps at Island Lake on Saturday, a trail I have rarely ridden since it is over on the western side of the city and I rarely venture to that side because I have so many great areas to ride out my front door. The trail is relatively flat and has a nice flow to it but it is all big ring, and mostly flat. The trail attracts a lot of riders due to it's location and the fact that is a good place to learn to mountain bike.

The main reason I was at Island Lake was that there was a bike demo day at the park. Many of the dealers in the metro area had demo bikes available and our team was there to support the Cannondale brand. Cannondale was unable to get one of their factory trucks with demo bikes available so we helped one of the local Cannondale bike shops. We also got to hang out with our Cannondale area sales rep, it's always a plus to see and talk to him.

After church on Sunday ( a rarity for me) the family went to brunch to enjoy Mother's day. in spite of eating too much I went out for a four hour ride later in the afternoon. I did a lap at Addison Oaks so I could compare lap times with the Scalpel I was on vs. laps I had done earlier in the week on the 29'er. I felt a lot faster on the Scalpel but the lap time was only marginally faster and it was a lot drier on Sunday. Maybe I was more efficient on the 29'er so it didn't feel as fast.

I rode over to Stony to do a lap there as well. They had done a reroute on one section of the trail that had become badly eroded. The managed to increase the trail length slightly but I didn't care for the new section. It doesn't have the same flow to it that the rest of that section has and the trail construction makes me wonder how long it will hold up. Much of the trail is built on an off-camber including some of the corners. I think it will start to break down after a while and have to be redone.

It looks like we should have a dry Addison Oaks race. Last year's race turned into a mud bath that also ruined the trail. Many hours were spent to get the trail back in shape. We have added some new trail so that the course will be a little longer this year and have more climbing. I'm only doing the 6 hour race, not the whole 12 hour race. I don't want to completely ruin my legs two weeks before the Mohican 100 miler.