Sunday, October 13, 2013

6 Hours of Frog Hollow

After Race
To prepare for the 25 Hours in Frog Hour race this year I decided to sign up for the 6 hour version.  I've ridden several 6 hour events in the past few months but not on a mountain bike.

I was interested in several items:

Which bike?
Should I the full suspension 26 or the 29'er hard tail.  The trail is not too technical.  I rode the 29'er which handled great.  It was much easier getting up and over the rock sections.

Nutrition
One bottle per lap along with a bar or a couple of gels.

Results:  5 laps in 5:30 hours

I definitely need to adjust my riding position.  After 3 hours my lower back was dang sore.  I'll probably bring both 26 and 29'er to the 25 hour race.


Friday, October 4, 2013

Bear Lake Monster Cross

16 riders for the 1st annual BLMX
I signed up for the Bear Lake Monster Cross to get an idea how a gravel grinder race would feel.  I'm really interested in riding the Dirty Kanza.  This ride would be the longest I'd ever done on my cyclocross bike.

The BLMX was initially scheduled for August but was postponed which caused most of the riders to cancel.

I was really excited to ride the dirt and gravel roads around Bear Lake and nearby mountains.  This was the longest ride

The temperature at the start was in the upper thirties.  The 16 of us headed south from Montpelier through gravel roads until we hit the causeway from the east side of Bear lake to the west.  After more dirt and gravel roads we hit the mountains at Paris, ID.  The views awesome.  The leaves were turning colors and there was snow at the higher elevations.

A view from some of the back roads
The ride was great.  I'll definitely do it again.  I could have used more gears for climbing and wider tires for the gravel roads.