BAB Mountain Bike Trail Ride

Official Mountain Bike Ride Report for BAB // Bald Mountain--Addison Oaks--Bald Mountain, 14.36 mile Mountain Bike Trail Ride.

There was a ride tonight, Thursday, 7/31, but it was only Joe “Lojack” Rosenhauer and me, AND that new guy again, Kirk Schaeffer, on his old mountain bike!!

Where have all the riders gone? Doug Jones needed new brakes on his “new” bike and his “old” bike doesn’t have any spring left in the front suspension so he cancelled and Tony Bruce cancelled after his bike broke on his commute to work. That’s right, Tony rides his bike to work and we aren’t talking about a simple 5 mile ride, he is riding quite a bit further than that!!

Joe took the lead with Kirk following him, that way Kirk had someone to follow since he hasn’t ridden the BAB // Bald Mountain—Addison Oaks—Bald Mountain 14.36 mile combination trail and gravel road ride yet. I followed Kirk, that way he couldn’t get left behind and lost. That and I could ride slower since I was in last place (see Daniela—there is a reason I ride last).

At the “Pine Tree Loop”, where I lost Dave Kowalik a few rides back, Joe called out “right”, so that Kirk would know to turn right but since it was only his second ride Kirk heard “you all right?” and answered “okay”. Now that was fine but since Kirk couldn’t actually see Joe he went straight and missed the turn! When I caught up I saw that Kirk missed the turn so I had to try to catch up to him to let him know to wait since Joe was now behind us. Of course I hadn’t ridden in two weeks and gained 4.2 pounds while I was in Florida last week so it took me quite awhile to actually catch Kirk. Once I caught him we had to wait for Joe, but of course he was further back down the trail waiting for us!!! Just as I started to go back Joe came up the trail figuring that we must have missed the “Pine Tree Loop” and that we were now in front of him.

Kirk was fine with the pace, fine—heck I was barely keeping up with him—so we took off again since the mosquitoes were eating us alive. When we got over to the Addison Oaks section of the trails Joe continued to lead, with Kirk next, and then me following but pretty soon Kirk was surprised by a steep uphill and couldn’t make it, had to dismount and I passed him!! Lame I know, since he doesn’t know the trail!! However, I started to feel much better so I pressed on, trying to keep just ahead of Kirk to encourage him to go faster because he said he wanted to be “pushed”. I called out downhills and uphills and other terrain to make it easier for Kirk to anticipate things and by golly he really did well. Of course Kirk subscribes to the Doug Jones school of riding (“brakes on a downhill? Who needs those? They just slow you down!) and is a downhill speed demon!! Need I tell you that Joe “Lojack” Rosenhauer was so far out in front of us that we found him taking a nap at the concession stand at the end of the trail!!

Now I have to warn all you other riders, and those of you who should be riding but aren’t. Kirk is riding a 16 year old RIGID mountain bike, with toe cages no less, and it was only his second ride with the “group” but we still rode the BAB ride in our BEST TIME YET, 1:14:28!!!! Rumor has it that Kirk is trying to buy a new full suspension killer bike, so watch out!!!! If he does, Doug Jones will just have to break down and buy that 29 inch killer hard tail race bike he so desperately wants!!!

Still looking for some of our other intrepid riders who were AWOL!

Sincerely,
Dan “Krash” Kiplinger
“Embedded” in-the-field Correspondent and Editor-in-chief for the “Official Mountain Bike Ride Report”.

Pontiac Lake Recreation Area

Official Mountain Bike Ride Report for Pontiac Lake Recreation Area Mountain Bike Trail Ride

There was a ride last Thursday, 7/24, but I was on vacation so no one wrote a ride report. I heard that only Craig “Chief” Drozd and Doug “Rhino” Jones showed up for the ride so where have all the riders gone? However the good news is that Doug did bring a new rider, Kirk Schaeffer, who was riding a 16 year old rigid (no suspension at all) mountain bike with toe cages! I also heard that Craig had a fairly bad crash, although there were no eye witnesses, and that he had to take the short cut back to the parking lot because he couldn’t continue the ride. Craig was on vacation this week so I don’t know what his medical condition is but we hope he is recovered and ready to ride next week!

Sincerely,
Dan “Krash” Kiplinger
“Embedded” in-the-field Correspondent and Editor-in-Chief for the “Official Mountain Bike Ride Report”.

"Chicago" found!

Exciting news!!! Dennis “Chicago” Kennedy is alive and well! I repeat, alive and well, so call of the search for his body!!

I saw Dennis in the parking lot at work last Friday, July 18^th, the day after the last BAB ride where he was a no show, as I previously reported. He was driving his wife’s Mustang convertible, again, dropping Lynn off at work, again. So, he didn’t try to take the engine out of her car and Lynn hadn’t “offed” him!! But why wasn’t he at the BAB ride then?

As I approached the car I told Dennis he was going to be flamed in the “Ride Report”! He told me it was too hot to ride, especially since he had heat exhaustion once before and never wanted to do that again. Since I have known of several people who actually have had heat exhaustion (I am sure Dennis did too!) and how dangerous it was I told Dennis he had a good excuse so I wouldn’t flame him.

Then Dennis laughed at me and told me that wasn’t the real reason he wasn’t there. The real reason was that he “just didn’t want to go, didn’t want to GO, it was just TOO DAMN HOT!!!” Lynn chimed in and confirmed that was the reason and that he was healthy and fine and the heat exhaustion thing was just a ruse and was not a good enough excuse and go ahead and flame him.

So, that confirms it!!! I believe that Dennis is, in fact, secretly training with the Olympic team and simply doesn’t want to tip his hand as to how superior of a mountain biker he is than the rest of us!!!

I am convinced that we will not see Dennis riding this year until he shows up at the Iceman race and smokes the rest of us!!! That or he will be selling his Iceman registration to Alex Zawinsky for a profit since Alex couldn’t follow the instructions for registering and didn’t get selected for this year’s race and is desperately trying to buy his way into the race!!

Sincerely,

Dan “Krash” Kiplinger

“Embedded” in-the-field Correspondent and Editor-in-Chief for the “Official Mountain Bike Ride Report”.

Exciting mountain biking news!

Exciting news!!! There was a Chicago sighting last week! No not that Chicago. Chicago as in Dennis “Chicago” Kennedy because Dennis bailed on us (Craig, Doug, Joe, Bill and me) and went to Chicago instead of riding in the Iceman mountain bike race November of last year!

I saw Dennis in the parking lot at work last Wednesday, July 16th. No he wasn’t driving his manly Z71 pickup truck, or his Willy’s Jeep, or even his cute little Mazda Miata convertible, he was driving his wife’s Mustang convertible, that’s right, his wife’s car. Worse yet, I hear but I have not seen nor can I confirm that Dennis actually drives (horrors) --- a minivan!!! If that is right; Dennis is a --- soccer Mom!!??!!

We talked about the BAB (Bald Mountain-Addison Oaks-Bald Mountain) ride scheduled for the next day, Thursday, July 17^th, and he said he really wanted to be there, that he needed to be there, that he would try to be there but that he had hoped to have at least four rides under his belt before riding with the “group”. Even though he is obviously in great shape (thin, lean and mean looking) I could see the fear in his eyes as he looked at me, old, graying, no muscle tone, a bit of a pot belly but he knew I was riding with the “group” so he was obviously worried about whether he could keep up with “group” since he hasn’t ridden yet this year.

I noticed he was stroking the Mustang, nervously glancing at the hood and I could see the wheels turning in his head. He was thinking that the 20 HP lawnmower engine from his riding lawnmower that he was in the process of bolting onto his bike the last time we swapped Emails wasn’t going to be big enough for him to keep up with the “group”. So, he was thinking about taking the big V8 engine out of his wife’s Mustang and bolting that onto his bike instead!! I know what you are thinking and the visual image in your mind of Dennis straddling that big V8 bolted to his bike as the frame collapses but he is an amateur mechanic and a wild and crazy guy. Dennis would try to do it, if only to be able to open the door from his garage into the house so that he could yell to his wife “Lynn, I’ll be back in a little while, I have to go to the bike store and buy a new bike because mine is broken.” Dennis would buy that new killer bike, sub 20 pound, carbon fiber, really fast bike even if he couldn’t keep up with the “group” on it so at least he would have the satisfaction that the rest of us would be so distracted with bike envy/lust that we wouldn’t notice that he was slow!

Now you have to understand that Dennis already did this to me once, which is why I could see the wheels turning in his head, could read his mind, and could understand his motivation. Back in 1999, when we were worried about the year 2000 playing havoc with all of the computer systems, Dennis was working too much to get very many rides in but he convinced me and my son Nathaniel to ride with him on THE Millennium Polar Rhino Ride on January 1, 2000. Nathaniel and I showed up early and signed in and as we headed back to the parking lot to get our bikes, Dennis went running by us to go sign in, in his business suit!! He was just coming from work and told us he would meet us in the parking lot so Nathaniel and I searched the lot for his truck and his trusty Blue Trek mountain bike, but we couldn’t find it. I did see a truck that looked like Dennis’ but it had a brand spanking new Specialized Stump Jumper Pro full suspension killer mountain bike on it, I think it still even had the stickers on it!! Dennis came out the parking lot and just grinned as he unloaded the bike mumbling something about it being a late Christmas present from him to him. I don’t remember much about THE Millennium Polar Rhino Ride other than Dennis’ new killer bike! So, it is an effective tactic, so effective that I used it myself in the Iceman race last year!!

So, either Dennis is secretly training with Lance Armstrong or he is having trouble bolting an engine onto his bike in such a fashion that we won’t notice it, or he might actually show up for a scheduled ride and surprise us!

Sincerely,

Dan “Krash” Kiplinger

“Embedded” in-the-field Correspondent and Editor-in-Chief for the “Official Mountain Bike Ride Report”.

Pontiac Lake Recreation Area Mountain Bike Trail Ride

Official Mountain Bike Ride Report for Pontiac Lake Recreation Area Mountain Bike Trail Ride

Joe “Lojack” Rosenhauer, Peter Hill, Alex Zawinsky, Matt Bradley and I rode the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area trail ride last Saturday. Joe and I got to the parking lot at 8:05 AM and while there were a number of riders there, none of “our” riders were there yet. “They” wanted to ride at 9 AM but “we” wanted to ride at 8 AM, so we compromised on 8:30 AM but Joe and I were early. Peter showed up on time but Alex and Matt were late with Alex providing a (lame) excuse about not being able to find one or both of his mountain bike shoes! Having never ridden with Matt and since he was carpooling with Alex, I can’t lay any blame on him because he was there ready to ride, unlike some of our other intrepid riders who were, yet again, AWOL!

Upon test riding his bike in the parking lot, Alex noticed he had some mechanical problems (further fallout from the Potawatomi ride in the downpour!) and needed to borrow a allen wrench because he didn’t have any tools, spare tire, patch kit, or pump—nor did Matt. I attribute that as a attempt to reduce weight on their part and therefore ride faster than me since I carry all of that plus a cell phone to call 911 and a “Road ID” ankle bracelet with my emergency information on it, just in case! Alex adjusted his rear brake cable (something that is really critical to keep from “endoing” on a steep downhill!!!) and his loose handle bar stem (something that is really critical to keep from face planting into a tree in a hard turn!!!) That Potawatomi ride really took a toll on everyone!!! Craig Drozd’s, Doug Jones’, and Daniela Bredemeier’s bikes are all still down for repairs, Joe Rosenhauer had to replace his front brake pads, chain and rear cassette, Alex Zawinsky had to replace his rear quick release skewer and adjust/tighten his rear brake and handle bar stem, and Steve Burgin lost all his brakes and hasn’t been out riding since Potawatomi! Knock on wood, my bike seems to have been unaffected so far (maybe it’s because I ride slower and more gently than the rest of the riders?)!!

Before we started the ride I lowered my seat post a little so I could dismount more quickly since this was the first time I have ridden Pontiac Lake since my infamous June 17, 2003 spectacular crash and I was very apprehensive, especially since we didn’t have a paramedic on this ride like we did that day!!! Big mistake, I couldn’t pedal efficiently and was immediately dropped by the guys!!! Then I was passed by two more riders and I knew I was going to have to stop to adjust the seat. While I was adjusting the seat five more riders went by but they did ask if I was okay (I couldn’t believe that I looked that exhausted less than 10 minutes into the ride—but I am old so maybe that threw them off as well!).

I eventually caught up to Matt Bradley, of course I’m not sure if you can call it catching up if he is standing there waiting for me while being eaten alive by mosquitoes but it was nice of him to wait for me. Matt and I rode together for awhile, him flying downhill but struggling uphill because he was still recovering from bronchitis and couldn’t breathe well, me cautiously going downhill (memories of my crash!) and struggling uphill but not as much as Matt because I downshifted more! I think that Joe, Alex and Peter waited up for Matt and me several times as well but when we started riding again they quickly dropped us. When I told Alex that I had lowered my seat he scolded me and told me to never do that because it saps all of your strength because you use your muscles differently. Now I know better because the longer we rode the better I was feeling compared to the start. FYI, Alex says that your seat height (center of the crank bolt to the top of the seat) should be .73 inches times your inseam, which at that point Peter began to compare the height of his seat to the rest of our bikes as he appears to be the tallest of all “our” riders. It appeared that my seat was even higher than his though, so go figure? We’ll have to do some real measuring, and weighing, of the bikes on a future ride to do some comparing and evaluating, and of course—bragging rights for the lightest bike!!

When we got to a paved road, Matt decided to ride back to the parking lot as the heat and humidity had combined with his bronchitis to wear him out. I was actually feeling better but the energy sapping from my seat adjustment mistake kept me from being able to keep up with Joe, Peter and Alex all of the time (that’s my story and I’m sticking with it—it couldn’t have anything to do with me being older, heavier, and more out of shape than those guys!!). However, we were going faster than before, at least I was going faster than I was before, for all I know they were going slower than they were before!

When we got back to the parking lot we found that the 11-12 mile trail that we used to ride in 2000-2003 was only a little over 9 miles now. So that means that they cut out some of the more treacherous sections, especially the 300 yard long, 60% downhill grade, multiple ski jump like monster of a downhill that I spectacularly crashed on in 2003!!! Probably in my honor, no less!! But hey, I finished without crashing, keeping my promise to my wife who wasn’t home at the time, just like in 2003, to “not do anything stupid”!!! I did have to dismount on one downhill section with two drop offs and on a couple of “rock gardens” and I had to walk up a number of hills as well, but I did finish which was a huge emotional hurdle for me. I think I might even go back again because I really do want to find that downhill I crashed on and reflect on my good fortune of having a paramedic along on the ride to take care of me, and good riding buddies to help me out as well, even if one of them took pictures and distributed them to everyone at work, and is still holding my famous Timex hostage!!!

Still looking for some of our other intrepid riders who were AWOL though!

Sincerely,

Dan “Krash” Kiplinger

“Embedded” in-the-field Correspondent and Editor-in-chief for the “Official Mountain Bike Ride Report”.

BAB Mountain Bike Trail Ride

Official Mountain Bike Ride Report for BAB // Bald Mountain--Addison Oaks--Bald Mountain, 14.36 mile trail ride

Doug “Rhino” Jones, Joe “Lojack” Rosenhauer, Dave Kowalik, Peter Hill and I rode the BAB // Bald Mountain—Addison Oaks—Bald Mountain 14.36 mile combination trail and gravel road ride last Thursday. When Joe and I got the parking lot Doug and Peter were already there waiting and Dave arrived a couple minutes after we did. Dave was going to ride his “primary” bike this time which was a Specialized full suspension instead of his “backup” bike like he did on the last BAB ride, so we expected him to be really fast today. I was worried about Doug as well since he was riding his “backup” bike, his trusty Barracuda hard tail race bike instead of his new Giant full suspension since it still had mechanical problems left over from the Potawatomi ride in the downpour, and I remembered from when I first started riding years ago that he was really really fast on the ‘Cuda!

When we started the ride Joe took the lead, followed by Doug and me, and then Dave and Peter. We took gravel roads directly to Addison Oaks instead of riding the Bald Mountain trail because Doug needed to leave early. Doug was telling me about Daniela Bredemeier’s mechanical problems with her bike that she said would cause her to have to miss the ride (further fallout from the Potawatomi ride in the downpour!). Something about one wheel being out of true causing her brake to rub (which of course would slow her down!!) and her chain scratching her paint job so she was going to take it back to the bike shop for a tune up. Doug told her to put a “Lizard Skin” (bullet proof nylon sleeve held on with Velcro to protect the bike paint) on and not to worry about it but of course being the fashion maven she is, Daniela passed as it would ruin the color scheme on her bike. That and she really wanted to fix the problem, not just disguise it. Doug also told me about a sweet new 29 inch hard tail superbike that he was thinking about buying, something that would allow him to smoke the rest of us on future rides.

When we got to Addison Oaks Doug suggested that Dave or Peter lead since they had been lagging behind on the gravel road portion sandbagging the rest of us. Of course Dave had already stopped to take a drink or adjust his bike and the rest of the guys stopped as well. I saw this as my chance to surprise them and take the lead while they were all stopped so I wouldn’t get passed very quickly on trail! So, I took off and didn’t look back (I didn’t want to see them gaining on me!) after awhile I heard a bike behind me and I was worried it was Doug, who can ride about 2” behind my rear wheel all day long if he wants to force me to ride harder. So I rode harder and lost the bike for a short while but when I heard the bike again I called out to find out who it was (I didn’t want to turn around and look because I have a tendency to crash when I do that!) and turns out it was Joe, not Doug. We went through a pretty technical section and at the bottom of hill I was taking at a high rate of speed just before a hard left turn and a steep uphill my seat came loose and the nose of the seat was pointing straight up as I was trying to hold my butt up off the rear tire! Needless to say I had to stop to make repairs and all of the guys passed me. I say all of the guys since they had all just caught up to me so it was only a matter of time before they would have passed me anyway. Can you say “out of gas”?

I finally caught up to the guys at the concession stand where I saw Peter had his bike upside down and a wheel removed. I thought maybe he had a flat tire but by the time I got there he had it back on the bike and they were ready to continue riding. We had a short discussion where the guys humored me by telling me that I had been putting on a blistering pace (who knows, maybe I was)! Then Doug said he had to ride back to the parking lot because he was out of time. The rest of us decided to ride the Bald Mountain trail on the way back. Doug, Joe and Peter took off, and I followed but held back because I saw Dave stop a couple of times as he was checking his bike out for some reason (that’s my story and I am sticking to it—it had nothing to do with me being exhausted!).

When Dave caught up to me just before we were about to leave the gravel road to jump into the Bald Mountain trail he asked if he could ride my bike to test something out. While he was riding mine I rode his and sure enough his didn’t seem to be “right”. I found that he had four or five loose bolts on his suspension, which is not a good thing to say the least! I got out my allen wrench and tightened everything up and after a quick test ride Dave took the lead into the trail, while I was stopped putting my allen wrench away of course!!

When I finally caught up to the guys in the parking lot Dave already had his bike in the car but Peter, Joe and I decided to ride the South loop of the Bald Mountain trail. I was able to keep up with them, most of the time, but it was a good fast long ride on a day when we only had a few sprinkles of rain and good company. Still looking for some of our other intrepid riders who were AWOL though!

Sincerely,

Dan “Krash” Kiplinger

“Embedded” in-the-field Correspondent and Editor-in-chief for the “Official Mountain Bike Ride Report”.

BAB Mountain Bike Trail Ride

Official Mountain Bike Ride Report for BAB // Bald Mountain--Addison Oaks--Bald Mountain, 14.36 mile Mountain Bike Trail Ride.

Craig “Chief” Drozd, Joe “Lojack” Rosenhauer, Dave Kowalik and I rode the BAB // Bald Mountain—Addison Oaks—Bald Mountain 14.36 mile combination trail and gravel road ride last Thursday. I called Joe to see if he was going to be able to make the ride since he was supposed to be out on his boat tubing with his family and I was surprised to hear that he was already half way there. So I had to hurry and finish loading up so I wouldn’t be late but when I tried to roll my Cannondale Scalpel out of the garage, I found out that the rear tire was flat! It wasn’t flat when I road my 11.5 mile gravel road loop on Tuesday night but it was now, so I had to quickly switch to my Cannondale Killer V700. When I got the parking lot Craig and Joe were already there waiting and Dave arrived a couple minutes after I did. Dave was riding his “backup” bike too (Gary Fisher full suspension) because he thought it was going to be muddy and he didn’t want to get his Specialized “dirty” (just think about the dirt he would have been in on the Potawatomi ride)!

When we started the ride Craig took the lead, followed by Joe, me and then Dave. Craig put on a pretty fast pace, fast enough that Dave got tired of having to slow up for me so he finally passed me and the three of them waited for me at the start of the gravel road ride over to Addison Oaks. I don’t remember who led the gravel road portion because I was struggling to keep up with Craig, Joe and Dave but I think it was Craig. When we got to Addison Oaks Craig suggested that someone else lead so Joe took the lead since I told him I wasn’t ready to crash and burn yet this year and as I took off after Joe I heard Dave tell Craig to give me a ½ mile head start so they didn’t run me over!

It didn’t take but about 3 minutes before I couldn’t see Joe anymore as he was living up to his billing as “Lojack” (as in need a Lojack to find him) or “Rocket” (as in gone like a rocket) and I didn’t see him until we got to the short blacktop section about halfway through the trail. I heard Dave and Craig behind me so I pushed it as hard as I could so that they wouldn’t catch me and for awhile I didn’t hear them but of course they caught me just as I got to the blacktop section where Joe was waiting for us. Craig informed us that he was having front derailleur issues (left over hardware problems from the Potawatomi ride no doubt) so he still wanted me to ride in front of him. Joe took off again but this time Dave gave chase only inches off of Joe’s rear wheel and it wasn’t but about 3 minutes again before I couldn’t see either of them anymore! (Seems to be a common theme for me this year!) Eventually I caught up to Dave on a series of up hills when he threw his chain, but I think he was just taking easy as well just to be sure that Craig and I were still upright and safe, especially since he would periodically catch up to me and then fall back, probably to check on Craig.

When we got to the picnic area Joe was waiting at a temporary “snow” fence that was blocking our way out of the parking lot. Turns out that they had closed off that area to keep people out since they had fireworks set up for a wedding being held there that evening! Joe volunteered to “close” the gate after the rest of us arrived so the park ranger took off. Dave showed up next and headed on to the concession stand to get some water and then Craig pedaled up as another park ranger drove by to tell us we needed to vacate the area but to come back for the public fireworks on Friday night.

I took the lead on the gravel road ride but Craig blew by me and then eventually Joe blew by me and when we got to the Bald Mountain trail Dave blew by me into the trail and the only reason I was able to chase Dave was because Craig and Joe had stopped to wait for us and they had to remount their bikes. We had only gone a short way on the high speed semi-downhill section when I heard Dave yelling “BRAKE” and saw him just able to stop before he would have hit a large tree that had fallen across the trail, large enough that “normal sane” riders like us wouldn’t attempt to jump. Joe stopped behind me but I heard Craig exclaim that he was disappointed that Joe was blocking the way for Craig to “bunny hop” over the downed tree!!! Dave kept the lead until he made a wrong turn and I passed him, okay, I didn’t really pass him but throw me a bone here, at least I told him so he could turn around-unlike his first wrong turn on the first half of the Bald Mountain loop when I didn’t tell him-poor protocol on my part. Since there were only a couple of minutes left to the parking lot I finished FIRST, lame, I know—but at least I rode—unlike some of our other intrepid riders who were AWOL!

Sincerely,

Dan “Krash” Kiplinger

“Embedded” in-the-field Correspondent and Editor-in-chief for the “Official Mountain Bike Ride Report”.