The New Knob

The Knob is most definitely back and better than before. I have ridden and raced on it before and after its revamp and it is longer by a good seven minutes and around 1.3 miles. The new trail has a few new features but most of the trail added is plain and utilizes the lay of the land better.

Sections that have seen change are;

The Rock Tunnel: the exit of the tunnel was moved out of the ravine and on to the old DH trail.

The Shale Pit: The Famous Tunnel and Ramp over the Tunnel are now gone. The trail goes around the tunnel and connects to The Billy Goat Trail and instead of going down the ramp the trail doubles back along the corn field and dumps you out on Dicks Express Way.

Fern Gully: The trail makes the switch back after OH SH_T and heads straight down to the cradle (no uphill any more) and offers a line to the north of the cradle that is easier or a line back up to the cradle that is not really that fun....

Friar Brian`s Forrest: Half way through the section the trail heads west and then south eventually linking up to the Zig Zag trail with is now ridden in reverse. The trail joins back on the original section before the straight away before the Gold Fish Hole.

The Bowl: The section before the bowl has been rerouted and a rock garden has been added. The trail then crosses the road and jumps in to the bowl.

Maze Ville: Right after the Vulture Gate Bridge the trail heads north and loops around in some super tricky single track, think lumpy ground, tight corners and lots of rhythm required. The trail is spliced in to the old Maze Ville and joins the old trail right before Candys Ridge.

The Tee Pee: The Tee Pee is still there but the old straight downhill is gone, I hope you like turning.

Everything else after the last "mud hole by the big tree" is different. There is LOTS of new trail that is challenging mixed in with the old trail and would be way to confusing to explain. The trail finishes like it always does.. over Allan Falls, 180 switch back, long straight away, right turn, uphill straight, over the mulch pile and up and over the finishing jump.

Me, My favorite tool and my favorite Flower

Ohio roads

Damn this week has been hectic. I jumped back into work at the shop on Monday after my rough race on Sunday and the shop is crazy right now. We are backed up with repairs for two weeks and I got a good amount of extra time in. I had Tuesday off, so I got a bit of riding in but with all the crappy weather we have been getting I have only been able to ride to work three days out the the five I worked this week. I usually ride my fixed Schwinn roadie but today I got rained out in the morning so I got a ride to work and rode home on my MTB. I grabbed my camera to take a few pictures of my commuting route.

Shadow

Sun Light

Straight Road

Nice Shorts

Tomorrow it looks like I am going down to Mohicantucky with the Orrville group to do a lap or two in preperation for the Mohican 100.

Last weekend at the 2nd OMBC race I got my ass handed to me and Dave and Timmy were in Maryland. I was in third after the first lap but fell apart completely after that. My legs just did not want to work. My arms were cramping, legs sore and twinging and my kidneys were sore. The knob layout is not quite broken in yet and was very bumpy. The never ending bumps at the knob and the lack of never ending small bumps in the Durango area beat me to a pulp. I really hope that my legs will quickly adapt to east coast bumpy riding.

Cutties

Cutties, my new favorite cornering technique for Durango riding. Yesterday Dylan and I went for a good old ride in the gulch. The route was a new one for me and it was a sweet one. Up horse gulch road, meadow trail, telegraph, crites connect, south rim, up the cowboy trail/road, up sidewinder, up suicide climb, down anasazi, meadow loop, back to campus. Woohee. The trails on the back side of the telegraph ridge were super fun and loose. The turns are swoopy and unridden and allowed for a not so often turning technique to be used...cutties. The trails were way tight and needed cut back. Were were constantly being smacked with branches, don`t ride with your mouth open....

The ride was super fun and around 2 hours at a moderate pace.

Dylan at the top of Telegraph, we only stopped for a photo op.

Somewhere on crites connect taking a piss break.

Panoramic View

Trail Conditions

A quick overview of the horse gulch trail conditions for those Durangatangs.

Meadow Loop—Bone Dry, slightly dusty

Stacy’s Loop—Bone Dry, A little loose over hard pack

Mikes—One or two mud holes, not packed, climb is loose

Cuchillo—Dry, Loose over hard pack

Telegraph—Dry, loose over hard pack.

Anasazi Descent—Dry, Loose, small rut forming

Secret trail—moist

Sidewinder—Dry, one mud hole, tree down

Suicide Climb—moist in the middle, not packed, rideable

Raiders Ridge—Dry, and fun

Lower raiders ridge—Dry and fun also

Crites Connect--Bone Dry, very loose

South Rim--Dry, loose over hard pack

F`kin Pooped

Today I made a quick ride in the Gulch to get a look at the trail conditions on Mikes and Cuchillo. Mikes was almost totally un-ridden and very muddy in spots(hike a bike to avoid trail damage),the upper section of Cuchillo was horrible where the lower section was great. The climb on Mikes was not muddy at all but the previous section was and my tires went from light weight fast rollers to uber heavy doughnuts covered in Durango dirt sprinkles..not so tasty. Not to mention the climb kicked my ass good. I am rarely so tired after a climb, its looking like I need to get my pedal mashing skill back.

A good shot of the trail. This was what most of Mikes looked like, hopefully it will dry out in the next few days. Cuchillo was similar with the exception that the mud was very watery, probably wont dry out for a while.

Hey Handsome

Another panoramic view

Ride in the Gulch

The today was great so I went for a ride in the Gulch. Most of the trails there are dry now with the exception of a few mud holes and trails on the north face.

Panoramic View

The trails were fast and fun. It felt so good to be back on dirt riding a bike.

I rode for around an hour and a half and stopped because I didn't want to miss lunch. I pushed the ride pretty hard and I suffered pretty bad on the climbs and rode not as fast as I would of liked on the down hills but hopefully my fitness will really start to come back within the next few weeks.