March 14, 2015
To start with, the title invokes a defeatist attitude with self pity involved. I think if you read on past the title, you will discover that isn't true, and not the intended purpose of this entire blog, which is to show my readers that anything is possible if you just try. This day began several months ago when I registered for a bike race that I knew would be a tough one. During the winter months, the serious racers got out and trained in sub-freezing temperatures and harsh conditions in order to condition themselves to what lay ahead. This writer did not.
While it is true, I got out and rode, and even rode in some adverse weather conditions, I did not actually train to improve my physical conditioning. Mostly, I did not train to improve my mental conditioning. I just rode my bike. So, while the background is now behind us, let me bring you up to date.
March 13th, the day before the big race ..... it rained all day. I knew the country roads would be not in very good shape for driving, let alone riding, and the roads up in the Stillwater, Oklahoma area are much more primitive than ours down here. The race purposely chooses the more primitive roads to add a challenge to the race, to separate the haves from the have nots. This year, with the help of the rain before the race, the race organizers certainly outdid themselves. The race organizers had no control over the weather, and did a bang-up job of providing and seeing to our safety and needs while we were out there on the course. I had a choice to make ...... should I go on and try, or stay home, warm and dry. I decided to go. Which brings us up to the day of the race.
First, a couple of definitions in order to better define the purpose of my title to this post.
1...... Success: The accomplishment of ones stated goals.
2...... Failure: Proving unsuccessful, not achieving ones goals.
3...... Defeat: To eliminate or deprive of something expected.
All of these came into play in the race today, and affected the outcome for me.
Starting out, there was a large number of riders, although it didn't appear to me to be anywhere near the original registration number of some 580 riders.
Here is the start:
Bike still pretty and clean after just unloading. See the little white plastic piece under my downtube? That proved to be a real lifesaver, keeping me and my water bottles much cleaner. Called a "Crud Catcher", it's an $8.00 item that was worth it's weight in gold on this ride.
From behind: To the lady in the middle of the picture. ..... I'm sorry, I really didn't realize you had to go ......
From the front:
After the loud gun (I mean really loud, I jumped!) we were off. The first few miles were paved, and then normal gravel country roads after a rain. A bit muddy in spots, but easily rideable even rather quickly. I chose the Fatbike for this ride for a couple of reasons .... 1: I wanted to add a bit to the challenge (little did I know) and 2: it is very comfortable, it climbs much better than I ever thought it would, is much more stable on downhills, and I felt that I could do the intended mileage without too much difficulty.
Please excuse the image quality of a couple of the photos as I was riding at the time and the road was rough in spots shaking the camera and I around a bit. These are typical Oklahoma country roads, considered to be "all weather roads" and as you can see, quite passable in most conditions. These nice roads continued until mile 10 into the ride, then things got more and more interesting. I was proud of the big ol' Fatbike, I was able to keep on pedaling even when most of the others had resorted to walking. Then I saw my first broken derailleur hanger and the gentleman was pulling his bike off to the side .... done for the day, then a second, then a broken chain ....... then I got off and walked also. I did not have a spare derailleur hanger with me, and really did not want to break the one that was on the bike. At the time, I was still moving, albeit very slowly.
I rode right on down to the portage, then continued riding up the little hill in the background. It was near the top of that hill where I started noticing riders out with mechanicals.
After that, it was one portage, and one muddy hill after another for three miles. This wasn't just mud ...... think red peanut butter, sticky, gooey, slimy. Walking was a chore, one two foot stride forward, then slide a foot and one half back on ever step. Slide down the slope of the portages sideways.
One of the portages, as you can see, we were well above the road and had to lift our bikes down off the ledges until we got back to the road again. The push some more.
Here you can see the young lady bringing her bike off the top of the bank. down one level.
At this point, I was still smiling, laughing and joking to the other riders, poking fun at adversity, and still had my spirits up. It got worse.
Did I mention it was a sticky, gooey peanut butter type mud ..... well, this is my back wheel after cleaning it all off, then five feet further and it looked like this again. Not rolling, sliding. The bike gained at least ten pounds. Push, slide, lift over portages up on the ditch banks, clean, slide, push, lift.
The front tire, you really couldn't tell where the road ended and the tire started.
After two miles of this, my spirits were still good, laughing about it, joking, teasing, and just carrying on. I felt surely it couldn't last forever. Then I topped another hill, only to see, stretched out ahead of me, another mile of muddy goo, and riders pushing their bikes down the hill, across the valley floor, and back up the other side. This was where I was defeated. I allowed my mind to be overcome by the adversity, instead of mind over matter, the conditions were instead controlling my mind. I gave in to the pain, and the weariness that I was feeling in my body. My muscles hurt, seemingly every one of them, my head hurt, I felt like I couldn't push that heavy (and getting heavier) bike another foot. Right there, I defeated myself. The people that went on to finish this race were the ones that kept right on going with the same can-do attitude that they had at the beginning. I went on, but only out of stubbornness and determination rather than a carefree attitude. No more laughing, joking and grinning, just push, lift, slide, clean, and push some more. Finally, over the next hill, things did indeed improve, and finally I was able to ride for a bit. During all this mud, I must have seen at least 20 riders with mechanical issues, knocking them out of the race. Finally, a chance to ride, then walk and push, then ride a bit more, then finally to the crossroads. This brings me to the title. To the left was the marked route, the completion of the route would have marked success. To the right, was the shorter way back to town, still not easy, but shorter, and failure. Both success and failure are a choice, and at that moment, I chose to fail, and went to the right. To go to the left went south, and more of the same mud. The further south we went, the worse it got. The way I went, wasn't easy, still muddy, many hills, but ride-able. The stalwart, tough, strong willed people went left and finished, I went right and back to town. I was very exhausted at this crossroads and honestly didn't think I could go on to finish. However, I got back on the bike and rode 13 miles back to town, still on mud and through the hills. So ...... I obviously wasn't as exhausted as I thought, it was all in my mind. I allowed the conditions take control, instead of my mind staying in control. At the time, I felt ashamed of my decision, and later rationalized it by saying, well ......"I did ride thirty miles and finished under my own motive power" ...... and another .... "I could have chosen not to start, but I did, and rode what I could" .... The truth is, though, I gave up, caved, I was finished mentally. This is not the sign of a true athlete, who takes advantage of adversity to gain on his (her) opponents. Speaking of her ...... there were both males and females in this race who finished ..... I can at least say I am proud to have been able to ride along with them for a bit, and laugh and joke with them. They, however, kept their smiling faces until the end. I did not. It all goes back to "rule number five" ...... toughen up!! Shame on me, I should have had that in my mind. All this, however was before I realized that the route to the south was just a big loop and brought us back onto the same road we had just pushed through. That knowledge would have completely done me in.
Is there a moral here ...... you bet!! I realized that if I am going to do this sort of thing, I need to toughen up, train harder, train my mind to accept adversity and pain and keep going, keep smiling, and keep thinking it's fun! That top of the hill at mile two was where it quit being fun for me, and influenced my decision at the crossroads. Do I consider myself a failure ....... not at all. I came, I tried, I did what I could. I did, indeed finish under my own power, and did at least do thirty tough miles. I was out there with everyone else doing the same thing, and while 20% of the riders went on to finish, 80% failed to do so, like me. So I was in good company. I need to work a bit harder if I want to continue doing this. Although, I also felt, that I really need make a decision to either leave the racing to those people who are better suited for it, or work harder on my training if I want to continue. Mostly, I need to work on my mentality a lot, even for general riding ....... Keep Laughing, Keep Smiling, Have Fun In The Face Of Anything That Comes Along! If you can do that ..... nothing can truly defeat you!
At the end pictures :
Bike not looking like it did at the start
Nice tee
No, I'm not showing you the rest of me, but consider that this was the highest part of me, you can imagine what the rest looked like.
The riders who finished this tough, grueling route have my utmost respect and admiration. Life is a journey and not every day will be successful, some will be failures, but as long as we get up the next morning willing to try again, we, personally are a success. So, we take the good days with the failed days, and make the most of them, and if we can do that, we will always be a success. My day failed to achieve what I wanted, but I succeeded because I tried, and pushed through one of the most grueling days I can remember, and tomorrow, maybe my day will succeed as well.
1/18/15
I've been trying to get over a nasty chest cold/bronchitis/flu now for several weeks, so I felt an easier day might be better. I picked out a route that I had not traveled yet, just to see where the roads go. It was fairly local and should yield a route of around 25 miles or so. What is that old saying about the best laid plans of mice or men? It really didn't work out like that at all .....
First off, planning my route ahead of time I saw that I could take one road all the way to the tee, and turn left. I like doing that as I don't have to remember stuff so much. Just go to the tee and turn .... hey, easy always works for me. So, I did just that, and the road I went north on, I had never traveled either, so it was all a new experience, and a new adventure. North I went, and got to the tee like expected, and turned left only to go about a quarter of a mile to find this .........
Possibly the locked gate and the deteriorating road might lead me to believe that this ride may not be so normal after all. Sure enough, another half mile, almost within sight of the next road I came across this .........
Right up at the top of the hill in the background is where the next road crosses. Ah, me ....... so close, yet soooo far! I had a fleeting thought about hanging onto the bike with one hand, and the bridge top rail with the other and walking across sideways ...... sanity prevailed, however, and I decided to backtrack and choose another road. The gully you see under the bridge is about twenty-five feet deep anyway, not some place I wanted to be if something went wrong.
So, another road .......
This one ended at an old pickup truck with a couple guys in it. Also a barricade, although this one, I could just step over. So, as long as they were just sitting there, I asked if the road through the creek channel was passable.
There was some serious thinking going on between the two of them, I could almost see the smoke rising. "Wal now" he starts, "Best way to do thet is to jus' foller this here road to your raht 'n jes' keep on a-follerin' it for a mile or more, then it'll turn and cross t' gully, n' y'all kin jes foller it raht bek to this here road on t'other side" "Follow what road" I asked ......... "Why, thet one raht there, y'all blind er sumtin?" ......
Mudholes like this became the order of the day as I progressed south along the "road" ...Obviously, the ridge in the middle was the only choice to be made here as both sides and the big water holes were not usable options. The sides were gooey, and the water ....well .... But, as it turned out, the far side of the middle ridge was almost quicksand. Looked good ......ah yes .....an adventure ride is what it's all about, right?
So, I just kept following the "road" to the south for what he said would be a "mile or so" ...... and it kept getting more and more interesting.
But also kept getting just prettier and prettier as I went along
"Jes' keep on the road until it crosses the gully" he said ..... "and then y'all got it made ".
The "road" on the other side of the "gully" is almost vertical causing a hike-a-bike to the top. But it does get me to the other side of the gully.
On the other side, the terrain becomes much different. More hilly, much more rocky and big rooted sections making for more hike-a bike sections.
For what seemed like an eternity, I kept following the "road", north this time, or so it seemed. Besides the challenges, there were times when it would become a paradise. But even with all the challenges that a better mountain biker than me would have taken in stride, I found this to be one of the prettiest areas in which I had ever had the pleasure of bicycling.
Finally, I did find the original road that I had started from, and in a way, even though traversing the trail was tough, I was a bit sorry it was over. Well ...... it wasn't over ..... yet! This is what the "county road" looked like ........
Big fat tires hold a lot of mud.
The adventure was far from over yet as I was soon to find out, but first, let's go on down to the "gully" and see why I couldn't just go across here on this road.......
Oh ........
If you look close, just on the other side of the creek, there is a little yellow "road closed" sign ..... and you can see the "road" going on up through the trees.
I guess that's why ....... So, turn around again and back on up past where I had come out onto this "road" and headed back toward civilization. What's this ...... he never mentioned barbed wire fences and locked gates ......
and I'm on the inside, looking out.Well ...... as much as I enjoyed the ride ....... I am not going to go back. So ... picking the 32 pound bike up and throwing it over a five foot tall barbed wire fence sounds like it might involve an injury or two ...... it may have drawn a little blood. The fence was a bit shorter than the gate, however. I used the gate to get myself over.
Only to go a quarter mile further and find yet another locked gate and more barbed wire. So .....repeat the process, trying unsuccessfully to be a bit more careful ..... and then, on the other
side of the fence, there was this sign......
Well, now really, he needn't have worried, I had a hard enough time just getting my bike over the fence, let alone a cow ..... There wasn't a sign or locked gates on the other side of the gully ....
So, finally out ...... I found the actual county road again and climbed up some steep long hills .... reminiscent of Utah color country.
and then back down again, and then back up again ....
But back into civilization once again.
Heading on home, I found why maybe my cleats weren't clipping in quite as easily as normal. I have to admit, though, they did get me home like this without much trouble.
All in all, a truly unusual day full of many adventures, but one I wouldn't have taken back for anything. I ended up with 31 miles of adventures that I would never have seen otherwise. What a day! Yes .... my cough is worse today ...... oh well ..... I still wouldn't have given it up.
1/16/15;
A lot of the fun of getting a new bike is getting it out the first time and seeing what it is really like to ride. Because a Fatbike is such a different beast completely, this becomes an even more of an urgent matter. Gotta get out and see what this thing is like to ride! Windy day today, with gusts up around 22 mph or better, but I'm going anyway.
The route I chose today was mostly gravel with some pretty good hills to try, some flat, and a sand playground. It was to be a 28 mile route that I've traveled before with my gravel bike for comparison. Right off the bat, I did notice a reduction in speed from my gravel bike. But then, I didn't get this for speed, and I knew it would be heavy feeling. The first thing that was apparent was that somebody ironed out the roads since I'd been out on them last. All the washboard sections that I used to complain about were gone!
Well, not gone, but made smooth and not noticeable because of those big ol' tires. The next thing I noticed was that all the sections with the big loose rock on them were not any problem at all ...... just cruise right over them. Smooth ride ....... check! Hills, however, were a different story. Uphills were slow, but not a problem with the low gearing. I did notice the weight of the bike, and the drag of the tires. Downhills were fast and fun!
Obviously, a posed picture, but it seemed the Fat bike's element. After I turned and headed back to the south again, I had the wind at my back, and the pedaling effort became much easier. It wasn't all the fault of the bike. When I got to the river crossing, there was a 4X4 sand playground that ran alongside the river for about a half mile. The river is quite low in the winter months exposing quite a bit of sandy beach, and sand banks that are accessible from the road. Just turn off, and ride down through the ditch and up the other side, and the sand starts immediately. I have seen several pickups buried in the sand out here before from people wanting to go down to the river to fish. The approach to the river is very soft, loose sand. It's funny ...... all the time I rode mountain bikes, sand was something I wanted to avoid. In fact, many of our local singletracks have changed their trails to bypass sandy sections because of mountain biker complaints. So, here I am, seeking out the sandy area for a fun day. Once I got over to the river, the loose soft stuff along the old river banks was left behind, and the sand along the river itself was hard packed. Still sand, though. Enough power will spin the tire and dig holes. Those big ol' tires just rolled right on top of it, and made it seem easy.
There was a low water crossing to a little sandy island out in the river that looked as though it could be navigated, and so, I just rode through the six inch deep water to the island, just because I could!
Water on the left of me, water on the right of me, and nothing but water up ahead of me!
The huge tires do give one a lot of confidence to try things you might not have otherwise. So, continue exploring, I rode down along the river's bank until I could go no more.
Having to turn around when the river took the bank away, I looked up to the upper river banks that you can see on the left of the picture. These were very, very loose sand, but getting a run at it first helped, and I was able to stand and power on up through the loose stuff with a minimum of spinning. As long as it kept moving all was good. When the bike would spin out and stop, because it happens suddenly, you fall over. Soft landings though, kind of like falling into a bucket of corn meal mush.
You can make out my track to the right side of the 4X4's track. There was no way that I would have ever even tried this area with a regular mountain bike. This bike, with those huge tires, just rolled over all of it, and stayed up on top of the sand without digging in. Turning an area usually avoided into a fun playground. I know these bikes were originally designed for snow, but sand really seems to be their forte. I'm not really sure how well they would really do in our snow here which usually is accompanied by a layer of ice first. But they turn sand into a fun time indeed. I played up and down on the sandy banks spinning up, and turning and fishtailing down in the loose sand, it was a blast! All in all, I spent almost an hour here before wearing myself almost completely out. Finally, with legs that felt like rubber, I realized I still had eight more miles to get home and some pretty good hills to climb before getting there, so, I left, my sandy playground, but I'll be back before the spring rains fill the river again.
You can see, by my footprints walking back to take this picture how soft and loose the sand was here, but the bike made me look like I actually knew what I was doing, and was a lot stronger than I really am. When I stopped the bike, there happened to be an old piece of driftwood that was a perfect size to use as a kickstand right there within arm's reach. A perfect fit! Forked at the top end, and fat enough at the bottom to not sink down in the sand, it held the bike up so I could get this picture.
Fat Bike tracks in, and Fat Bike tracks out, the end to a fun time, and then, it's back on the gravel roads and head up the hills and back home. I definitely will be back for more of this, however. I'm still experimenting with tire pressure and today, I had eight pounds in the front and nine pounds in the rear, but I really think that reducing it down to six front and seven rear might work better. Not really used to thinking about tire pressure in single digits. This bike, with it's low pressure fat tires turned an otherwise avoidable area into a fun playground! Just another new adventure!
January 18, 2015
New News and New Bike;
First, the new news ...... Since the first of the year, I have been unable to post any photos on my blog, and have been getting more and more frustrated by it. I actually started up a new blog at a new domain only to find that it would not accept my old I.E. browser. Well .....hmm ....... for a while now ...... in fact, since the first of the year, I've been noticing this addition to my toolbar about installing the "new" Firefox browser. Seeing as how I never had the "old" Firefox browser, I paid no attention to it. I should have. Staying with the old Internet Explorer was the cause of all of my problems. After updating to the "new" Firefox, it seems as though all of my problems with this and other websites seem to be solved. So, let's get on with the nitty gritty shall we and get to the important stuff.
New Bike;
There has been a while now that I have been looking a Fat Bikes as a viable alternative to my missing mountain bike, and maybe a little more. Still, I have most of my bases covered, and my latest addition, my CX4 gravel bike has been just a wonderful addition to my stable of bikes. I did, in the past year, have an opportunity to ride a couple of the oversize tire Fatbikes and found myself coming away from the experience with a grin on my face. The only thing I really couldn't justify was the price. I felt that starting at $2,000 dollars was a bit of a reach for a retired gentleman on Social Security, so even though I enjoyed riding them, I just more or less put them out of my mind. Out of sight, out of mind .... or something like that. They kept nagging at me. After a year's worth of looking around I had noticed the large assortment of Fatbikes on the Bikes Direct website and got to looking and comparing them with other brands. They were not only comparable, but they were looking better all the time. My thoughts on bikes and brand names are this, and while you may not share my thoughts, I have found them to be pretty accurate. A; The names on the bike frames only have to do with the frame itself, nothing more. B; The complete bike is a collection of purchased parts and components assembled onto the frame. C; Virtually all bike frames are made in the Orient somewhere, regardless of the name on the frame, usually by only a handful of manufacturers, who make frames for many prominent and/or lesser known bicycle companies. Only a handful of custom manufacturers make a small number of one-off bikes in this country today. Most of those are long lead time waits before you actually get your bike. No Fatbikes are made in this country. D; The company who makes the bike I was looking at also makes frames for several well known brands, as well as their own name in other parts of the World. So, taking all this into consideration, looking into frame materials that I felt I wanted, (6061 TIG welded aluminum alloy) as well as looking for components that I favored, I decided that I would save a bundle by choosing the Motobecane Boris X-9 Fatbike. While I look at something of this nature to be somewhat of a novelty, and honestly could not see a huge use for it, I felt that at a price of under $800 dollars I could justify the expense and the idea of owning one. I have never used a mail order service to order a bicycle before, always buying from my local bike shop. I had many trepidations about this purchase. I needn't had. It was totally painless. Bikes Direct was true to their word, and even though they had none in stock, and I had to order pre-paid, the bike was shipped on time, (even a couple weeks earlier) and arrived via U.P.S. one day after they notified me they had shipped.
After opening the box, this is what it looked like inside. well packed and carefully packaged against damage.
Laying the box on it's side and sliding it out was an easy task, then I placed it on top of the box to see what I had.
First item on my list was to install the front wheel. Lifting it up out of the box was a pleasant surprise as I found it much lighter than I had expected. After the wheel was installed, I could lean it up against the garage door where I could install the handlebars, seat post, and hook up the front brake. Virtually everything else was installed and with the exception of the brakes, properly adjusted. I did go over every fastener with a wrench and torque wrench making sure of proper tightening. I found nothing out of adjustment, or improperly assembled.
All the rest of the assembly process involved removal of the packaging and looking it all over. I found the workmanship to be on par with any, and I repeat, any bicycle made today, even the high dollar brands. I probably wouldn't have chosen a high gloss finish if I was custom building, but I can live with it. The components are Sram throughout, and all the same off road family. X-9 rear derailleur, X-7 shifters and front derailleur, X-5 crank, X-100 bottom bracket, and a 1030 cassette. All in all, a very nice component package. I do like Sram products. Spokes are heavy duty 14 gauge stainless. All in all a very nice bike. I was duly impressed. There were several nice features that I also liked that really don't make the bike any better or worse for what it needs to do, but it was nice of them to include.
A pretty metal head badge in the original style.
As well as a matching seatpost badge with a "circa 1923" on it, denoting the beginning of the original company. Motobecane is now owned exclusively by Kinesis Industry, whose main frame factory is in Guangzhow China, and bicycle assembly plant across the channel in Taiwan. They purchased the rights to the name along with some others when the original companies went broke. Motobecane U.S.A is now an American company, based in the Houston Texas area. They are the importers of this brand of bikes. I think a little tax games going on, but it works for me.
One of the features on the bike that was a surprise was the extra braze on mounts on the fork. The fork itself is a cromoly unit. A triple mount that will hold Salsa Anything cages, or double bolt water bottles or a front rack. There are also braze on mounts in the back for a rear rack. This would indeed make a good expedition bike. Even with the cromoly front fork, the weight of the bike sans pedals was right at 32 pounds. Reasonable for this type of bike.
The rest of the bike was exactly as advertised, with Vee Rubber tires 4X26", rims with big lightening holes, and they even include some bright yellow rim strips in case I got tired of the red. Brakes are top of the line Avid mechanical units which I like a lot. I did find their sizing recommendations to be a little on the small size. I got the "Large" even though it was recommended for 6"0" to 6"3", and it was fine. I would not have wanted the medium. The extra large probably would have been alright too. I am just about a quarter inch under 6 feet. So, all in all, this looked like a very good purchase, and I was very pleased with the whole process, as well as the bike itself.
