Stuck between a rack and a hard place.

Got a slight bike rack problem. Well, slight may be an understatement.

I have a Thule T2 rack which mounts to the hitch on my SUV. Great rack, has served me well for the past 6 years. Unfortunately, it has spent some time in the weather, and as a result the mounting bolt and the mounting point on the rack  developed some rust and began to become harder to mount and unmount. During the spring I would work on the bolt and the mount to keep the rust at bay. Seemed to work well. However from mid to late June I left the rack on during some weather and found that the mounting bolt was seized. Last evening I attacked the bolt with WD-40 and tools.

I began to loosen the bolt and slowly (¼ turn at a time) the bolt began to back out. Suddenly, there was a SNAP, and the head of the bolt broke off. I stood in disbelief for a few minutes. A problem just got worse. Closer inspection showed that the bolt had sheared off and was flush with the bolt hole. The rack isn’t going anywhere as there is still enough of the bolt outside the hole to prevent the rack from sliding out of the hitch.

But, now I have two problems. First, the rack is even more stuck on the hitch. And second, while I’m sure I could have the remains of the bolt drilled out, I’m not sure the rack as a whole would survive, or at least the portion that mounts to the hitch.

So, if anyone has any suggestions on how to remove the remains of the bolt I would love to hear them. A do it yourself method would be of great interest to me as well.

Southwestway Park Night Race Report

 

Night riding in a blast. Night racing is even more of a blast. So, with Planet Adventure putting on a series of local night races in follow up to their race last August, I immediately put them on my calendar with the intention of riding in the provided singlespeed division. The first race in the three races series was at Southwestway Park on the Southside of Indy.

The singlespeed class only had 7 riders, so it wasn’t huge. Unfortunately, two of the riders who showed up are extremely fast, and one is the trail boss for Southwestway, meaning he could ride the trail with his eyes closed. 

The start line with the light fading.

The course was 5 laps on a roughly 2.5 mile loop which started on a gravel road for just under a half a mile, dropped into single track, and then a crushed lime stone path which follows a levy along the White River for another half mile. The course ended with a climb up a washed out gravel road and another short stretch of singletrack.

My gearing was not quite suited to the gravel start as four riders got ahead of me. I was behind a rider on a cross bike who kept up good speed, which I thought would help on the levy portion of the trail. He wasn’t as fast as I thought which resulted in a gap. He then bobbled on the trail just before the climb which allowed a pass. I attacked the climb and tried to catch third place, a pursuit which was ultimately not successful. In retrospect I should have passed the CX bike on the levy. I kept up a good pace for the remaining four laps, while pushing hard on the levy section (often spinning out at about 18 mph) and on the climb.

On lap four I began to tire which resulted in mistakes. I nearly missed the drop in to the trail, and crashed soon thereafter when I had a pedal strike on a root which pushed me off of my line and caused the edge of my handlebar to clip a tree taking me down.  I untangled myself, checked to make sure my chain was still on and my GPS and water bottle were still in place, and took off again, although with the new edition of a badly hurting left knee and arm.

 

I included this shot because of the light streaks and my own transparency.
Kind of a cool pic. May be my new banner header soon.

Admittedly I was more cautious on the remainder of lap four. I upped the ante on lap five, passed a few Cat 3 geared riders (who started 5 minutes before the SS) and wrapped up the race in fourth. According to the times, I was about a minute and twenty seconds behind third. Maybe if I had broken away on the levy on the first lap and not wrecked I could have caught him. Who knows. The top three riders were all pushing smaller chains rings on the back than I was (16t and 15t) so that speed helped.

Still, it was a great night, with clear skies and cool, almost cold, temperatures.  I think Planet Adventure has hit on a good thing with these night races. A little more promotion would help to get even more people out, as well as a possible partnership with local bike shops (or perhaps one of the lighting manufacturers) to rent lights to participants. I think the lack of proper lights is a limiting factor for these races.

There are two more nights races, both a Town Run, with one being on a reverse course. I’ll be out of town for one race, but I’m thinking about getting a 16t cog for the one I can make. Might help me keep up through the flatness that is Town Run.

I’m thinking some night riding may be in order later this fall. A trip to Brown County in late October (assuming the trails are dry) would be fun, with the cooler temperatures and the leaves having fallen. Could make for a quite an adventure.

Racing along the Cliff and the Creek: DINO Versailles Race Report

Work demands took priority this week, resulting in a tardy race report. Anyway, this past week was the Versailles DINO race at Versailles State Park.  I seem to be improving since this race saw my second top 10 finish this year and a 3^rd place in the age group.

The race went very well. I got a solid start, but was edged out just before the singletrack and was in 5^th. Everything went peachy, until I realized on the Cliffside Trail that he rider in front of me was not as fast. The early portion of Cliffside has a few opportunities to pass and I called out to the rider to let me by, but he made no move and I didn’t act quickly enough. Frustration ruled on Cliffside, but as we got to the end of the trail, where it was less “cliffy” I again called out and was ignored. Moving onto Grandview my yells to pass became a little angrier. I also tried to force a pass but nearly hit two rocks and a few trees when the rider continued on his line. By this time the top three riders in my group were disappearing and I had a line forming. Never once did the rider check his six to see if anyone was chasing him. Finally, on an uphill section early in Grandview I pushed my way past on the other rider’s left side. As I passed, he actually swerved into me, but I skirted past.

 

After the pass, I took off like a shot and pushed hard to catch to the top three. I was riding well, despite one close call where my rear tire nearly washed out. Thankfully the Ignitors dug it and I recovered. Within a few minutes I had 3^rd place in my sights and got within a few bike lengths. I yo-yo’ed a bit but was always within attacking distance. On a few switchbacks I also spotted second place who was not too far ahead.  As we neared the Creekside trail, the last trail section of the race, we were caught by a 40-49 rider, Dave Tozer with Matthews Bikes, who was absolutely flying.  His riding was very impressive and I stepped aside to let him around, as did the 3^rd place rider who actually stopped. As I rolled up on him I gestured to see if he wanted to jump back in, but he told me to go ahead.

Pushing towards the finish. Thanks to Eric Lewis for the only photo I found from the race.

Once pass, I pushed hard to stay on Dave’s wheel, and did for a few minutes until we hit the rocky sections of Creekside. I continued to push hard for the last mile and a half to get a gap on the chasing rider. A few quick checks confirmed he was not within sight. I was hoping I might catch 2^nd place, but no dice on that one.

 

Overall, I was happy with the performance.  I felt strong throughout and the bike performed well, although while waiting for the award I found my rear tire had gone flat. Must have picked u a slow leak on Creekside.  If not for the passing issue, I feel confident I would have been able to catch up to the 30-39 leaders. While I was tired at the end of the race, especially after pushing hard the last 1.5 miles, I felt I still had enough in the tank for another lap. Between my recent race results, and my condition post-race, I think an upgrade will be in order for next year, although riding an additional lap will require some balance so that I do not burn myself out over the course of two hours.

 

Interestingly, I spoke to several other riders who also had issues with the rider who was not letting me pass. Unfortunately, one person told me that the rider was actually hearing impaired. I had suspected this after passing him, and felt like an ass for a minute for all the yelling I did in trying to pass.  In retrospect, he didn’t hear all of that, but I’m wishing that the rest if the field had been informed of the situation. I’m not sure what the rules are in this situation (DINO is governed by USA Cycling), but an identifying arm band would have been helpful, although it would have also been nice for the rider to check his six at least once in the first 2 miles before I passed him.

 

Tomorrow is the Planet Adventure night race at Southwestway Park in Indianapolis. I’m racing the new singlespeed since these races have a dedicated singlespeed class.  Should be a fun time if the weather holds.

What's In A Trail Name?

How often do you reflect on the name of a trail?  It might be just small print on a map or a trail side sign with some name of a hollow, valley, or tree species, but sometimes there will be an interesting backstory. One local Indianapolis trail has a namesake which goes beyond a mere geographic feature or grove of oak trees.

 

So, settle in for a quick history lesson. As can be seen from my previous posts, I ride at Fort Ben Harrison in Indianapolis quite often. The first trail that the HMBA built there is named Schoen Creek. Well, the namesake is easy enough, as there is a small creek which flows through the area the trail traverses. However, who is this Schoen? A comment on the HMBA forums a few years ago indicated that Schoen was actually a fighter pilot. This made sense, as I recalled when reading into the history of Indianapolis a few years ago a reference to an Army airfield near Fort Ben called Schoen Field which dated back to the pre-World War II era of the Army Air Corp.

Not long after this, I was riding around Crown Hill Cemetery when I caught this out of the corner of my eye:

And below the main marker was this:

Note, these photos were taken this week as I finally decided to stop and take a photo, more than two years after first spotting the marker. Anyway, this Karl Schoen looked to be from around the same time period as the airfield, so I did a bit of online research.

Turns out Karl Schoen was an Indianapolis native, born in October 1894.  He graduated from Purdue in 1917 and enlisted with the United States Army Air Service soon after, where he was commissioned as a lieutenant. He received flight training before being sent to the Western Front in France in February 1918 as part of the 139^th Aero Squadron. During his service, he shot down six German aircraft, although the final two were apparently claimed during a dog fight in which he too was shot down, resulting in his death.

The circumstances of his death was a thing of legend. A US soldier posted to an ammunition dump wrote to Schoen’s parents and described the low level dogfight which claimed his life. Apparently the Germans attacked the dump with three fighters and Schoen and a wingman engaged all three. One German fighter was shot down, as was Schoen’s wingman. He was outnumbered and outgunned, and as the fight neared an end, his aircraft’s machine gun jammed. The observer said that he could see Schoen then pull out his service revolver and continue to fire at the enemy aircraft.  Ultimately Schoen was hit and as his fighter went towards the ground, he continued to fire the pistol at the German aircraft.  The writer noted that when American forces arrived at the wreck sight to recover Schoen’s body, they found him still clutching the revolver.  In recognition of his fight that day, Schoen was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1919. For those who know Indianapolis, Lt. Schoen’s widow and 10 month old daughter actually lived at 5201 N. College Ave, the location of the present day Habig garden store.

Interestingly, the grave in the above photo at Crown Hill is not the final resting place for Lt. Schoen, but merely a marker, likely so he could be included along with the rest of the family. His remains are actually interred at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France, with many other American causalities from the first world war. Thanks to www.theaerodrome.com, here is his marker in France:

So, there you have it. The background behind the name of an airfield, a creek, and now a mountain bike trail. Only the creek and the trail survive. The airfield itself was little more than a grass field with several hangers, and was deactivated sometime around, or soon after, World War II. The US Department of Defense Finance and Accounting Center located on the southwest corner of E. 56^th St and Post Road in Lawrence Indiana now occupies that land.

Much of the information for this post came from Schoen’s page on Wikipedia and a page profiling him here. The full text of the letter from the ground observer may be accessed here, as it was printed in an article in the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

Weeknight Trail Ride? Surprisingly, Yes. (plus a new bike's first ride)

Weekday trail rides are a rarity. Between work and home duties, the time I get to ride during the week are on commutes, which are primarily pavement based, and some short morning rides around the neighborhood, which also have a large degree of pavement.  Today was different. I had the car for the evening, and several large tasks at work were finalized today and once I was sure all pleadings were properly in the mail, I sprinted out of the office at 4:45. My plan for the evening was to hit Fort Ben, despite the 93 degree heat.

The plan also involved the first trail ride for my new singlespeed. As I mentioned in earlier, posts, I rebuilt my Monocog 29er with a new frame. The Monocog was a solid bike but it was also very heavy. With an eye towards climbing faster, and entering a few races in a singlespeed category, I rebuilt the bike around a Sette Razzo 29er frame.

Upon first hitting the trail I immediately noticed the difference between steel and aluminum. The dampening qualities of the steel made for a smooth ride over roots and rocks. The aluminum not so much. The ride was at first notably rougher, although by the end of the ride it was much less noticeable. The handling was also faster. Although I kept the same fork, a Tora TK coil, which weighs a ton, the bike was much faster in corners and almost seemed twitchier with more precise steering in technical areas. Not everything was good though. As my ride continued, various noises began to pop up. I think one ‘clink’ was attributable to a not tight enough rear skewer (yikes). However, another was a squeak sound (imagine a squeaky door hinge) which seemed to pop up at various times. I stopped twice to investigate but could never find the source. Lastly, something is up with the rear tire. While riding to the trail head, I felt a bobbing sensation from the back of the bike. It appears the Continental tire is spinning somewhat unevenly, like it may not be seated properly. I didn’t notice it on the trail, but on pavement it was quite obvious. Add that to the glitch list to be addressed.

Overall, the bike did well and was definitely faster than the Monocog. The chain tension and chainline seem good, as I had no dropped chains. It should be fun to race on later this summer. Here is the bike as it stands now:

Frame: Sette Razzo 29er, size XL

Front Wheel: Sun Ringle Rim laced to a DT Swiss Hub (Kenda Nevegal 2.2 tire)
Rear Wheel: WTB Laserdisc 29 laced to a Deore XT hub (Conti X-King 2.2 tire)
Fork: Rock SHox Tora TK 29er, 100 mm
Crank: Deore LX, with Salsa 32T front ring
Chain: Sram PC-1
Rear Cog: Surly 18T
Brakes: Avid BB7 w/ cleansweep rotors
Stem: Race Face (need to check the specific type)
Handlebar: Ritchey Comp
Grips: Ergon GL2
Saddle: WTB Rocket V

Lastly, a brief report on the Rangeline Rampage Time Trial on Saturday. I sucked. The course was more difficult than I remember, which when combined with racing a bike I have only ridden a handful of times, resulted in a very bad time. The full suspension bike was the right choice, but I had some issues with technical sections which caught me by surprise and resulted in poor lines, as well as several short and steep uphills (often topped with roots) which the bike was having problems getting over. Overall, I was not thrilled with the result, but it was for a good cause and my expectations for the race were already low. Next up is the DINO race at Versailles this weekend.

Retraction and Rampage

First, a retraction. A few posts ago I railed on my difficulty with Continental Tires. Most recently, an X-King I bought for my geared  29er. I decided to try the tire on the rear wheel of my single speed 29er. Shock! The tire went on easily. Well, it required a bit of force, but it actually got on the rim, which is better than my first attempt on the geared bike. The culprit? I think it was the Stans rims on my geared bike. The rims are tubeless specific, and the tire was not. The rear wheel on my single speed is a WTB LaserDisc, which is not a tubeless ready rim. Mystery solved although I reserve my right to rant if the tire sucks on the trail.

Tomorrow is the Rangeline Rampage, a technical time trial at Rangeline Nature Preserve in Anderson, Indiana. The trail is a great mixture of natural and manmade features that combine to make one of the more technically demanding trails in the state. The nature of the trail also makes head to head racing very dangerous so a time trial format will be used, with a portion of the proceeds going towards trail improvements and maintenance.

Here’s the kicker. Although the park is a city park, volunteers do virtually all maintenance and improvements, including non-mountain bike related work, within the park.  Additionally, the city sits idly by while horsemen ride all over the park, including trails meant for biking and hiking only, and ATV riders run amok.  Figure this is a good chance to show some support for the local mountain biking community.

Anyway, here is a link to the course map  which also shows the various trail features. One feature I will not be attempting is this:

Photo: Rangeline Nature Preserve Facebook Page

Known as The Pier, it looks rather terrifying. At least from in front of the drop it does. Not so much from this view. Luckily there is a lengthy ride around.

And to go with the whole different kind of animal vibe at Rangeline, I decided I’ll race my full suspension 26er versus my typical 29er. I’ll lose some speed (the 26er is very heavy), but considering the tight trails of Rangeline, and the numerous features, including drops, the rear suspension will come in handy. Plus, I’m going into this event with no expectations. Rangeline is a fun place to ride, and the time trial is for a good cause. That is enough to get me there. As long as I exit in one piece and have fun, it’ll have been a successful day regardless of where I end up in the standings.

DINO Brown County State Park Race Report

The plan almost went off without a hitch. Almost.

 

The Brown County DINO race day dawned with partly cloudy skies and a threat of rain. A debate had been raging on the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association Forum about whether the race should take place, considering the rain of the previous day.  Trail reports varied. Some trails were muddy messes, others, including the race course, were reported as solid, but a little damp. Considering BCSP has almost 30 miles of trail, I would think it natural that some trails would be worse than others. Either way, the race was on.

I arrived in plenty of time, and got in a good warm up and knocked back a power gel just before the start. We lined up…..and nothing.  We were on a delay due to an injury to a Cat 1 rider. Apparently he clipped a tree and was launched off of his bike and hit another tree while in the air. Unfortunately, the crash occurred on the Green Valley trail and was just about as far from an access road as one can get in the park. I stood around at the start line for about 20 minutes until I concluded this extraction would take awhile. I went and found some shade to relax for a bit.

Ultimately, the race did start at around 1:30.  Unfortunately, my nice warm up was gone, as was the power gel I had consumed. The start takes racers across a grassy field and then a right turn onto the paved park road. Unfortunately, from there, the road goes straight up into a mile long, almost 300 foot climb. I didn’t have a fast start, and actually did not plan for one. I stayed in the back and on the outside of the group as we hit the road and the climb. Then, as I had expected, people began to blow up.

All those hill repeats paid off and I made quick progress to the front, and passed the leaders. I hoped to get a strong gap on the remainder of the climb, and in fact did have a small gap at one point. However, the lead group of four riders I had passed surged and got on my wheel. As we came up to the drop into the singletrack I was passed by one rider from a local brewery team in a green kit (who had a teammate with him). His teammate was behind me, as was Mike Backer, a rider who has placed in the top three in each race this year. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to hold off Mike I gestured for him to pass and he took the lead, while I was in third.

Once on the trails, I found them to be in great shape. No standing water, a few muddy spots which were chronically that way, but overall very solid. I was in third for a good chunk of the North Tower loop, but my effort on the first hill was getting to me. I was having a hard time keeping second place in sight, and fourth and fifth were right on me. I finally let them around and tried to recover on the remainder of the downhill from North Tower.  

Exiting North Tower I crossed a creek and headed towards the short side of Aynes, a slightly more than 100 ft climb over rocky and rooty terrain. I caught up to third and fourth place here briefly when one of them from the brewery team crashed going into the Aynes trail. I had recovered slightly and did well on the climb but didn’t gain as much ground as I would have liked. Entering the first downhill of Green Valley I was tired and tried my best to keep up speed. Unfortunately, the brewery rider caught and passed me.

However, on Green Valley I got my second wind. I began to gain on the brewery rider, especially on the climbing sections. Additionally, on the some of the ravine crossings I spotted third place not very far ahead. I continued to gain and was feeling good about catching at least one, or both as we left Green Valley and went onto the short side of North Tower and the connector back to the finish.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. While on the connector I was envisioning the trail ahead and thought that we had gone through the last of the rooty and rocky sections and that around the next bend was the beginning of the fast descent. With fourth place just ahead of me, I shifted to my big ring in anticipation of charging hard…..and came around the corner to one last slightly technical uphill section. I’ve ridden this section many times with no problems. However, I was in the wrong gear and after hitting a few roots I lost momentum and just stalled out. I jumped off the bike, and ran through the rest of the roots and some mud and jumped back on, but it was too late. I pushed hard but could not catch fourth place.

While disappointed with not getting a podium spot, I found that I had finished 9^th overall, well ahead of most of the 19-29er field. My first top ten finish was a nice result. Interestingly, the 30-39er field was very competitive in this race. The top 5 all finished in line together and within 2 minutes of each other, while 3-5^th were all within about 30 seconds. Overall I was happy with my performance and my plan. In retrospect trying to open a gap on the climb was fool hardy and probably wasted some energy. I might have been better served catching the lead group and just sitting in with them as opposed to trying get a big break. I was especially happy with my pursuit in the last half of the race. If not for the hike a bike near the end I think I could have caught 4^th and maybe 3^rd.

As for the injured rider, post reports indicate that he broke several ribs and had a small pneumothorax (collapsed lung) but his head and spine were ok.

The Brown County race is week two of a 5 week stretch of races. This weekend is the Rangeline Rampage Time Trial, followed by the Versailles DINO race on July 21, followed finally by the Planet Adventure Night Race at Southwestway Park in Indianapolis on July 27. I’ll be racing in the singlespeed class for that race. Should be a fun, but tiring month.

The race venue at the conclusion of the races. Lot more activity earlier in the day.