Sunday while Thomas and I were are out hiking in the Shed we come upon a single track of hoof prints on Viper. We were hiking up the trail toward Gambrill Park Road and the tracks were in the opposite direction toward Blue. The prints were surprisingly small. I was interested by these and what they meant so Thomas and I payed attention to them - studied them. A lone rider, on a small horse, going one direction with no turnaround. There were the usual rocks turned and deep holes were the soil was soft. I kept hoping that we would see prints in the other direction, a sign that the rider had been thwarted by the rock sections below and wouldn't be back. No such luck.After taking turns calling out dozens of prints, Thomas turns to me and says "I think that someone was riding a horse back here because there is no way that a guy kept dropping his horsehoe on the ground this many times."
I had to agree.
This 4th of July holiday weekend began with a blast. David Kegley, mastermind of both the Fugly Dog and the Double Dog, had planned something special this year - the Mega Dog. The Dog series has began a couple years ago and while each one is unique they all begin at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Gaithersburg, MD, all are mixed-surface rides, and all involve cyclo-cross bikes. As the name implies, the Mega Dog, was to push the envelope of what is fair and decent in a mixed surface ride.
We refilled our water at the MoCo Soccer complex and took some connectors/greenways up to another lake and on to Sugarloaf Mountain. At Sugarloaf we rode some technical singletrack, doubletrack, got caught in a brief thunderstorm, and again filled our water bottles. Here is Jay ripping it up near Sugarloaf.
Here is our leader, David, tanking up again at Sugarloaf.
We hit Little Bennet, Hoyles Mill Connector, the Greenway, some more gravel, and a little pavement coming back into Seneca Creek. I would say that there was far more singletrack on this ride than any of us anticipated. The group ride ended up being 75 miles long and taking 9 hours and 45 minutes - adding the 28 and 1 1/2 coming down and it was a 103 mile 11 1/4 hour ride. My longest day in the saddle to date - pretty much a 12 hour solo.
Back at Southern HS on Route 2, I headed north to Annapolis pretty much a straight shot with a few rollers.
Last week I got the call from David Kegley. "Hey, we lost a guy from our five man team yesterday. Do you want to do a 24-hour mt bike race this weekend?". Since I was driving home from a three day mt bike weekend in Northern PA when I got the call, I said "let me see what Michele has planned and I'll call you back."
A Quick check with the wife reveals that she has planned a last minute beach trip to her father's condo in OCMD (a place I loathe) - I'm not expected to attend. OK, the boys will be at the beach playing with cousins. Guilt-free, I call David back to tell him I'm in. I had five days to train and it rained for four of them.
Our team: the "Nitro Burning Juggernauts" was skippered by Todd Bauer and included Dave George, Frank Comer, David Kegley, and myself. A group of Frederick Watershed regulars from Montgomery County, they were all veterans of 24 hour racing at Big Bear - I was the newbie.
A couple of sections made more permanent impressions: first the fast, smooth, pump track-like, section in the pine tree forest where the trail swooped in and out of tree trunks making sharp turns on dirt banks. Second, was the long technical downhill, a very-wet steep section littered with loose mud-covered rocks and roots that ended in a streambed. My arms and hands were pretty beat from holding the brake levers by the end of this section. Third, was the big rock garden that preceded the final climb. This section was around mile 9 and featured a normally rideable garden of stone that we had to walk during the race. With the singlespeed gearing I chose (34x20) this marked the beginning of two sections where I had to carry my bike. Topping out on this climb, you had about 2 miles of fast singletrack to go before you crossed the Fourth memorable feature, the bridge. ALL riders had to ride up a rather large ramp, cross a narrow bridge suspended 20 feet up in the air, and descend a ramp on the other side - all within eyesight of the finish line/staging area with lots of spectators. This is a Big Bear tradition.
Our team had three single speeders (2 rigid, 1 w/shock), and two 1X9s. We set up camp next to many friends from PA, MD, VA, and DC, a sort of a biker shantytown. There was the MBM'er, Paul, wrenching; and YBR's, Zach, doing massage. Friday night was mellow. Things were still pretty damp, folks were arriving late, there was alot of apprehension about the trail conditions and that 'one more thunderstorm' that might make conditions unbearable. After a few libations around the fire, and despite a couple of round faced snorers, most of us got a good night's sleep.
My night lap began in the dark a little after 9pm and I finished around 10:45, a 1:42 lap. This was the most enjoyable lap of the whole race for me. The trails were drying out and it was quiet out there. Many riders were struggling in the dark conditions, wet rocks, and slick muddy sections that remained, but I was able to pass a few and move our team up a couple places. In fact, our team did especially well in the darkness, and by the end of the night we had moved up 12 places in the overall standings. This can be attributed to the fact that the five of us ride together almost every Wednesday night during the winter at Gambrill State Park - usually in snow.
Alex likes espresso, especially before a big trip to DC.
Henry looking up at the top. 
