Mike Pooped a Bee!

It is 3 days since Turkey Day and I’ve had enough Turkey! How about you? This is also the last day-off before returning to that thing called work, ugh… Today was a magnificent day here in the land of lost wages. So, we thought we’d take a tour around the Lake for the umpteenth-million time. Actually, it was a great day. The local lake ranger Nazi bitches weren’t on post today. Only the nice, courteous, young up-and-comers were there. No doubt because the old guard had seniority, thereby making the young bucks pay their government dues by working a holiday weekend.

In all my days and miles of riding a bike I witnessed something today that is no doubt a first. Mike got stung by a bee today. Well, not stung as in the usual sense. You know, on the arm, leg or torso. No, Mike got stung smack dab in the middle of his tongue! He said he felt something fly into his mouth and immediately closed the old throat sphincter so as not to swallow the unwelcome little pest. Upon, expectorating the remains, he noticed a funny taste and a stinging sensation on his tongue. That wasn’t all bad of course, except for the fact that he had fallen behind and had to ride a good mile before any one of us could help him out. To make matters worse, the little stinger, left behind by the since half-digested culprit, was stuck smack dab in the middle of his tongue and certainly not easy to get to. Since Mike’s wife Lisa was there for emotional support, we drafted her as chief surgeon, or maybe she self-appointed; I got to the accident scene a little after the discovery. Anyway, we all claimed no medical knowledge whatsoever dealing with tongue bee stings. As I fumbled around in my seat bag for my miniature Swiss Army knife tweezers, Lisa performed the most amazing combat field surgery I’ve ever witnessed. With the finesse that only females have using their finger nails, she snapped up that sucker with precision. Be gone pesky little stinger, be gone! Mike was now the prize winner and recipient of a nice swollen welt. Dr. Mozam, me, jumped in with a little expert medical advice and prescribed multiple washings and flushing using the medicinal wonders of Gatorade. Since Mike had no better ideas, he followed Dr. Mozam’s advice and recovered nicely for the rest of the ride.

Drama, it’s just part of life. And…it can be very interesting sometimes. Just when we thought we’d seen enough from our bee sting experience, we had a rather nice encounter on our way out of the lake on the Boulder City side. It appeared that the Bighorn Sheep community spread the word that the GV peleton was coming through and the call went out for all to cheer us on as we made our way up the hill and through town. I quickly, and quite professionally I might ad, whipped out the ‘ole camera and got some really good shots (all of which you can see here and some of which you can see in this Blog entry). As I was snapping away, Sig (Siegfried) said, “hey, I hope they don’t turn on us and ram the bikes.” Suddenly, I got that, “I’m on the wrong side of the lion’s cage door at the zoo” feeling. So, with that thought in mind we inched our way past the herd and made our way quietly up the rest of the climb.



I can’t remember when I had a more interesting day, especially on the bike.

The Mozam's Do Dirt

Mrs Mozam and Las Vegas Sprawl

The day after Turkey Day: Cold, Windy, and Clear. So, Mrs. Mozam and I decided to take the Mtn Bikes off the wall, where they had been hanging for over 2 years, dust them off and go for a nice local ride. There is a really nice addition to a park nearby with a paved path and a graded dirt path that works its way up the mountains surrounding our neighborhood. They say that variety is the spice of life, and I guess I must agree somewhat. Dirt rides, as my friends say, are a lot of fun and trying something like this does indeed make you feel like a kid again. Since I like my skin attached to my body, and I don't like using volcanic rocks as a cushion to a potential fall, I think I'll just keep this new found fun thing recreational. Kinda like fast hiking only with wheels instead of hiking boots.

Death Valley — Surreal Indeed...

Surreal is the only word that came to my mind that adequately describes this place. I had not been back to Death Valley since the 2004 Furnace Creek 508 bike race and what a difference three years make. The last time I was here, it was darker than the ace of spades and the wind was blowing at 40 to 50 miles an hour. There was so much dust in the air you couldn't see anything in front of the car; with the exception of few flying tarantulas now and again. So, this past weekend was such a nice surprise: clear skies, no wind at all, and very cool, pleasant temperatures.





We took the North route out of Furnace Creek and headed over to Stove Pipe Wells. What a nice little Oasis out in the middle of nowhere. We spent a few minutes hydrating, eating some food and yaking about this and that. Frank then led us to a nice "little" climb he kept talking about. Well, this nice little climb turned out to be 7.5 miles long with an average of at least 8% grade. Frank and Mike were brave enough to conquer this bad boy on single speeds. Frank was running a 48/16 and Mike was pushing a 49/18. These guys are my heros!







I think the girls had a good time too. Bobbie caught up with Steph about life lived, and the trials and tribulations of being a teenager while us macho men and Lisa took on the climb at a faster pace. All that climbing was not in vain, however. The bomber downhill back to 260 feet below sea level was as Frank described: a real blast! My hat is off to such great friends for convincing Bobbie and myself to join them.

Nelson's Landing — I hate this ride!

"I've just got to do this climb, come on with me!" Well, as the Nike slogan goes, I just did it. Not that I don't like climbing; on the contrary, I really like climbing at my own pace and enjoying the scenery. Nelsons Landing ride really doesn't have all that much appeal really. You turn down I-93 towards Searchlight and about 8 miles later you find yourself at the Nelson's turnoff. It is about an eight mile grind at 4-5%, then the bomber downhill to the river. The town of Nelson is about 4 miles into the descent and really isn't much to look at. Mostly, a run down mining town from way back. The real treat is the mighty Colorado River. A truly breathtaking view. The only problem is you have to go back up the 8-10% climb for 8.7miles on the way back! So, you just do it...again! Any who, any day on a bicycle is a good day, that's for sure!

Tour de St. George, Utah, 20 Oct 2007

Cool, clear, and no wind! That’s how I like my riding conditions. But hey, who doesn’t right? Nobody could ask for a better day than this, that’s for sure. 17 of us Nevadan’s took part in the 3rd annual Tour de St. George hosted by Red Rock Bicycle Shop and the gracious townsfolk of St. George. I think most of us were looking for a change this year, and boy did we find a sweet ride in this one. I was already fairly familiar with the St. George area from doing several unofficial rides up there in the past, and finishing the HooDoo 500 one month prior. But, on this ride we discovered new routes and a whole lot of back country not seen before.



The town folk offered up the newly remodeled downtown square as the starting point which showed us a bit of a history while we waited for the starting pistol. I couldn’t help but notice that the original construction on the town square church that started in 1861 and finished up in 1871. Man, ten years to build one building. We have progressed a long way since then…well, come to think of it, maybe not.

As cyclists, I think one common element amongst us in planning for these rides is checking the weather. I’m no different and may even be a bit neurotic about it. I’ve been to Utah many times and more often than not, I’ve been on the severe side of changing weather. So, I knew I should be prepared for just about anything. I’ve been out there on those beautiful deserted back roads, cold and soaked like a rat with no rock to hide under too many times to come up here unprepared. So, on went the arm and knee warmers along with my trusty vest.



We started out heading Southeast out of town and this start was no different than any other Century I’ve been on. Everybody was chomping at the bit, all fired up to burn as many calories in the first 10 miles as they would burn all day. People went racing by like rat’s trying to get to that last hot biscuit. Our first real climb of the day followed shortly thereafter, Telegraph Hill, a climb that put the brakes on a few of the fast rats. And what a special climb it was…just enough 8% grade to get the lactic engine started and quickly up to full power. Rolling gently out and onto the Washington fields, you get that “Back home again in Indiana” smell. That, piggy, horsey, Moomoo kinda smell. State fair, 4H…well, you get the idea. Not great for early in the morning, but reminiscent anyway. Great fun those back roads in Washington, but maybe next year, the smell will subside a little.

Our first “real” stop of day came in Hurricane, pronounced “Hurricun.” Why? I have absolutely no idea. It’s kinda like New Orleans, as the locals would have it, you don’t pronounce the word(s) as they are spelled. It’s just “Nawlins.” I guess living in small towns in Utah makes you speak differently. Great rest stops on this ride by the way! Boy scouts holding your bike while you pee. Tons of food too…most of it not that great for serious cyclists, but there was a really good selection, and even a smattering of Hammer products stood out amongst all the goodies at a few of the stops.



Leaving Hurricun, we promply arrived in La Verkin, gateway to Zion National park. Only this time we skipped the climb up to the Zion plateau and headed into the land of Toquerville. Dr. Dog commented that we just past a sign that said, “drug free community” and now we are going into Toquerville?? “What gives with that?” Toquerville was also the start of a very long grind up to the I-15 frontage road that lead us to bomber down hill run and onto lunch back in Washington. What a great run that was…30 plus miles per hour in multiple paceline teams…a real blast!



I gotta tell ya, after all that climbing and chasing all those fast rats in the first 50 miles or so, I was plenty hungry. In fact, so was everyone else in our little peleton. To our surprise, the ride hosts purchased about 5 giant cooler loads of sandwiches from Subway. The choices were many indeed: Turkey, ham and vegetarian, on both wheat and white, complete with cold drink of your choice and…a bag of chips. Yum, Yum! So good in fact, that Cynthia or group social director ate two and a half sandwiches, which she later paid for dearly on the climb up to Snow Canyon. After lunch, we hopped back on the bikes and headed Southwest towards St. George. The route runs a bit urban but quickly turns Northwest bound on Skyline Drive. Skyline Drive is pretty cool really. The road is pretty good and the scenery is spectacular. On your left, you look down into the mini-metropolis of St. George; and on your right is unspoiled red rock walls and canyons complete with picnic areas, hiking trails and single track. What a great place!



The route takes a right onto Hwy 18 for a bit of a grind up hill for about 7 miles towards the Snow Canyon entrance. The view, once again, is just spectacular as you grind your way up. At about 80 miles or so, Snow Canyon provides a welcomed respite from climbing with a bomber downhill all the way through the park. We had heard about the strong winds picking up at about 2 pm and it was amazing how timely that forecast turn out. Bang, right in the face as we headed Southwest towards Kayenta! Undaunted, we battled our way in and through Kayenta for the final rest stop of the day. Kayenta is a unique community in that all the housing is nestled into the existing landscape in such a way that you can’t even tell that the houses are really there. Green thinking is definitely the mindset in this unique little community. Turning back due east we were greeted with our friend the wind again, but this time the wind became a staunch ally the whole way back to St. George.

I’ve often said, “this was a great ride” but the Tour de St. George is by far one of the best events I’ve had the pleasure to experience. The organization, support, and route were just top notch. I’ll be back next year for sure!

One Gear, 100 Miles

Well, we finally did it. 100 miles on a single speed bike. We did not have a lot of takers for this ride, but the ones that showed had a marvey time nonetheless. I've often wondered why anyone would want to ride a bike with just one gear, but now I'm enchanted and enlightened all at the same time. All in all, I think it makes you a better cyclist. Your cadence is slower, but much more deliberate and constant which I guess translates into a better application of power. Whatever it is, it sure is fun, and I look forward to my next hundy on my Single Speed. Perhaps a Double? Nah, at least not right now.

Stats:
101.03 miles
05 hours 57 minutes 47seconds
+3624 feet of climbing
16.9 mph average speed