Falcon Lake

Johnny G, Unger, and myself got in 3 quality hours of riding at Falcon Lake last Friday. Did a couple of laps of the race course, paid a brief visit to the Top of the World, and spent time working at a few of the more technical sections. I'm happy to say I was finally able to nail that rocky climb that comes just after the boardwalks. Won't way how many tries it took. I'm just happy that the practice paid itself off with some tangible results. I have found that this is not always the case--e.g., the little Buffalo Jump loop kept messing with me no matter how many times we did it. We'll see how things go at the race this Sunday. My legs are feeling a bit achy right now, perhaps from refusing to admit just how much ground can be lost by two weeks off the bike, but it feels like the lungs are starting to come around a bit. Still a long way to go, but there's a few good months of riding left--not to mention the upcoming FGBC fall race series. So no need to give up on the season just yet.

Speaking of the FGBC race series, it seems we have identified at least three venues that would be worthy of a short race: Birds Hill Park (the Wednesday night course), Whittier Park, and Garbage Hill. More can be added if there is evidence of interest. With all the singlespeeds popping up (by my count Hal, Unger, Marls and myself are already equipped, with Johnny G to join us soon), we may have to include some sort of ss race in the schedule as well. Or perhaps we could just give some bonus points in the FGBC Cup standings to those who compete on ss. Will work at scheduling over the next little while, starting sometime after the Ultimate season comes to a close. Get it on the radar screen.

Should also mention that we came up with a new event to keep us amused at future Bike Club outings. Pick a relatively technical section of trail (e.g., Top of the World, portions of Ingolf, etc). Everyone starts with a case of beer in the bank (I take it Johnny G will work something out with our sponsors on this point). Every time you put your foot down, you lose one beer. If you end up with negative numbers, that will go towards the beer fund for future events. Always looking for ways to improve riding skills.