MoCo Epic 2010

     The MoCo Epic (http://mocoepic.com/) was a great event created by my friend Denis of MORE and sponsored by MORE, REI, Germantown Cycles, Holiday Inn of Gaithersburg, DrinkMore Water, The Bike Lane, ZAdventures, Oasis Bike Works, Darius Mark State Farm Insurance, Michael Bonsby Heating & Air Conditioning,  Trails For Youth,  Fireworks Art Cafe, and of course IMBA.

     Over the course of the summer he spent countless hours with other MORE members creating and documenting a course that would be safe, enjoyable and legal. When there are 160 riders, you have to be sure to have you $hi! together. Starting before sunrise, I was assigned as a volunteer to parking lot duty. We had two parking lots at the nearby Maryland Soccer Complex that held 120 cars. They were full.

      I attached a few pictures to the left from my experience with the wonderful enthusiastic people who participated both as riders and volunteers that day.

What is the MoCo Epic? As per Denis on the MoCo Epic Website:

It is a supported ride. Participants will be given a cue sheet, a GPS track (should they have the necessary equipment to run it), spray painted signs will be on parts of the course, and volunteers will direct riders at critical intersections. Time records will be kept only for the purpose of accounting for everybody.

                           



During the ride, the riders will cross some or all of the    following Montgomery County parks:

- Schaeffer Farms (Seneca Creek State Park)

- South Germantown Recreational Park (SoccerPlex)

- Hoyles Mill Conservation Area (Hoyles Mill trail)

- Black Hill Regional Park

- Little Bennett Regional Park

- Damascus Regional Park (Seneca Greenway trail)

- Lower Magruder Branch Park (Seneca Greenway trail)

- Great Seneca Stream Valley Park (Seneca Greenway trail)

- Seneca Greenway
- Seneca Creek State Park

- Muddy Branch Park

In order to go from one park to the next, the riders will occasionally be on road portions. The total paved mileage depends on the ride you register for. Here is the breakdown of road/dirt in the 62-miler:

- Country roads (very few cars): 12.88 miles

- Neighborhood streets: 3.09 miles

- Paved trails: .75 mile

- Major roads (River Rd, Rt 28, Rt 355, Rt 121, Esworthy, etc...): 2.85 miles

- Trails (almost all singletrack): 44.34 miles

There is a great photo gallery to enjoy on the MoCo Epic Website. Everyone had a great time and there were very few injuries. All in all, it was great publicity for MORE and for mountain biking in general.

For me it was inspiring. Seeing everyone out there having a great time riding in great weather on great terrain was just, well, great. I really wanted to participate but I was not in shape to do this. I have had a rough time this summer getting into shape. There are no more excuses though. Time to stop whining and start working. I have been riding more lately and it is amazing how much worse shape you can be in when you are older then would normally exist at an earlier age. It is because of this that I now understand how important it is to take the time to exercise your body, especially when you start hitting your upper 30s. It isn't going to get any easier and it is so essential to maintaining a high quality of life,

log riding is Fun

Here is a video of me riding a log on my mountain bike at Schaefer Farms in Gaithersburg MD.

Words: Ray Heinsman

Stunt: Ray Heinsman

Camera James Casey Corbett

I would like to thank my bike, MORE, and everyone who has always encouraged me to ride harder.

Becoming One With Nature

Making great rides happen requires preparation. 

1) Eat well - check

- ate a banana, a breakfast sandwich, a sandwich at lunch with lots of veggies on it, and a bagel 1 hr. before the ride. I also took the endurolytes which really seem to be working,

2) good nights sleep - check

- got a solid 8 hours the night before with vivid dreams and no mid-night wake-ups.

3) reduced alcohol and caffeine consumption - check

- had a couple of beers and 1 cup of coffee the previous few days before the ride.

4) lots of water - check

- had 6 pints of water on Wednesday and 5 pints on Thursday before riding.

5) Clean riding gear - check

- well my gloves were a little stinky - but a clean jersey and shorts!

6) Arrive on time - check

- got to the trail head 20 minutes before launch even in heavy traffic - which took some paying attention to the traffic report before leaving - in DC  - a necessity

7) Bike in Good Working Order - Check

- My bikes tires were just right and the chain was well lubed.

8) Good Spirits- check

-there are two types of spirits - a. anytime I go riding I feel happy and b. Scott brought more Raging Bitch Ale by Flying Dog for an after ride thirst quencher.

9) Be ready  - check

- I had just found my multi-tool which was good becaseu the new guy had some headset trouble, I also had cold water, a tube and a pump in my bag, my phone was fully charged and I had my ID and keys in my bag.

10) Ride with good people- check

- Today's ride was led by James. He took us on the two larger loops at a great pace that was both challenging and fun but didn't destroy me. I found my second wind a third and forth time. We also had a new guy who's positive attitude went a long way to helping me find that little extra when it was needed.

What does all this have to do with the title? Just now I felt a little itch on top of my head. I reached for it and there was a little bump which felt like a scab. I picked at it and it came right off in my finger nails. Holding it in front of my eyes I looked at it and it was a TICK! Evidently my head was a great place to start a new family but that didn't happen. Ah bringing a little trail back to the office the next day.

Ride on

Words and bike Photos By Ray Heinsman

Tick photo courtesy of the website in the TICK link

Bridges - Connecting Neighborhoods

I had a great ride yesterday that was relaxing, challenging and scenic. I was asked by Bert at Griffin Cycle to go mountain-biking with himself as well as another Griffin employee, Alex and an employee of Silver Cycles, Tim. To get to the meetup point I had to ride to the shop in Bethesda from my house in Silver Spring. This was a ride I was used to doing.

Before January of this year, I commuted by bicycle from Silver Spring MD to Bethesda MD everyday. It is a 6.5 mile ride that consists of many types of infrastructure. When I commuted I didn't blog yet, so I took this opportunity to share some of these wonderful paths and structures connecting these beautiful Maryland towns.

The first path I took leaving my neighborhood is Sligo Creek Path. In one of my first blog posts, I wrote about this trail system. It is a quaint park setting that straddles the Sligo Creek with soccer fields, playgrounds, golf courses and baseball diamonds. In many places one side of the creek has an unpaved path and the other has a paved path. These two paths are connected by a series of steel and wood foot bridges. The particular path I take on my route also includes a series of graphic rails that discuss information about the watershed duties of the creek.

After the park, I enter into a quiet neighborhood and climb a huge hill that crosses a couple of major streets. To get to the next path I need to cross an old wooden bridge over the train tracks that carry DCs Metro, the MARC train and Amtrack. This bridge can be quite slippery when it rains, but it is one way and the local streets speed bumps keep car speeds respectable and safe. This bridge drops you into a neighborhood that borders an industrial area with a lot of little manufacturing businesses. They make canolli, custom furniture, tire installation, marble countertops, etc.

The next path, the georgetown branch trail (or Capital Crescent) is a rail bed conversion. Being gravel and nearly flat it is deceiving how tiring it can be. This is the path that makes commuting between these two areas difficult. Fat tires make it smooth but add resistance, skinny tires reduce resistance but increase vibration. I was never comfortable with this portion of the ride, but it is beautiful. As you pass neighborhoods which are across the woods lining the path in the distance, you come upon little discoveries. One of those discoveries is a long high RR bridge that has been converted for pedestrian use. I stopped and took a few pictures here because the sun was setting and the colors were beautiful.

After I left the bridge I met a guy that I used to see everyday on my commute. He was a die-hard commuter like me, riding in all weather and loving every minute of it. We had a nice chat and I hope to do an interview with him soon about his experiences on the bike.

Finally I arrived a Griffin and the 4 of us packed up the car and headed to the trail-head. We did a 10 mile ride in Cabin John Park that was a rocky rooty technical challenge. Once again the others I rode with had way more endurance then I. All in all it was a great ride; I really enjoyed the challenge; and I look forward to the next one.

Keep riding everyone.

Words and Photos by Ray Heinsman

Endurolytes: A Solution?

Since I started mountain biking at the age of 16, climbing has always been difficult. I suffer from cramps; I can't keep my breath; and I sweat so much my eyes burn. I know everyone has difficulty climbing, but I seem to always be a little behind.

What can be done to make me a better climber?

The most important thing I need to do is get stronger, but that isn't something that happens over night. With the number of injuries incurred over the past decade, it will be a slow process. Most important is to take my time and make sure not to re-injure myself.

The second thing is diet. This can be improved every day. Make sure that you are well hydrated at the beginning of the ride. Eat some complex carbohydrates about an hour before the ride starts. My choice is a bagel. I also try to increase the amount of carbohydrates the day before by 15% or so. Fruits, vegetables and meat are important for healing and recovery.

No matter what I eat and how hydrated I am, I still have problems with muscular cramping. Realizing that I sweat more then the average bear; I decided to try an electrolyte supplement. "Endurolytes" were recommended to me by my new found friends at MORE. I went to the website and saw they had many products. Shipping is never cheap and if they work I may want to use several different products and order in larger quantities. So I picked up this bottle from REI. It cost 20 dollars even. I took 3 about 15 minutes before riding and hoped for the best.

Thursdays ride started off like the typical casual group ride on Thursdays at Schaeffer Farms. Although James, a rider who usually hangs tight with the faster paced groups was the leader; he took a fairly casual pace at first. The temperature was in the 90s and the humidity was off the charts. You could see rain clouds in the distance dropping liquid with a vengeance. But as the ride went on, the pace seemed to quicken. The first uphill I held on to my number two position in the pack. By the second hill I was again struggling. What happened to the supplements? I thought they were going to help.

Well, no product will fix everything. I still need more strength. I still need to eat even better then I do. There was, however, a second wind near the end of the ride. I was riding with more energy at the end of the ride then I had for the past hour. Then the last couple of large hills came up and back to the rear I go again. Oh well. There went that. Was there any help from this new product? I think so. But it was not conclusive until I awoke the next morning. 

Usually dreading getting out of bed after a ride and sleeping until the last possible minute before I need to go to work; this morning was different. I awoke at 5:30am. I felt refreshed and strong. I got up and took a shower. I made breakfast and got my stuff together. I started my morning commute taking off like a bullet. Aggressively attacking the road and swerving with mental clarity, this was unlike any post ride commute I ever had. Is this because of Endurolytes? I will have to use them again and let you know. I have never taken a supplement before, but this may be what I have been doing wrong for the past 20 + years.

Words and Photos By Ray Heinsman

MORE Thursday night ride - video

I just got a HTC Incredible. As I get used to operating it, I will be doing more publishing on the move. This video I took last night while on my Thursday night ride with MORE. Nothing great, but I am impressed with the quality of the recording and playback from my cell phone.

Enjoy

Words and Video by Ray Heinsman

Pictureseque Evening Mountain Bike Ride

Thursday night rides at Schaeffer Farms with MORE are great. This week 4 of the 15 of us rode the Hoyles Mill connector path between Schaeffer and Black Hills Regional Park. This path connects Schaeffer Farms to Black Hills Regional Park. It is about 5.8 miles long and was built by MORE four or five years ago. Every Wednesday I go to work around 6:30am so I can leave at 4pm to go ride with them and it has become the highlight of my week.

This week I decided to take back roads from Silver Spring to the trail head in Germantown because the beltway is always so congested. It took a little less time and the drive was much more pleasant. Usually I sit stopped on a highway for 30 minutes, travel over 50mph for 10 minutes and travel less then 30mph for another 40 minutes. It is only a 20 minute drive total when it is not rush hour. Taking back roads around here means 4 lanes most of the time, but it only took me an hour so I think I will incorporate this into my daily commute to cycling nirvana.

The Hoyles Mill Connector was a more journey oriented bike ride. There were two wooded sections that provided a multitude of obstacles like rock gardens, log hops and stream crossings. These wonderful little challenges were interspersed with nice smooth winding single track. Connecting them were a series of scenic vistas with rolling meadows, corn fields and horse farms. All in all it was a very picturesque ride that I thoroughly enjoyed.

My favorite section was near the black hills park area. We had just gotten done riding a small loop in that park, rode past the large man made lake, and re-entered the Hoyles Mill trail on the way home. It was a mostly rolling downhill through a lightly wooded area that felt more like a pump track then single track. On a couple of the rollers I was able to comfortably get some satisfying air. I hadn't gotten my wheels that high in quite a few years. I am not sure if Dennis who was riding ahead of me heard me but on the third time I had gotten a nice feel for the bike and yelled out a nice loud "Yaaaahooooo". The best part of these rollers was that they had great landings. I am a big fan of landings. The landing makes the jump and I hate jumping to flat ground.

The ride back was fast paced. Tania's allergies were bothering her and Bob lead her back via the road. That left bike breaking super speed Denis and I to tear it up on the way home. By the end, I was all tore up. Every hill I climbed, every obstacle I conquered left my legs cramped. This is something I have to address before this week. I will tackle this from two fronts; diet and a electrolyte supplement by Hammer called "endurolytes.

Of course every ride ends with good great food and beer at the Dog Fish Head Alehouse.

Looking forward to this Thursday.

Words and Photos by Raymond J Heinsman

Get Some

I didn't write about the second time I went because it was only marginally better then the first. The first ride of the year I felt like I was going to die almost the entire time. The second ride, only part of the time; but the third ride I aggressively attacked each obstacle and traversed the rolling landscape like an antelope (well almost).

It probably helped that I got there a little early. Because I had to pick the car up at the mechanic, I was prepared to go right at 4pm and arrived at the trail head just around 5pm. The earlier you leave, the better the traffic on the notorious DC beltway. I quickly unpacked my bike and tried my hand at photographing off road cycling enthusiasts as they headed back toward the parking lot. After finding a good spot with a roller and a log and lots of time to set up before they got there, I quickly realized this was far harder then it looked. The sun was low making light limited, my hands were shaky and I wasn't sure how people would react to a guy standing on the side of the trail taking their picture as they rode by. No one seemed to mind though and I learned a lot about photographing the high speed action of Mountain Biking.

After getting a couple of okay shots, I headed back to the parking lot to relax and converse with some of the new friends I was making since joining MORE and participating in the Thursday night ride at Schaffer. There were a lot of people here this time. We ended up breaking into three groups. I again rode with the beginner group. There was also an intermediate group and an expert group. Our group's ride leader, Bob, I had ridden with two times before; however everyone else was new. We had a great time. There was good conversation, camaraderie and support. We had an international traveller that was getting back on the bike for the first time in a while who kept riding even though he broke his pedal, a youthful lad totally new to mountain biking who did pretty darn well, and a nice young lady who just built up her pink Transition downhill rig and was dying to try it out for the first time. We all traversed the rolling countryside finding our moments of glory and pain and in the end rode longer then the previous two rides.

The best part about this 3rd ride was that I really started to feel comfortable on the bike. Two things were responsible for this improvement. First was preparation. I got a good nights sleep. I ate properly the day before getting a good amount of carbohydrates, H2O and protein while minimizing my intake of alcohol and caffeine. Doing the same the day of the ride, I also made sure to eat a bagel and put down 32 ounces of clean water between 1 and 1.5 hours before the ride started. I also warmed up and stretched before heading out. The other reason was that this was my 3rd ride of the season. It had been a couple of years since I had ridden off road and about 5 since doing so regularly. The bike was more predictable and felt lighter under my direction. I hopped over objects, even going uphill. One of the things I did to make this happen was putting more space between me and the person in front of me so I could attack these obstacles with the amount of momentum I wanted as opposed to riding at their pace. It makes all the difference in the world when you attack a hill aggressively on a bike like mine.

After we finished, there was good times to be had at the Dogfish Head Alehouse. We took over the patio outside and talked about riding, hobbies, interests, relationships; you name it. This activity has certainly become one of my favorite events of the week and I eagerly look forward to the next one as soon as it is over. This Thursday I would like to try to ride at a more advanced level. I am going to take it as I feel however, and write about it after it is over.

Ride hard everyone 

 Words and Photos By Ray Heinsman

I Got Dropped

Well, not dropped as in they left me to rot. My riding buddies were actually very nice and waited for me at the top of every hill as I huffed and puffed and pedaled my butt up.

I wish I had pictures but there was no energy in me to take any, or time to catch my breath to take any. I will be riding with this group every week though, so there will be photos in the future.

It has been a long time since I went mountain biking with a group of people in such great shape. They were almost all younger then me to....but there were two groups and I went with the beginner group. A couple of the guys were a little older then me and they rocked the 11 miles we rode. It all started out good. I was jumping over the logs, pumping the terrains undulation, and dropping in over all the roots smoothly......just like the old days. Then came the first hill and I climbed it aggressively. That was about 10 minutes in. After that, I was burnt toast. For the next hour and a half, I couldn't get my breath back. This is why riding with others is so important. It pushes you to strive to do more then you think you can. This is how you become a better rider.

Schaffer Farm is a really fun place to ride your bike. There are smooth trails, gnarly trails, stunts, obstacles, shade and sun. We saw deer sprint in front of us. While Bob was telling stories of jumping his three speed as a kid, I asked "That isn't someone moaning off in the distance is it?" Ed replied, "Nope, those are cows". The trees all had leaves and the prickers weren't too invasive yet. There had also been quite a bit of work done making the wet areas nicer to ride employing stones bridges. Probably the good work of MORE. Even though it rained the night before, the trees sucked up all that water and left a nice hard smooth surface for us to enjoy.

Mountain biking has changed radically since I was really into the sport. Back then, full suspension was all the rage. I had a GT XCR with 5" of travel, 24speeds, hydaulic disk brakes and 26" wheels. Now, 75% of people or more had 29"wheels, 1 speed, and if any, a few inches of front suspension. I watched as this new riding style conquered hills confidently and speedily while I downshifted and huffed and puffed some more. When I get into better shape, I have got to try one of these.

Stay tuned for more updates as to my progress as I get back into shape and again enjoy life in the woods on a bike.

words by Ray Heinsman