Andrew Hall, who has organized a trail run each Sunday for a few weeks, had another this past weekend at Clear Creek Metro Park.  Clear Creek probably has the toughest routes with some serious climbing and so this likely discourages some people from coming out.  However, there were 6 of us at the start, Andrew, his buddy Sam, Recumbent Dude (Nathan), Dean, Mitch O and me.  We headed immediately to the ridge via the Fern Trail, topping out at .9 miles and we were huffing and puffing and regrouping.    After 7 miles and 1200' of climbing, I had enough and bugged out with Mitch and Sam departing a little sooner.  Andrew, Nathan and Dean headed out via the road to get in a few flat miles and likely ended with around 11 miles. This Sunday, Andrew is headed to Slate Run, which is quite a bit flatter for a 2:00pm start.  Not sure which parking lot is designated as the meeting lot but someone will probably post in the comments section.   
Got out for some hill repeats today and briefly rode with Rob Rhodes, who had just split off from Billy C and who had run into Marty S in Utica.  I had only 15 miles but over 2000' of climbing so that was ok.  Hope we can ride this weekend.  

The evening of the John & Adele Mardi Gras party at their home, high on a hill in Granville had arrived.  I warned John that my demand on his wine inventory would be so great that I would bring a bottle with me to help make up for the loss.  Upon arriving and giving up the bottle, I made a beeline for their refrigerator and without being invited, began clawing at the foil of a cold bottle.  John was helpful by removing the cork so I did not have to smash it against the counter to open.  We were among the first to arrive but soon there were Adele's friends from work, John's friends from work and a collection of gaunt looking people the likes of which reminded me of Civil War veterans suffering from malnutrition.  Yes, the cyclists had arrived.

I had an epiphany early when I noticed practically everyone who arrived brought with them a bottle of wine and it dawned on me that I should begin hosting a party now and then. Arriving were, Todd Mullins, Kyle Wingler, Peggy & Gus Cook, Mitch Tallen, Rick Miller, Alex Okolish & a couple others maybe but my memory is a little foggy for some reason.  Gathering from where everyone is at this point in the new year with their cycling miles, it's going to be another loooong cycling season for me.  Seems everyone is over 700 miles and Rick even said he's in better shape now then when we rode in July....how's that possible?  Heard some interesting conversation but probably shouldn't put it out there for public consumption since embarrassing people would be counter to the purpose of this blog.  At 9:00pm, I began getting anxious because my Buckeyes were tipping off against Meatchicken and by 9:30 I couldn't take it anymore and departed the party to catch the 2nd half.  After watching that debacle I realized I should have stayed at the party.  Geez.  
 

Thirteen showed up for the 9:00am ride out of New Albany but was surprised there were not many more given the forecast.  At the start were Rich Lewis, Billy Campbell, Kevin (Olympus dude), Doug M, Jeff S riding a new cross bike with very knobby tires to which he has not taken a rasp and begun filing to smooth, Kenda Janet as the only female type, Blair B, new guy Arizona George, Larry P, Steve, Mark V and Trent L.  Later, Kenda Dave joined us in Granville so a total of 14 eventually.

Left to right, Rich, Billy C drawfed by  Rich, Doug, Steve and part of Kevin.

Rich suggested a route that eventually put us north on Dutch Lane before swinging south to Granville for 60 miles.  We shoved off onto old 161 but at the first light, one of us had a minor mechanical so those that noticed waited and those that didn't kept going and with that, the group was split with 7 in a front group and 6 in a rear group.  Our rear group, consisting of Larry, Steve, Janet, Mark V, Jeff and me made an in flight decision to modify the route and got onto Jersey Mill in Alexandria, Mounts out past Lobdel Reserve where Larry commented that Kyle Wingler is basically running the place and building bike/trail running trails.  Good to know that's an option. In Alexandria, we picked up new guy Arizona George who had dropped back from the front group and he fit right in with our kind of off season pace. 
                    

We turned north at Hardscrabble, then right at Conner and Larry suggested me hop on to Raccoon Run, a paved road other than the final dirt packed down hill that spewed fine mud on us all and then a right at Stone Quarry, right at Loudonville, left at Dry Creek, right at New Burg and eventually in to Granville where we stopped at the "uptown" coffee shop.  After some debate, we went south via River Road, crossed 16 while dodging traffic, hit the hills on Canyon and finally circled around to #37, crossing it and getting onto Hayes Road.  Thus began the long slog into a fairly strong head wind.  Jeff S had struggled at times with maintaining our scintillating pace while pushing all that rubber, so much so that Kenda Janet observed, "Gee, how come when Oxley rides his cross bike he can keep up?"  Of course, Steve's tires are smooth and I suspect so too will Jeff's when next he brings out his cross bike.  

We finally pulled into the parking lot with 50 miles and a surprising 2900' of climbing.  None of us looked too strong at this point other then Larry and Steve who still had 10 miles to return home, thus they ended with 70 miles. 
 
  

Wow, what a Winter huh?  Forecast turns back to great for Saturday.  Riding out of New Albany sounds good to me and I bet there will be a huge turnout.  The 9:00am forecast temp is 38 degrees so that looks good.  Besides, there are likely to be a couple of groups starting at that time so we can morph into one at the start. 

Got invited to a Mardi Gras party Saturday evening and sounds like mostly cycling types will be there.  I just bought a camera that is the shape of a shirt button so am going to wear it and try to catch some of the area's elite cyclists in compromising situations that I can exploit for your enjoyment.   
 

So, I walked out onto a limb yesterday, confident that by Wednesday and with only 3 days to go until the weekend, the forecast wouldn't change too much but, alas, now Saturday is rain, Saturday night rain/snow and Sunday is windy and cold.  How could those geniuses at weather.com have missed that?  Maybe Saturday's rain will start later in the day or be hit and miss so we can still get in a good ride.  I've got little, little plans for this season so I have to start putting in some longer rides, especially since I've firmed up the plans for CA training late in March by making flight/hotel reservations. 

I'm slotting in with a tour group again because it forces me to ride harder since I'll be around quite a few other cyclists, some, ok many, of whom will be stronger then I and it's good to be able to have support if there is a mechanical that I can not fix (pretty much anything other than a flat tire).  Due to reasons to be explained later, I have to miss the first day of the schedule but will be there for the second day which is......the climb up Figueroa Mountain!  As I sit here with excess flab draped over my belt, an array of bon-bons spread before me I can only shudder at the thought. 

Wow, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday sun and 40's.  It does get better than that but not for the middle of February.  For some, Monday is a ride day with a day off from work due  to  President's Day.  Unfortunately, I am not part of that crowd but heard Flyin T is planning a ride  For Saturday, Dave Miller has his COP, Wonder Winter ride but it's through the mean streets of Columbus so think I'll pass on that.  Give the guy credit for coming up with a creative ride but I'll take country road ridin.  Probably something originating from New Albany makes sense. 
   

Well, the weekend was a bit of a bust.  Had several emails from people going out of town to ski, installing bathroom tile or just hitting the trainer rather than go outside.  Peggster, a cross country skiing expert, informed me that you needed a base of 4-5" before that activity could happen so I installed wood flooring on Saturday and then trail ran 5 miles on Sunday.  Pretty boring stuff but there's always next weekend (hope that's the case for all of us for a long time).

Jeff S and Jeff F, long time Thursday COP ride leaders have spit the bit for this year and so far, COP has had no luck rounding up a volunteer(s) to take over. Without the COP imprimatur we can still ride of course but it's good to have someone show up with a route and maps, scream when we can leave the parking lot, etc...  Guess we can just show up, haggle over a route and take off or adopt the Wednesday Worlds strategy of riding pretty much the same route every week.  If anyone out there wants to step up and take over the COP ride leadership, contact Donna Bush or Suzzane Birk of COP.

Saturday can officially be described as unridable, unless you're on your cross or mountain bike, neither of which I have so am plotting something that will either be off trail hiking into remote canyons and creeks or just plain trail running.  Will have something on Friday that is official for you that are interested.  Unfortunately, the really hard hiking/trail running with hills, deep and dark hollows, rushing rivers, cascading falls, fallen trees, abundant wildlife, etc... is a fer piece from the Columbus area but it's usually worth the drive.   
UPDATE: Well, it's almost 11:00pm and we have 0.0000001" of snow on the ground so no cross country skiing.  Looks like maybe south of here there is a little more snow but not much.  Everyone who responded to the Bat signal said they were going north to ski or putting in new tile in the bathroom or participating in a cycling training path through Westerville (Kenda Janet) or whatever....good luck to everyone.  I'm goig to run the incredibly wet and muddy trails around the Dennison Bio Reserve,  
  
 

How about this weather?  Daylight getting longer, average day time high temperature going higher since January 28, what can go wrong now?  Anyway, Saturday wasn't such a great weather day but with the green radar blob approaching from the west I bailed on the New Albany ride and made the long drive to Old Man's Cave and trail running with Mark C.  We took the rim trail over to Cedar Falls, paused there to catch our breath and headed on to Ash Cave.  I bailed on the run at the fire tower and returned to the parking lot via the lower trail.  Wow, some serious erosion has taken place along the river, washing out the trail in a couple of places.  Wonder when that happened?  Mostly we had run in very light rain but on the return the intensity picked up a bit but didn't get too wet.  Finished with 8 miles running and came home to lay hard wood flooring.  I think that day I finally burned more calories then consumed, the first day in a long time that happened.

Headed down to Canal Winchester for the COP ride out of Cyclist Connection.  Eleven people showed, including Younger Phenom Nic, Olympus/Walker dude Kevin, Gary (Nic's father), Mark V (not wearing the Red's jersey), Dave, Eve, etc...  Nic claims to have gained 6 pounds this winter and I encouraged him to drink plenty of milkshakes.    

Nic, Kevin, Mark and I got away from the group and we hung together for 10 miles or so until making a right off Pleasantville Road onto Burchey and then a left on Carroll Eastern, Nic and Kevin got away from us.  After 25 miles we rolled into Millersport,  Nic and Kevin kept going while Mark, Gary and I hit the gas station for a break.  Headed back to Canal and finished with 49 miles and glad to have gotten out for the first spirited-paced ride of the year.  Long, long way to go to mediocrity but I'm on my way at last. 
 

Wow, is this Arizona?  First the Saturday forecast changed from rain to cloudy and now Sunday's forecast did the same.  Woohoo!  I sent an email out to a few people and those that responded wanted to do the New Albany to likely Granville route.  I'll have more details by tomorrow about a start time but either 9:00 or 10:00am.  Note Dave Miller also has a COP ride scheduled out of London via the bike path to Xenia and back on Saturday.  I don't want to undermine his ride but that's a long drive for some of us and riding a bike path is not attractive.  Sorry Dave!  Guess for Sunday there is the Canal Winchester ride out of Ric Noland's Cyclist Connection shop or there will be another ride out of New Albany.   

UPDATE:  Well that sucks, forecast flipped back to rain but weather.com says 40% so maybe we can ride.  In case not, here is an option from Mark C for trail running.  Mark is known to run rain or shine and you can always show up and just hike.  Regarding the New Albany ride, weather permitting let's ride going to Granville, 45ish miles with option for longer.  Sounds like Larry P, Todd L, Flyin T, Jeff S and others will be there.  All are welcome as usual.  Off season pace unless you want to go faster.  I'll post the time later today after looking again at weather forecast. 

Update #2.  If not raining, how about 10:00am out of New Albany, normal starting point for a ride?  If raining, I'm trail running with Mark C.  Rain not so much a factor for trail running.  Anyone have riding plans for Sunday?  See Mark C's decription of the trail run and note Andrew is hosting a trail run on Sunday at 2:00 I think out of Clearcreek Park.

So, who is interested in a trail run at Old Man's Cave Saturday? I'm planning to start at Old Man's Cave at 10 AM and run to Ash Cave, then back. That would be about 11 miles.

There are shorter alternatives as well.
Old Man's Cave to Cedar Falls and back = 6 miles.
Old Man's Cave to Ash Cave = 5.5 miles. We can come get you and drive you back to the start.
Old Man's Cave to Ash Cave back to Cedar Falls = 8 miles.