Riding with Metal

We spent Saturday and Sunday at the cabin.

Dahn Pahrs and Stik were coming up early Sunday morning to ride the trails. I knew I'd have to be extra rested to hang onto Dahn. He's been putting crazy miles in, despite terribly separating his shoulder in June. He'd also never been to Kennerdell, so there was some excitement to show him some new trails.

Birch and Chase stayed up super late beating all the girls at Sequence. They seemed pretty confident in their abilities, and I'm pretty sure if there were a Sequence Strava, they'd have all the KOMs.

Some time after midnight seemed like a good time to turn in. Ian, Gotch and I slept outside on the porch. I figure every hour of sleep in fresh air is equal to about two and a half hours of inside sleep. By sun-up, I'm Rip Van Winkle in a down bag. Washington Irving tucked me in, kissed me goodnight and read me a bedtime story. Now I'm awake. Refreshed. Loose. Ready.

Ian's back has been bothering him quite a bit lately. He moved a bunch of stuff into a new house, and now he moves like he's 85. He woke up on Sunday morning in an incredible amount of pain, so he was out for the day. I made plans to fly back south with Big Cat after the ride.

Jason decided to do the ride on his Fargo. Flat pedals. Generator hub & light. $300 bamboo fenders. No one should be surprised by this.

Pahrs and Stik show up at 9:00 sharp. Pahrs is decked out in his Twin Six Metal kit.

We climb Blunder, then continue along North Ridge. Windows is next, then Strip Mine. After a bunch of descending, we start the gated, unnamed quad climb. We have a head start on Stik, because he's spinning out a little more than everyone else on the flat prelude.

The climb starts. The ruts and loose rocks are there, but it's in better shape than usual. Gotch burps his front tire at the beginning and stops to pump it up. Pahrs rode 70+ miles the previous day, so I try to take advantage of his partially-weakened state. It kind of works, and I manage to stay within 15 feet or so for about half a mile. I have another half mile to go, and I realize I have no way of keeping up with him the rest of the way. He's climbing way too well, so I bid him adieu. The Metal glimmers away. Stik catches up soon after, ripping up the hill pretty much in the same style he ripped past me on a ride we did in Laurel Mountain a few months ago on gravel roads. Another minute or two, and I'm at the top. Probably my fastest time on that climb. Riding with Metal will do that.

We continue the awesome day doing Fisherman's Cove, more Windows, more Strip Mine. Climbed Goat. More climbing, more descending. More rocks. More Pahrs nervously watching my steripen in his stream water-filled bottle. More fun times.

In the end, we were all worked over. I think those guys got a ride in that was well-worth their drive. We climbed back out to the cabin, and Ian was waiting for me, which was super nice. I knew it was a big bummer for him to miss the ride, and he was still in a ton of pain. I guess I really didn't think of this until now, but I should probably buy him an Americano tomorrow.

Not an Americano. But this would suffice.

Satisfied.

I've been essentially wheat free for the past couple months. I have the standard, negative thoughts and feelings on GMOs that most other people have. Those knowledgeable on the subject, at least.

Also, I just wanted to try it.

And honestly - it is really upsetting to me that I went through withdrawals from it. Withdrawals from the types of food that are generally perceived as normal, run-of-the-mill consumables. Cravings, brain fog, exhaustion. It sucked.

And it's not like I was eating a lot of it, either. Our diets are pretty simple. Spinach salads, whole foods, a little bit of fruit. Most every night, dinners are essentially grilled or sautéed vegetables, sweet potatoes or rice, then some sort of protein.

I unexpectedly lost a little weight and went from 146 to 142. But more importantly to me, my appetite is a little easier to control. I'm eating foods with more fat in them and feeling generally better. Definitely a plus.

So, about the crazy ride this weekend. Some random thoughts:

I was really concerned about the weather leading into the weekend. The northeast had been getting a lot of rain dumped on it, so I was constantly checking out my RadarScope app. The C&O ended up being the muddiest I had ever seen it, but it was still a non-factor.

I remained wheat free the entire time. I was worried how my GI parts would hold up on such a long ride with my relatively new eating habits. This ended up being a non-issue.

Well, pretty much...

Except in Hancock where I quickly downed a sweet potato and some pineapple, then had the feeling of my stomach getting squished between an anvil and something else really heavy. I was at the nicest town in 125 miles and still no bathrooms around. Of course.

I grabbed the most-precious cargo from my frame bag - baby wipes, duh - hurdled past a group of two dozen small children and galloped off into the woods like a guy in lycra about to shit his shorts (Sorry, I can't think of a good analogy. I just have to tell it how it was.)

Although wheat free, I still ate a lot. I had prepped most of my food beforehand, so I was able to somewhat accurately assess the damage done between setting off in Georgetown and ending on Carson Street.

For breakfast, I had a Chipotle burrito bowl along with two bananas and peanut butter.

On the ride:

• Ten Lara Bars, six Kind Bars, five Almond Snickers
• Eight bananas, eight Tbsp of peanut butter
• Four sweet potatoes, three cups of brown rice, a can of black beans
• Two hamburgers (no buns), a cup of french fries, chicken breast w/ bacon, cheese & guacamole
• Five ham, turkey & cheese sandwich wraps (brown rice tortillas)
• Two bottles of coke, six Gatorades, some GU Roctane mix
• Handful of Jolly Ranchers, two packs of honey stingers
• A bag of blueberries, bag of cashews, some pineapple, an avocado, 2x espresso

Double burp.

No terrible wildlife encounters (human or non-human).

No mechanicals.

No chamois cream.

I had a goal time in my head. I really thought I could do the whole thing in 30 hours in relatively good conditions. I gave Ryanne the names of the trailheads I'd stop at for food and water along with my estimated pace between various stops. I gave her a more aggressive schedule with an overall 28 hour time, and a more conservative list at 30 hours.

Ry also used the Find My iPhone app to check out my location from her phone, which ended up being super helpful. It's difficult to describe the level of support she gave me. Food, planning, driving, etc. Willing to ride with me in the middle of the night for some time, only to turn around in the darkness alone was not expected, but appreciated. I enjoyed the short times together, and although concerned for her well-being, remembered that she pretty much does whatever she wants, so I wasn't about to start it up with her : )

I started at 3:50AM on Saturday morning. Finished at 7:14AM on Sunday. Start to finish time of 27:24. Had pretty good luck. Mud, yes. But never had a cramp and didn't really get tired. The stretch from Connellsville to West Newton was strewn with fallen trees from storm damage. The section between West Newtown and Pittsburgh sucked, as it usually does.

I had so many people send me text messages before and after the ride. I found out later there were a bunch of group text conversations between friends and family at 2:00AM, close to the end. Pretty darn thoughtful. I love my friends.

All-in-all it was difficult, but as much mental as it was physical. The first day of Trans North Georgia is still the hardest thing I have done physically. I was probably in my best shape when we were in Georgia, and that had us doing 26,000 feet of climbing bombed-out dirt roads over 116 miles in 18 hours. All on packed down mountain bikes. Fueled by cryptosporidium-riddled stream water.

I don't know what's next. This Team Schlup member found some glory this weekend, and that's enough to keep me going for a while. Wherever it may be, I'll be sure to make it an adventure.

Weekend Plans.

I already wrote about the Towpath, last year. My attempt at a novella, or so I've been told. Non-fiction, nonetheless.

I'm two for three in DC to Pittsburgh attempts. The first time through was spread across three days with five people. The second was start to finish in 46 hours with Ian. Attempting it alone is something I've thought about for a while. The long, flat party starts early Saturday morning.

• Dynamo and light? Check.
• Phone? Got it.
• 30+ hour playlist? Doubly-confirmed.

The only real plan is to get through the Towpath during the day, then suffer through the GAP at night.

I'd write more, but I've got an SOL blanket to pack.

Double Ugh.

As discovered a week ago, my roof is leaking.

For townhouses, home insurance policies typically cover drywall to drywall. Homeowner associations are usually responsible for exteriors and roofs.

The gray area is where failure to the exterior causes damage to the interior. I'm not sure who's responsible, but apparently it's me.

This was a perfect opportunity to call the ever-helpful HOA. They said they have a handyman on retainer. He's on vacation til, "We're not sure when." There were a bunch of other things said that aren't really worth saying.

The final chapter of this story has yet to be written.

A different story has been written, though. Titled, "Jeremy's a Sucker". Authored by PNC Bank, it's currently in first edition.

A couple months ago, we randomly ran into a couple friends at a beer festival. After some fun times in the sun, we went to a local restaurant. The two friends joined our group and ordered food. A few minutes later, they realized they had had too much to drink, so they quickly got up and left.

Not before asking if I would cover the $10 chicken salad they ordered.

The check was about $70. I tipped and signed, ultimately leaving both the customer copy ($70) and the signed merchant copy ($83) in the little black book.

A couple days later, I noticed PNC debited both $70 and $83 for the restaurant. As I would later learn, most restaurants will accumulate a stack of all credit card receipts, then run them through at the end of the night.

I admit there is some onus on me to remove the customer copy from the little black book, but it's probably also on the restaurant to filter these buggers out before running everything through. Assuming they need to look for signatures and tip amounts.

But whatever. A mistake's a mistake. Not intentional, I'm sure. So I called PNC, then I called the restaurant. PNC issued a temporary credit for $70, which was great. The restaurant said it was fine to just have PNC pull the lower charge back.

PNC then sent me a dispute letter, which I needed to fill out to make my claim. This was sent back, but apparently not enough to make my case. Provisional credit reversed, and I ultimately pay twice as much for a drunk friend's chicken salad that someone else ate.

I hope their hangover lasted twice as long, too.

: )