A Great Ride Along the Little Miami Scenic Trail

It only took 6 years for me to finally do this bike ride. It was there, stored away, in the back of my brain. Simmering. This year was the year.

As luck would have it, I have a friend who also wanted to do this ride. Her goals were a little loftier. Since I think just about any ride on the Little Miami Scenic Trail should include Peaches, I was easily persuaded to do a few more miles starting at Yellow Springs. She also convinced me to go to the very end of the trail in Newtown. Like I had any clue where that was.

I mapped out the distance, planned a few stops, and figured out that there was a Hilton Garden Inn near the trail which meant a free room with Hilton Honors points. Luckily the weekend we chose was perfect in the weather department so everything was set. Well, everything but my bike rack was set. The new bike didn't have eyelets for a rear rack. That meant some creative attaching using a Tubus QR adapter set and some rubber clamps I picked up at Home Depot.

The Beginning

Xenia

This Little Miami Scenic Trail actually starts a little more north than our starting point. We opted to start in Yellow Springs mostly because, well, it is Yellow Springs. There is plenty to see and do there, and it would be a festive finish upon our return. It also helped that I really enjoy Peaches which is right beside the bike path.


Our first landmark town on our journey was Xenia. It is roughly 8 miles from Peaches to the McDonald's in Xenia. That wasn't so hard.

This fellow was riding from
Cincy to Yellow Springs

Xenia Station

Our next planned stop 16 miles from Yellow Springs was a new place along the path called Treana's Folks and Spokes Cafe in Spring Valley. All I can say is wow! This place awesome. Carolyn had Broccoli and Cheese Quiche, and I had a ham and cheese croissant. Darcie took good care of us and told us a little about the place. It is very nicely decorated, and they have bike parts for sale as well. They also have a nice outdoor seating area. This place was definitely going to be a stop on our return trip.

Bicycles hanging from the ceiling. How cool
is that?

Spring Valley

Treana's Spokes and Folks

The next place of note along the path was Fort Ancient. I have yet to actually see Fort Ancient other than passing by on the bike path. One of these days.

Morrow was our next stop and the farthest I have ever been on the Little Miami Scenic Trail. We stopped at Miranda's Ice Cream shop and had some lunch. Morrow is a pretty small town, and there aren't a lot of options close to the path. This is where it would have paid to know about Loveland. I had heard that the path traffic would pick up as we approached Loveland (which is 13 miles from Morrow), and it did. As Carolyn and I cruised into Loveland, we were amazed at all the fun everyone was having. People were out and about. Plenty of folks were on bicycles, and there were also a lot of folks smiling, eating, and drinking outside at the Trailside Cafe.

And I hear...."In the Big Rock Candy Mountains, There's a land that's fair and bright...." A band at the Trailside Cafe was playing this song which transported me right back to Tennessee. This song always reminds me of the Smoky Mountains. I can only think I must have heard it there when I visited as a child.

This song was fitting as Loveland seemed like a fairy tale in the middle of our journey. I was so interested in what was going on around me that I actually forgot to take pictures. Since we had committed to going to the end of the trail, we continued on our journey. In order to get to the end, we had to pass the road leading to the hotel. A bit later we arrived in Milford which touts itself as Trail Town, USA. There was a lot less path traffic in this section.

Hmmmm, which trail do we next? How about
Cincy to Cleveland! :-)

65 miles later, we arrived at the end of the trail in Newtown. There was no finish line or even an end of LMST sign. There was just a golf course sign ordering us to dismount bikes.

This section had little shade, and it was getting pretty warm out. We still had 10 miles to go to get back to the hotel. We considered heading back to the Trailside Cafe but decided to go the hotel instead since it would have added quite a few more miles to the journey.  Little did we know what awaited us on Wards Corner Road. It was only about 1 and half miles to the hotel from the path, but what a tough 1.5 miles it was!

My Lightspeed doesn't have a granny gear. I was carrying plenty of gear. I had just ridden 70+ miles. This road had cars on it. This was no time for a hill! Unfortunately no one informed the hill. I would have stopped and walked the bike, but I didn't think I could unclip from my pedals without falling over. By the time I got to the top, my legs were shaking and my heart was about to jump out of my chest. If we hadn't gotten our money's worth in the first 73 miles, we certainly got it in the last 1.5.  I was very happy to arrive at the hotel.

After a good breakfast on Sunday, we headed back toward Yellow Springs. Our timing was a little later than we had preferred, but it was out of necessity to avoid the Little Miami Half Marathon on the path. We did manage to go through the race finish line in Morrow. It was another day of absolutely perfect weather, and we once again stopped at Treana's on the way home. This time we met Treana and had some fajitas and good conversation with others who had stopped to "fuel up" along the path. After 55 miles for the day, we arrived back where we had begun. We enjoyed a celebratory drink at Peaches and walked around Yellow Springs which was bustling with people out enjoying a beautiful day. Our Little Miami Scenic Trail adventure was complete!

July!

My favorite month!

July and I have had our moments. I remember back in my KinderCare days (which means I was probably 4 or so), I had a book with facts about popular shows / movies. I used to love Knight Rider so when I saw David Hasselhoff and I had the same July birthday, I thought that was pretty awesome. In high school, I learned that my favorite teacher, Mr. Gray, also had the birthday of July 17th. More on that a little later. In any case, I loved birthdays.

The first time I remember not being happy on my birthday was during Camp Buckner at West Point. I was far from home spending a humid summer in New York. I was miserable. I was hot, sweaty, tired, and running around in the woods. (Strangely, I now do something very similar for fun.) Later in life, I had people forget my birthdays. When you've been dating someone for a while, that feels less than good.  That happened two different times over the years during two different relationships. No joy there. Worse yet, I could never recall my dad ever calling to say happy birthday. As a kiddo, I didn't think about that much. As an young adult, it made me a little mad.

My final straw occurred on my 30th birthday. I had always thought I would be married by 27 and have children by 30.  I was turning 30, and neither of those things had occurred. Instead, I was in a very negative relationship, in a brand new job as an IT project manager (ugh), out of shape, and trying to figure out where things had gone so wrong. I felt the black hole pulling me in, and it was a terrible feeling. Logically I realized that it was ridiculous for a number to have such real impact on my emotions, but it was more than the number. The issue was my life the way it was at that moment. The number just made me focus on my reality.  A month after our birthday, Mr. Gray passed away.

Later I would joke and say I had my mid-life crisis 10 years early.  At the time it felt like anything but a joke.I knew I could not continue in this direction so I decided to begin celebrating my birthday again.

Not only would I celebrate my birthday on my birthday, but I would begin my celebration on July 1st. To heck with that darkness trying to pull me down, I was going to fight back. Everyday between July 1st and the 17th, I would have a birthday celebration. That celebration could consist of a stop at the coffee shop, a new jacket, a bike ride with a friend, or anything a little different really. The point was to focus on the joy and goodness of one thing for that day. I also began my tradition of the red sock run one year later to celebrate and remember Mr. Gray.

The first time I came across Mr. Gray, he scared the hell out of me. Mrs. Wuthrich sent me up to his classroom to look for Nathan who she had sent up that way earlier to get something.  I was in 8th grade and sent up to talk to a teacher I didn't know in front of a bunch of high school students. I asked him if he knew where Nathan was, and he said something ridiculous. All the older kids laughed.  I took his algebra 1 class that next year, and somewhere during that time he decided I was pretty smart. Over the next four years, Mr. Gray became the dad I never had. The summer after my sophomore year, I spent every morning beginning at 7am with him, Jonathan (his nephew) and Angie (a woman studying for her PhD) doing math problems under the big pecan tree in his huge garden for about 3 hours. Afterwards, we would pick black-eyes peas, watermelons, cucumbers, garlic, or whatever was ready to be harvested. One day during a math lesson, I asked him when his birthday was, and he said, "July 17th!" I didn't believe him so he showed me his driver's license.  Lo and behold (as he would always say), it was July 17th!  From that day forward, he often referred to me as his twin.

Mr. Gray was retired Army; field artillery to be exact. Every day he wore red socks, "field artillery red" as he called it. So the first birthday after his passing, I ran my first red sock run and have continued the tradition ever since.

This year I took some pictures of my daily birthday celebrations at the request of a friend so I thought I'd go ahead and post them on the blog.  Without further ado....

July 1 Blueberry Bagel at Panera	July 2 While cleaning my garage, I found $40 someone had left behind
July 3 Free Iced Latte at Panera!	July 4 Freedom 50K Ride with Carolyn
July 5 Sold my old bike on craigslist in less than 4 hours and made $100 more than I thought I would	July 6 Diet Cherry Lime Dr. Pepper
July 7 $85 running jacket for 32 bucks!	July 8 Dartfish running gait analysis at PT. Very neat.
July 9 In New Jersey for work. Birthday dinner with my friend Dave (far right). Thanks Dave!	July 10 Mom bought me a beautiful sunflower. Thanks Mom!
July 11 Breakfast with the ladies. Blueberry pancakes! (No powdered sugar, sugar-free syrup ;-)	July 12 $20 at a time, Mom and I gave away the extra $100 I got for the bicycle.
July 13 Peanut Paradise Smoothie sans sugar	July 14 Wright Museum and Bike Tour. Very cool :-)
July 15 Birthday beer and free dinner	July 16 Massage!

July 17th
 Red Sock Run and Bike

c

This post could be about physics, but it isn't. It's about a bicycle, sort of. 

 

Old School Dyno Compe

Back when I was a lot shorter, I used to love bicycles. I would ride my bike all over a little Texas town for hours on end. I read BMX magazines. I would sit around and draw different frame designs. My mom once told me that a bike made out of titanium would fly. She was an enabler of the best kind.

I made a calendar and charted out when I would have enough money for the bike. My mom would give me an $1 for every A I made on my report card and pay me for helping out at the office. I plotted and saved and eventually bought a chrome Dyno Compe freestyle bike. When it came time to assemble it, I did fine until it came to the rotor. I had never actually seen a rotor in action so mom drove me to a bike shop in the big ol' town of Wichita Falls, Texas. We got it figured out. For a kid who loved bicycles, it was awesome.

Usually once a year I think about getting a new bike. I bought my current bike in 2007, and it's been good to me. That titanium bike has always been there stuck in the back of my brain, though. Those things cost $4000 brand new so there was no way that was ever going to happen. I could be richer than a king, and I doubt I would spend that much money on a bicycle. Two weeks ago, however, I looked around and found a used titanium Litespeed Tuscany on sale within a 2 hour driving distance. It also happened to be just my size. The wheels began to turn... :-)

I contacted the seller, and a meeting was set. I began thinking about what I would do to fix it up and researching online, and I had a plan as to what I needed to look at once I was there to make sure it was a good purchase.  I showed up at his house, went to ring the doorbell, and jumped a mile high as he unexpectedly rounded the corner of the garage. It was at this point all logic left my poor brain. Pure rational thought was gone anyway because I was way too excited about this bike. The bike went out of my brain when I saw the guy selling the bike. Let's call him B. I think it was his smile that put me over the edge. 

My mom had insisted on going with me since there have been more than few cases of people pretending to sell things on craigslist and doing terrible things. While Mom isn't scary, she does know how to shoot a gun, and I happen to own one. None of that was necessary because it turned out that B is a police officer. He also lives alone and had a road ID that matched mine, as he pointed out. I was smiling. He was smiling. Mom thought the entire thing was pretty funny, and it was. So anyway, I wound up with a good story and a new (to me) bike. Luckily when I got home and had a good look at it, the bike was in perfect shape.

So over the past few weeks I've been learning a lot about bicycles. I've been figuring out to remove decals from titanium (acetone works great), ordering new decals and installing them, replacing tires, figuring out I know almost nothing about derailleurs, cleaning gears and a chain, putting on new handlebar tape, bike fitting and adjusting blah blah blah. I have plenty of knowledgeable internet folks to thank for the tips. Between message boards and YouTube videos, I've learned a lot.

    Litespeed Logo before...                                                                    Litespeed Logo after...

Before...

After...

(waiting on a different water bottle holder to arrive, though)

Before...

After...

Is it blue?

Is it green?

Yep!

It's been a fun project, and used or not, I am beyond happy with my new bike. The other great thing about this project is that it has made it completely clear just how much my mom has always been there for me. When I needed to learn how to put together a rotor, she was there. When I needed backup while going to pick up a bike, she was there. That titanium bike in the corner of my mind was there partly due to her influence. A lot of who I am was greatly influenced by what she said and did while I was growing and learning. My mom is caring and always there when I need some help. Thanks for being awesome, Mom!

Got Water? Nathan Speedbelt 2 Review

First things first. Thank you! Enough folks have read my Hoka One One reviews and bought items from The Clymb that I managed to pick up another Nathan Speedbelt 2. This time it was free. That's right! Zero. Nada. Zilch. Why? Because of you. Thanks!

Notice I said another. I am a big fan on the Nathan Speedbelt series. The biggest issue I have had with water belts is that they refuse to stay in place on my girlie hips. It turns out the hour glass figure and water belts don't play nicely together. I tried the Fuel Belt, and there was no love. I had it so tight that a buckin' bronco would have complained, but that didn't stop it from heading north. Guys don't seem to have the same problem. I also tried another belt in the Nathan Sports series. That one didn't work out too well either. It seems the Speedbelt series is the one for me. I've been wearing them for years, and I decided a review might be helpful. You paid for it so here it is.

Nathan Speedbelt 2 in stealth mode

My past Speedbelts were gray. I was happy to see one in black. I wear black shorts, and lets face it, black has that slimming effect. :-)

The Speedbelt 2 has a place to carry two 10 ounce water bottles. It also has a nice size pouch to store some things while on the run. First, lets talk about the pouch...


My old belt had the standard pouch that my Nexus 4 refused to call home. My phone was just too big. This time, I was in luck! My Nexus has a 4.7" inch display (specs 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1 mm), and it fit! There was another cool little surprise.  I could actually see the phone through the pouch! See:

Stealth mode and an almost invisible pouch. Call me
Wonder Woman.

There are a few other nice things about this pouch. It has a divided area that isn't see-through and helps separate things. That means I can throw something else in the pouch and not worry about scratching my phone. It also has a place to attach a key so you don't lose it out on the trail and a small card to put down your emergency info.

There is also another small key pocket upfront. My car keys won't fit, but my house key will.

Left cap is the standard version
Right cap is the race version

So about those water bottles... they carry 10 ounces of fluid which is generally enough to get you to the next aid station in a trail ultra unless it is an extremely hot day. They have a nice ergonomic shape that fits the hand nicely, and in general they stay put in the holder. I've had one bounce out maybe 3 times in the past 5 years. The only thing I would really change is the cap.  In fact, I do change the cap. Once I tried the race cap, I couldn't go back to the old popup style so I ordered more bottles with the race caps. The race caps allow you to drink without having to look down or use two hands. On the road that is no big deal. On the trail it can cause you to kiss the dirt.

Finally onto my favorite part of the belt, the velcro attachment that keeps this thing where I put it:

I can get this belt tight enough to stay without making it too tight. This is what originally sold me on the Speedbelt and keeps me coming back.

And now for the model shot with the help of Charlie and Honey:

Another nice touch is that the silver you see on the belt is reflective. In fact, I had to turn off the flash to take the above picture or else risk blinding you with the Nathan logo in the middle.

These belts have an MSRP of 45 bucks. If you keep your eye out on The Clymb, you can get them for less than half the price on last year's model. Stay hydrated and happy running!

Timbuk2 Showdown Review

Ah, the good ol' days. I remember my favorite part of going back to school. While mom would go do the shopping, I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking through hundreds of Trapper Keepers trying to find the perfect one. I looked forward to doing that every year. While I don't remember many of the ones I picked, I remember my favorite had picture of a large waterfall surrounded by green. I have a very similar photo hanging up in my house now.  Hmmmmm.

I've carried the same laptop backpack now for quite a few years. I walked into a chain store, picked out one that seemed okay, and that was that. I've had it for probably 7 or more years. It didn't bring me joy, but it worked. I use my backpack a lot for work. Sometimes it hauls a laptop back and forth to the office. Sometimes it hauls around military electronic equipment while I'm out walking in the woods. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it recently had a blowout of an inner lining. It was time for a new backpack.

I'm not a big fan of paying full price for things. I went to a few places that tend to have the best prices on outdoor gear: LeftLane Sports, The Clymb, Sierra Trading Post, and 6pm.com. The backpack choices are astounding. I was transported right back to the 80s, hanging out in Target, picking out my Trapper Keeper. There were a few things I needed in a backpack: a place for my laptop, a place to shove a water bottle, and a place for my phone. I also didn't want anything too large since I would be hauling it through the airport, on an airplane, to the office, and in the woods/field/desert/etc. I also wanted something that would fit into my work environment (think army meets engineer) as well as something I could use to go for a day hike. Enter the Timbuk2 Showdown.

There were many to choose from, but I decided on the Showdown. It met all my requirements, and, hey, I liked the way it looked. The laptop compartment is completely separate which is nice. Plenty of times going through security at the airport, I would pull out my laptop and the papers in the divided section would come out with it. Big deal? Nah, but slightly annoying. This backpack solved that issue.

 

Laptop Cocoon of Luxuary

The phone pouch is oh-so-soft and will keep a phone riding in style, scratch free.

Room to throw in a water bottle, or in this case, a Flying Monkey Silipint cup.

There is a large zip pocket on the front with a mesh pocket. My sunglasses case fit perfectly at the bottom of this pocket. On the other side below the phone pouch, there is another zip pocket that is about half the size.

The main compartment has a zip pocket as well as an area for pens and other items.

There is a detachable sternum strap, a bottle opener (never know when you'll need one of those, right?), and a padded area with air channels for the back.

Two of the best things about this pack are that I managed to get it for $40 less than retail at 6pm, and it comes in smaller than most at 22 liters. It's not a waterfall, but it is a darn good backpack.

Race Report: Ice Age 2

No, not THAT Ice Age. Last year's Ice Age could have easily been titled The Meltdown for me. I had originally planned on the 50 mile, but I did the 50K because I knew something was wrong. It turned out that I was severely anemic and didn't know it. My meltdown occurred very early during the event, but I still managed to go 31 miles. Looking back, it felt like I ran that entire race in a tunnel. Truthfully, I don't remember a lot of it. That combined with the fact that I had not run an ultra since last year's Ice Age made me a little nervous for this year's 50 mile attempt.


This year, the woolly mammoth was back on the buckle, and I was back in Wisconsin to run the 50 mile.

My good friend, Don, was also back to continue our once a year ultra running get-together tradition for run #5.  It all started back in 2007 when I decided to run a trail marathon, and he ran the entire thing with me even though he had only trained for a half.  This would be Don's first 50 mile race.

When I arrived into Wisconsin in my shorts and t-shirt the first thing I noticed was BRRRRRR!  Ice Age was right. Wow! It was 60+ in Ohio ad 44 with cold winds here. The forecast called for temps between the 30s and 50s on Saturday, and that works just fine for me when it comes to distance running.  I'd much rather see those temps than 90-100 degree temps we dealt with at Brew To Brew in 2011. There was a little bit of rain predicted as well, which I could happily do without. Dirt + water = mud, and I've had more than enough of those runs thank-ya-very-much.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ~ Ephesians 3:20" K-Love Verse of the Day 5/11 and some very great news considering I was about to try and run 50 miles.

The ~10.5 mile Nordic loop is a beautiful, wide trail covered with pine needles. During this section, we had plenty of company and ran quite a few miles with a fellow from Wisconsin named Brandon who was running his first 50 mile. The Nordic Trail seemed to be over almost as soon as it had started, and the day was turning out to be beautiful.

Section 2 of the race changes things up quite a bit. The trail turns into a lot of single track, and rocks and roots begin to get your attention... or else. This section also begins an out and back portion on a very narrow trail, and this is where my trouble began without me even realizing. Blissfully ignorant, I kept mostly to the right side of the trail jumping up onto the right section to move out of the way of runners coming back from the opposite direction. This meant my right foot was constantly running at a cant which becomes important in later miles. No matter at this point. The 3rd runner I saw coming the opposite direction was David Riddle, who won this year's 50 mile race. He was flying down the trail with ease and grace. It really is amazing to watch.

My plan had been to take a gel every 45 minutes or so which worked well for the first 4 gels as I was carrying peanut butter Gu. This was the same strategy that had worked for me in my first 50 miler. Unfortunately not all aid stations had gel so I got a little off schedule. It was around this time I started feeling a bit tired.  Hmmmmm.  The aid station at the Section 2 turnaround point (~21 miles) had a plethora of Montana Huckleberry Hammer Gel. I grabbed 3 for the return trip back to Confusion Corner.

Montana Huckleberry: the only flavor of gel available during the entire event. Don joked that they had Huckleberry Pie at the finish.   I did mix it up with some oranges. I had my Garmin set to alert me every 45 minutes to take a gel, and as the miles went by, I begrudgingly obeyed its command. Even though I was over the flavor, the energy it delivered kept me going. Don and I finished the first 25 miles in 5 hours which put us well ahead of the 12 hour cutoff. I was thankful to have energy at the marathon point as last year my pace had turned into a walk because I just had nothing to give.  I was thankful for my running buddy. I was thankful for the beautiful day that we were given. I was thankful for no mud!

Running long distances has its stages. At first, things feel great. Then, after a bit, your legs get tired. A little later, your legs are really starting to get grumpy. Eventually they yell at you. Then, after that, I can only assume the legs either get tired of complaining or your brain gets tired of hearing it. That means things are going well.

When things aren't going well, it takes every ounce of energy you have just to get up that hill at a snails pace or something or other locks up completely and won't let you take another step. We were at the 50K point, and I was amazed to find walking up the smaller inclines was more annoying than running up them. The legs were feeling it, but life was still good.

We headed out on the third and final leg of our journey to Emma Carlin for the last 19 miles. Don and I had tried to fall numerous times but were unsuccessful. Based on the amount of folks I saw with scraped knees and dirt covered clothes, the roots and rocks got in a few good punches. The last leg seemed to be the hilliest portion of the course. I thought maybe it was because I was getting tired. The truth is that the highest point on the course does occur during the 3rd section. I managed to get a few more peanut butter Gus I had put in a drop bag at mile 37. It's the little things that can bring happiness on the trail. We finally found ourselves at the 10K remaining point.  Things were really going well, and I was surprised to find myself still wanting to run the smaller inclines. Everything changed around mile 45 including the weather. Running on a canted trail finally caught up to my right foot when a sharp pain stopped me in my tracks. Ouch!  My foot no longer allowed me to run on anything with a slope. I was worried I was going to have to walk the last 5 miles. Luckily the foot was okay with flat sections. Don had been dealing with a large blister for a while; although, he's not really the type to complain much so I'm not exactly sure when that started. It was around the same time that it actually started hailing. It was so surprising and fitting (it is the Ice Age after all) that I knew that was just the way it was supposed to be. That didn't make it any less cold, though. 10 minutes later, the sun was out.

We ran through the finish and received our very nice buckles. The after party consisted of a live band, soda, beer, hamburgers, some awesome vegetable lasagna, a rain shower, and a lot of limping.

I should mention the beautiful sections of pine on this course. The trail is soft, and beautiful, tall pines create inviting tunnels that feel very much alive. These areas were my favorite sections of the trail. Overall it is a beautiful course. It was very well marked which is something that should never be taken for granted. Bonus miles can be okay but not during a 50 mile run.10 aid stations on the course meant a lot of volunteers. Not only did they give us water and food, but they cheered when each runner was coming into every station. They stood outside on a cold day to keep us moving forward, and they helped other people reach their goals.

It feels good to feel good again. Now it's time to rest and give my wounded foot a break. I wonder what's next?

Ice Age 50 Course

Elevation Profile