And So It Goes!

Well here we are it's springtime 2018 and it's time for the monuments of cycling, the Spring Classics.  Each year I take on my own spring classics.  A set of rides that I do year after year on a set course.  This year I will do the same.  Here's this years schedule:

Waltz Mills /mini ridge ride

Half-a-Double Buttermore Century

Giro de' Saltsburg

Greensburg Wilkinsburg Greensburg

Snake

Quarry Mine Ridge Climb

Derry Ridge Climb

I like to start my spring classics with the Waltz Mills mini ridge ride.  A somewhat gentle 25 mile circuit out of Youngwood, PA with one long'ish climb that will have most riders out of the saddle. This ride passes a couple horse farms, and other smaller farm lands of some kind.  The course is primarily on secondary back roads with very low car traffic.

The Half-a-Double Buttermore Century got it's start after a group of local riders discovered they all enjoyed riding many of the same roads and connected them to create a 50 mile circuit that passes many farms, stretching from New Stanton, Scottsdale, Mount Pleasant, Greensburg, and back into Youngwood where the ride begins at an industrial park loop, nicknamed the "Ywoop".

The Giro de'Saltsburg, is basically a ride north of Greensburg through Delmont, and over to Saltsburg, then on up to Blairsville and back. This ride takes on three challenging climbs. On the north side of Saltsburg the road takes a few twists and turns, allowing one to use their imagination as if scaling the Alps somewhere lost in Italy, giving this ride it's distinguished name.

Greensburg Wilkinsburg Greensburg, that's all it is.  Just a ride from Greensburg to Wilkinsburg, following Rt. 993, Rt. 136, with some other urban and neighborhood roads. 

Laurelville is the home of one of the most loved ridge climbs in the area.  This climb is better known as Snake by locals.  It's distinct stretched out shape wiggles it's way up and over the ridge.  It's not the toughest climb on Chestnut Ridge, but about halfway up you will question it's recorded gradient.

Not far from the Arnold Palmer Airport in Latrobe, PA Rt. 982 runs past Quarry Road, that goes up past Hanson Aggregates on T583/Noel Road.  Here you will find a long stretch of tree covered climbing on Laurel Ridge.  But the best part is yet to come.  After dropping back down the other side of the ridge top.  Cross Bethel Church Road, over to Hoover Road and take-on perhaps the most tranquil yet challenging climbs of the Laurel Mountains.  Once at the top of Hoover you can take your pick and go North, South, or West.  Doesn't matter, because it's all downhill from their.

Looking to up your game.  Want some cycling clout.  I got three words for you, "DERRY RIDGE ROAD".  This is without a doubt one of, if not, the toughest climbs around.  Expect to feel that deep burn in your legs, and a relentless assault on your psyche.  This is one of those rides where you begin to question why you are riding a bike.  Each time I have riding this climb I hear my inner critic telling me. This is the last time I'm riding this.  Nope!  This is stupid!  I'm not having fun.  "This sucks!"  The downside is also a little tricky, so keep your wits about you.  Once on the valley below, I smile and laugh at my exasperation's.  Yes.  It's that bad.  In a good way.  You should do it.

If anything, make your own Spring Classics list and hold yourself accountable for riding them each year.  After all, it's consistency that makes any ride a monument of your cycling season.

Thanks for reading.
Jeff GUY
Velo-Magic 


Illustration by Art•filter Studios©2018

Velo Magic 7 313

Friday Afternoon Snow

I was on the bike, just getting back home.  She was running.  As I passed the runner coming towards me we made eye contact, both of us nodding in recognition of the other just being out there in the cold January wind and snow.  Nothing more needed to be said.

Consistency Counts. 

LOST EPISODES/pages/2017 THE LONGBOARD

lost episodes2017

Special task force recovers lost Velo Magic blog pages from 2017

 

6/24/17

Thus begins a journey at age 52 in quest of long-board skateboarding.

Looking back, I was once able to ride a regular skateboard with confidence.  As a child in the 1970’s skateboarding was taking on a new generation of urethane wheeled skinny plastic boards, with Chicago trucks.  I have memories of several of my Elementary School classmates riding these crappy skinny sticks to school.  Well, until the school banned them from the premises.  It was fun wile it lasted.  Thus planting the seed of skater independence and ones drive to feel the flow of creativity and the pursuit to carve.   I did that, time and again.

In my late-teens, early 20’s, “Skater-Punk” was a thing.  Fast forward, 25 years later, and I’m picking up the board again.  This time a Longboard, (44”x10”) that I picked out using Holiday Gift Cards for Dick’s Sporting Goods.  I first did some research on the topic, asked some people questions and came to the decision of a Quest board (complete) The bottom layer is bamboo, matched with maple, and 7” run-of-the-mill trucks, and some beefy fat wheels, also branded Quest.

12:noon 

Did my first ride on the new board.  Took it to the alley and rolled around some.  I only had about 15 minutes to goof around on it, but that was cool.  I could feel a sense of exhilaration and light footed as I walked back to that house.

Later that same day, I took the board to a parking lot.  I modified the grip tape as soon as I got started, because there was too much grip.  Felt like I couldn’t move my feet into different positions. 

Began rolling and carving making semi-small circles.  This quickly led to cruising to the next parking area that offered circular upper and lower levels.  I did several laps, and became more comfortable with staying forward on the board, crouching down in a speed position and carving through the upper and lower end of the lot.  After about a half -hour, I got brave enough to try a downhill section.  I was a little nervous but stuck to my commitment of riding to the bottom of the hill.  I figured, it’s like riding a roller coaster.  You have to just chill and enjoy the ride.  I got most of the way down the hill and the board shook like crazy and I fell off.  To my surprise I slid about 5 feet on my butt, but didn’t get hurt.  My pants protected me from getting what could have been really bad road-rash.  I didn’t give up.  I got back on and did 2 more laps of the parking lot circle then drove home.

Fri. 6/30

Afternoon.  Kept thinking about SUP and how it can transfer to Longboarding.  Did some YouTube research and watched how some people are well into developing this type of skating.  Looks like great fun, so I fashioned an old shovel handle into a “Land-Paddle” and cruised the streets around home.  This was way better than traditional pushing with your feet like a standard size skateboard.  The Land-Paddle allows me to continuously move forward and maintain a flow, or skate-surf motion.   

 (One note: I like the paddle I made, but it needs to be about a foot longer.)  I like the board set-up it's okay for cruising flat streets, and I really enjoyed the longer distance rides with the use of the paddle.

8/24

I liked the wider wheels, making it feel more stable as I rolled alone the flats.  I flipped the Trucks back to the taller position, leaving the wheels wider, and tweaked the Kingpin for Carving and Cruising.

In this 40-45 minute skate I felt more confident in my kick-strides, and enjoyed making a large figure-8 that allowed me to tuck down low and power carve at the one end of the loop.  One quick surprise I had was when I came out from the side of the building and met a car coming from my left.  I reacted by popping off the board as I quickly took a step to my right, and catching the board with my left to prevent it from rolling off.  I was pleased that I responded so quickly and without an adverse outcome. 

Sunday Aug. 6, 2017

I did it.  This is what I visualized when buying the Longboard.  Taking it to OBX and using it to ride down to the shopping area about 1-mile from the cottage.  Shortly after arriving to the cottage we all walked the beach for about 1.5-2 hours.  Then I broke-out the L-b to ride over to the DQ for ice cream.  Yeah, I looked like a jackass when the group of pre-teen kids passed us going the other way on their long-boards but so what.

  8/28 Monday

Back at my Spot (Shop-N-Save Parking Lot) I carved some turns, rolled well around the building keeping a low profile so not to be seen as some old-dude-kook on a skateboard.

But I really did feel my feet on the board, and turning seemed more natural this ride.

Took some photos on my crappy cellphone and used one to create my header at the top of this journal.

Friday Sept. 1, 2017

Pulled out my old (Vintage) Santa Cruz Christian Hosi board.   I wanted to know how it felt different from the long-board I’ve been riding.  WOW!  As soon as I dropped it on the ground it appeared so tiny.  Really!  It’s about half the size of the L-b. 

The set-up is sooo stiff that I couldn’t carve, and the wheels didn’t want to roll over the ruff alley service.  It seemed nostalgic to get this board out, but it only took about 3-minutes to recognize that it was not fun.  I took the board back to my office and put it under my desk where it stays for keepsake. 

11/20/17 Monday

Feeling that I have neglected to maintain my land-paddle skills over the past month, I made a point of using todays fairly sunny and warm weather to jump on the Longboard. 

To my surprise I was fairly stable.  In my own defense, I have been physically active, as this is the middle of my Cyclocross season.  With Daylight Savings Time, and the change of weather conditions my time for kicking around on the Longboard has been decreased. 

That said, on this ride at “the spot”,  I did some carving (with and without the paddle), flipped the board a couple times to make-up my own trick moves.  Although not very tricky, but fun just the same.  After about 20-minutes I packed it in, satisfied that my skills were status quo for the time being. 

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Founding The PGH / BMX Local 4130

A big leap forward here at Velo Magic.  Kinda hopped to keep this blog going over the past summer (2017), but whatever.  I was active in my pursuit of magic via velo adventures.  A short list of updates to follow:  Did all of my Spring Classics early in the season.  The summer came and I squeezed in a few Road races (local).  In July I picked up a Long-board Skateboard as a cross training tool for balance and agility.  Then in August got more focused on Cyclocross preparations.  However, the local CX season became a bit skewed do to some grassroots scheduling issues.  Be that as it may the most spectacular Velo Magic event of the year happened late in the summer.  A core group of local Pittsburgh area BMX racers dating back from late 1970's to late 80's got together, myself included, and held a PGH/BMX Old-School Racing Group Ride.  We met at the Bicycle Heaven Museum in Pgh. and rolled out along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail into downtown Pittsburgh.  We had a light lunch break on the South Side.  When we got back to the museum we chilled and hang-out for about an hour.  Very cool!  We all agreed this was worth doing again and may even make plans to organize a little BMX club and take on a regularly scheduled group ride next summer.  

PS- if your wondering why the "4130", it's a reference to the type of steel used in the early BMX bikes commonly used in the early developmental years of the sport. Cool right!

Above photo: Founding members of the PGH/BMX Local 4130. (2017).

The White Rabbit Cafe'

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