Charm City Cross pics now posted!

If you raced in the Charm City Cyclocross Race, the pictures are all uploaded:

Charm City Cross Pics

We'll drop you off, then take Mike to the Emergency Room

Jenn and I just got back from a last-minute weekend camping trip to Luray, Virginia. Jenn was the driving force in putting the trip together-she wanted to get away one more time before the summer ended, and with the babies on the way, we weren't sure when we'd have the chance again.

Vin took Friday off, and got two sites at Camp Roosevelt, and we arrived Friday night. We were surprised by how nice the camp was. It was very small, but only had a few sites, and they had lots of room in between. Our site was near a shared bathroom, and had trash cans not too far.

We rented kayaks on Saturday from Shenandoah River Outfitters, and spent about four hours paddling down the river. Everything was going fine until Mike got out of his boat to take a swim. As he tried to get back into his boat, he cut his knee open. We didn't have much in the way of first aid supplies, but he held the cut closed until we got done. When we got back, Mike and Tris went to the hospital where Mike got five stitches, and instructions to stay off the bike for a week.

Sunday, I was making breakfast when it hit me that this was really the closing of a chapter in my life, the end of the carefree days before kids. I look forward to our babies, and I know my life will be richer with them, but it reminded me that time is always slipping way from us.

With Jenn and Mike out if the picture, people started grumbling about the length of the Kennedy Peak ride, and if they still wanted to go. I wanted to get in a ride, so I suggested riding Kennedy Peak backwards. That way, we'd get in some riding, without the full time commitment.

If you've never ridden Kennedy Peak in reverse, I suggest you try it. It gives you a good mix of the climbing and rocks, but with more rollers, and less of the brutal climb in the beginning. The climb still comes, but it's more broken up.

I think it will be five more years before we go back to Davis, WV

Jenn and I spent the Fourth of July weekend camping with our friends in Davis, West Virginia. It rained every day.

Friday
After dropping Sam off at the kennel in Frederick, we arrived and set up in a light rain. Vin, Mike, Tris, Jonathan and Jessica had arrived earlier, and set up two pop up canopies, connected by a tarp. the tarp provided a lighter, dry area in the middle that we referred to as the 'atrium.' After dinner, we played cards all evening.

Saturday

After a late start, we scrapped our scheduled river trip to try to get a ride in. We rode the Plantation Trail, which has been a wet mess every time we try to ride it. Think of it as riding upstream through waterfalls, and across mud bogs and you'll have a pretty good idea of what the trail was like. Jenn bailed out early and Jonathan and I rode the Allegheny trail to take her back to camp. Jenn drove Wheaton and I to rejoin the group at the Blackwater Falls campground, and we set off for the Dobbin House Trail. It seemed really short, with not much to it. After Dobbin House, we had a short road ride back to the end of Allegheny, and a long 2 miles uphill back to camp. During the second trip up Allegheny, the sky opened up and poured rain on us.

Sunday
Sunday was departure day for everyone but Jenn and I, so after breakfast, they set about packing up, and getting ready for another ride. Sundays ride was the Leadmine trail, a steep, 3 mile climb followed by a sweet rolling, off camber downhill. Once we got to the trailhead, It was raining hard enough that Jenn and I decided not to ride. Instead, we went back to camp to try to make an alternate plan for the day. We had lunch in the rain and waited till about 4 before giving up on the idea of getting another ride in.

Instead we decided to explore the Canaan Loop Road in the CRV, and saw some impressive waterfalls and streams. We would our way around to the Table Rock trailhead and set out for a hike. What was supposed to be a 15 minute hike stretched into 45 one-way before we gave up. The trail was more of the mud bog from the day before, and we decided to call it a day. We went back to camp to make dinner, and I noted on the ride back that there was no one else camping there Sunday night. After dinner, we tried to ignore how much creepier the woods were without all our friends around.

Monday we were packing the car up when some Canadian mountain bikers rode by and asked us to describe some of the area trails. We told them about our trials on Plantation and Allegheny. They asked about an area called 'State Champion' or 'State Championship' that supposedly drained well, but it was the first time I'd heard of it and couldn't offer any help. The drive home seemed to take forever, and we spent hours drying everything out in the back yard.

MABRA Ed Sander Cross

Sunday, I shot my first cyclocross race out at the Lilypons Water Gardens in Buckeystown. It was a blast, but it was tough. Much of the day I was hanging out at the top of a runup section that stopped the riders in their tracks. Unfortuneately for me, staing close to the action meant standing in or walking through a tangle of thorns every couple of minutes. My ankles are covered in cuts and look ridiculous.

To make matters worse, at some in the middle of shooting, I realized that I had lost one of my memory cards. I tried to search the areas I had walked through in betweeen the racers' passes, but I never foun d it. I was bummed the rest of the day, and had to be more selective in the shots I took. I was lucky that it didn't have any images that I had shot that day, but it still sucked. I ordered a CF card wallet from Think Tank Photo so that it wouldn't happen again.

All the images are finally uploaded. Check them out at www.jonathanbruckphotography.com

Shenandoah Mountain 100

What a weekend. After spending Friday in the emergency room, we packed up the car and headed to Stokesville, Virginia for the annual Shenandoah Mountain 100, a 100-mile mountain bike race through the George Washington National Forest. I've got some great photos, including some of the 2006 Tour De France Champion Floyd Landis making his debut at the SM 100. I just uploaded all of the images to my web site.