I Wasn’t Sure I’d Survive

Especially with this guy hanging out in the pit area.

Yes folks, the Tree Shaker would be yet another chance for me to test my mental and physical limits, and I was ready I guess.  I was out there to push myself, but once again my kid was there to have fun.

Photo credit from here on out:  The Trail Mayor

Lunchbox was doing his first endurance race (the four hour variety), and he didn’t seem one bit nervous.  His plan was to ride as much as he could for four hours in a cow suit.  That was simple enough.  We lined up for the pre-race announcements, and I started thinking about my strategy.

It was “wipe your ass with a snow cone” hot already, and when we rolled to the start line back down the road I was at peace and ready to have a good time.

Since it was getting warm, I was on a single speed, and I was wearing a heart rate monitor, I came up with the most brilliant of strategies…

I would be a race car in the red.

When we took off, I really took off.  I spun my ass off on the gravel road, hoping to get into the single track early so I wouldn’t get caught up in the inevitable traffic jam.  I watched as my heart rate shot up to 98%, and stayed there.  I felt okay, so I figured that I should keep pushing it to see how long I could take it.  No matter how I’ve tried to conserve my energy in the past, I still usually end up feeling shitty.  I figured that this time I would earn that shitty feeling.

My kid was working it too, although he had a few more gears than I did.

I ran that whole lap pretty fast, and stayed what I thought was up near the front.  The two single speeders that I knew for sure were trying to catch me (Good Guy Greg and Big Crom) were nowhere to be found.  I used that as motivation and kept my wheels a’ spinnin’.

Despite the fact that I was red-lining, I felt okay.  When I got to the very last singletrack climb on the course before the exit, I stood up to mash my way through and slipped on a root.  I slammed down hard on my right side, knocking my wind out for a second.  I got back on, walked a few feet, hopped back on my bike, and rode my ass off towards the start/finish line.

I was superfly TNT.

I had already made the decision not to stop in the pit, since I had only consumed one bottle during that lap.  I threw my empty bottle to TomTom (who had just finished lap one for his duo team) and asked him to fill it for me while I was gone.  I took off, and tried my best to put a gap on everyone else.

I didn’t know if it would work, but I didn’t give a shit.  I was prepared to go out in a blaze of glory.  It’s more fun that way, you know.

Lap two was a little more of the same, although there was a lot less traffic this time.  I found myself consciously trying to control my heart rate on the flatter sections, and I didn’t worry too much about how high it got on the climbs.  I knew I would get tired eventually, so I used it while I had it.  It was a great lap, and I turned what was probably my fastest lap time of the day.  When I came around to the pit area I grabbed my freshly refilled bottle (thanks again, TomTom) and rolled off as fast as I could. 

I felt like I was gonna die, but as least I was moving fast.  Let's see if I could keep it up for lap three.

Oh, would you look at the time?  I’d better get going.

I’ll finish this up tomorrow, or tell you how it finished me.

Better Than Race Day

Saturday was the big one, but I don’t have time to get into that right now.  Instead, I’ll talk about one of my favorite holidays:  Fathers Day.  For the last sixteen years, being a dad has been what defines me the most.  Everyone that comes here knows my kid Lunchbox (Isaiah), and how much he means to me.  We spent the day Saturday on our bikes riding in the Tree Shaker, but our time yesterday was a lot more fun.

We took in a little history at a nearby military park.

Kings Mountain Military Park is only a short drive from us here in Charlotte, and since we both enjoy history we decided to spend the day there.  After watching a short movie about the battle that happened during the Revolutionary War, we took to the paved hiking trail to see the battleground.

It was beautiful out there.

And the best part was being out there with my boy.

There were all kinds of monuments to see too.

And we learned a few things.

When we finished, we took a nice drive through the beautiful South Carolina countryside and eventually ended up back in the city.

And even stopped for dessert.

Yeah, today has nothing to do with riding a bike, but I don’t really care.  Sometimes I talk about other stuff around here, and my kid comes first anyway.  As much as I love riding bikes, being a dad makes me feel better than anything else I’ve ever done.

Yesterday was pretty rad.

Back to bike stuff tomorrow of course.

Race ‘til the finish…

Or race ‘til I’m finished.

This weekend, it’s time to get back to endurance “racing.”  The Tree Shaker is tomorrow, which means eight hours of suffering in the heat. 

It won't be that hot, but of course I’m riding a single speed and once again I’ll be going without a squishy fork.  The trails in Fort Mill, SC are pretty tame for the most part, so it shouldn’t be too bad.  I’ve been there plenty on one gear, but not on a rigid.  I don’t think it will make one bit of difference though.  The only thing I have to worry about is my gear choice.

With a whole mess of cogs from Endless Bikes I have plenty of options.  Since I’m currently running a 34 tooth front ring, I may just take the eighteen off the rear and put on a nice, spinny nineteen.  Actually, that won’t be spinny at all.  Last year I did this race on a 32X20, and by the time eight hours passed I was glad I had such an easy gear.  I started out slow, but maintained a pretty steady pace the whole time.  Running a bigger gear this year might make me work harder on the climbs, but I’ll be able to haul ass on the flat sections.  Just like everything else, I’m having a difficult time deciding.

I’ll figure it out soon, hopefully before I start the race in the morning.  A couple of beers should help me decide. 

Thanks to Todd Tucker for this delicious brew.

In other news, this shit isn’t just about me.  Lunchbox will be attempting his first ever endurance race, opting for the four hour version.  He only races a couple of times a year, so I think maybe he’s trying to cram it all into one race.  He’s been sort of training, if you consider riding his bike to the local university every day to look at chicks “training.”  His goal is three laps in four hours, and with the course being only nine and half miles I think he can do it.  He’ll just pace himself, and hopefully won’t have any issues.  If he does, I’ll be out there too in case he needs help.

So yeah, we’re gonna work our asses off this weekend.  I’ll be back here Monday to tell y’all all about it. 

If you’re in the area, come out and heckle…

Or give me a beer hand up.

I Don’t Need Five

Before I talk the whole five rides thing, I probably should mention that we had a ride da udda night.  Every trail was pretty much unrideable due to recent wet weather (a recurring theme around here lately), so we scheduled an urban ride.  Instead of the usual ride down stairs and through parks thing, we rolled through a couple of neighborhoods like a pack of wild roadies.

Our first stop was NoDa Brewing Company, where we enjoyed some good local beer and socializing.  Eventually we rolled up the street to Smelly Cat Coffee, where we proceeded to hang out again for way too long.  The theme for the evening seem to be more social, less riding.

After realizing that we’d been out for quite a while, the decision was made to cut the “ride” short and head back for $1 tacos.  Lunchbox wasn’t able to join us for the ride because he was out doing trail work with the local race promoter.  Luckily when we got back from our ride we found out that he had dropped my kid off at the restaurant so he could take a crack at breaking the record for most tacos consumed.

Unfortunately, the service was shitty and we were only able to eat fifteen each.  I won’t get into the horrible time we had there, but Eastwood summed it up pretty well yesterday.  My son was disappoint, but he knows that he could’ve beaten that record by a mile.

Anyway, back to the “changes.”  After only four dirt rides on the geared bike (including my Pisgah adventure) I’m ready to make my decision.  Why only four when I said five?  Well, mostly because I haven’t had a chance to properly clean all the grime out of the geared bike, and when I finally get to do it (tonight) I probably won’t have time to ride it again.  I also have to get my single speed ready for this weekend, and I’m not giving up the single speed for the sake of “testing” my geared bike.

I basically learned all I need to know this past Sunday, and my announcement with be forthcoming.  But it won’t be today.  I’m kind of waiting for something to show up at the B-43 Worldwide Headquarters, and that will probably be when I make my announcement.

Until then I’ll find other shit to talk about. 

Which will also be tomorrow.

And Then We Went Up

When the rest of the group bailed on the ride for beer (sounded good to me), I made sure that TomTom was good with the idea of us continuing on.  He’s pretty much down for anything, but I still felt like I was dragging him out for a death march.  Reassured that he wanted to keep going, we rode down the greasy trail for a while.  We crossed a creek and came to a clearing, where we checked the map once more to make sure we were going the right way.

And then we saw the start of hike a bike switchback hell.

Up we went.  I think we counted seventeen of those tight, steep, uphill turns, most of which were too treacherous to ride.  We rode a little here and there, but walked a lot of it.  We were moving along though, and even though it rained on us off and on we were having fun.  I mean, getting near the top was way worth it.

Once we thought we reached the top (according to the cue sheet), there was an intersection where we were supposed to turn right (the cue sheet said, “Heartbreak, downhill.")  We did, but as we went along the trail started getting really narrow, kinda like no one had been on it in years.  Couple that with all the no trespassing/private property signs we decided that we should go back to that intersection.

We turned around, climbed up a little more and came to another intersection.  This one seemed more like it, with the trail slightly to the right pointing downward.  We hit it (in the pouring rain again) and flew down the rocky, slippery goodness.  I kept the camera stuffed safely inside my backpack so it wouldn’t get wet, and we took our chances at speed down Heartbreak.

It was fun as hell, and the only issues were a few of the slippery, tight switchbacks.  After what seemed like forever we exited the trail onto a road, where once again we checked the map to make sure we were heading in the right direction.  It started to rain again, so TomTom and I held the waterproof map up for shelter and tried to decipher the soggy cue sheet.  We quickly dismissed the idea of taking a photo there, and hopped back on our bikes. 

The section was Jarrett Creek Road, which started out mighty fun in the rain.  We rode it for a while mostly downhill, until we came to a creek.  With such an obvious landmark we decided to check the map again to be sure of our route, plus I wanted to stare at the pretty creek.

Nature.  I likes it.

The map was all we had at that point, since the cue sheet fell victim to the elements.

Remember, we had no idea if we were going the right way or not, so I didn’t want to go very far and end up even loster (yeah, I said “loster.”)  Since it was raining most of the time I didn’t see any signs of wildlife, save for the steaming pile of bear shit that I almost ran over on one of the fast downhill sections.  I was disappoint.  I likes wildlife too.

After the creek we climbed for a while, and it wasn’t as bad as the stuff we rode up earlier in the day.  However, after being out there so long it did wear us out a little.  We kept waiting for the climbing to end, but we rode hard to get that shit over with.  It worked for the most part.  We stopped one more time at a gate to check the map (and eat a little bit), and realized that we still weren’t sure if we were on the right path.  The road started heading downhill again, so we decided that we would at least enjoy it, even if it isn’t where we were supposed to be.

It was fast.

Since it was doubletrack (fire road), TomTom and I rode side by side, hauling ass down the mountain.  I tucked down low so I could reach 88 miles per hour to get back to 1985, but the fastest I got was about 25.  After riding downhill for miles and miles, I rounded a corner and almost hit a lady walking with a little kid in the middle of the road.

Holy shit.  We were near civilization.

Just then, we saw a parking lot with a familiar vehicle.  Little Miss Sunshine, Allison, and Danielle were there waiting for us to make sure we were safe.  They ran out of the car yelling something, and carrying these strange boxes.

I realized that they were saying “Fry hand up.”

Very clever.  Now, where the hell was the beer hand up?

We still had a ways to go to get back to where we started but our time in the wilderness was over.  They offered us a ride, but we didn’t come that far to take the easy way out.  Before we took the road back to town, I stopped for a photo op with my bike next to Curtis Creek.

What an awesome day.  TomTom and I were the only ones that did the whole loop that day (although we didn't ride the day before), and I’m so glad we did.  Spending a day in the mountains on my bike (and in the rain) was the perfect way to spend a Sunday.

You bet your ass I’m going back soon.

Lost In The Hills

So yeah, Sunday was my big ride in Pisgah.  It was a planned group ride to pre-ride the course for the Jerdon Mountain Challenge, but plans changed a little bit.  A lot of the group went up on Saturday, rode the Kitsuma side of the course, camped, and woke up the next day to ride the other side.  I wanted to do it all in one shot, so the plan was for TomTom and I to start in town and ride it all from start to finish. 

The only problem was that I didn’t really know exactly where I was going.

I talked to D-Wayne the day before, and he and Mike B decided to meet us up there (and hopefully help guide us along.)  When we got to the museum in Old Fort, I found D-Wayne sleeping on a park bench.  A few of our other friends rolled up and the plan was to ride to the picnic area at the bottom of Kitsuma to meet with the rest of the day trippers.  The overnight crew rode from the campgrounds across the highway, and that group included Little Miss Sunshine.

She rode to the picnic area with us.

Somewhere along the way, we lost D-Wayne and Mike B.  When we got to the picnic area, there was a giant group of people and they started splitting up.  One group would do the Star Gap/Heartbreak/Jarrett Creek side (with two people even climbing up Curtis Creek), and the rest of us would do the whole course.  Well, except for D-Wayne and Mike B, who I found out later did the pre ride for the upcoming Pisgah Enduro.  Anyway, I somehow got roped into leading the group, which I found odd because I don’t really know the area that well. 

I know Kitsuma though, so we took off up the Point Lookout Trail to the top of the mountain.

It’s a paved, five mile or so climb to the Kitsuma trailhead, and it’s not too steep.  I was pushing pretty hard though, until I realized that my heart rate was up way too high and I should probably save my legs for later.  At that point I slowed down to a respectable pace, and even stopped along the way to take a photo.

We got to the Kitsuma parking lot eventually (pretty quickly actually) and most of the group had already gone in while we waited for the last few people.  We hit the switchbacks hard, pushing up the steep climbs to get to the top.  Again I realized I should take it easy, so I walked a few of them to save my legs.  Once we got closer to the top I found another prime photo spot.

After a little more climbing, we hit the first downhill.  Having been there before I took off balls to the wall, and attempted a little jump.  I came down sideways and started sliding off the trail, until some bushes spared me from certain death in the valley below.  I didn’t really get hurt, but TomTom was right behind me and said it looked horrible.  I think watching me wreck gave him a healthy fear of the trail, so we both took it kinda easy the rest of the way down.

Well, maybe I didn’t.  Every once in a while I would let it go, until I realized that I probably shoudn’t go that fast.  That stupid squishy fork gave me way too much confidence.

After a short while (and somehow passing almost everyone in our group on the downhill) we popped out into the parking lot at the picnic area.  Some of our group had parked there, so they refilled bottles and we prepared to roll out again.  This time is was a road section that was pretty boring.

Except for the geyser.

Our group was splitting up again, and in an effort to conserve my energy I fell back a bit so we wouldn’t lose the couple of people behind us.  TomTom tried to stay between us so he could see where the people ahead were going and to make sure we followed.  It sounded like a good plan, but it didn’t work for shit (not his fault.)  At least I printed out a cue sheet of the course though.

I don’t know this side of the area very well, and although I have excellent map reading skills I wasn’t exactly sure where we were supposed to turn off the road and onto Star Gap.  The guy in the back of the group motioned to us where we were supposed to turn, but the group ahead of us kept going.  TomTom and I just kinda stopped there and waited, unsure of which was was correct.  There were no signs, but the map had a spot where we were supposed to go in that wasn't taken by the group ahead of us (they passed it.)  The whole reason I wanted to ride out there with a group was so we didn’t get lost, and now the two guys who don’t know shit about that area were left to fend for ourselves.

And then it started pouring rain.  Lovely.

We decided to take a chance and head up the unmarked trail, and it went nowhere.  We turned around, headed back down the road and took the other unmarked trail.  We saw tire tracks, so at least we knew that someone had ridden there.  Eventually it dead-ended at some train tracks.

And we had no fucking idea where to go.  At least the rain stopped…for now.

I looked across the tracks and spotted a U.S. Forest Service trail marker, and it said “Heartbreak.”  I finally knew where we were.  We headed in, and a minute or so later we started seeing people from our group coming towards us.  Did we miss something?

Turns out we were finally heading in the right direction.  They asked, “Did you just now get here?”

Yeah, we did because we were waiting there like a couple of idiots.  They told us that they were bailing on the ride to go get food.  Apparently no one wanted to push their bikes up the tons of switchbacks in the rain, and we also heard that they couldn’t “train” in conditions like that.

I laughed my ass off about that the rest of the day. 

They asked, “Are you still going?”

“Hell yeah”, I replied.  TomTom and I came out there to ride, and we were gonna finish that shit no matter what.  So, with the rest of the group hitting the road to go get some food, we rode on.

And then shit got real fun.

I’ll finish this tomorrow.

Really Tired

Although it was only two days, it felt like the longest weekend ever.  I was up in the mountains all day yesterday and it was pretty damn fun.  We laughed, we cried, we climbed, we descended.  We even got dirty.

I don’t really have my shit together enough today to talk about it though.  After stopping on the way home to have a giant steak and having to unpack and clean off all my shit I’ll need to take a little time to go over everything in my head.  I’ll do that tomorrow.

Instead, I’ll talk about the boring shit I did leading up to Sunday’s ride.

When I got home Friday after work, I had a mission.  Little Miss Sunshine needed new tires put on her geared bike, and I was asked to “show” her how to do it.  When I got home she was already in the garage, and everything was ready to go.  She mounted up a set of Ignitors, put in the proper amount of sealant, and with the aid of my air compressor she was able to get them to seal.

She done good.

With no test ride (other than up and down the street in my neighborhood), she hoped like hell they would hold up when she took off to the mountains the next morning.  That’s right, some of the crew went up Saturday to have two days of riding.  I chose to stay home because I had more shit to do.

That is the rear wheel from Lunchbox’s bike.  I’ve been meaning to set him up tubeless for quite a while now, and I finally had a chance to do it.  He’s been getting flat tires (or tubes, whatever) just about every time we got out to ride now, so it was time.  He’s got a big event coming up this weekend (more on that another time, of course) and I’m happy to say that he shouldn’t have to worry about getting a flat.

His setup was pretty much a pain in the ass.  Without “real” tubeless-type rims I had to work a little extra to get them to seal.  In fact, I worked so much extra that I missed a trail work day with TomTom out at our neighborhood fun spot.

Damn it.

It’s all good I guess.  My kid will be flat free and that’s one less thing I’ll have to worry about when he’s out riding.

So, if you will excuse me I need to try to put together all the pieces from yesterday’s ride.

I was pretty damn awesome.