Stayin’ Awesome

While this is the last part of my review of the Awesome Strap, it’s probably not the last time I’ll talk about it. I did a little more riding since my initial ride the other day. And guess what? I had the same great results.



I headed out to the U.S. National Whitewater Center to get in some good tough mileage (for this area anyway) with my Awesome Strap in tow. Since I don’t keep it on my seatpost all the time, I got a chance to see how easy it would be to screw up the installation again. Again, no problem. I attached the Awesome Strap to the seatpost and didn’t look back. I headed out on the trail, again hitting every root, jump, and bump as best I could.




After riding the first lap (around 11 miles), I checked to see if I had lost anything. This time, I had so much faith in the thing that I didn’t even think about it being on there. And guess what? Everything was tip top.



Yes my friends, it truly is an Awesome Strap. I won’t hesitate to use this thing on every ride from now on. I had no problems whatsoever, so I think I’ll be very comfortable using this during my next race, the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek. Do yourself a favor and go buy yourself one of these Awesome Straps. Or better yet, buy two. Just don’t tell them I sent you, since they will probably make fun of you for being associated with someone such as myself. Thanks again to Dicky for putting me on the path to awesomeness.


Speaking of the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek, I guess I can say I am as ready as I can be. I’ve actually been riding every day, which is new to me. I can usually only get out on the trail on the weekends, but I have been fortunate to be able to get in some lunchtime singletrack action. While it has done wonders for my skill level, I don’t know if I am truly ready to ride for a whole six hours. This will be a first for me, so I am approaching it more like a steadily-paced ride. Survival, if you will. I’ll stop whenever the hell I want to, but I plan to keep going until my legs fall off or the race ends. Whichever comes first I guess. If I were a betting man I would pick the former.


I don’t have a “race” strategy, per se, but I do have a few ideas. Since this is only my second endurance race, I’ll be winging it for sure. While there are several of my local friends in the race, I don’t think I’ll actually be competing with them. Maybe I’ll bring the camera along and photograph the people I know as they pass me by. One thing I’ve considered is wearing some sort of music playing device. I will need something to keep my mind from wandering, as I have been known to hallucinate and talk to myself on long rides. Is that normal?


Other than the music, I guess I’ll come up with some kind of “feeding schedule” during the race. For as much as I weigh (225 as of today), I’ll need to take in a lot of calories each lap. Since I won’t be wearing any sort of back sack, I’ll be hitting the drive-thru area of my pit and taking some food to go. Little Miss Sunshine has been gracious enough to offer to be my pit crew for the event, which should save my ass. She has been known to take great care of me, and I know I’ll need it.


As for this weekend, I don’t know what’s in store yet. I’m on call for work, so things could get pretty shitty for me. Maybe I’ll use that time to give my legs a break from all the riding I’ve been doing. I really should spend that time coming up with a plan for Warrior Creek so I don’t die. One thing’s for sure, I won’t have to worry about carrying around that damn noisy seat sack anymore.