And we’re still here.
Surviving the apocalypse wasn’t such a big deal after all, but it turns
out that this year was.
My 2012 season started out strong at the Winter Short Track
Series in January:
I threw in a couple of extra races on the single speed,
posted my fastest lap times out there to date, and even battled through a knee
injury to finish fourth overall. I did
all that while carrying an extra twenty pounds of “offseason” weight.
In February, I took a road trip with Dicky, picked up a new sponsor, and took my single speed to the
mountains for the first time.
March kicked off the Southern Classic Series, and my first race in the
series started off quite shitty. I broke
a pedal at the beginning of the race, and somehow managed not to finish
last. The second race of the series was
also in March, and despite crashing multiple times and being out of shape I
managed to get on the podium.
April was good and bad.
At the beginning of the month we had to say goodbye to our Rottweiler (it still makes me
sad to think about it.) That sucked.
The good: Lunchbox
and I did our first Urban Assault Ride together.
It was fun as hell, and we even made a video about it:
I also got to race in the 6 Hours of Warrior
Creek. Although my mind wasn’t
in it, I still had an okay time. That
place is pretty rad though.
May was full of races, including the Catawba Riverfront
Classic (which I won a few years ago.) I
had a decent showing, but missed the podium by one place. We took a trip to DuPont, and having a nice
relaxing ride in the middle of the season did me some good. We also did the Mayor’s Ride for Bike
Charlotte, and I got in a bunch of miles that month (mostly social, but
whatever.)
June, I got to race in another Southern Classic race at
Uwharrie. Once again, I narrowly missed
out on the podium. It was fun and all that,
but I was wearing down fast. Also, I did
my first ever endurance race on a single speed.
Eight hours of suffering was pretty cool, and I even finished in the top
ten. I was really starting to love the
single life. I even went on a fun road
ride with D-Wayne.
In July, I got to test my love for the single speed thing by
making a trip to Vermont for Single Speed USA. It was a full weekend of riding bikes,
drinking, and driving all over the place.
I have some memories there that will stay with me forever.
August got me right back into the Southern Classic Series,
and I was ready for that shit to be over.
I was worn out, beaten, and even broke my frame, but managed to somehow
slide into second overall for the series for the second year in a row.
Lunchbox and I took a trip to DC too, and got to ride
skateboards through the city.
September was pretty much the end of my season, so I started
riding more for fun. D-Wayne and his
posse came down from the Triad and we said goodbye to an old friend…Poplar
Tent.
I also took a trip down to FATS in Augusta, GA, suffered a
concussion in the parking lot of one of our local trails (dumbass), helped with
a Dirt Diva
skills clinic, raced in the Georgia State Single Speed Championships, and took
a demo ride on some killer bikes with Lunchbox.
October was our Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day, and I even
“raced” one more time in the 6 Hour Grind on the Greenway. It wasn’t a great race, but it pretty much
fit the rest of my season.
In November, I started spending most of my time at our local
gem BYT. In the middle of the month, I
turned forty. As a gift to myself, I
acquired the Death Virus 2012 which kept me off the bike for a while. Luckily I recovered, and got back on the
bike.
December saw me doing more trail work than actual
riding. Between putting in time at our
local trails and also at our “new” trail, I’ve logged many hours of digging in
the dirt. Luckily, I’ve also been able
to get out quite a bit for some night riding.
The new trail is coming along quite nicely, and when it’s done I’ll have
another place to break shit and crash repeatedly.
So yeah, that pretty much sums up my year. It wasn’t great, but I didn’t have any high
expectations anyway. I’ve logged almost
1,400 miles this year off road, and with any luck I’ll add a few more this
weekend. My goal was 1,500, and with
everything that went on I guess that’s not too bad.
Well, I suppose all that’s left is to wish y’all a Happy New
Year. Hopefully next year is a lot
better for me…and you (if yours sucked.)
I’ll see y’all back here next Thursday.