Can't Stop Won't Stop

Yeah, we were back in the woods yesterday for the short track race.  And I have to say, my friends are pretty damn awesome.  After the shit that went down last week, word got around, and our party grew.

Not sure why Eastwood is sleeping.  Must have been a good party.

It was cold. I mean really cold.  Mid 20s I think.  The beer was flowing, the pinata was back, and we cheered/heckled our racing pals despite being half frozen (us and them.)  It was a blast.

But our friend from last Sunday never came back.

I guess he's retired from mountain bike racing.  I dunno.  That's too bad.  We had some shit ready for his ass.  Whatever.  We still had an awesome time, and once again were thanked by the racing folks out there that knew how to have a good time, and expected us to provide the entertainment.

Yeah, I race too.  Just not right now.  I'm not too fat (or obese), scared to get my feelz hurt, or any piss poor excuse like that.   I'm just enjoying cheering on other people while I get ready for my season (that starts very soon.)

And guess what?  People actually know who I am.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but I'll take it.

See y'all tomorrow.

Oh yeah, Who Gives A Shit.

Fun Friday

After the bullshit last Sunday, it's nice to be able to look forward to the weekend.  Yeah, I made it through another week.  I still have my cycling license, my desire to be what's wrong "this sport", and most importantly, I'm still obese.

I can't help it.

  
Yeah, I like to eat.  That's what us jolly folks do when we're ruining cycling.  I have no willpower, and temptation gets me easily.

It's cool.  I actually feel pretty good about myself for the most part.  And, I actually am looking forward to this weekend at the short track.  Lots of other people around here are too.  Let's hope our new friend shows up, ready to talk some more shit.

Seriously though, who gives a shit.  I've got bigger shit to worry about right now.  It's gonna be cold this weekend.  I mean, really cold. Like, colder than a polar bear's backside.

Shit.  Maybe I'll see y'all Monday.


Oh yeah.  Not enough funny? Watch this:



I'm out.  For realz this time.

Recovery

I put in a pretty hard effort on Sunday.  I rode at or above my threshold the entire time (like a race car in the red), worried about someone catching me.  Sometimes I think it’s easier to work up to the front than to stay there the whole time.  The only other race I’ve ever won (back in 2009) saw me in the lead for the whole race, only to slow down and take it easy once I knew how far ahead I was.  I eventually kicked it back in, but I could have very well lost the position that I’d worked so hard to get.

Anyway, I really expected to be pretty tired.  Like, hang around and do nothing tired.

That wasn’t really the case.  I was sleepy from getting up early on a weekend, but my legs felt good.  I wasn’t dehydrated like I normally would be after a race, even though I didn’t quite finish one bottle of water.  I do still have one lingering thing from the race though…

A weird cough.

Inhaling all that cold air (it was around 34 degrees at the start) while I rode made my lungs hurt like hell when it was over.  I put in some hard efforts on my road bike the week before, but the temps were warm and I didn’t have that issue.  It’s cleared up a little now, but I’m still coughing up stuff.  Gross.

Damn that morning air was some chilly shit…

To “recover” from the race, I ate a lot.  They served food after the race (which was an awesome thing to do), but I’d brought my own.  I also ate when I got back home in the afternoon, and even made dinner later that evening.  I also drank plenty of fluids throughout the afternoon to make sure I wouldn’t dry out.  It was almost all water, other than one of my favorite recovery drinks…

Death By Hops is pretty damn awesome.  I found this one da udda day at The Common Market here while Mr. Shepherd was in town, and I saved it for consumption after the race.  It was extra good, and no doubt earned.  Maybe I need a beer sponsor.

Speaking of sponsors, look over there to the right.  All those logos you may or may not click on (you do, right?) support me in some form or fashion, and I really appreciate each and every one of them.  I feel like they are all responsible in one way or another for me having a good race yesterday, and having them in my corner was pretty good motivation.

And this is the part again where I say thanks to the volunteers and race organizers (hi Howard) for putting on such a fine event.  Also, the Southern Classic Series is the best around and I’m glad to be back.  Hopefully I can keep having fun, even if that podium trip is the only one this year.

Bikes, beer, and fun.  Let’s keep it simple this season, shall we?

Fun Friday

This just in:

It’s still cold.  

I wouldn't mind it so much if at least maybe we could get a little snow, even if it is a pain in the ass.

Nope.  No snow for us.  Just cold.

Who gives a shit.  It’s Friday, which means it’s time to go out and have yourself a little fun. 

There is a ton of shit going on this weekend, and I may be at some of it.  I also plan to ride my bike (duh), drink beer (double duh), and play my guitar. 

No set plans so far.  I like that.  I’m just gonna go with the flow and have fun as it comes along. 

Don’t try to kill my vibe.

See y’all Monday, when I return with tall tales of exciting adventures.

The Big Chill

It’s cold here in North Carolina.  Abnormally cold.  I think with the wind chill, it was somewhere near zero this morning. 

My truck doesn’t detect wind chill.  But I do.

That’s bullshit.  I mean, mostly because I have to hear my friends down in Florida complaining about it.

Okay, not really.  I was easily chilled when I lived down there too.  But up here, it gets much, much colder.  Like, “I’m afraid to go outside because I’ll freeze to death cold.”

It’s not that cold I guess, but you get the picture.  It will (sorta) warm up again soon, but with winter just getting started I know we’ll have more of this shit.  That’s one reason why I bought some plane tickets.

Tucson?  Why would I go there?  Well, first off, it’s warm(er) there in the winter.  And second, the little lady and I get to go see D-Wayne and his little lady for a few days.  They moved out to Tucson, and invited us out for a spell. 

“You’re bringing bikes, right?”

Hell yeah.  I’m not dumb (most of the time anyway.)  It just so happens that while we’re there we have the opportunity to attend a little “race” called Single Speed Arizona.

I’m so excited.  Other than a brief u-turn I made after crossing over the Hoover Dam when I was in Las Vegas for Interbike, I’ve never been to AZ.  Also, most of the DrunkCyclist crew lives out there.  That means that we’ll get to have a reunion of sorts.  I haven’t seen those guys since SSUSA back in Minnesota so it will be good to catch up.

As usual, we’ll cram a lot of shit into a few days, but I know it will be a blast.  Big thanks to D-Wayne for inviting us out.  I know he can’t wait to get all Enduro™ with some North Carolina folks again.

The countdown to “Debauchery in the Desert” as begun.

Polar Vortex?

Sounds like something out of Star Wars, right? I've been hearing all this talk on the news lately about the “Polar Vortex” tearing us a new ass, and if I didn't know any better I'd be scared. It's cold here though. Really cold. Like colder than a brass toilet seat on the shady side of an iceberg cold.

Even if you aren't from the Sunshine State like I am, you've got to be suffering at least a little bit. I guess I should be happy that I'm inside all day. I mean, I could be one of those guys that works outside in that shit.


Yuck.


There's supposed to be a social ride today (it's Tuesday after all), but there's no way in hell that I'm getting out there after dark on a bicycle. I'll just sit here and watch videos of people riding bikes.





That looks warm. I rode there back in September, and damn near burned up. I'll keep thinking about that place to keep me feeling toasty today.

Since I'm stuck inside, I guess I should start planning my “season.” No longer interested in cross country dirt roadie fests, I'm trying to find more endurance events. One that keeps popping up on my radar is the 12 Hours of Santos .


That's down there in warm Florida, on some trails that are very familiar to me. It's only about an eight hour drive from here, so it's definitely doable. Even though it's next month, I'm sure it will be warm down there (even though it isn't right now.) I've been wanting to check it out for the past few years, but other things kept getting in the way. It looks like this year I'm cleared to go, so all I have to do is commit to it.


That's easier said than done.


More on my plans another time. I just realized that I have some other stuff to do.



Like staying warm.

It's The Final Countdown

Yes, the final Countdown to the last Winter Series race. And in case you don’t already have that song stuck in your head from reading the title, I’ll be happy to oblige.




Anyway, the time has come to get out and race again, and hopefully I’ll be ready when I line up at the start on Sunday. As long as I have a decent showing, I should end up in the top five. They go five deep with the prizes, and I am currently sitting in 4th. I need to make sure I don’t do anything stupid. You know, like crash, flat, or quit. I’m gonna have to fight off the likes of Rodney B., Big Tater, Mr. Ryde, and a host of others gunning for me. It should be a blast.


I don’t have a race strategy, which is nothing new. I’ll probably stay up too late the night before drinking way too much beer, and I will most likely be hung over again when we race. It has worked so far, so why change it? Besides, I really like beer. A lot.


What was I talking about?


Oh yeah, racing.


It doesn’t look like there will be anymore rain for a while, so the trail should be super fast. The only bad thing is that it will be colder than a penguin’s ass in an ice storm. I’ll have to get all bundled up, so I hope the extra weight won’t affect my performance.


I better get my ass in gear.



That picture makes me laugh. It's funnier than homemade dog shit.

See y’all Monday.

Snow Birds

As you can see from the frost on Little Miss Sunshine’s vehicle, it was “ice cold” in Charlotte over the Thanksgiving holiday. We decided to get the flock outta town and fly south to the Forks Area Trail System (FATS) down near Augusta, Georgia to get away from the cold and ride some sweet flowy singletrack. This would be Mr. Shepherd’s first time on that particular trail, so he was looking forward to it. We got all geared up and hit the trail.



We started on the first loop, Great Wall, and it lived up to the hype. Plenty of fast, rolling downhill, and Mr. Shepherd was enjoying it. Well, that is until he crashed. I have footage from my GoPro of the crash, but I’m not finished editing it. A small log crossing surprised him, and he crashed ever so spectacularly. He hopped back up and we were on our way.


About three and a half miles in though, we had another incident. While traveling along a great speed, I slowed to take tight corner, and squeezed my bike between two trees. Mr. Shepherd was right on my tail, and he wasn’t so lucky.



He hit that tree square on, and escaped with only a few scrapes and cuts.



His bike didn’t fare so well though.



The impact bent the shit outta the chainrings and broke the drive side crank arm near one of the bolts.





With over four miles to go to the trailhead, we had a dilemma. Since Mr. Shepherd didn’t want to walk the whole way out, some improvisational repairs needed to be made. Since we had no fancy tools, it had to be done all “caveman” style.



Somehow those primitive tools worked, and the chainrings were sorta straight.



We started riding again, but it wasn’t long before the full extent of the crash damage was discovered. We had to stop for a looksie.



The damn rear derailleur broke in half.





It was time for another repair. Since his shifty bits were toast, we had to improvise. I pulled out my trusty chain tool and proceeded to turn his bike into a singlespeed.



I was riding my SS bike out there, so I welcomed the company. We discovered one more problem though: the chain had been damaged. I shortened it as best I could, and we got going again. I was happy to be riding, because I sure as hell didn’t plan on spending the whole day working on bikes. There was no beer on the side of the trail, so that made it difficult.

We enjoyed some more flowy goodness.





Not much later, Mr. Shepherd had to stop again. This time, the chain broke in half. It was damaged in multiple places, so fixing it was pretty much impossible. Since he’s a triathlete, he took the opportunity to work on his trail running.



After a painful few miles of Fred Flintstone style trail riding, we made it back to the trailhead. I brought up The Google on my smartphone, and we found a few area bike shops. It took the rest of the day to round up the replacement parts, so our riding was done. We had a few beers and some dinner, then headed back to Charlotte for some late-night mechanic work. At least this time we had the proper tools.

I should have the video of the actual ride finished by tomorrow, so I’ll post it up on here. I’m warning you though, it’s probably not that great (just like the rest of my videos.)

Let’s Continue, Shall We?

As you can see from the above photo, it’s still too cold (for me) to ride. So, I’ll sit inside where it’s warm and blog about riding my bike. Continuing with the upcoming Southern Classic Series, I’ll keep going down the list of races and decide which ones I think I’ll do. Here we go.


June 18th & 19th 2011 – Beech Mountain, NC

I have no idea about this one. I’ve never ridden anywhere near Beech Mountain (the highest town east of the Mississippi River at an elevation of 5,506 feet.) While that sounds appealing and all, I didn’t know they held cross country mountain bike races there. Maybe I’ll do a little research on this one and decide later. Looks like The Dirty Party Cycle and I may have to take a road trip for a little investigating.


June 26th 2011 – Tiger Rag, Clemson, SC

I’ve never been to Clemson, but I have heard that there are trails there. Honestly, I’m not that interested in driving down to Clemson for a race though. The fact that I will probably be racing in South Carolina twice in the series already is enough for me to bail on this one. Anyone out there care to convince me otherwise?


August 6th & 7th – Fontana Village, NC

I’ve never been to Fontana, so I have no idea what the trails there are like. The website says this about the mountain biking there:

“Fontana hosts two major mountain bike events throughout the year. The Icycle in January and the SERC sanctioned Dam Jam in August. You can ride the same trails the pros do the rest of the year. So bring your helmet and pads and get out there yourself and put the Mountain back in Mountain Biking.”

Sounds good, but I may have to ride it first to see what I’m up against. I’m certainly not a pro, so I would probably get my ass kicked out there. This one is a possibility, but probably a no.


August 14th 2011 – The Sizzler, Greensboro, NC

The Sizzler is a race and not a restaurant, in case you were wondering. This one is high on the list of races I want to do. I tried to get up there last year, but I had a scheduling conflict. I’ll do my best to keep my schedule free so I can sizzle in Greensboro. This one looks like a yes for me.

August 21st 2011 – Dark Mountain, North Wilkesboro, NC

Again, I attempted to do this one last year but failed. I was on call for work, but I decided to go anyway. I woke up extra early to take care of some work stuff, but fell back asleep and didn’t wake up in time. Work left me alone the rest of the day, so had I not overslept I could have raced. Damn it. I love riding at Dark Mountain, so you can bet your sweet ass I’ll be up there next year.


That’s it for the Southern Classic Series. It looks as if I have my plate full for just this one series. Sure, I’ll do other stuff (which I'll talk about at another time), but I want to do as many races in this series as possible. It should be lots o’ fun, and hopefully I can drag along some of my local cycling pals to suffer with me. Yes, MadSS, Dirty Party Cycle, and Space Cowboy I’m talking to you (or y’all, whatever.)

Yeah, We’re Still In The Mountains

When I left off yesterday, my crew (consisting of myself, The Dirty Party Cycle, and Lunchbox) were on the airstrip, which pretty much felt like the top of the world. The long climb we had to get there was worth it for the view alone, but there was plenty more. The actual “Airstrip” trail was next, and it was a long, twisty downhill section that made us all pucker up a little. The trail was a little slick with leaves and such, but we still had a blast hauling ass down this fun trail. When we got to the bottom, the sign told us what we just rode:



After consulting the map, we found the quickest way to our next destination, via the Corn Mill Shoals Trail. This particular trail has become part of the usual route for me in my many visits to the DuPont State Forest, so it was a welcome sight. After a little up and down action, we arrived at our destination, Bridal Veil Falls:


Here’s The Dirty Party Cycle chatting it up with a couple of hikers.


After a few moments on the observation deck, we headed down the gravel path to park our bikes:




We walked up to the falls, and we all just took it in. We had started munching on trail mix at this point for a little extra energy, when all of a sudden The Dirty Party Cycle just took off up to the top. We must have purchased different kinds of trail mix, because Lunchbox and I didn’t get that tremendous burst of energy that had befallen the DPC. He almost ran to the top, and we could barely keep up. I guess he was pretty excited to see the falls:



When we finally caught up, he wanted a closer look at this marvel of nature:





Lunchbox joined in, and they both enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the falling water:



It was cold though. Really cold. The sun was starting to go down, which made the temps feel a lot worse. Some of the water on the giant rock formation was still a little frozen too:





Even though we were getting a little chilly, the views were worth it. Watching the water rush down the rock made me remember why I wanted to take this trip in the first place. I just wanted to get away from it all for a while, and DuPont is the perfect place to do that.



We hung out there for as long as we could, but it was soon time to get back. The rest of the trail was fast and fun (aside from a few tough climbs, but those were fun too.) I jumped out in front at one point to catch a photo of Lunchbox enjoying his newly built bicycle:



We made it back to the trailhead with plenty of time to spare, but now we were on a different menu. We packed up our shit and made our way to Asheville for some awesome Mexican cuisine at our favorite spot, Papa’s & Beer. I was starving, so I ordered a big ol’ plate of slop:



Lunchbox and The DPC were chowing down too:



I even got to enjoy a big ass glass of Highland Brewing Company’s Gaelic Ale. Mmmm.



Yup, just what I needed. A great ride with some good people on some awesome trails was just what the doctor would have ordered (if I went to a doctor for such a thing.) I’m not getting the kind of saddle time I’d like to lately, so this kind of made up for it a little. Winter is fast approaching here in North Carolina, so I don’t know if we can do a repeat trip out there anytime soon. I hope so, for my sanity’s sake. I sure as shit don’t want to start putting in miles on the trainer just yet.