It’s Supposed To Be Hard

Get your mind out of the gutter.  I’m talking about mountain biking.  And endurance racing.  And all that other happy horseshit.

I just decided to make it harder.

I’ve done the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek for the last few years, and every single time it’s been a mental challenge more than anything else.  Sure my legs have screamed in agony trying to push my 225 pound self up the climbs, but it’s always been fun.  That’s what this event is all about to me:  riding for fun.  Well, that and the social scene.

Photo cred (this and all others): Lunchbox

As you can see, I was so busy talking to people (like Lowcountry Joel in the photo above) that I wasn’t even ready to go when everyone started lining up.  I guess I was a little too relaxed.  Anyway, I calmly walked over to our pit area, put on my Drunk Cyclist jersey, grabbed my helmet, shoes, and gloves, and made my way to the back of the pack with D-Wayne and Mike B. 

The crowd was huge like usual.

When they said go, we didn’t move.  Yeah, the super fast guys up front took off, but we folks in the back were sitting there like we were stuck in rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon.  Eventually, we took off and hit the road.

Winding through the campsites in an attempt to spread us out, I sorta worked my way from the very back up to not so much in the very back.  I was spinning like crazy on my 32X21, but once we finally got into the woods I was okay.

Well, sorta.  We were still going pretty slow, and while I wasn’t really out there racing I still wanted to move along at a decent pace.  I swear I was gonna burn up my new set of brake pads because there was a lot of brake-riding and I couldn’t get around anyone.  I had to work harder than normal since I couldn’t get any momentum on the climbs.  That sucked, but I tried to put on a happy face the next time I saw Lunchbox in the woods waiting for me.

As usual, he was everywhere.  Sometimes I swear that I wouldn’t survive a race without him there.

Eventually we spread out a little more, and I got a chance to settle in.  My gear choice was perfect, and I didn’t have to work too hard on the climbs.  The first lap seemed to go on forever though.  I passed a few people here and there and I wasn’t getting tired at all.  Good Guy Greg was only a few spots ahead of me, and I thought for sure that D-Wayne would roll up on me any minute. 

I was having fun, and still trying to socialize.  After what seemed like two hours though I was back to the start/finish line.  One lap down on a rigid single speed and I felt fine.  I stopped real quick at my tent (to shed some layers) and went back out for lap two.

That’s when it got really fun.

And this is where I leave you today.

Santa Style

Last night’s Queen City Bicycles Christmas party was different than all the rest.  Sure, it started out the same (eating good food and drinking all the beer), but things changed when Dicky and Jon “Danger” Evans showed up.

Photo cred:  Lunchbox

Dicky brought some photos to make things all “Gangnam Style.”

What? 

This:

Since it was a Christmas party, we can call it “Santa Style.”

He’s probably talking about this today too (and his version is most likely better), but we took the odd collection of photos that he found and strategically placed them all around the shop.

Are you ready to ride?

Those photos ended up everywhere, on walls, bathroom fixtures, and even people.  It was a good time for sure.  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time, even though our actions could have been considered juvenile.  I mean, my teenager was better behaved than us “adults.”

That’s because he got his drinks out of this cooler:

And not these:

Merry Christmas and all that.

See y’all next week.

Riding For Fun

It's sometimes a lot harder than racing.  Some people call it training, but since my season is pretty much over I just call it getting out on my bike.  This past Saturday, me and the Dirty Party Cycle met up at the local man-made whitewater rafting place to get in some “quality miles.”  We started out early, because we knew it would be hot as shit come high noon.  We just missed a Dirt Diva ride by a few minutes, but I wasn’t totally upset about it.  Riding with a bunch of ladies would’ve been pleasant, but that’s not why we were there.  The plan was for multiple hours on the bikes, and to make it hurt.  Pleasant just wasn’t on the menu. 

We started out on one of the newer trails, and it took me a while to get my legs going.  Pedaling a single speed after not riding for a few days wasn’t going too well at first, but eventually I started feeling good.  After the first loop was complete, I stopped back by my truck to grab a drink.  The pain was about to start.

We took off, trying to keep a fast pace.  The DPC and I took turns leading each other through the woods, and we were having a blast.  I had plenty of power on the climbs, and I felt like I could ride at that pace all day.  When I got to one of the bigger climbs though, I tried to mash up and my foot came unclipped.  I tried to clip back in as I kept pedaling, but it wasn’t working.  I stopped at the top of the hill and told the DPC that I thought there was something wrong with my pedal.

There sure as shit was something wrong.

Yes, I bent the axle of a STEEL pedal.  While I have had issues with crankbrothers pedals in the past, I can chalk this one up to old age (the pedals, not me.)  I’ve had these things for a long time, and I figured that they wouldn’t last forever.  I didn’t think I would break a pedal in this manner though, so I guess I’m just a little shocked.  At 6’4” and 230 pounds I’m not freakishly large, but I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’m too big for little teeny tiny bike parts. 

It’s not like I’m fat or anything.

So anyway, I just so happened to have a spare set of pedals in the truck (because I know shit like this is bound to happen to me), so we took a quick detour back to replace them.  After a short wrenchin’ session, I was ready to roll again.  We picked up where we left off, and resumed the torture. 

We rode for hours, and I barely had enough energy to make the last climb out of there and back to the parking lot.  We packed up our shit, changed our clothes, and walked over to get some grub and a few beers.  We rode our asses off out there, and had a blast.  

My legs were tired, I broke some shit, and drank the hell outta some beer.

I would call that a success.

I’m actually glad I can ride for fun now.

Fun Is Always A Good Distraction

So yeah, I’m back. I had to take a few days off, because I didn’t really feel like talking about bike stuff. Thanks again to those of you that posted comments here and on Facebook, and also for the e-mails. I really appreciated it and it meant a lot. Things are still rough around here, but we’ll be okay.


And now, I’ll get to the report from the New Belgium Urban Assault Ride. It was nice to get out there for the day, and if anything it was a good distraction from what we had going on at the house. Lunchbox and I teamed up to ride, race, and have fun, and we knew it would be a good time.


We even dressed up for the occasion.



Photo credit: Alex Hawn


Adorned in our man skirts, er I mean, kilts, we lined up at the start to begin our adventure across Charlotte. Since we were in the first group (thanks to an awesome score on the pre-race quiz), we got off to a great start. We headed out of the park and straight for the first checkpoint, The Mint Museum.


We got there ahead of the crowd, which was good because this was a tricky event (but a helluva lot of fun.) One rider had to dismount and stand behind a fence and lob belts (from the Gates Carbon Belt Drive people) to the other rider (carrying a foam sword of some sort) whilst riding around a flagged area. Lunchbox tossed the first belt and I caught it no problem, but the crowd starting moving in. Because of that I missed the next one, but quickly circled back and caught one. The goal was to catch two, so we grabbed our bead (to prove that we completed the checkpoint) and headed out to checkpoint number two.


After cutting through neighborhoods to avoid the off limits roads and such, we made it to Bike Source, and another challenge awaited us. This time, I had to bounce a tennis ball across the parking lot into a bucket, and Lunchbox could use a small board to help guide it in. The only problem was that the board had a tennis ball-sized hole in it. That one took a while, because I kept whizzing the balls over there like a major league pitcher. Eventually we got it, collected bead number two, and headed out.


The next stop was the first mystery checkpoint. This was a gamble, because there they gave you a clue as to where the second mystery checkpoint might be. There was a chance that we would have to backtrack, but when we got there we discovered that mystery checkpoint #2 wasn’t that far out of the way. The clue they gave was something like, “This was a popular camping spot in Uptown Charlotte.” Piece of cake, since I knew they were talking about City Hall and the Occupy Charlotte Movement.


We didn’t head right over there, since our pre-planned route would eventually take us near there. Instead, we made our way to checkpoint number three, Uptown Cycles, which was a challenge pretty much made just for us. One person stood on a skateboard, while the other tied a rope to the bike and pulled them around a course. Since we are both skateboarders and cyclists, it was right up our alley. We make it look way too easy, and laughed about how some people probably had a rough time. Of course I let Lunchbox ride the skateboard.


Unfortunately I don’t have a photo. There was one taken of us, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Maybe I will soon.


Anyway, we left outta Uptown Cycles, and found a convenient short cut to the next checkpoint. It wasn’t hard to figure out where we needed to go.





After a short, but fun greenway ride, we arrived at Ray’s Splash Planet and prepared to get wet. Instead, we found a challenge that was referred to as “chopsticks” awaiting us.





We had to balance two balls on two Yakima roof rack thingys, and navigate an obstacle course. Since we are both well over six feet tall, we had to try a few times before we finally made it. We gathered our bead and headed over to City Hall, which wasn’t really too far off of our pre-planned route.


There was no challenge there, just bead collecting. We took off from there and hauled ass to the final checkpoint, Smelly Cat Coffee. It was a bit of a haul to get there, but we rolled up and got ready for one of the most fun challenges in the race, the big wheel ride.




Lunchbox had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction, getting his man skirt caught in the wheel. I took the opportunity to ride past him, and he eventually tucked his kilt under him and kept going. When I finished the course, I tried to do a big ass power slide and apparently scared the shit outta the volunteers there. They all jumped in front of me to help me stop, but I was only trying to have fun.


We collected our final bead and headed back to the park to the finish.






We rolled in and found out that there was one more obstacle, a giant water slide. We took off our kilts and emptied our pockets, and slid down to the finish. I found out later that we ended up 21st out of (I think) 92 teams in our class. Not too bad, especially since we weren’t all kitted up and serious like some of the higher-placing teams. We had a ton of fun for sure.


At the afterparty, I drank a few beers (my teammate is underage so I drank enough for the both of us.) There was another dance party, but I didn’t get up on the stage like last year. That was probably because Dicky wasn't there to influence me.


Instead, we just watched.




After the big dance party, we tried some of the other events, like trackstanding. Lunchbox did his first ever track stand, and held it for a while.





And who doesn’t like to wear a skirt and ride a really tiny bike?




It was a lot of fun for sure, and it was good for us to be out of the house for a while. Lunchbox was an awesome partner, and he did a great job out there. I did run my GoPro the whole time, and when I get a chance I’ll go through the footage and maybe come up with a decent video.


I have other things to worry about now though.





Yeah, with all that’s been going on I almost forgot that I have a six hour race this weekend.


Am I even ready? I guess y’all will find out on Monday.

A Week of Mountain Fun (Or Hell)

So yeah, it’s pretty well-known around here that this weekend is the big one. Yes folks, XTERRA Whitewater is in two days. Swimming, mountain biking, running, and all of that other happy horseshit will be upon us in the blink of an eye. The crew here at B-43 is definitely ready, so there are no worries there. I’m sure that by Sunday afternoon we’ll all be sitting around having some tasty beer and reminiscing about it. It’s the week after that concerns me.



You see, since Mr. Shepherd is making the trip here from The Sunshine State to join us for a triathlon adventure, we have to make the most of it. Or, as The Dirty Party Cycle says, “Maximize his fun.” With that, we have a week of two-wheeled adventures planned, starting with the day after the XTERRA. We all took the week off from our respective jobs, so we are free to run wild.


Monday will be a “recovery day”, which will have us riding two of our local trails here in the Charlotte area. Sometime in the morning, we are heading down to Fort Mill, SC to ride the trails at Anne Springs Close Greenway. Mr. Shepherd has never been there (I have no idea why), so he should be in for a treat. It will be nice to get out and spin our legs at a nice, relaxed pace. After a quick break for lunch, we’ll head on over to Sherman Branch, which is always a hit. A lot has changed there (trail feature-wise), so Mr. Shepherd will have fun for sure. That’s it for Monday I guess.


Tuesday will be a new adventure for all of us. We are heading out bright and early to Old Fort, NC to ride the Kitsuma trails (no link, just use The Google to find it.) From what I hear, it’s a ton of climbing to get to the top, but we will be rewarded with some super-sweet downhill action. Nice. After that, we’ll stuff ourselves with food and head over to see the fine folks at Cane Creek Cycling Components. Hopefully my status as a "sponsored rider" will get us in the door, or else we’ll just stand in the parking lot like a bunch of goons. After that we’ll head over to the trails at Bent Creek (again, use The Google) to finish off the day. Our legs will get plenty of rest on the long drive back to Charlotte. I even heard a rumor that the MadSS will be joining us. Good times.


Wednesday is open…for now. We originally thought about having a big B-43 showing at the Summer Series race that evening, but that’s kind of up in the air right now. We’ll figure out something to do for Wednesday for sure though.


Thursday will be more mountain fun. We are heading up to the Kerr Scott Trail System in Wilkesboro, NC to partake in the lovely singletrack that the local club has to offer. We will be riding Warrior Creek, Dark Mountain, and the Overmountain Victory Trail. That’s around forty miles of fun (and climbing.) I hope our legs are ready.


Friday is the grand finale. We are planning on playing roadie for the day. Yep, a nice, relaxing ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Well, maybe not relaxing, but it will be nice. We are planning on a fifty miler, with the option of bailing at the halfway point (with the help of strategically-placed vehicles.) If we survive the ride, there will be much beauty to see. The DPC and I have both driven the BRP, but I don’t think that Mr. Shepherd has been there before. Nevertheless, the scenery will be much better since we will be out in the open on two wheels.


What does this mean for you, the reader? Well, hopefully I’ll get on here to post something every day during our adventures. Certainly I’ll be here Monday with an XTERRA race report, but I can’t promise anything after that. There will be plenty of stories, photos, etc., but I may not provide them in a timely manner. I apologize in advance, although hopefully it will be worth the wait. Just keep checking here, and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Whatever you do this weekend and next week, have fun. I’ll be out suffering, which I obviously love to do. See ya.