Mystery Package, Nutrition, and Other Nonsense

The other day I got a strange-looking package in the mail. If the Unabomber hadn’t been captured, I would’ve thought that it was from him. Granted, things roll into the B-43 Worldwide Headquarters all the time, but this was was really unexpected.



I opened the package, and there was a jar of “something” and a pamphlet chock full of information. Even after reading this informational handout, it still wasn’t ringing a bell. The jar was obviously a sample size, so I snapped a photo before I opened it.



When I order something via the Internets, I usually have a good idea of when it will show up. The name on the return address (and the pamphlet) was unfamiliar to me, so I used The Google to see what it was all about. As it turns out, the mystery package was from these people. I still didn’t recall ever talking to these people, until something right there on the home page jumped out and bit me.





While it’s not unlikely that I did indeed click there for a free sample, I sure as hell don’t remember doing it. I’ve been getting a lot of free stuff in the mail lately, so there was no need for me to be greedy. I even wondered how the hell I got to that web page. I looked around a bit, and found some information on the “free product” I received.

ISN Competition Endurance Formula

Competition has been engineered for maximum performance over the long haul. It is the perfect choice for ultra endurance events, road racing, mountain biking, swimming, or anything which requires your body to perform at its best for extended periods of time.

Well, there’s no doubt that I could use such a thing. I’ve been trying to come up with some kind of nutritional plan that doesn’t involve beer for a while now. Was this little jar the answer to my prayers? Come to think of it, I don’t remember praying either. Anyway, I guess I can try it on my next super long mega-ginormous bicycle ride, and see what they are all about. If I like it, then I’ll pony up and buy a full size jar. Maybe they only sell their products in baby jars. Who knows.


Anyway, you can be just like me and get yourself a free sample too. Just click here and try it for yourself.


Speaking of nutrition, I haven’t come up with any kind of plan for the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek. I mean yeah, I’ll eat a lot of food during the “race”, but I’m not exatly sure which kind of food. I was thinking about some kind of cookies and crap like that, but I stumbled across an article that had me thinking a little bit (I actually do think every once in a while.)


NO SUGAR ADDED EXPERIMENT


The fine folks at Bike Rumor are conducting an experiment for people like me who are too lazy to conduct their own experiments. At first glance the article may look like an endorsement for Hammer Nutrition, but if you read through it you may see that it’s not the case. There’s some interesting stuff in there, especially the part about how simple sugars provide only very short-term energy, followed by a dramatic plunge in energy. Flash and Crash was the term, according to our Bike Rumor scientific researcher. No wonder why I burn out shortly after eating gel shots during a race. Maybe one day I’ll try this experiment myself, but I’ll most likely wait until I hear the final review (so I can benefit from someone else’s hard work.) With the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek a little over a week away, there’s no time for me to start doing weird nutritional shit. I’ll be winging it like I always do. Flying by the seat of your pants is the only way to fly.

Something’s Fishy

I’m back in the water, and it’s strange. I had taken a break from swimming for a while, concentrating on the bike only. With a few triathlon events on the horizon though, I’ve started back with my swim-bike-run routine, in hopes that I can enter one or two (or more if my schedule permits.) This week is actually the first time I’ve been swimming in months. My first swim back at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center was a little weird, to say the least. I managed to crank out 20 laps, and it hurt like hell. I was dizzy, but I had to press on for the sake of “training.” I’m pretty sure that it won’t take long to get my sea legs back, so I’m not too worried about it. I must have built a good base before I hung it up for a while. That’s encouraging.


While I was resting after a few warm up laps, I noticed that the guy in the lane next to me was instructing a couple of young kids. They were working on flipping over at the end of the lanes, and I overheard an odd conversation:

Instructor: Breathe out and flip over. That’s all you have to do.

Little girl: I keep getting water in my nose

Instructor: That’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with getting water in your nose. It’s completely normal and it won’t hurt you.

Uhhh, what? Isn’t water in your nose a bad thing? I know it doesn’t feel nice. Maybe that old wives tale about drowning in a teaspoon of water is just that…an old wives tale. This guy was a qualified swimming instructor, after all, so it wasn’t my place to ask questions. I finished my pool time and got the hell out of there before he started waterboarding me just for listening ito their conversation.


My first “confirmed” tri is the XTERRA Whitewater in July. I say confimed because it’s the one I’m itching to do most. While I may squeeze in one or two before it, the XTERRA Whitewater is a can’t miss race for me. Fellow B-43 members Mr. Shepard and Senior Oeste are coming up here from The Sunshine State to join me in the event. Mr. Shepard had ridden the trails at the U.S. National Whitewater Center before on his previous trips to Charlotte, but this will be the first time that Senior Oeste had ridden a mountain bike anywhere here in NC. While he is an experienced triathlete, an off-road tri will be new to him. He has montain bike skills no doubt, but hopefully he can get up here for a pre-ride before the actual event. We’ve been trying to coerce him into a trip, but our attempts have been unsuccessful so far.


The trails at the U.S. National Whitewater Center are right in my backyard so to speak, and my familiararity should give me somewhat of an advantage over the out of town competitors. With over 800 feet of elevation change, the trails are no picnic, but this will definitely make the bike leg a bit easier that the one I did last year at XTERRA Uwharrie.


Click the link below for a pretty nice video of the trails at the Whitewater Center.

USNWC Trails by Sir-Bikes-A-Lot

That’s pretty much all I have for today. My lunchtime fun rides are over for now, so now I’ll have to start hitting up the trails or the road after worky time. My next big ride is this Saturday, when I’ll be participating in the 10th Annual CSC Spring Training Ride. Yeah, it’s a road ride, but at least I’ll get some good mileage in. I plan on doing the 55 mile option, which should be a nice tune up for the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek the following weekend. Maybe I’ll squeeze in a nice mountain bike ride on Sunday if my legs cooperate. I need another chance to get Awesome anyway.

Pieces Of The Puzzle

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a bike parts swap meet. A couple of local guys decided to hold a huge bicycling yard sale in front of one our local shops, The Cycle Path. People from all over the area showed up to set up tables, truck beds, and even picnic blankets full of bike parts they no longer needed. I didn’t really think much about going at first, since I figured it would either be a bunch of crap, or a bunch of expensive crap. I’ve acquired most of the parts I need for the 29er build I’m working on, but I am still in need of a fork and a big wheelset. After scouring the Internets for forks, I was starting to think that I would never get one at a reasonable price. I decided to take my chances and head up there anyway.



When I arrived on the scene, I was pleasantly surprised. There was a shitload of people in the parking lot, both buyers and sellers. The prices seemed pretty reasonable, probably since most people just wanted to get rid of stuff they no longer needed. While this would translate into deal for me, most of the stuff was 26-inch wheel specific. Meh. I know, I still ride a 26 inch-wheeled bike, but I was in search of 29er parts. Maybe this whole 29er thing isn’t a fad after all.


After my initial pass-through, I headed into the shop to talk to the HMFIC of The Cycle Path, Mark. After briefly shooting the beeze with him, I suddenly started running into people I actually knew. I made my way around the sale tables again, talking to everyone I knew and also paying a little more attention to the items for sale. I found a nearly complete 29er bike for sale at one stop, and I noticed it had a nice squishy fork on it.


“Would you part it out?” I asked.

“Sure thing, what do you need?” asked the kind shopkeeper.


I asked about the fork, and he proceeded to remove it form the bike. I looked it over and found it to be in satisfactory condition, so I made the deal. He held it for me for a few minutes while I ran to the ATM for some cash money. I handed over the dough and I had a nice squishy front end for my 29er project, er build.



I know, it’s not too fancy, but it will work. Since I thought I would never find a reasonably priced fork, I thought I would end up ordering a RockShox Dart 3 for my new build. Yuck. I’m glad I was patient, because this fork is much better. It’s the Tora Air, so it’s a lot lighter than the fork on Lunchbox’s bike. I said goodbye to my cycling swap meet friends and hurried home.


After installing the Cane Creek 110 headset, I installed the fork and spacers. I put on a temporary stem to hold it place, and I was more than happy. While I’m not in a giant hurry to finish this bike, I am still pretty excited to see some progress. It sure beats having the frame and a bunch of random parts lying on the shop floor. I took some photos of my soon to be new ride:





I still have a long way to go, but at least this is a start. The only things I need now are some tires and wheels, and some brand spankin’ new shifter cables. I have some parts set aside, but there is still a little bit of a hold up on the building process. A few of the parts I need (bars, stem, and seat) are still on the Greatest Short Track Bike on Earth, which is currently out on loan. It seems that The Chili Man liked riding it so much that he’s going to borrow it for a while. Cool.


Since The Chili Man is itchin’ to ride, I also decided to spend a little time on Sunday gathering up stuff to build a better bike for him. Initially I was going to take his bike and make it better, but that turned out to be a bad idea. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do for his bike, since it didn’t really have any quality parts to speak of. Sure, I could have added a few things, but it really wouldn’t have made a difference in the long run. Quality parts on a not-so quality bike just wouldn’t work. Just because you pour syrup on shit doesn’t make it pancakes. I had quite a few bike parts that were gathering dust, so I started building his “new” bike.



This should be a pretty nice bike for him, and hopefully he will enjoy riding it. It’s not the best, but it’s the best I could do with spare parts. I still have a few minor things left to do before it hits the trail, but that shouldn’t take much time or effort. Maybe I will have it completed just in time for the next schedule Kids Ride. I probably should hurry up though, because The Chili Man informed me that I am being rewarded for my efforts with some of his culinary delights. Hell, I’ll build him a bike every week for that kind of reward.

It’s Monday And I Need Some Coffee.

I don't really drink coffee that much, but Paul does.


Yesterday was supposed to be ride number two this year for the Tarheel Trailblazers Kids Ride. I woke up Sunday morning, headed to the store to pick up cookies and drinks for the kids, and went back home to pack up our stuff. I loaded up the bikes for Lunchbox and I, Little Miss Sunshine’s bike, and the bike formerly known as the Greatest Short Track Bike on Earth. Wait, that’s three of us. So, why did I have a fourth bike? Well, after months of pestering, I finally convinced my neighbor, The Chili Man and his son to join us on the rides. I offered to let him borrow my “spare” bike, and after a short test ride the day before, he was hooked.


He immediately noticed the difference between a department store bike, and a “quality” bike, just from one ride. I tried to tell him that the Greatest Short Track Bike on Earth was actually a piece of shit, but he wasn’t having it. I guess he’s ridden some really bad bicycles in his day.


After getting all of our crap ready to go, we were just about to leave for Colonel Francis Beatty Park down near Matthews, NC, when the rain started to fall. At the same time, I got a message from one of my friends on that end of town that said it was raining down there too. At that point I made the call to cancel the ride, posting the info on the Tarheel Trailblazers site. Just as I finished, I saw the Chili Man about to head up the road to meet us. We stopped him and gave him the news.


I felt like this was somehow my fault, although I have no control over the weather (that’s too bad.) I was excited about the kids ride, and even more happy that my neighbors were finally getting a chance to join us. They were okay with it though, I guess. After the rain stopped they decided to head out for a neighborhood ride, with Lunchbox joining them. I stayed in the garage, sulking (and doing other stuff that I’ll talk about tomorrow I guess.) I really like the kids rides as much as the kids do, so hopefully the next one will happen. I also hope that The Chili Man can join us next time, since he is a pretty wacky guy, and very entertaining. That should make the kids rides even more fun.



Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that his real name is Jackie Moon.

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.

Well, Is It Really Awesome?

Well, as awesome as the Awesome Strap might look, it has to perform on the trail. Next would come the true test. I decided to ride one of our local trails, one that has plenty of roots, rocks, and bumpy shit to see if I could lose some junk outta my Awesome Strap. I don’t really want to lose my junk, mind you, but I needed to make sure I could trust a strap that calls itself awesome.


I headed out to my usual lunchtime riding spot, North Meck, and got ready for the test. This place is the rootiest trail I can get to for now, so it would have to do. That being said, there are plenty of bumps, jumps, and rooty goodness to put this Awesome thing through the works. No, it’s not some epic ride or anything, but it is just rough enough to jar the shit loose from the Awesome Strap (if that is at all possible.)




I hit the trail at full speed, making sure to touch every root in my path. I jumped every jump, and tried to bunny-hop a few squirells for good measure. I even clipped my elbow on a tree at high speed just to make sure I covered everything. During that first lap, I resisted the urge to stop and check to see if the Awesome Strap was holding everything in place, although I did give it a reach around once. It was pretty happy about that (I think I heard a squeal.)






When I finished the first lap, I stopped to check the status of my new bundle of joy.



Still tight as a shark’s ass.

I’m happy to report that the first test lap was a success. None of my stuff moved at all inside the Awesome Strap. As a matter of fact, the Awesome Strap didn’t change positions on my seatpost either. While I was riding, I hardly even knew it was there. The thing I noticed most was that my legs didn’t rub on it at all (I’m a Clydesdale, so my legs aren’t toothpicks ya know.) I also didn’t hear the all too familiar sound of my seat sack rattling around underneath me. This was a good thing.


I headed back out on the trail to do a little more “testing”, and I had the same results. Like I said before, this was no epic ride (only 3.5 miles per lap). This was a “controlled” environment for testing, since I could easily retrieve my lost items if the Awesome Strap failed to be awesome. Since the fine folks at Backcountry Research aren’t paying me to write this review (who the hell would?), I was trying to be as objective as possible. While they did give me free product, I still gave it a thorough evaluation. It wasn't love at first sight by any means (although it did look pretty cool, er awesome), and I was apprehensive about giving it a thumbs up just for the sake of getting in their good graces. More testing is in order though, even though I’m pretty sure that I will have the same successful results. Tune in tomorrow as I hit yet another local trail in a hopeless attempt to be awesome.

Time To Get Awesome

I obviously can’t get awesome all by myself, so I needed some help. Let me explain.


My “friend” over at Bad Idea Racing has been using the Awesome Strap for a while now, so I thought I would try it. Why did I put the word “friend” in quotes? Well, I guess I don’t know him well enough to call him a friend. Sure, I’ve talked to him a few times (I’m sure he doesn’t remember), but that’s about it. While I do read his blog from time to time, I guess I am just a fan at this point. Besides, he’s way too famous to be my actual friend. Plus, I still ride small wheels (for now) and use gears so that’s probably a no-no as far as being pals with Dicky. Hell, I can’t even approach him to get an autograph on my copies of Dirt Rag. I’m just too starstruck I guess. For some reason I fell under the spell of his Awesome Strap review and decided to order one. So, let’s get back to my awesomeness.


At first, I hesitated ordering the Awesome Strap, since I have plenty of velcro straps in the shop that I thought would do the trick. I never tried them though, and I can blame that on laziness. I decided to let someone else do the work for me, and I’m sure I’ll be better off for it. However, I carry a lot of shit in my seat bag, and I wondered if the Awesome Strap could hold it all.



I decided that it was time to try something new. Besides Dicky’s review, I had several reasons for wanting to ditch the seat sack:


I was getting tired of replacing them all the time, since they seemed to wear out fairly quickly. Most notably would be the holes that opened up, causing me to lose the contents all over the place.

They rattle around, making weirdo noises (I make enough weirdo noises when I ride), so I was growing tired of having one strapped to my seatpost and hearing that shit all of the time.

I no longer wear a backpack when I ride, unless it’s while performing Bike Patrol duties (I carry a ton of first aid crap.) So, I couldn’t transfer the seat sack contents to a back sack for normal everyday riding and races.


I finally broke down and ordered the Back Forty, figuring that it would be sufficient for my needs. It was only $10.95, and they offered free shipping. What a deal. It showed up after a couple of days and I was pretty excited. I was even more excited when I opened the package:



Yep, not one, but two Awesome Straps. Was there some kind of shipping mistake? Had these guys heard about how inept of a racer and mechanic I am and decided to send me two because they knew I would break one trying to install it? My questions were answered with a handwritten note on the order form:



Wow, I got a bonus Awesome Strap for knowing someone I hardly even know. How about that? More importantly, who else is watching? I know the government is always watching, but now I have other people checking up on me as well. Big thanks to the folks at Backcountry Research for hooking me up. And also I’d like to thank my internet friend and new hero Dicky for helping me get on the path to awesomeness. Now I owe him I guess.


It was time to get down to business. After I watched the instructional video on their website, I was ready to begin. I emptied the contents of my seat sack and prepared to get awesome.



Seat bag contents: 3 CO2 cartidges (one in the inflator), two tire levers, Crank Brothers multi-tool, tube, spare derailleur hanger (I’ve broken a few on local rides), SRAM master link, and some tie-wraps. Geez, that’s a lot of shit to carry.


I starting loading up the Awesome Strap, and I really didn’t have any issues cramming all of my crap in there. I grabbed my new little bundle of joy and had it pose for a photo:



The only thing I didn’t try to squeeze in there was a manual Kenda pump I got a few years ago at a race at Sugar Mountain. I started carrying the pump with me all the time after a CO2 mishap at the Tree Shaker last October, but it fits nicely in my jersey pocket. It’s old and beat up, but I still love it and it does the job. Hell, maybe I should cram my water bottle in there too while I’m at it.


I went outside and proceeded to strap some awesomeness to my seatpost:


It was tight like a tiger


The only thing left to do was to take it for a ride. While the Awesome Strap may indeed look awesome, it had to perform on the trail. I can’t have my shit falling all over the place like some kind of trailside yard sale and still be awesome, can I? Tune in tomorrow to see the results of a potentially awesome test ride. You know you want to.