F.A.T.S.

Dennis and I made our way to FATS on Saturday with hopes of completing all of the trails including the newer ones. We got an early start and arrived at the trailhead at 8:00 am. Our goal was to be back at home by 1:00 pm before the kitchen pass expired.

It was quite solitary at 8:00 am except for one other car in the parking lot and this guy was making enough noise to wake the wildlife. He had his radio cranking out Dance Music tunes echoing across the forest.

After glancing at the posted map, we headed down the trail. We did the “left turn only” route which takes you all of the way out to Brown Wave then Skinny Loop, then Great wall. After 20 miles of this we were joking about the lack of climbing. Somehow we both felt like we had rolled downhill for 20 miles. After regrouping, we headed down Deep Step and were going to intercept the connector over to Big Rock and Tower. Here we found some elevation and did a good bit of climbing. I really liked the connector trail and the short pavement and gravel road section. Big rock has some serious elevation to it, but they built it following topo so the limited climbing sections are short and sweet, but numerous. By this time, there were a lot of people on the trails. We also crossed paths with a hunter who was hiking to his favorite spot in the woods. I had my Red Wolfpack jersey on, so hopefully I didn’t look like a deer.

We ended up running short on time and had to bail early, but we ended up with about 35 miles and 3.5 hours in the woods, including a flat and some sag stops. I believe you can now get close to 50 miles out there. We skipped Tower and only rode half of Big Rock to get 35. I want to go back and do the full 50-ish soon.

Jim was on board to go with us until “something hit him” and he had to pull out the night before. I hope you are feeling better.

Carolina Adventure World, Winnsboro.

Exit 46 on I-77. Jim and I rode it Saturday am. I think they have a good start to a fun trail system. It is spanking new so the clay is soupy in a lot of places but the clay is also similar to FATS clay so theres will be times when it dries out and will allow you to rail. There are some banked turns, woop-de-doos, and switchbacks. There is currently a lot of deadfall and tree litter which I don’t mind too much except, sure enough, a stick hopped up into my derailleur and almost ripped it off. So my bike would not stay in gear for the rest of the ride.

You start out at the main parking lot and enter the trail by the ATV gatehouse. You then go down some twisty stuff and begin a climb to “Top of the World”, a helipad…that’s right a helipad. I would say that climb is around 200’ elevation gain, but I am no Garmin. This reminded me of the airstrip climb at Dupont, but for just a second. This climb gets the legs burning nicely and then you descend into some flowy and technical stuff along ridges and creek bottoms.

http://www.carolinaadventureworld.net/images/CAWBikeTrailmap.jpg
Our first loop we did: a>A>C>A>B>A>E>D>E>A>a. Look at the map and it will make sense. It is directional so this is the full loop and is about 11 miles. C and D were almost un-ride-able so on our second loop we left them out and the trail felt a lot like FATS or a Lost Creek with a lot more climbing.

$5 per day or $40.00 per year. I think $40 is too high but it is what it is. There are some nice employees out there who really want the trails to succeed and they said they just need to get ridden. I agree with that.

New York

We spent three days in the city and two days traveling there and back. I am glad gas was $1.80/gal just in time for our trip. This is a great trip for families but bring your savings account because they love tourists.

If you were an immigrant in the early 1900's that came through Ellis Island, you approached the US by boat and this was the first thing you saw as you entered the New York Bay area on your way to Ellis Island. The immigrants were said to shout with joy, whooping and hollering as they saw the statue and they knew what it represented...Freedom. They were going to begin their new life of opportunity where "you can do anything you want to do".

By the way, did you know that the base of the statue is star shaped and was one of four forts that protected the bay. No enemy vessel ever tried to get past the four infamous forts. It was considered impenetrable. Now it is the base of the statue. This reminded me of Fort Moultrie and Sumter in Charleston (except the impenetrable part).

The kids in Central Park.

Ice Skating at Rockefeller Plaza. This was the kids favorite part of the trip. We didn't get any great pictures here but did manage to get a shot of this local kid who offered to help my youngest daughter skate. This fella was about 12 years old and probably started skating when he was 1.5. The picture doesn't do it justice but he was twirling around the rink with Abby between his legs. I was amazed at his skating ability.

A trip to New York isn't complete without a subway ride. And of course you get to share a bench with all kinds of folks. This lady seemed totally out of it but content with her bag of donuts. I didn't realize it till we got back to Columbia, but the subways were under high alert while we were there due to a terrorist threat.

Harbison Samaritans Purse Race

Although I REALLY wanted to ride in the race, I was there as a volunteer and had to restrain myself from snagging someone’s bike and going out on the course. My friend, Paul, offered for me to borrow his daughters Barbie bike but it was a single speed and I thought that might cause me some problems. Seriously though, it was a success from the standpoint of raising money and doing something to benefit others. I don’t have the final numbers, but we raised somewhere in the range of $500.00 after expenses. That’s enough to ship 55 shoeboxes full of Christmas cheer to children around the world. Its also enough to provide tools and training for 5 families to be better subsistence farmers for their families (give a man a fish vs. teach a man to fish…).

The idea was to do this November race this year without loosing our shirts and for Rebecca to “show me the ropes”. Next year, I’ll try to do it solo and then make it an annual event after that. That’s my goal atleast. Since it was a multi lap event, it was really cool to see the race play out as the riders passed the start/finish line. I had a really good time and it was good to see everyone who participated.

Harbison Race

Here you go:

Volunteers - Race to the River

Soon we will be releasing specifics on the upcoming Race to the River. This popular local event will return in November and the current date is Sunday Nov 16. Pencil that in and I will post the flyer once it is finalized. I hope all of you will participate. We have scheduled it to kick off the holidays to raise some support for others in need.

I have committed to supplying 15 volunteers! If you are riding in the race, maybe your spouse could volunteer to be a course marshall, help with registration, etc. Let me know if you would like to help. Thanks in advance.

Thursday Night Urban Assault

45 miles - 2:45 ride time. There were heavy winds all night long and it was to our back the first 1/2 of the ride.

At one point, we were riding along at about 20 mph and the air was completely still which meant it was about a 20 mph tail wind.

With the wind at our backs we climbed the long climbs on Pine Plain?? road off of Charleston highway at around 17 mph then when we crested the hill and were riding on the flat section we were going 27 mph (thats on a mountain bike with fat tires). Of course the down hill section was fast and we approached 40 mph coasting on the down hill.

All of that was fun until we headed back into the wind on the way home and my legs were toast. Even in the draft line the wind was rough because it was a cross wind.

Saturday Morning Ride

Well, it really stinks always bringing up the rear but Saturday was no different.

Jim – must be drinking some of natures recovery drink lately. You have really stepped it up since the last time we rode. Setting a 12.3ish pace through inner woman…

Dennis – Energy level reminded me of the squirrel in “Over the Hedge.” Then I found out he drank several Red Bulls before the ride.

Monty – was Monty. Wish I could say the single speed slowed him down...

I had a good time and it was great to get out in the cooler morning air. I think I actually saw a few leaves floating down from above. Sorry I bailed before Lost Creek, but it just wasn’t my day. No excuses.

New toy

Tomorrow I am taking these babies on their maiden voyage.


My Giant Anthem came with the Race Face predecessor to these cranks and I have had nothing but problems from them. They kept loosening up and therefore wobbling in the bottom bracket. Summit Cycles would work on them under warranty and add spacers to correct the extra play. And we would all scratch our heads wondering how they loosen up because the crank bolt tightens till it bottoms out. Once it is tight you cant tighten it any more, but it would still be loose. That would work for a while then they would loosen up again. Finally, the extra play damaged the BB and I had to replace that on my own dime since it was several months out of warranty. Went with a Shimano XT BB thinking the play was in the BB. Eventually the play returned.

I called Race Face and they agreed to send me a new one even though I had 2 years and probably 1500 miles on the bike. They said the predecessor was experiencing a problem where the internal shaft that is pressed into the drive side crank was pulling itself out over time. This solved the mystery of how they were loosening.

Looking forward to not worrying if they will loosen again and not scaring the wildlife away with the old noisy ones.

Just say no to Sports Glasses

I recently came across this on USA Cycling website. In an Olympics full of whacky sports eye wear (especially from the American athletes) its nice to see someone go against the grain.

Adam Craig while racing in the olympic mountain bike race in Beijing sporting some aviator style glasses.

Albino Deer

Keep your eyes out for an albino deer on Lost Creek. I saw one today. Lost Creek usually provides a glimpse of several does that must live over there. One other time, I stopped the bike to do something or other on lost creek, and looked over to see an 8 point buck with his head low following a doe. That is the only time I have seen a buck at Harbison. But, the albino I saw today was quite unique. She had a brown head and her color changed on her neck to white. The whole rest of her body was white except she had brown "socks". At first I thought she was a tall dog, but then she bounded off and it was the unmistakable gait of a deer.

Man-cation Day 2

It was 9:30 before we all rolled out of the tents. At this elevation, there aren’t many birds…or maybe it is the time of year when migration has already occurred. But it was conspicuously silent up in the gap. Reheated pancakes hit the spot and the coffee was awesome. We all had to stop drinking coffee when we realized we used all of the filtered water we collected the day before. We would have to hike to get more water.

What do you do when you have a whole day to spend in the wilderness and nothing to REALLY get done? Nothing to get done…this really goes against my daily scramble to get everything done at the office. Well, when you are with Eric and Paul, you will have plenty to do. These two guys must be related to Rudy Mancke, the naturalist on ETV here in Columbia. I am not joking when I say that we could not walk 10 feet without getting a nature lesson. “Oh,look at the striated veins on the back of this beech leaf, its hairy so that makes it genus “e pluribus unum” (or some other latin)”. Or, “is this a silver maple or a sugar maple?” “Wow, this parasitical plant lives on the host plant and is chlorophyll deprived therefore depends on the host plant”. I mean it took us on average one hour to hike a mile. Don’t get me wrong, this is all very fascinating stuff and I enjoy learning. But their minds are like information warehouses. I am a point A to point B kind of guy. We spent all day “smelling the roses.” I decided to play along.

I already mentioned that Eric is a missionary in Kenya. His job is to help Kenya develop in an agricultural sense. He provides a service to the locals where he will develop a crop management plan and help them implement it so they can grow their own food. To support his family, he raises bees for honey and quail as well as pheasant. His knowledge is more pragmatic and practical. Paul is just as knowledgeable, but is more academic in the sense that he learned what he knows in labs and degree programs. He is currently a biology teacher. Eric was on vacation and was in the states for about a month or so. It was evident that he knew this wilderness like the back of his hand. He spent a lot of his childhood hiking around this area with his Dad trout fishing. He was back in his element and he was enjoying every minute of it.

This leads to the theme of this day: Blueberries. We were about a week early but the balds were covered in almost ripe wild blueberries. I am referring to hundreds, if not thousands, of acres of blueberry bushes. Eric noted that the short bushes are called huckleberries and the tall bushes are blueberries. As you walked down the trail, you could pick blueberries from the side of the trail almost in unison with your stride and pop them in your mouth. You could use both hands and while you were popping a few in your mouth with one hand, you could grab another few in your other hand. They were not super sweet like the store bought “cultivars” (Paul’s word), but they were wild and delicious. On our way to Shining Rock, we ate at blueberries almost the entire way. We began to look for bushes with the best tasting blueberries. When we all agreed that we had found them, we would pick it clean leaving only the unripe berries. We weren’t the only ones enjoying the blueberries. The birds, bumblebees and butterflies were also partaking. So we had absolutely nothing to “get done” today, but we spent most of the day looking at the details, learning about Gods amazing creativity, and adventuring through this vast garden laid out before us.

Man-cation DAY 1.5

The beauty of this wilderness is that you really are not in control when you enter into it. You are now a visitor to a dominion not your own. Consequently, it doesn’t take long out here to desire more permanent shelter and better comfort…to try to organize the environment to suit ME better. In the early morning, a pack of coyotes howls in the distance. The sound of their call echoes up the coves and reaches the elevation we were at. Then on the opposite hill, another pack answers. The pack below begins to howl again, but this time they seem to be disturbed and it sounds more like fighting amongst themselves. Or maybe they are tangling with another animal. Listening to the coyotes emphasizes this wilderness and sets the stage for what happened next.

Gary couldn’t sleep and kept unzipping his tent and zipping it back up. Almost every time he did this I woke up. At one point, I heard him unzip his tent, walk over to his backpack, fiddle around with something inside it and get back in his tent zipping it back up. About ten minutes later and before I was able to fall back to sleep, I hear a large animal enter our camp. It walks by our tent and brushes against it. It is breathing heavy and making a low grunting noise. It seems hungry and out of breath. It obviously has four legs as its steps seem too numerous to be a human. I hear it go to the area where Gary’s pack was laying and hear it rummaging through the pack all the while grunting and breathing heavy. I have never been close to a black bear and I was certain we had one in the camp. I had to take a peek. Feeling around in the darkness, I grab the headlamp. I sat up in the tent and got a good vantage point and aimed the lamp. Sliding the button over I am anxious to see the bear. But the light reflects off the black tent mesh and temporarily blinds me. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust but in the meantime, I can tell something large is out there and am trying to get my eyes to focus. When my pupils finally adjust and my eyes gain focus I struggle to make out the form of this large animal. As I make out the image, I realize it is Gary bent over his pack and I am shining my light on his posterior side. About this time he turns around and does a classic hand gesture at me. No bear this time I guess. I still can’t figure out what all the grunting and heavy breathing was about. I guess he was hungry.

We all slept in until 9:30 am. The sky was overcast with a blanket of clouds that looked like winter snow clouds. There was a nice chill in the air. We had packed in pre-prepared pancakes and syrup. Paul even found a way to bring a stick of real butter. In Columbia right now it was probably already 90 degrees. I smiled as I pulled on a sweatshirt and stood by the campfire to warm up. Drank about as much instant coffee (left over from old MRE’s) as I could stand. Today we are hiking to Shining Rock and maybe Cold Mountain if our legs are up to it.

Man-cation DAY 1

Headed up to Shining Rock Wilderness in NC last weekend with a few friends...actually one friend and his two friends. I later became friends with his two friends so I guess I can call them friends. All right, enough of that!



We started out at the parking lot on 816 off the parkway and hiked to Ivestor Gap via the Art Loeb trail. Set up camp at Ivestor Gap which is a grassy meadow/gap right at the Shining Rock entrance sign. The gap is between Grassy Cove Top and Tennent Mountain and you can see quite a view in either direction. No fires beyond this point, so we decided to go no farther with our base camp because there WOULD be a fire at this 5600' elevation.

Right off the bat Eric (missionary and naturalist from Kenya) decides he wants to go trout fishing. Gary (diesel mechanic from Maryland),Paul and I think we are going to hike down into the cove below to a trout stream via a trail. Eric had other ideas. Gary throws on his Crocs (thinking it is a short easy hike...keep this in mind as you read) and a bathing suit so he can wade in the stream. We all followed Eric to the trail. He immediately turns off the trail and walks straight down the side of the mountain bushwhacking through mountain laurel, thorny blackberry bushes, moss covered undergrowth, following a trickle of water down the hillside. We stay on this course for what seems like an hour and let me tell you...I don't think more than ten people have been where we were. It was steep, remote, difficult travel. We did stumble upon a rusty tuna can so we know at least one other person was here...and the last thing he ate was Tuna. What a beautiful and different way to hike. I guess in Kenya a trail is for wimps. Eric took us on quite a tour of the forest. The trickle of water has now turned into a stream with pools that you can stand in about knee deep. It is Greasy Cove Prong and I think we descended about 800 feet of thick forest, bushwhacking the whole way to get to where we are. All of us have lashes on our shins and everyone has some visible blood somewhere on their body. OHHAHHH - as they say in the army.

He assembles his trout rod and on his first cast, he hooks a native brook trout and would catch several more. But none of them are big enough to take back with us. After a while, we abandon the fishing for fear of darkness setting in.

Eric says he wants to go back back to camp by a different route and starts the bushwhacking in reverse. We climb straight back up the mountain trying to intercept grassy cove ridge trail to the north. It is evident we are on a wildlife trail because there is fresh bear scat and broken limbs all the way up the mountain. Something large bulldozed up this hill and we are benefiting from its freshly blazed path. Consequently, we make quick work of this climb but along the way I notice something really cool. Instead of the mountain laurel being tightly packed into impassable thickets, they are spaced almost perfectly at 10'-0" centers so you can meander through this grassy forest environment with laurel canopy overhead. The floor of the forest was what seemed like Kentucky bluegrass freshly mowed. About the time I was marvelling at this micro environment, we stumble into a yellow jacket nest and all of us gets stung at least once. Boy these things can pack a punch!

Back at camp, we eat a nice pasta meal and after warming up by the fire, we crawl in our tents for a nights rest.

Around midnight I wake up from a dead sleep and start having what I think is another anxiety attack. Can't explain this sensation very well, but it is the second time this has ever happened to me and both times on a back country hike and both times it is late in the night and occurs when I am in the tent. It is a combination of claustrophobia and an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. (I know its stupid but I am baffled by it).

Paul wakes up and asks me if I am OK because I am breathing heavy, shivering and sweating and my heart is racing. Like the true friend that he is, he encourages us to go out to the edge of the mountain and talk about life for about an hour. It is cold and quiet. This ends up being a high point for me for the trip because with our busy schedules, it has been a long time since I was able to reconnect with my old college buddy. After some bonding time we go back to the tent and sleep like babies.

Tortoise, terrapin, turtle, cooter...

I found this picture on the camera from our trip to Marrington. We were cruising around a blind curve and almost ran over this fella. Never heard them called cooters till I moved to SC.

Tonight

Anyone riding tonight? A group of us are meeting at Harbison at 6:00 pm. Ride till dark.

Cowbell Pics

Eric going through the rock garden.
We were all tripping out about how much air we were getting on this jump but who does this kind of aerial in a 12 hour race?
Eric in the background.
My expression says it all.
Me in the rock garden.
The warrior - Dennis.
Dennis in the rock garden.
Bragging rights.

Photo credits - Ronald Richardson Photography.com

tonite....

89 degree temp outside is begging....Dennis and I will be meeting at Harbison at 5:30 to do about 25-30. Come on out.

Ravenel Bridge

Leah and I went to Charleston this weekend on a mommy/daddy getaway, thanks to some really kind friends of ours offering to watch the kids. Leah said she wanted to do some mountain biking with me so we took the bikes. Got my first ride at Marrington. Leah did great but her hard tail started taking its toll on her tail. She stopped at about mile 8 and asked if she could throw the bike down and scream. Her bottom was really hurting her and the roots seemed rather rough even to me on the full squish. As we are riding along the old rice ponds, I look over and see an alligator nest. I am no biologist, but I believe they pile up debris on top of the eggs and the heat of decomposition incubates the eggs. I have never seen one of these before so I stop and walk back to the nest to get a closer look. Leah reminds me that the mom is very protective of the nests and "have I lost my mind?" We ended up with 12 miles which is awesome for Leah since the last time she rode was probably two years ago. We rewarded ourselves with dinner at High Cotton on bay street last night.

At the hotel last night, I told Leah I wanted us to ride over the Ravenel Bridge Sunday am. She told me no thanks...I was on my own. We were in Mt. Pleasant and it would be a 6 mile ride to the bridge one way. I wanted to go over the bridge and do my own version of an urban assault in historic Charleston and then back to the hotel. Figured it would be about a 20 mile ride. Well, I got lost. I ended up on Sullivan's Island before I realized I was going to wrong way. And I couldn't see the bridge on the horizon. I asked some other cyclists for directions and after they set me on the right course, I pressed on toward the goal. Finally after backtracking some, I started seeing the main towers on the horizon. I could see the goal now, so I lowered my head and pedaled. Approaching the bridge on a bike, it strikes you that this thing is a behemoth. It is 2.5 miles long and the masts are 600 feet tall. The road is probably 250'ish feet at the crest. So the climb is 1.25 miles long and 250 foot elevation gain. The headwind was a factor. It was so strong that the decent required work...not to mention the ascent. After the decent I called Leah for a shuttle back to the hotel. I ran out of time to attempt the route in reverse. If you ever want to do any hill training, go ride this monster several times. It will get your attention.

Cowbell '08 Race Report

First, not that I have any experience with these events, but I recommed this event to anyone interested in trying an endurance event.

I ended up with 6 laps ~43miles. 4:30 ride time. Good enough for 13th place among 21 or so 6 hour solo riders. The course was fun. The first 2 miles was along the woodline of old pasture fields...occasionally ducking into the woods, mixed descending and climbing. The next three miles were tight single track in the woods with a lot of features thrown in. Skinnies, log piles, elevated ramps, and the "big root". The big root was a 5 foot deep whoopdy-doo with a elevated root at the exit, then a hard right turn around a tree. With momentum, no problem, but this and other tricks led to a lot of people standing around near the tricks, afraid to attempt them and causing everyone behind them to dismount and walk the trick. After about two laps, the traffic thinned out and I cleared all the tricks with not too much trouble. The last two or so miles was flat woodline pasture edge single track and then finish with a nasty climb back to the start finish line.

Regrets: Not doing a seventh lap. I was at the start/finish line with ten minutes to go before the last lap cut off. I was completely gassed but I could have done one more and picked up a few positions. I saw Eric chilling out in the pit and talked myself into joining him. Come to find out, he had a real excuse for stopping early. I had no excuse.

Lesson #1...never quit early, finish all laps that you can.
Lesson #2...figure out nutrition/hydration. First three laps, I was in great shape. Laps 3-6, no energy whatsoever. I was going on pure will only. No legs, no lungs, nothing.
Lesson #3...train more for endurance. I need to get my ride times up above three hours on a consistent basis.

Congrats to Dennis picking up the 7th spot with seven laps and a flat.
Congrats to Eric for doing this race after a surgery on his wrist and being off the bike for a while.
Congrats to Becky for podium 3rd place spot for solo 6 hour female.

Cowbell Challenge

I sent in the registration fee for the 6-hour solo class for the Cowbell Challenge. I have no idea what the course will be like and have no idea what to expect. I think I can safely predict some hot and muggy conditions since the race will be from 10:00 to 2:00. Anybody have any recommendations for nutrition/hydration for 6 hours in these conditions? I need some ideas on cramping also which is something I have struggled with on anything longer than 3 hours.

Edit: I tweeked a quad muscle this weekend while horsing around with the kids and Mr. Mike. Anna Leigh (my ten year old) and some of her friends challenged me and Mr. Mike to a 40-ish yard dash. I barely beat out the kids, but wasn't much for Mr. Mike who beat me by several lengths. So we lined it up a second time. I didn't want to give in to defeat so I wasn't going to play around this time. Got a great start out off the blocks and then 20 yards into the sprint I feel POP-POP-BURN in my upper thigh area. Yikes-that really hurts! Limped across the finish line to see how I did against Mr. Mike. He was still at the starting line chatting with the wives. What? Decided to quit while ahead I guess! Today I have a swollen thigh and decent amount of pain. Looks like I'll be riding the Cowbell with injury, but hey whats new.

the Good Shepherd

My brother found this. Let me just simply say that he understands what the girl in the video is going through better than anyone I can think of....

Pisgah

Dennis, still smiling after the initial climb.
Andy from Chucktown
Barrett, showing me the proper way to push.
Joe, at the end of squirrel gap

Joe led a group of us Pisgah newbies and not so newbies to Pisgah on memorial day. I enjoyed meeting Barrett and Andy and enjoyed seeing Dennis and Joe. We started at the horse stables and immediately climbed 1000 feet to Presley gap. From there we did turkey pen and some other trails I don't remember. We ended up on squirrel gap and buckhorn gap. My final odometer said 30 miles. I didn't really know what to expect but now I know what all the talk is about. The wilderness is amazing and the trails take everything you have to give. Pisgah really forces you to leave everything out on the trail. And I think this is the essence of why we mountain bike...to see what our personal limit is. There just isn't anything comparable around here (midlands). Maybe some technical sections of spiderwoman might offer a small glimpse, but not really. Its hard to pick, but I'd have to say my favorite section of the day was s. mills river, mullinax area which was a controlled decent and some stair stepping log drop offs. I also enjoyed squirrel gap. Squirrel gap ran parallel to topo, but was a technical trail; rocky, rooty, etc.


After about 2.5 hours, I had a bonk coming on strong as a result of the initial climbing but was able to stave it off with several clif bars, gel, HEED and a red bull that Joe donated. I think the terrain also changed at this point to include less climbing which helped hold off the bonk. But I couldn't hold off the cramping that started at about the 4 hour mark. Towards the end, the only way I could stop the cramping is to get off and walk the bike. I walked the better part of buckhorn gap to finish out the ride and was glad to see the long gravel road decent back to the parking lot. The last time I experienced this amount of cramping was 28 miles of Dupont. I guess I need to try endurolytes or some other supplement. Maybe a banana or two would have been nice as well.

This was lots of fun and I hope we can do this more often. I look forward to the next time.

Rabbits

Thursday night: First I forgot the ipod so it was going to be long and boring. Lost Creek backwards, see two guys on beach cruisers piddeling down the trail. First time I've seen that. I kept thinking how comfortable those springy seats look. Who took leaf blowers on lost creek??? Traverse firebreak to crooked pine>>back side of midlands mountain and do the outer loop backwards. Harbison bluffs>>midlands mountain>>spiderwoman>>see rabbit>>inner woman>>see another rabbit>>spiderwoman, more climbing in reverse direction!!! I kept thinking about when I broke my finger on spiderwoman and how I'd like to avoid doing that again>>midlands mountain>>harder>>stewardship to top of pump track downhill section (uphill this time)>>go left on inner gravel road loop>>see atleast ten rabbits>>back to top of pump track>>connector>>more rabbits>>firebreak>>out. Could barely see the last couple of miles due to darkness. 23.5 miles 2 hours and change.

U-Turn

The 2nd tuesday night of the month is U-Turn night for me at Calvary Chapel of Lexington. My brother, who went through the U-Turn ministry, got me involved with leading Bible studies for the men. The men live on the "ranch" at the church and are there because their lives have been destroyed by and controlled for too long by alcohol and drugs and are ready to put their trust in Christ. They have 4 bible studies a day so teachers are in demand. I am always struck by the humility and sincerety of these men. I have rarely seen people this eager to learn and open to the Truth. Their eagerness to change is evident. It never takes more than a couple of seconds for one of them to volunteer to answer a tough question, read a passage of scripture or even to pray. And they truly appreciate the teachers that come out. I never leave without each and everyone of them going out of their way to shake my hand, hug me or even pray for me.

Sunday

Work deadlines have been stacking up so I worked most of the weekend but Leah gave me a kitchen pass Sunday afternoon to get some saddle time. My goal was about 2.5 hours at a moderate pace. After Lost Creek I realized how good I was feeling by looking at the lap time being sub 36 minutes. This is the first ride in a while that I didn’t have to push the big ring because I finally got my new middle ring installed. What a difference the gearing can make after training with the harder gear ratio for the last several rides. I finished the 20 mile outer loop in 1:45 plus/minus which is not impressive but I didn’t really work too hard either. Sitting in the parking lot I became inspired by Monty’s route from Lexington so I thought I’d give it a try. I left the forest and rode through Irmo and across the Dam to Corley Mill Road. Dropped in early for homegroup with some friends and Mike shuttled me back to the forest. The total distance was 30 miles and about 2:30 ride time.

As a side note, the bike lanes on Hwy 60 and then across the dam on 6 are super nice and really make road riding feel a little safer.

She's 10

This is going to sound weird but I dread the day of her wedding. I will traditionally have to "give her away" as the dad of the bride. I don't know if I will be able to walk that aisle with her. I cannot imagine who would be worthy of her. But I can't wait to see whom she says yes to because he will be one lucky dude. Anna Leigh turned 10 on April 30. We did our annual birthday camping trip to Hunting Island Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Had a great time and it went by too fast and so has ten years. I can't believe ten years have passed since she came into our lives. I remember when she was born and I was completely speechless...being privileged to witness a miracle and feeling an instant connection with a human being; indescribable. I can tell you that I do not deserve to have such a special gift in my life. Everyone who knows me knows I am an ogre. In her ten years she has developed into quite a person. She loves the Lord, loves her friends and has a natural beauty that permeates to her core. She has always been that way; it is how God created her. Leah and I tell her as much as possible that God created her just the way he wants her and to take confidence that she is the daughter of the King, a masterpiece of the Creator.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Money, Money, Money

After getting a replacement spoke at Harrells installed (bent then later broke because of this), Dennis and I went to Harbison and rode the sport loop. We started out strong but ran out of steam and went to more of a casual pace, probably due to pushing the big ring all of the time. I have been big-ringing it for several rides now because the middle ring I ordered has not arrived.

I am still chasing down problems resulting from the mishap. Running a new chain on the old chain ring was causing a lot of chain suck. It is also causing my checking account some additional suck. I figured the chainring would need to be changed but after spending $90 on the new cassette, $15 on the derailleur hanger, $15 on a new cable and $30 on the chain, was trying to save a few dollars and not replace it. Leah has now designated my bike as a money pit. Anyway, 19.5 miles/11.4 average.

Radical

Saturday, did a 4-5 mile Harbison ride with two boys Corbin(9) and Zane(6) and their Dad(38?). Before we rode I remembered I had a flask of Hammer Gel in my truck door so I told them all REAL mountain bikers take a squirt of Hammer Gel. At first they were scared of it but then they gave in after their dad tried it and liked it.

We set off down firebreak backwards to crooked pine to grassy fire road towards midlands mountain and back around fire break. Corbin bunny hopped every single root he came across on his full squish NEXT rig and and kept asking "where are the mountains". Zane left it all out there on his NEXT rigid single speed with 14"wheels. Never heard more "radical", "cool", "totally awesome", "sweet" on one ride before. Total ride time 1:20 plus/minus and 4-5 miles. Two thirsty boys and one Dad with a map in hand for next time.

Pollen-nation

Last weekend I decided to mow the yard because it seemed as if the weeds had gotten a head-start this year and needed cutting. I am still suffering the ill effects of mowing the yard and it is already Friday. When I was mowing the side yard, I recall slowing my push speed down so the mower would have more time to suck up the large quantity of birch sexual organs laying all over the ground. Evidently, these organs still had a lot of pollen in them and I was overcome by a green cloud. I tried to stop breathing so I wouldn't inhale (no my name is not Bill). Impressed by the dust cloud I was creating, I continued mowing and began trying to suck up more organs under the second birch tree. The mower had no problem sucking them and did a fine job. However, it was only catching the larger material and the pollen was blowing out of the bagger unimpeded.

24 hours later I began a sinus headache and congestion. This has lasted all week. I finally went to CVS and got some sinus meds. These are helping clear me up. An observation on sinus meds: They now have a label on them that says "does not contain ephedrine". I found this to be funny. I guess that is so the meth junkies won't steal it off the shelf. To verify that ephedrine was actually used in meth I did a google search. Here are some of the other ingredients in meth: Alcohol -Gasoline additives/Rubbing Alcohol, Ether (starting fluid), Benzene Paint thinner, Freon, Acetone, Chloroform Camp stove fuel, Anhydrous ammonia, White gasoline, Pheynl-2-Propane, Phenylacetone, Phenylpropanolamine, Rock, table or Epsom salt, Red Phosphorous, Toluene (found in brake cleaner), Red Devil Lye, Drain cleaner, Muraitic acid, Battery acid, Lithium from batteries, Sodium metal. Wow...

Bakers Dozen Race Report

I survived the Bakers Dozen race but it was far from an endurance event. We were only able to get in about 30 miles before the rain set in and washed the event out. Here is a blow by blow anyhoo.

I got up at 5:00 am and grabbed both bikes and loaded them in the truck. The additional bike was for backup/parts if necessary. The rest of the equipment was already packed in the cab last night. Kissed Leah goodbye at 5:30 and set out towards Lexington to meet Dennis. Arriving at Dennis' house it was still early and dark but the garage door was open and some lights were on. As I walked in the garage I noticed the door to the kitchen was open so I thought he and his wife left the door open for me. I walked in and accidentally scared the dickens out of Lori who was making eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash browns and coffee for us. I am glad she didn't have heart issues because I would have caused her a coronary.

We scarfed down the delicious meal and transferred all of my stuff into Dennis' van for the trip to McCormick. I asked Dennis how we could do a 30 mile Pisgah ride last year with nothing but our bikes and a couple of camelbaks but have a packed van for a 70 mile McCormick ride. The ratio of miles to stuff didn't seem to work.

We arrived at Hickory Knob Park at around 8:45 am. This was plenty of time to set up our pit (which was basically opening the tailgate of the van). I spent most of the pre-race time transferring the chain ring from my back-up bike to my race bike. I did not have a chance to do this the night before. Dennis spent the time surveying the competition and doing a meet and greet session (He has never met a stranger).


Our scheme was for Dennis to do the first lap which included a LeMans style start. The goal was for him to pull together a fast initial lap, fighting through traffic and get me in good position for laps 2,3,4 and maybe 5. So he suited up and after going to the pre-race meeting headed for the start line. They blew the horn and off they went, 100 cyclists running 1/8 mile to their bikes which were staged in a lay down area. Picture 100 folks with all the spandex you can bear to imagine coupled with helmets, camelbaks and goofy cycling shoes trying to sprint....scary to say the least.

Dennis entered the forest in about 20th position. I went back to the pit and finished tinkering with my bike. About 35 minutes later I was suited up and headed over to the transition area to wait for him to exit the forest. To my surprise he exited in about 10th place. This meant he picked off ten riders on tight single track and put me in great position. The timing tent acknowledged him and I jumped on my bike and headed into the woods.

I was feeling really good and was reeling in some riders. After passing three or four of them, I got into a nice pace and really didn't see anyone else on the remainder of the first loop. The trail was sloppy from the early morning rains and I could tell it was going to be easy to over exert by pushing through the mud. So I backed off and tried not to over do it. I finished the first lap in 38 minutes which was well below our personal goal of sub 43 laps. I continued past the timing tent and back out for my second lap. I started to notice that the trail was getting a nice semi-dry groove cut in it through the mud. So I was able to carry a lot more speed than the first lap. I reeled in a couple more riders and got behind a single speeder. He had a nice pace so I hung in there with him for a mile or so but he wanted me past him. So he kept suggesting that I pass, but that requires additional pushing as well as getting off the trail into the rough stuff and I wasn't initially interested. After a while, he talked me into it so I went past. About this time the rain started again and it was fairly heavy. The trail got really soupy again and I knew this was not good. The SORBA folks in the Augusta area hand built all 100 miles of trails in their district and are very protective of them. I feared they would call off the race with the amount of rain we were getting. Now I wanted to get back to the start/finish so Dennis could get another lap in before they called it. Also,my bike didn't like the mud and was refusing to shift which meant I needed to do some cleaning or stay in one gear. So I pressed ahead as fast as I could.

Toward the end of the second lap a saw another rider about 100 yards ahead of me. Awesome, I get to play a little cat and mouse. I would get within about 20 yards and he would pull away. We repeated this several times. I never caught him but my second lap was sub 38 which meant I was really getting into a nice pace in spite of the soupy mess. When I entered the pit area, I noticed a lot of people were watching. This really is encouraging. But as I was basking in the glory, I almost wiped out in front of everyone in the wet grass. But I caught myself and was able to make it back to the timing tent. Dennis hopped on his bike and started the fourth lap. The mouse was in the timing tent and we congratulated each other on the little sprint race at the end of the lap.

I started studying the leaderboard and was surprised that Dennis and I were in second place and were 6 minutes behind the leaders. Wow! This is our first endurance event. and we are in the running. We were 8 minutes behind after the first lap and were were trimming the lead by about a minute per lap. 3rd place is about 8 minutes behind us consistently. About that time, the timing folks announce that they are going to do a 2 hour rain delay. So, I went back to the pit and got in dry clothes and went back to the timing tent to watch Dennis arrive. He finishes a 43 minute lap and we both wait for the final results before the delay. After his lap, we are now 4 minutes behind the leaders. Dennis says that he passed them on the course and the dude was struggling.

During the rain delay, they hold a meeting in the shelter and announce that the trails cannot sustain any more damage and they were calling the event. So they hand out the swag and Dennis and I get second place. I win a Thomson elite series seat post valued at about 100 dollars. Cool. We also get a glass mug engraved with 2nd place. My first trophy (a beer glass, Paul will be proud)

Out total mileage was 30 miles/ 15 each. We were prepared for 140/70 so not exactly much of a race. But we were confident that barring a mechanical or crash, we would have overtaken the leaders and won the dual male class. Overall this was extremely fun and I will definitely be doing more of these. I met some really nice mountain biker folk and learned a lot in the process.

Mangled Mess

Leah and I misplaced our camera and have not seen it for several months. If that had not happened, I'd post up a picture of the most mangled up mess you have seen. I set aside tonight as the last full ride before the race this weekend. I was planning on doing 25-30 miles. Everything was going my way until about four miles into the ride. I learned what was making the clunking noise in my rear triangle that I mentioned in a previous post.

I came upon a rather tall (or long) tree that had fallen across the trail and tried to navigate around it through the underbrush because I was too lazy to shoulder my bike and crawl over it. Evidently, and without my knowledge, while I was pedaling through the underbrush, I picked up a small stick in the rear derailleur. At about that same time, I decided the tree was too long to ride around and decided to shoulder the bike and crawl over the tree. No problem. Then back on the trail, I hopped back on the bike and began to ride again......SNAP, Clack, Ping.

I looked down and the derailleur had been ripped off the frame and was mangled up in the rear wheel spokes. The chain was bound up in the cassette as well. It took me 20 minutes to dislodge the mess from the rear wheel so the wheel would roll and I could walk the bike back to the car.

The best I can figure, the derailleur hanger was already cracked and is what was making the clunking noise. The small stick was just the catalyst to the inevitable. I am lucky this didn't happen at high speed and that it didn't happen in the race.

Damage: Rear shifter cable, derailleur hanger, chain and four spokes. And I presume since the bike has over 1000 miles on it, I will have to replace the front center chain ring and the rear cassette because they will not accept an unworn new chain. Hopefully I can get all of this done before Friday afternoon. Luckily, my bike shop has all the parts in stock.

Race to the River - '07

This time last year I was becoming nervous and mentally preparing for the annual "Race to the River" at Harbison. This Sunday is almost the one year anniversary of this event. I registered for the event in the sport class which is not expert and not beginner. The memory of coming in next to last at my first attempt of this race was still fresh in my mind. (I passed the last place guy as he was finishing up his flat repair and beat him by a hair...which tells you how far behind I was.) Additionally, my goal this time was to not get chicked again like the previous attempt when the entire USC women's cycling team passed me on a climb. So, my two main goals were not very lofty by some peoples standards, but the bar was set high for me. I spent several weeks prior to the race training for a 14 mile event. Normally I would ride 10 miles, so I added a few more miles to my rides. Actually the event would end up being 18 miles. I was not prepared for 18 miles. This would be one of my longest rides much less a race. I arrived at the event to find out the Expert class is going to be combined with Sport class because there are only 2 expert riders;not enough for their own class. That is the bad news. The good news is we are not riding Harbison Bluffs which is a trail I struggle to ride and was not looking forward to. I practiced on this trail numerous times and there is a section I had not cleared without getting off the bike. Although hike-a-bike sections are perfectly normal in mountain biking, I had a man-testosterone-pride issue with hiking that section. So I was glad I would not face humility by being forced to ride that section. Before the race even began, there was the thoughts of 18 miles and the thought of no Expert class weighing down my confidence. I was going to struggle with 18 and get dusted by the 2 experts. Before long, the organizers call for all riders at the start line for a brief few remarks. After the remarks, she does a ten count and starts us. The ten count didn't seem long enough. I needed more time to mentally prepare. However, the initial pace was aggressive but to my surprise I was riding in the main pack; doing well until about the 3.5 mile mark. At around the 3.5 mile mark, we are hitting a long smooth section termed the "autobahn" for good reason. This is where you "big ring" it and your speeds would be around 20mph... especially in the draft of the pack. In a pack on single track trail, you cannot see the trail. You just watch the line of the rider directly in front of you and emulate their line. This can be a little nerve racking. My mind went to my mouth which felt like it had a dry sock in it. At this moment, I was reaching for my water bottle and dropped it...it hit the trail and skipped off into the thick underbrush along the trail. Uggghhh, do I go back and get it or keep my place in the pack? Well by the time I thought about it for 5 seconds, I was already 50 yards down the trail. No stopping now. Yet my thoughts went from I'm doing ok (keeping up with the big boys) to I am going to die and the buzzards are going to be feasting on me tonight. I let up, a few riders passed, and now I am out of the lead pack never to see them again AND I have no water. My mind starts to concede and believe in defeat. I let up on the pace and go into survival mode. Then I remember that Leah and the girls will be hiking on spiderwoman trail to watch the racers go by. I knew that Leah would have some water at that point. So I pushed the pace to spiderwoman to the point where I know she will be observing. I notice that she and the girls are about 50 yards off the trail on the other side of a creek. I jump off the bike and run over to the creek bank and tell her that I need some water. She reaches in her bag and pulls out a full bottle of Aquafina. Sweet! She does her best El Duque impression and zings the bottle over the creek but it falls short hitting the bank on my side and rolling into the deep ravine. Yikes! Anna Leigh runs back up the hill to the parked stroller about 25 yards away, grabs another water bottle and runs back down to Leah. This time Leah does her Tom Glavine impression and delivers a strike across the ravine (except Glavine would either bust it inside or pitch me away, but you get the point). She hit me in the numbers (as they say) but I noticed how lite the bottle was when it hit me in the numbers....it only had about a half a cup of water in it. Darn! I have burned up several minutes trying to get water and I couldn't wait any longer. I ran back to my bike, got on and continued on the course. In spite of now being in dead last place due to the water/panic fiasco, I feel pretty good. I reel in a couple of riders and get into a nice pace with another similarly skilled rider. We trade places several times and I begin to notice that he pulls away on down hill sections but I am able to reel him in on the climbs. I liked that feeling and everything seems to be going well. As the rider and I are trudging up one of the climbs I look ahead and behold I see a red cooler alongside the trail. Ecstatic, I thought how nice it was for the race organizers to put a courtesy cooler on the trail. I pulled over, opened the cooler and there were two unopened Gatorade's in the cooler in ice. I grabbed one, opened it up and chugged about half the bottle. Screwing the lid back on, I replaced it in the cooler and continued. Later I find out that the race organizers did not own the cooler. Imagine the surprise of the hiker who must have been off in the woods when he came back to find his drink half empty. The similarly skilled rider and I continue to battle out the to the end of the race. I ended up coming in 5th place of nine riders age 30-39. There were 2 experts so actually I got 3rd place sport class for my age group. Here I am coming out of the woods with the similarly skilled rider just behind me. Dennis has become my main riding partner and we have logged many miles since the race. Good times!

Bakers Dozen

Dennis and I signed up as a two man team for the Bakers Dozen several months ago. It is a thirteen hour endurance event at Hickory Knob State Park near McCormick, SC. The course is a 7.25 mile loop and the winner of the event is the person or team that completes the most laps in thirteen hours. Last weekend we pre-rode the course and got a taste of what lay ahead.

It is scenic but tricky. Not a lot of places to pass. There are a lot of erosion whoop-de-doos with mud holes in the bottom. This course will take its toll on the riders but could be a lot worse. It only has about 400 feet of climbing per lap.

The race was to be held this weekend, but they postponed it due to 90% chance of rain this Saturday. So the new date is Saturday the 12th. This means Dennis is more than likely not going to be my team mate because he has National Guard duty.

Looks like I'll be scrambling for another sucker to join me. I think solo is out of the question.

Wednesday Ride

I arrived at Harbison State Forest right at 6:31 due to some nasty traffic coming out of Cola town. Jim returned from last week but announced that he almost sliced his finger off with his wheel and needed a band-aid. My first thought was, "maybe a band-aid is insufficient", but after looking at the small amount of blood, he looked like he'd survive. He said a ride was not happening for him. That left Monty and I so we entered the forest at about 6:40 pm. Immediatley I started noticing clunking noises from my rear triangle area. We stopped about a mile in and I tried to figure out what was making the noise. Nothing seemed loose although the Giant Maestro suspension has around 6 pivot points and 12 bearings...all of which I expect to loosen up one day. I couldn't figure out what could be making the noise so we commenced with the ride. Chris joined in at this point. We hit Lost Creek and had a very aggressive pace. Monty and Chris pushed and I tried to stay out front. They were both riding strong and I suggested that one of them lead out. We finished Lost Creek in 35 miuntes which is a strong pace for me.

The remainder of the ride was outer loop minus spiderwoman. Average speed was 12.2 and about 15 miles. Short but sweet.