yum hot dogs

what else can you say??

short track #4 report

darcy and i made the trip early to charlotte for #4. it was quite the time. mrs. grimes:


had a great time although she was sick and couldn't really breathe. she raced her 2nd bike racer EVER and she finished 4th. she told me she considered quitting, so factoring that in, i feel like she was a winner after all.

my race started blah blah blah and then some loser comes flying up not announcing his pass while i have one hand on my bars drinking and we're about to enter the singletrack. READ THIS: super narrow two lines converging into one through concrete parking lot bumper stopper things. so this guy comes in elbows out and basically attempts to put me into a tree. i was not having it so i let him take the 7th wheel and i rode his wheel through the singletrack and once we come out on the grassy climb he rubs wheels with someone else and i say 'watch that guy he is sketchy he almost knocked me off my bike already too.' so that must make him mad as the pace gets super lifted and i found myself again

in NO-MAN's LAND!!!

so i blah blah blah and lap after lap after lap i just sort of mosey along and sometimes forget that i'm bike racing because i never saw anyone behind me or in front of me. occasionally a 40+ racer would come along but for the most part i'd suck their wheel through the dirt/pavement and pass them into the singletrack.

with "two to go two to go two to go" i managed to catch back up with loser elbow orange superfly guy and rode his wheel through the start/finish and he looked down in the parking lot just before single -AND- i decide to be a master tactician and pass while he was looking at his toes or something. i basically kept telling myself i'm racing i'm racing i'm racing don't slow down and kept it in the big ring through the single. he closed in a bit on the dirt road flat section and then i stand and kill the grassy climb, look back, he's there. stand some more. pavement 20 feet. 10 feet. sit up turn around and give him the look:



oops. got my pictures mixed up. anyways thats basically the main idea. i look back. a little attitude, and cross the line. tour de france battle for yellow... charlotte short track men's sport race battle for 7th place. same thing. so that was it. i settled for 7th. three weeks 7th, 6th, 7th. schweet

unfortunately Noah and Fawley's race was another hour wait and our fan club needed to eat so we headed to jason's deli. i have lost motivation to go back this weekend. i think sam, shaw and sapp are the only reasons i have to go back down there. after my first long pisgah ride in months, i have focused my crosshairs on wilson creek rather than pavement and dirt roads. i'm going back into base 1 phase and i'm just going to kick it for a while. blog posts will be scarce and entirely random. holla kool

winter short track #3 race recap.

so sunday marked an important day for my wife, and fellow mountain bike racer, darcy. she raced her first ever mountain bike race at the charlotte winter short track #3. someslowguy was super proud of her as he ran around the course with camera in hand documenting the action. photos will follow soon... he could tell darcy wasn't super happy on the first two laps. riding in 6th place. the determination on her face and the desire to move up in the peleton was clear. a couple more laps and she dropped two riders like flies:

the pace was high and the top 3 riders seemed like they were, well:

but she continued and never let up. thankfully she DID stop racing after her last lap. she was quite worried she'd ignore the race announcer's "you're done. you're done!!!" she settled for 4th, and seemed very happy to have finished her first bike race. after it was all said and done she cooled down and someslowguy tracked her down for the congratulations and hugs and then sped off to warm up for his race.

this week was a bit warmer than last and the trail conditions were nearly perfect, slick in spots, but perfect tacky, just dried out enough soil and warmer temps combined to offer the sport men's 19-39 field a day filled with fun and adventure. off the line and down the sidewalk someslowguy had already stirred up emotions after commenting on austin joyner 'some giordana clif-bar mother... that thinks he can keep warming up then just roll up to the line. get in the back like the rest of 'em.' the boy's neighbor turned out to be next to someslowguy as they rolled down the sidewalk off the start and elbows began to fly!!!

after passing an appstate guy (dustin i think), someslowguy came out of the woods sitting in 6th place or so. climbing the grassy hill he heard a crashing mangling tangle of bike and body, glanced over his shoulder and only slightly comprehended the mess that was happening. this allowed a small gap to form behind, and well, a gap was forming in front. he realized this was no-man's land. don't let anyone catch up, and try to work and find the leaders' group.

as the laps ticked by, two 40+ leader's caught up and he drafted them going into the woods. he let them race their own thing. following them through the woods and using their pace to judge his own, someslowguy settled into a good rhythm. a guy in a 29er crew vest must have taken a spill. he stood up and caught after the gravel road/grassy hill section. someslowguy tucked in behind and then grabbed some gears and went around just before the singletrack. this process took place for a few laps, until the 29er crew vest wearer was off the back, no where to be seen. lapped traffic and the occasional 40+ challenger were all that someslowguy had to contend with and with 'one to go one to go one to go' he made sure to stay in the big ring. feeling well trained and well rested he silently thanked the maximizer (max shute) and laid it all out.

into the single. through the berms. stand up. power. no brakes. who needs to slow down?? pump it through the jumps, creek bed, and turns. stand up and give it on the climb. up and over the rock. check over the shoulder. the 29er crew vest wearer is back there. quite a ways... no time to think. drop him. stand. burn. lactic acid. chatter bumps. locked out fork. forearms?!? efficiency. grassy hill climb. a racer in front of him to be caught... sprinting. passing. crossing the line. oh, it was just a lapped rider. oh well. it could've been 5th place...

someslowguy was happy to have finished 6th. he moved up a spot from the previous week, and he knew he couldn't have given any more to the racecourse. he was congratulated by his mountain bike racer wife, he sipped on some recovery drink, and chomped away at pasta. off to jason's deli for lunch with friends and then zoom zoom zoom back home for a super bowl party. all in all the weekend was perfect. bike racing. sunny weather. and smiles. the end.

charlotte short track #2 - race report

hello loyal blog readers

so today marked my first bike race in months. its also my first race under a new team: BOONE VELO. charlotte short track. event #2 of 5 in the series. last night darcy, lindsey and i rolled out to rock hill, SC. we stayed at darsey lingle's house. thanks again!!! so we got to the race course this morning around 10am and i got registered, got my number plate installed, and i got changed. darcy, lindsey, and darsey (my cheering section) found a table to hang out at and i got to warming up. i got two laps on the course and tried to get my heart rate way up high and get my legs to burn and then i spun around until they called our class to the line. we sat around long enough to make another trip to the boys room... a trip that i could have used. and then its all about racing:

riders ready.

go.

the punk kid in front of me (the same one that won sport mens 19-29 serc last may) missed clipping into his pedal and by the time we got moving some other guy was trying to elbow me into the fence at the end of the sidewalk. bull-schniekies!! so a hard right and its sprinting for position entering the woods. i got in about 7th place and we're cruising through and i'm thinking gosh i have to work on my warm-up since i never seemed 'warmed up' and then there's a little crash involving philicia marion. yes, this IS the MEN's sport 19-39 race and well, maybe.... you never know...

and so anyways... i don't really remember what happened, but after the crash i got into 4th or 5th position. we make our way through the wooded section, up the rock step-up, and then onto the gravel and up the grassy hill toward the sidewalk and start/finish area.

lap 1. the pain has already started... so cruising down the sidewalk, through the parking area and i'm sitting in like, 4th. we enter the woods and i'm feeling good and the lap goes by and i'm going through the start finish again. lap 2. more pain. so this time through the parking lot the three guys in front of me all sort of sit up and i dart to the right to miss a rear wheel and there's still enough space before the singletrack. shift two gears. stand. i'm in the lead. what?!?

the guys behind me say:

'who is this guy? do you know him?'

i reply

'i'm just some slow guy.'
'people who wear skinsuits aren't slow'
'oh, no. i just forgot my shorts and had to borrow this.'
laughter abides.
heads down.

i lead through the singletrack. through the berms. through the old creek crossing that is now dry. along the newly fresh bench cut. over a rickety sideways wooden bridge. BIG RING. i stand, climb. cross the rock step-up. gravel road time. ouch. it hurts.

so i'm still in my big ring. legs are on fire. my pedals don't want to turn. the three guys i've been riding with come around me and i can't stick anyone's wheel. i look back and there's no one. we gapped them?!? maybe my pace was too high. oh well. so through the start/finish and i hear 'these riders have been racing for 15 minutes...' and i'm like, there is no way to keep it red-lined for 30 more minutes. i watch the group of three roll away. i kept about a 10 second gap for a few laps and then some Kenda-KMC girl (not philicia. another one) showed up in my rear view mirror and i worked to stay in front. after another lap or so she came around on the gravel and i fell into 5th or so.

i held 5th position for a while and soon we all caught lapped traffic. i decided to pass todd wells and JHK just before entering the woods to leave some work for the Kenda-KMC lady:

that made things a bit more interesting and passing other riders in the woods was quite fun. a columbian fellow from greenville came around while we were on the gravel again and i was in my middle ring. what? my big ring stopped working.

somewhere in all of this another guy (or two, although i think he had a flat and we lapped him but he got counted on OUR same lap) managed to pass me and i finished up in 8th place. RESULTS HERE

it was a fun race. i got a crappy start, made my way to the lead group. THEN to the FRONT. then slowly faded back to 8th. i think if i would have sat in 4th instead of going around the guys that maybe i could have finished in the top 5. or at least top 7... before the race i told myself i wanted a top 5 but i would be happy with top 10 and well, i got it. BOONE VELO represent. we got some noodles from NOTHING BUT NOODLES (title sponsor) and then headed back to rock hill, SC for some peanut butter sandwiches and coffee.

after all the racing was said and done we stopped at the trail for darcy and lindsey to do some laps and decide if they wanted to race next week. Darcy's lap times were impressive and she wants to do her first MTB race. updates to follow. wish us luck.

trainer riding. the big red S & stan's. quick days

today went by quickly. first thing 10:00am, dirk brown walks in and sam and i look at each other and call/email shaw to let him know we're in the process of getting dirked (wikipedia explanation here). 11:29am rolls around and dirk leaves. i start checking out my to-do list and putting UPC labels on things and doing other exciting tasks and soon its 1:30pm and i'm eating yummy yummy yummy chick-fil-a grilled chicken sandwich and waffle fries. yum fried food. you have to have it once in a while...

okay, so now its 4:00pm. official stick-boy time. come back to work. eat some free treats (pecan bars and red velvet cake) and sip some coffee. now its 6:00pm. closing the doors and now its time to ride the trainer:

that's me, to the left side of the photo...

so i do
5min warmup
10min just below LT
3x 1min power interval 1min recov
5min zone 3
3x 1min power interval 1min recov
5min cool-down

and go home for some soup. then comes perhaps the most exciting part of my day, other than watching BACK-to-BACK grey's anatomy and private practice, i find dan.gerous's blog post about specialized getting sued:

"...I hope Stan wins but I also hope he knows what he got into, Specialized take their name because there are two things they do very well, they are specialized in marketing and legal court bullshiting. That could end up in a few different scenarios:

1: Specialized do what they've done in the past: buying Notubes to shut them up and steal their ideas and technologies.

2: Specialized drag the court process for so long and multiply the legal fees to the point NoTubes are out of money and are forced to shut down.

3: NoTubes wins, get a chunk of cash, start giving away wheelsets to racers in need and a movie is made about the thing with a 'from the heart' message: even the small guys can win against the big bad evil. Sinyard will be played by Jack Nicholson... or maybe Malcolm McDowell.

4: The rest of the cycling industry secretly finance Stan's defense to make sure Specialized get a well deserved lesson.

5: Specialized lose the case, pay up, then sue NoTubes because they use red and white on their decals, getting back all the money they paid and then some..."

for the whole post, please see the dan.gerous.net post here

so that was my day. currently we're looking forward to seeing our friend frank from georgia. he was one of my groomsmen. he's coming up for the weekend. yep. charlotte short track in two point five weeks...

2009 goals.

i've seen that its popular in the blog world of appstate-ers to talk about goals for 2009. so. well. i'm old and not a cool appstate cycling team member or anything but i thought i can try to be cool like them so i'll list out some goals(cycling and other):

1. race consistently on the xc cat 2 (makes sport sound like we're fast or something) circuit and get some top 5's.

2. using said race results and some bribing usa cycling officials to get my CAT 1 (expert) upgrade. or at least keep my top spot as North Carolina Sport MTB 19-29 rankings leader

3. do a 180 on my snowboard. fakie stalefish

4. consistently write blog posts. basically, make sure to always have n + 1 posts where n = # on noah niwinski's blog.

5. use the word 'belgium' more times than J-Flo

6. finish top 7 at the BURN24 hour SOLO race. yes. top 7. top 10 seems too broad. top 5, well, they're all pro guys

7. beat shaw brown at any mountain bike races he does this year

8. be a good husband and continue taking out the trash.

9. beat sam hutchens at any and all, yes all, races we do together this year. unless he's my pit crew, then we'll finish top 7 (see goal # 6)

10. dream up some cool training plans and actually stick with em. like with intervals and zone 3 tempo and zone 5 vo2 and... you get the idea. and blog about EACH and EVERY training session with graphs and charts from my powertap. well, if i had a powertap... =(

so. those are my goals. you have problems with them?? well, write your own blog and leave some comment here and i will come over to your blog and well, talk trash about your goals. or lack thereof. welp, thanks for reading and go ride your bike

old 421, drakes creek, bulldog, mtn dale, georges gap.

today i awoke to rain and clouds. determined to go for a bike ride i suited up for the 45 degree rainy slop and texted andy to let him know i was headed to old cove creek school. he agreed to meet me there for ~2 hours and off i went. too bad when i arrived in sugar grove it was 55 degrees and sunny and... NOT RAINING. here's our route:



our route was 27 miles rather than 25.something. we took 1hour 56minutes total time. andy had to wait for me at the top of all the hills, and there was a little time stopped to hydrate. drakes creek was a nice addition to my library of known roads, and it was nice to be on mountain dale road again. now... on to exploring locust gap rd. thanks for reading.

F29er 1 super rad 23.1 pounds racing bike since i'm so fast...

perhaps the worst picture of the coolest bike ever:


and one from our nightride around the park:

09 cannondale caad9 + DURA-ACE 7900 review

here you will find a review of my 09 cannondale caad9 featuring the new DURA-ACE 7900 chain... okay, so i have sram rival otherwise but the new DURA-ACE 7900 chain is pretty awesome. i also really really really really really really really like being on the road bike again with sram rival. i like the new lever shape a lot. it reminds me of the sram red that i had on my supersix last year but well, actually i think its the exact same but it cost a lot less. so basically the bike is:



2009 cannondale caad9 56cm frame
sram rival shifters
sram rival front derailleur
sram rival rear derailleur
fsa slk light 34/50 crank
shimano 105 11-25 cassette
shimano NEW DURA ACE 7900 chain
tektro junk brakes
c3 junk handlebars and c4 stem. the stem is actually okay, but the bars will be replaced soon
thomson masterpiece post
bontrager inform rl saddle
king cages
conti grand prix 4SEASON 700x25 tyres
chris king/mavic open pro wheels (custom built by me) with spoke washers. yes, spoke washers. if you haven't heard of them, you're probably not classy enough to have them. so thats it. oh, and no you can't put spoke washers on your mavic ksyrium. good try though

so, the new DURA-ACE 7900 chain is pretty awesome and well, it only took 10 minutes to put the chain together using a sm-cn79 quick link. i've gotten two rides in so far totaling about 45 miles and i'm really enjoying the new DURA-ACE 7900 chain. i love love love my sram shifters and stuff and while i really really like sram's pc-991 hollow chain on my mountain bikes, i found that their pc-1090 chain wasn't so good. it seemed to work about as good as a shimano 7speed chain on a 9speed drivetrain. with the chain cut too short. and rusted fraying shift cables. however the new DURA-ACE 7900 chain seemed to work super wicked super awesome good on the 105 11-25 cassette. it silently glides from cog to cog and chainring to chainring without effort. i think shimano does a good job of making chains and cassettes. however, their new DURA-ACE 7900 shifters are well, about as exciting as sram's pc-1090 chain... and their new derailleurs look, well, like XTR. boring. oh well. thankfully we have both sram and SHIMANO to choose our parts from. so my bike is really awesome and weighs 17.1 pounds which isn't so bad for a alloy bike with junk heavy brakes, alloy bar, and heavy winter 700x25 tyres. i think it will be 16.5 pounds with some nice sram rival brakes, bontrager xxx lite bars, and conti gp4000s tyres. alright, i'm off to work on reading jacob florence's blog. it is the most boringest blog in all the internets you know??

saturday morning ride. commute

mid-day edit: you must click this. yes, you have to.

after sleeping in until 7am i woke and realized i would not be riding my planned route over rich mtn and down the front side but rather using an old friend, much shorter route up jordan v cook and throwing in a snowy lap on rocky creek before stopping at stick boy. i was out the door at 8am and crossed 105 at 9:06am. by then it had warmed considerably to 31deg F from the 20deg F when i started. okie dokie, here's the proof:



comments are welcome by the way. feel free to tell me i'm wasting my time. or that stopping at stick boy won't help me win the biggest loser v2.0 contest. or that i'm awesome. really, write whatever you want. unless you're J-Flo

trainer riding. checklists. noah.

to start things off:

way to go noah. first loser at cyclocross nationals!!! woooo hooooo.

results here

moving on...

since noah sailed away on his boat, boone continued getting rain. about 178" of rain fell in the last 24 hours. well sam and i decided to ride trainers after work. sam managed to get everything on his trainer riding checklist

[ ] bike
[ ] shoes
[ ] heart rate monitor
[ ] base layer
[ ] post-ride snack
[ ] helmet

but like this guy:



he forgot his bib shorts. i told him if he didn't want to ride the trainer he could have just said so. dragging his trainer, shoes, helmet, bike, etc to boone JUST to intentionally 'forget' his bibs because he didn't want to ride with me wasn't necessary.

anyways i rode the trainer on my own even though its about as fun as a root canal. i went with max's suggestion of a 10 minute warmup, 10 minutes around 168-170 bpm, 5 minutes around 120bpm, then 3x 3minutes at 170+ doing the hardest work i could sustain for three minutes. it was quite difficult. i haven't done much interval type stuff this year although i can tell i need to. i hope to race the charlotte short track series (at least three of four events) so i think this interval sillyness may be a good idea.

welp, gray's anatomy was a re-run so i had some time to blog tonight in between conti tire researching and cooking veggie stir-fry. whew, busy schedule. thanks for reading. oh, i should be blogging again next week with a report from the megan carmody cocktail party. oh, you didn't hear about it?? yep, you're not invited

blogging off season. entering base 1

okay. if you haven't noticed. i haven't been blogging lately. and for good reason...

after a long hard season of racing, i mean blogging, i knew i needed a break. i've needed to put my feet up

give my legs and typing fingers a break from all the work. long hours on the saddle, and blogging take a toll on us all. and so i entered my off season back around september. i also stopped bike racing around october. i got into a race with no results (IRON MTN BIKE RACE)and finished fourth overall, and a cx race at hawksnest (scroll down, i promise its there!!!) and finished one spot behind victory. i mean one spot behind megan. oh well. at least i beat sam hutchens:



CONGRATS GOES OUT TO SHAW BROWN



for winning the NC CYCLOCROSS CX4 CHAMPIONSHIP.

you may better recognize him with his STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY:






anyways, realizing i didn't have any state championships coming up for my own, i moved deeper into my off season. riding some. no heart rate monitor. no gps. no data. it was quite difficult, but even more though, i had to take a break from my blogging!!! so after a quick teambuilding training camp this november

i've gotten back into the swing of things. i've even begun planning my 2009 season and started planning which events i plan to 'peak' around and how to structure my blog posts for the coming year:
April 5th - Dragon's Back XXC??
April 19th - GSC #2 Columbus??
April 25th - Cohutta 100
May 3rd - SERC #4 Ducktown, TN
May 10th - Stumpjump Spartanburg
May 23/24th - BURN 24hr SOLO??
June 7th - SERC #6 Clemson
June 14th - SERC #7 Athens
August 1st - Wilderness 101
September 6th - Shenandoah 100
September 19th - 12 Hours of Dauset

my goals for the year are to have at least 189 blog posts, 276 pictures posted from races, average 378 words per post, top 5 at the BURN 24hr SOLO, get on the podium at least three times (XC races), upgrade to cat 1 (expert), and win a sport xc race.

lastly, i need to wish my boys good luck (they are headed to the usa cycling cyclocross national championships in kansas city):
NOAH

J-FLO

RYAN FAWLEY


blogging will continue rather slowly for the next few months as i progress through BASE 1, before moving into BUILD 1. so thanks for reading, and knowing i won't post again for a month or two, happy new year

moses cone. lunch. calloway peak

darcy and i started our sunday running at moses cone trails. we ran around the lake, up the maze, down from the apple barn, then an extra lap around the lake for a total of 4.8 miles. we ran about 10 minute miles. not bad since we haven't gone running in weeks.

we came home, ate soup for lunch, then headed to the boone fork parking area on the BRP. we hiked up the tanawha trail past nuwati trail to the daniel boone scout trail. turning uphill for 2.7 miles brought us past beautiful rocks, trees, and even some icicles hanging in the shade. the views from the top were quite amazing, and made me happy to live in the high country and be able to see this stuff any day i want. now for the photos:

shenandoah 100 tomorrow

wish me luck tomorrow. my first shenandoah 100 is coming up and the weatherman says blue skies, sun, and warm temps. i'm excited about it but i know my time will fall somewhere in the 'i just came to have a good time' category. either there or with the 70+ age group...

ORAMM 2008: off road assault on mt mitchell

yesterday was my second oramm. the route was slightly different than in 2007 when we turned on the blue ridge parkway instead of crossing it. the route wasn't much longer but it did include a 10 minute downhill followed by another hour long climb.


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we got rolling around 8am and i tried to keep in front of the huge mass of slow people. old us 70 was an interesting way to get up to kitsuma as it was truly an old road getting reclaimed by the forest. i'm convinced that unless you're the first five riders to reach kitsuma it becomes a virtually impossible climb.

i was able to climb all of the switchbacks on kitsuma except the last two. it seems like that effort may have put me in a bad place later in the day. cresting the top i shifted and unlocked my shock and soon enough we're pausing for the first short steep climb. another few short steep climbs and its time for one of the best downhills around. i ride a few switchbacks, passing some people in these corners, then take the low road when the trail split and passed a few more people. i followed amos ivey and we talked briefly about actually riding switchbacks instead of walking them...

we start pedaling up mill creek road and turn onto singletrack. after a short hikeabike theres more technical climbing (i made most of it) its time for grassy forest service road. this is where my right knee began getting shooting sharp pains. i kept trying to eat and take my tylenol and soft pedal my way to aid station #2. once i got there i took some advil, got my bottles, refilled my camelbak and got ready for curtis creek rd (mile 26 to mile 36):






curtis creek rd. people who have ridden oramm know all about it. 9.2 miles. 2572 feet climbing. gravel gravel gravel. i stopped once we reached dirt, took off my helmet and attached it to my camelbak. my gloves were hanging on my shifters to dry out.

all i did was pedal, curse my knee, drink water, eat, and take endurolytes (not enough!!). i kept telling myself negative thoughts about the climb ie 'two more hours of this road!!!' but soon enough a walker told us there was only another mile. reaching the aid station #3 we were told they are out of water. i get like a 1/2 liter of water from a guy from biowheels. i was told this was the second year in a row that aid #3 ran out of water. oh well, should have gotten there quicker. i tried not to sit around and got back on the bike. descended the forest road and caught some asheville guys and tried to hang with them on the climb to the parkway. i popped my red bull with about a mile until pavement. i got a full let me repeat full camelbak refill at aid #4 and then made my way to the hikeabike up to heartbreak ridge. after that i made my way to the front of the few people about to roll and hit it. heartbreak ridge is really an amazing thing, except that my hands, arms, and legs were all cramping. i'd love to ride heartbreak ridge on its own one day...

i had a couple scary spots where my fingers cramped and couldn't pull the brake levers. oh well, who needs to slow down... so i made a wrong turn once we reached the trail from earlier in the day and ended up at private property signs. ooops. backtracking got me to an orange flag that i didn't see and back to the star gap trail or whatever its called. aid station #5 brought some more water and a banana and hope. the pedaling up the random forest svc road was tough. it was hot and not shady very often. i met up with kip clyburn and his BMCC jersey and it took a second to realize we knew each other and had ridden about 5 laps together at the BURN 24 race in may. we were done talking and caught some other guys then had to walk up to the railroad crossing bridge thing. some more granny ring pedaling got me to kitsuma. i walked the first few switchbacks and actually managed to ride some of the others. i had to walk a bit of the flat spots because the roots sent cramps through my legs when trying to pedal and reaching the final stretch of downhill was pleasant. i caught the asheville guy i rode with earlier and we paced each other back to town. he told me i could take the stage win but i was hoping for a sprint finish. oh well. crossing in 8 hours 14 minutes didn't really warrant a sprint finish. at least i beat my 2007 time by an hour and it was a tougher course...

hopping in the creek and laying in icy cold water was great. i reflected on my last 8 hours 14 minutes 14 seconds, 62.02 miles, 10,581 feet of elevation gained, innumerable leg, arm, finger, and jaw (yes, jaw while trying to drink from the camelbak) cramps, and the pasta i was about to eat. yum

burn 24 solo 2008

so i did the burn 24 hour solo race last week. it was pretty fun. i think the whole experience is summed up by the following picture:



i'll type more soon

burn24 rapidly approaching, this guy

so two things are of note and interesting enough to discuss:

1. the burn 24 hour race is going to be here in four days and 4 hours... i rode some laps sunday at the venue: 5 laps in 4 hours. i figure if i can do AT LEAST a lap PER hour minus sleep time (ie 2 hours total??) then i can bust out at least 22 laps. granted, thats counting on NOT having a mental breakdown, stroke, heart attack, delusions telling me to jump in the lake, nausea, out of body experiences and/or falling asleep while riding. my goal is 18-22 laps. i really want a top 10. we'll see.

2. this guy (matt hadley):


and this guy (daniel sessford):



just finished 8th and 10th respectively at the 1st stop of the canada cup mtb series. way to go guys. they also stayed on my floor and hung out, trained, and cooked a rad dinner for me and darcy while they stayed in boone, nc recently. they're friends of friends that race bikes and we met up at the serc #4. they got 1st and 3rd there, but the canada cup had some bigger fish racing. great job guys, eh!?

rainy sunday trail running...

54 miles. 6hours 25minutes. thousands of feet of elevation gain. the burn24 is coming quick!


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SERC # 4 Ducktown, TN XC

at the serc #4 ducktown, tn race:



yes the 2nd place kid is 13 and the 1st is 18 but they're future u23 national team.... it didn't bother me too much. i haven't really been training for xc races so i was very happy with a 5th place finish.

now its a 7 hour training ride sunday getting ready for the burn

jg

4.22.08 maiden voyage

my fly new bike:

three top road, view towards todd, nc:

me on three top rd:

the peak, ashe county, nc:

me climbing snake mountain (from nc-88), nc (2000 feet, 6 miles, 44 minutes):

snake mountain, nc:

boone pave, umm.... gravel:

raysweather.com photo of the day april 25th, 2008: