Engagement/Ducktown/Snake Mountain

So, i've got great news. A week ago, I asked Darcy Lynn Alexander to marry me. I got down on one knee and held out a diamond ring, and she took a minute to answer... but she finally kissed me and said yes. It was one of the scariest and best moments of my life. We were in Maryville at her parents house, and she ran upstairs and told her sister, then ran down stairs and told her parents, i mean, woke them up and then told them. They already knew because i asked them if it was okay on friday. They took a vote, and Doug, Diane, Dana, and their dog all voted yes: that i could ask darcy. So the next day we headed down to Ducktown, TN to the Ocoee White Water Center.

the ocoee whitewater center is now officially one of my favorite mountain bike venues. the trail system starts just across the river from a large parking area. starting the race from a very cramped start area, we speed down a concrete path, twist, turn uphill. big ring out of the saddle. fork locked out, lactate threshold. i'm 5th or 6th into the woods. so, for the first time since i've started racing bicycles, we climbed for probably 10 minutes on singletrack. climb climb climb. i passed a couple people on technical sections that had more than one line through them and was 4th into the first downhill. i felt very very good at this point and rode for quite a while in 4th. our field had spread out pretty quickly. i looked back and did not see another rider at all. after a very fun, fast downhill with multiple chances for plenty of air i managed to stay on the ground and kept pedaling. the trail basically ran along the left side of a ridge for a few miles. we switchbacked under some power lines and began climbing, but it was very powerful climbing. still middle and big rings. by this time a few people had passed me, but as far as i could tell, it was just the leaders of the 30-39 class. i got out of the saddle on most of the rolling uphills and chilled on the forest road downhills and still managed to pass people (mainly the women experts). after a bit more climbing we began a very phenix city-esque technical descent. i felt very good on this and caught up to a group of four. kayla whitaker was in front of me going over a wooden bridge and took a very nasty fall. i asked if she was okay (from the speed of her fall i can barely imagine that she WASN'T hurt) but she said just go don't worry and i shouldered my bike (cross style) and hopped over her, landing my shoes on the same muddy mossy wet slick wooden bridge that took her down. i shuffled my way across it and proceeded to catch a few 30-39's near the highway. we did a very nice paceline allowing me to rest and still accelerate to 18mph as we rolled near the start/finish. as i finished my pull i went off the front rather than to the back of our line. i rode most of the second lap on my own, another guy in my class passed me as my legs started burning. i was okay with this because i have taken the past two weeks away from serious training. i certainly planned on racing at ducktown, but i want to aim my fitness towards dauset and fontana. as i reached the long gravel road downhill i shifted to 44-12 or so and kicked it. my heart rate felt like it had a good rest and i went into ex-downhiller mode as i descended the technical singletrack. i saw a photographer ahead of me and recognized the bit of trail and aired over the rock garden that had taken some of my speed on the first lap, as i reached my highest point of flight i heard the shutter snap and i hope that photographer posts his pictures. anyways, i passed the sport guy that had passed me earlier on the lap. got into a wicked tuck and used some of my roadie skills to kick it through the parking area and to the finish line. i was hungry. if there was anyone in front of me i was going to pass them. there wasn't but i was ready anyways. i crossed the finish line and hurried to my car. i had more important things to deal with than waiting for the results to be posted. i had to get back to a engagement celebration dinner with my fiancee's family. yes, i said fiancee. i'll see you guys at dauset.

i finished 7th at ducktown. i'm sitting in the top 10 for the series. i'm not sure exactly what place... i guess i could look. or not. umm. so that was racing. this is a random picture i took while on top of beech mountain a few sundays ago. i zoomed in to take a picture of banner elk, then a self portrait and forgot to zoom out. not too bad though. sorta artsy.

i've been slack last week and today was the jump-start my training needed. we went out for a 55 mile ride. when i rolled into my apartment parking lot my garmin showed 73 miles.

the highlights really involve the gentleman's pace set up three top and then down to 88. max and i were off the back cruising down the gap and had to work hard to get back with the group. finally, we got on and all took turns pulling. we were moving fast. i looked at my speed while i was pulling and it was 31mph. the other guys were were working even harder. on the flats down to peak rd we had a couple guys go off the front. ST and aran were among the break. DG, max and ray all worked hard to bring them back. at some point i closed the gap and cruised to the stop on aran's wheel. the others arrived shortly. so much for gentleman's pace...

our paceline on hwy 88 was awesome. very pro. taking turns, smooth transitions. ahh, then left onto sutherland vally road. real estate talk ensued, and then a max, ray and donovan went off the front. some of the others were holding back, taking a break, and so i tried to hang with DC. max and ray were gone, i think max was the first to the top. i kept donovan in and out of sight, but was fourth to pottertown gap. snake mountain was fun. especially with a group. i've only climbed it once before, in my granny gear. solo. today i went up it mainly in my 34-23. most of my out of the saddle climbing was done in 34-21. that made me feel good. coming down the front i proceeded to hit 53mph while DC and others were going 56mph or so. after climbing snake, some of the sane guys went back via nc194 and some of the others went back via big hill rd, railroad grade and castleford. i sort of blew up on castleford road, but i don't mind. i just cruised along at my own pace. rode with the other guys the rest of the way on 194. so... enough talking. pictures and garmin info remain:

Garmin Stuff, can you tell which one is Snake Mtn??

Shaw Brown's bike laying on the ground:



DC and DG as we're rolling out of Todd:



The crew just before Snake Mountain:



#1 and #2 climber guys:



DG Stretching:




Brown, DC and Aran:



Slow Guy:

riding, the grizzly, being silly

since my last post i've raced in athens, georgia, ridden a few really good training days, gone to a fit clinic, and did a huge climbing day with the boone bike boys. oh, and i sat in the yard with darcy and stared at beautiful skies and relaxed. its been great.

Check it out: Athens SERC GPS Info

the weather here has been interesting. i raced in athens, placing 11th of 25 or something in sport men's xc 19-29. i was happy with that finish. here's a couple pictures. you can't really tell, but its cold and windy.

Frank handing off a bottle:


Darcy and Ryan waiting for me to come around:


Making sure i still had the gap on 12th place guy:



so driving back from athens, darcy and i found snow still falling in boone. now, a week later, its 70's and clear skies every direction. a perfect day to scout a route for "the grizzly." a ride to be featured in the highland games this summer. so the boone bike crew met at linville post office. we rolled through eceola resort area and then down 221 to crossnore. we did a loop on a road with 'squirrel' in the name. followed US-19E north to elk park and then right on 194. turned left onto old beech mtn rd. we climbed for the next 17 hours. okay maybe just two hours, but it felt like 17. we did 3.5 miles of gravel at 3500' elevation, then proceeded to climb over 1500 feet in the next 3 or 4 miles. beech mountain. fred's store. potato chips. diet coke. more water. heaven. the decent down beech was quite incredible. it was my first time on beech mountain so i didn't push it, plus my legs were torn up. we rolled past lee's mcrae, newton posed for a great picture... passed chris, robin, dave and beth. hickory nut gap road, legs barely holding on, donovan off the front, crack. easy gear spinning, no now its easy gear mashing. am i really barely turning a 34-26?!? crest the hill and start the descent. fat guys go fast here. stuck behind a pickup. sharp curves, not stuck behind the pickup anymore. find the group. ride with them for a few feet, crack. both legs cramp. keep pedaling. there's the cars. laying on hot concret.e

paceline, we are so pro:


more paceline(sort of):


ray (of sunshine):


our special guest, MAX:


off the front, briefly:


for danny:


roan mtn:


a stop on buckeye rd:


fred's mercantile:


more fred's mercantile:



newton (is newton really in this picture??):


thats all folks. the ride was probably 62 miles. 6000 feet of climbing. the real ride this summer will finish in mcrae meadows at elevation 4600 feet or so. thats another 1000 feet in 2 or 3 miles. yep. pain. we don't call it the grizzly for nothing!!

darcy and i in the yard:




thanks for reading this.

Racing and stuff

As the weeks have gone by i've put in my fair share of structured training on the bike and this weekend, it seemed to show. I raced at Tsali near Bryson City, NC and saw my buddy Paul Hein for the first time in a few months. We were there with his son Noah representing our Columbus Bike Racing team. So... for the race report:

Tsali was great. It was raining off and on all morning during the beginner rides and as Paul and I were warming up. My race was good. To put it shortly, I was in the top 5 or 10, moving along, and flatted. I repaired it and got back in it, I ran a lot, as I've learned to do from watching CycleCross and general NC riding, and passed some people on muddy climbs. I climbed my way all the way up the 2nd muddiest steepest hill and passed a few more people. Coming through the feed-zone I did the smartest thing of the race... got off my bike, stopped totally, and lubed my chain. I'd put grease and wet lube on it to start the day, but it was all gone and metal on metal squeaky. Then the 2nd smartest thing was dumping water from my bottles onto my forehead to wash away some dirt/mud from my eyes. My gloves were too dirty to do that task!! The last four miles or so, I could see, and I had a nicely lubed chain. I passed every rider except one that I could get my eyes on, regardless of their age group. I felt good near the end. I finished 16th out of 25, which wasn't so bad. My goal was to get a top 15 and I was really hoping for a top 10, but with the flat I am happy with 16th.

I survived the course for the most part. It was really tough. Anyone who was at Dauset trails last May should know full well how muddy this event was. It may even have been worse!! I basically made away with dirt in my eyes and a few little scrapes on my arms from thorns and the like. One older fellow went down on a muddy switchback and though I don't actually know what he suffered, it looked and sounded like a broken collarbone. Anyways, I felt good. My KENDA tires suited me well, karma 2.0's... The tires really did work well though, a lot of people were going soooooo slow through corners and I was hitting most with no brakes. It was a good time. I'm happy with my placing, I've corresponded with my "coach," a CTS guy that is friends with Boone Bike, and I'm looking forward to Athens, GA.

Proof that i was there... on the line, in the rain

Post ride, mud-fest. Still cleaning dirt out of my ears.

My roommate Matt and our buddy Evan:

Paul Hein, early, before the carnage:


I've been living it really, in Boone and loving it. My girlie is winding down her school year and traveling a lot still, so we miss each other, but its all good. She did a 10-k in Charleston, SC this past weekend and will be heading to the beach for spring break next week. :( Oh well...

I'll try to edit this post and get my garmin info posted a.s.a.p. It will be funny to see my HR and where i flatted and got to take a break. Alrighty... more later. thanks for reading.

More Morgan Hill. Tuesday night ride.

i'm mainly going to put pictures for this post, since i took a ton and became known as the tourist guy. i hope you all enjoy. oh, and i'm posting a small tidbit about the second
Boone Bike Tuesday Night Ride of the year. It was my first, as i was in Cali for the first one. I'm glad to be back in NC and glad to be back with my girlfriend Darcy. We are both traveling a lot right now, for work and for pleasure, ie. bike racing, spring break, family affairs, etc. So its good to be able to hang out. Alright, pictures now...

Sights in the rockies:


Ned Overend. I find it hard to believe he succeeded at riding since his first name can be rearranged to spell End Overend...


Some dork in the redwood forest:


Hanging around on our mountain bike ride near Santa Cruz:


Matt, punished for his cell phone ring with the "Condor Helmet."


A paceline rolls out on thursday, watch out for mountain lions, and even worse, cougars.


Random scenery to the right of the Tour of California TT climb "Willow."


The Innovate or Die hurst (spelling?)


Lana (like atlanta without the at) sporting a horn. Does that mean she's horny?


Lana and Garth on our second road ride of the day.


Nothing is as fun as ripping across gravel on Tarmac SL's with 23C tires at 120psi... check out the mountain lion attack on Matt's leg. Or maybe its a cougar attack...


Andrew, our instructor, after a Condor Helmet offense of his own.


To any of you that may be reading this that I met in Cali, it was great to hang out with and ride with you guys, and girls. I'm sure we'll never see each other again, but I feel priveledged to have met you all. If you're ever in Boone, come to the bike shop and say hi. I'll give you some good routes for the road bike. Later!!

Morgan Hill, California.

I left Boone at 4:30am ET. Got to Charlotte at 7:00am. Snuck to the front of the security checkpoint line and convinced two old people to let me in, and then ran to the plane with only minutes to spare. Oops.

I got some awesome pictures of the Rocky Mountains and Nevada and maybe one or two of the rolling green California hills. We landed, I found my bag on the conveyor belt. Then headed to the shuttle van. The driver must have been going 90mph on the interstate.

Our hotel sort of sucks. Its in this part of town with a big shopping area across from it. But all the stores are like run down or closed or whatever. Anyways. We went over to Target and got some snacks and water. Now I'm sitting at the hotel. I talked to Darcy a few times. That was nice. I miss her.

jg

Riding. Cold, Not so cold.

The weather in boone can be the wierdest thing. Sunday morning I went out for a mountain bike ride in the snow. It was 17 degrees. Monday night I went snowboarding. Wednesday I went for a bike ride and it was between 40 and 50 degrees the whole time!! Nice and warm.

Sunday I was hoping to drive off the mountain and get in a hour and a half in the national forest which is much warmer than in boone. Well, I got to Blowing Rock and none of the roads had been scraped, and I didn't feel like sliding off the road into a 100 feet deep canyon. So I parked in town and settled on riding down, and then back up the steepest gravel road in North Carolina. It's called Globe Rd. Its about 5 miles long and drops roughly 2000 feet. I only descended as long as my feet could handle; its cold at 35 mph in 17 degrees! Turning around and climbing just for a mile and a half, I gained about 950 feet. The average grade climbing was 16%. The maximum was 25%. Needless to say, I just spun in my granny gear and kept the heart rate low, with an average of 139 for my short ride. Some pictures as proof that I went out:





If anyone is interested in more details, check it out here.

Moving onto the much more interesting ride... Wednesday is almost always my day off so when the local weather guy forcasted 51 degrees and sunny, the 30% chance of rain did not bother me a bit. I am trying to get in 8 hours on my bike this week, i got 6 last week (10 next week, 12 the next, restart). So I wanted a big ride. I opted to go for a similar start as my last big road ride, and added a descent into another valley, and followed it with two very incredible climbs. I changed up the beginning of the ride, per the suggestion of Megan Carmody (eat Black Cat!!) and rode out the parkway and Brownwood road to get to the railroad grade rd. Got a refill of water at the friendly Todd Mercantile:

On the way up Three Top Rd. I stopped for this view:








Then i followed a route similar to last week to get to us-421, and climbed it back into North Carolina (from Tennesee)

and descended old 421. This is a very welcome 35 mph coast for the most part, except for the great dane that was waiting half way. Following the usual route, I crossed us-321 and turned and climbed Mast Gap Rd. Crossing Mast Gap and descending into Valle Crucis I took a break and got a Diet Cheerwine (on credit, forgot my wallet!) and chatted it up with the women working. We discussed our mutual distaste for out-of-towners and the Jersey accent. Rolling down Broadstone, riding the worst road in the high country (Hwy 105) and turning onto Old Shull's Mill Rd got me to the best point on my ride: Shull's Mill Rd. It snakes up the side of a hill, all the way from Hwy 105 (elev. 2700) to us-221 and the parkway in Blowing Rock (elev. 3900). I snagged a picture of the twisty road ahead:


Reaching the top of Shull's Mill, I did the dumbest thing for the day (aside from forgetting my wallet) and turned on Flannery Fork Rd. Its an awesome dirt and gravel road that gets you quickly back to Boone, but not the best idea after snow has melted. I cruised down the pavement that follows, and got back to boone bike around 5 o clock. Just about 6 hours after I started. With a ride time of 5:30 that means I only rested 30 minutes during the day. I'm okay with that. Just a couple more pictures, my bike and my Garmin Edge showing numbers and the elevation:

For more details click here.

Well, if anyone actually reads this, I'll be amazed. Thanks, if you are reading it. More next time. Hoping for a big mountain ride sunday, maybe some good pictures.

Joseph