Pelton Chronicles

Lessons N Life

2012-01-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

One of those life lessons that you need to learn is that there is always someone faster, stronger, or better on any given day. I have been searching for that day for a while now and finally found it. Not for myself, but for Logan. Over the last year or so, I have watched him dominate cycling events enough to see how he handles success. I want to know how he handles defeat.

Yesterday we cut the annual ski trip short to participate in the 2nd Short Track Series race in Charlotte. We got there and it was cold, clammy, and wet. There were a few kids warming up that I did not see the week before. Logan was confident, maybe too confident. He did not really warm up, drink, or eat good. He just wanted to show up.

Well the announcer says go and it is on. He is 2nd in the woods and second across the start finish on lap one. The new kid on a Litespeed is lighting it up. Logan is really struggling to stay on his wheel and they have a big gap on 3rd place (last weeks 2nd place). They come through the start/finish on lap 2 and it is about the same, but I notice that Logan is really struggling and it shows on his face. They still have a good 1 minute gap on 3rd. Then finishing the 3rd lap, Litespeed comes through, but there is no Logan. A few seconds go by and he crosses the line with tears in his eyes. He pulls over and complains about a crash in the woods, hands are cold, legs hurt, da da da. We sit there long enough for 3rd place to now become 2nd place and Logan pulls the plug. DNF.

There are a lot of factors that led to this result, but really the main ones are pride and inexperience. He went out too hard, he blew up because he could not handle 2nd place. He could have placed a very respectable 2nd place against older children, still maintained the lead in the series points, but 2nd is not good enough.

Now the real question is what do you do once you fall down? How do you handle defeat? You can look for other sports, play video games, cry about it. Or you can get back on your bike and ride your ride. Life is full of ups and downs, success and failure. God has given you the talent, will, and drive. What you do with it is up to you.

When you are ready to get back on your bike let me know. I hear there are some really fun trails out at FATS.

Winter Short Track Series

2012-01-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

Well it was another fun day of racing.

I should have been on an endurance training ride because I still think that my riding is relevant, plus he was supposed to be on restrictions. Somehow he talked his Mom into "fixing" this. She lobbied on his behalf and he ended up racing.

Before the race, sizing them up. He is a bit undersized.

The race categories for kids are 14-18 and 13 and under. He turns 10 at the end of the month, so he was pretty close to the bottom of the age group.

There were 23 racers in his age group. We did not know what to expect.

I tried out my new video camera at the race, and I am in the middle of my first edit. Right now it is not very good, and would probably make you sick.

-The short track series is a timed event instead of a distance event. It is who can do the most laps first in the allotted amount of time. His race time was 25 minutes and the course is a 1 mile loop. I figured at about 10 mph he would get like 5 laps. The course is a really fun one with about 1/2 mile of downhill, flowing, banked, bmx like single track to a 1/2 mile fire road/paved climb back to the start-finish.

At the start they took off with no regard and Logan entered the single track in second place.

Video posted below. Logan is on the outside in blue.

I raced down the fire road to see how they shook out in the woods. He came out in second and quickly took first place on the climb. At the start finish he had a 20-30 second gap on 2nd. #168 in the pictures above. When he came out the woods 2nd was right on his wheel, and then Logan would drop him on the climb. I think a combination of lap traffic and Logan riding smart allowed 2nd to catch him almost every lap. On lap 4 #168 decided to make a move and really gunned it going up the climb. I started to think he may have been saving something for the end Logan is now in trouble. But Logan stayed calm, kept him in sight, and as soon as the kids tempo slowed down he dropped the hammer and pulled another 20-30 second gap. This time through the start-finish they announced 2 laps left. Logan raced a good race all the way to the end. He performed his signature disco dance finish across the line for his 1st win of the year.

Results posted below.

2nd place kept it interesting and was only 22 seconds back and 3rd place was over 2 minutes back. They were the only 3 to do 6 laps. He did 6 miles in 30 minutes or 12 mph average.

Boy is dangerous.

All in all, it was well worth it to give up my endurance ride to support the little punk.

Looks like we will be cutting the ski trip short this weekend to do some more racing in Charlotte.

Finish Line or Chain Line

2011-12-19T06:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was another opportunity to throw down with the locals. The LBSs put on the annual Rudolfs Rampage Bike Race and the weather was perfect. Logan, the only real racer in the house, actually already had his ticket in hand. It was up to me to decide whether or not I was up for racing.

We got to the venue around 10am racing starts at 11. Logan and I did the normal pre-race things. He was signed up for the U14 class even though there was some pressure from Paul to put him in the Beginners Mens class. The main difference was that he would be racing 6 miles instead of 12. Being a weenie Dad, I decided I would be more comfortable knowing he was only racing 6 miles while I was also out there on the course racing instead of riding along beside him.

11 am roles around and it is race time. My group, SS, start a few minutes before Logan’s. He is giving me all this pep talk stuff about winning… no pressure, remember Dad, Just Pedal, No pain. Knowing I am only riding about 3x a week and 2x are at the gym. Not exactly training. Nonetheless it did not stop the trash talk at the start line. I like to use lines like, “I have been training to peak for this race all year long”. “Watch the hole shot, I am red lining the whole first lap”. “What gear did you bring? ___. That not going to be big enough”. Shit talk is so much more fun when you are actually full of shit.

Horn blows and we take off. I get to the top of the first climb in first place and Paul is yelling settle down Joe. I managed to hold first place for the first lap. Then on lap 2 a bearded fella fromCharlotte decided to drop the hammer on the switch backs. I think his name is Adam. I comfortably had 2^nd place and I could see Adam every once in a while, so his lead had to be less than a minute. I cross the line on lap 2 and Paul and Logan are yelling for me to go. Logan yells out, “I won mine Dad, Now you win yours!!” Now talk about words of encouragement. A rush of adrenaline rushed over me and I was sure I was going to catch Adam. Then it happened…. Coming out of Harder Easier, my chain dropped. It sounded like my hub had been popping all day. I fiddled around got it back on and it dropped again about a mile later. Finally with about a mile left in the race my chain drops for the 4^th time. 3^rd and 4^th place come screaming by. I am screaming all kinds of thing at my bike thinking of throwing it in the woods. I limp it back to the start finish, actually catch 3^rd place almost pass him, and then drop it again. This time I just pick the bike up run across the finish line. Mechanicals on a SS, that’s embarrassing.

After the race, Logan and I talk about how we did, what happened. How many grown men he passed. Apparently it was a lot. Result get posted and come to find out he beat 2^nd place by over 10 minutes. He completed the 6 mile course in 38 minutes. That is a 9.47 mph average. Not bad! He came away with his entry paid, $70 shorts, and about $10 worth of blocks, and Gu-s. That is a $120 dollar day.

So I get my bike home, take the chain off, and Logan eyeballs my cog and chain ring and says, “Dad, they are way off”. I eye ball it and sure enough like ½” off. So it was not my bikes fault, rear wheel’s fault, it was my dumb ass fault that I lost 2^nd place. Still, it was a good day with my boy!

Single Speed isn’t for the Old and Slow anymore.

2011-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

I used to think that SS racing was just for the washed up that want to win at something. It is apparent now, because it wasn’t this way before, that plenty of really fast people race SS.

This weekend I signed up for the Escape from Dark Mountain P2P race. It was in conflict with another season favorite, Double Dare/Pisgah Gathering, but I wrote it off due to the time commitment from the family, lack of partnering, and lack of fitness. So along comes this race last minute and I jump all over it.

These trails are excellent and tying them together for a P2P is a great idea.

I showed up at the venue around 830am expecting a 10am start only to find out the start had been postponed to 12noon. What to do? I wasted 2 hours eating, getting fuel, and listening to talk radio, then the pre race started. Temps were in the 40s so clothing is hard to pick. While waiting for the start you freeze your butt off hoping that you do not have too much clothing while racing.

The start was a le-mans start for a 50 yard dash to the bikes, then a 500 yard sprint to the single track. We started up Dark Mountain and the line of riders was horrible. One thing I hate about racing is when the inexperienced racers try to get the hole shot only to walk all the switch backs and grind the granny. There was a lot of frustration in the beginning, some shouting by all, and probably 10 minutes lost to the leaders. But that is the way it is in SS racing and as I said, no expectations.

About half way through the Dark Mountain trail, I see my first SSer. He was riding a lime green Niner and later I found out his name is Shawn. I keep him in site for a few minutes, then make a move on some double track as he takes a drink. The trail then quickly heads down hill and I am able to pull a gap because he has not suspension and I do. We pop out at the end of Dark Mountain (really fun duel slalom like section with some small gap jumps). At this point I have no idea how many SSer or racers are in front of me, but I figure it can’t be that many. We pop out on the road and it is a quick steep climb up the dike. I am really loving my gear choice at this point. 32x20 (29er)= 46” Gear. I learned my lesson at 6 hours of WC with the 48” gear, and I was prepared this time. Then we enter OVT. This 8 miles of trail is a little more open and smooth than the other trails.

By this time in the race, 12 or so miles in, the traffic you see is pretty minimal. You might catch or get caught by one or two, but you really don’t expect much. I was lucky enough to have a few geared riders around me to help me push my pace, but once I got past them I must have backed it down to a more comfortable pace. About mile 15 I se a train of 3 riders gaining on me so I pull over as soon as they reach my wheel. It is 2 geared riders and Lime Green Niner Shawn. Starting to feel the miles, but not ready to quit, I pick it up to stay on their wheel. During the ups they would pull away a little, but I could easily make the gap on the downs. The whole time I am thinking, “how long can I keep this up before I blow”? We exit the OVT for 3 miles of pavement to the Warrior Creek trails. One of the geared riders takes the lead, Shawn next, me 3^rd, and the other geared rider in the back. Spun Out is an understatement. We cruised most of that section at around 16mph. According to Sheldon, that is 120rpm. A few times during this section I really considered dropping out of the draft and just spinning as best I could for fear I was going to pop any minute. I managed to hang on, then we entered the single track. Shawn took the lead with me right behind him. He was still looking strong on the climbs and I was trying to recover from 11 minutes straight of 120rpm. We had a quick 2-3 miles of single track, then they put us back out on the road. Shawn and I tried to determine who was the weakest, and who would attack. We turn the corner and there is a wall of road in front of us. Up head I can see another SSer weaving back and forth to cut the grade and that is all I needed. With another carrot up ahead, I decided I was going to catch him and I attacked the hill. No weaving back and forth here, just straight up. When I got to the top I was greeted with an awesome view, no time for site seeing, and a long road descent. I look back and Shawn is no where to be found. A few turns here and there and we are back on some single track, but it is nothing I have seen before. It must have been part of the OVT trail on this side of the area that does not get much traffic. The leaves where thick and the ground was mushy. I kept the gas on and shortly caught another SSer. This fellow, AKA Bert, was cussing his gear choice. I think he said 36x17, which just sounds insane. That is like a 55” gear on a 26er. A few miles of chatting and then I take the opportunity to pass. We finally hit WC proper and the flow is on. This trail is just ha ha good and the legs are starting feel some fatigue. I catch a few more riders and start thinking that there can not be that much race left. I figure 6 to 7 miles max. I turn the corner and this slow deceiving climb starts. I had just passed a rider and did not want to get passed back, so I start to grind it out. Oh no. The cramps hit and they hit hard. It is by far the worst hamstring cramp I have ever had. I am not regretting the 6 beers I had the night before, even though they were good. (Give Inclined Plane Ale a shot. Low price IPA with good taste. It is a lot like Dales Pale Ale, but $3.5 / 6 pack less.) Back to racing… So I get off my bike and try to walk, but can’t. Every step is pure pain and cramping. At this point I start to figure the ride is over and how am I going to make this last 6 miles. Then Bert passes me and few other riders. It is killing me inside, but I feel broke down. I take a few deep breathes, stretch it out, then start riding really slowly. I figure any day now Shawn is going to catch me and just like that I have lost 2 places in SS. Another mile goes by and my legs start feeling better, but my pace isn’t picking up too much. A few more geared riders pass me so I use them to tempo my ride. Then about 2 miles from the finish I see Bert up ahead. I know we only have one last hard climb left so I start putting on the power to close the gap. I tried to pass him on the inside of the switch back, but could not make it stick, then as soon as the trail opened up, I called the inside and started to go. I cruised through rock gardens and on to the WC start finish. This is where I expected to see the finish, but it was not here. No real signs, so I just crossed the road and kept going. I looked around and could not see anyone in front of me or anyone behind, then I started wondering if I am even going in the right direction. About a mile more and finally I see some signs of the finish. Elated to be finished and completely spent I rolled across the finish line 7^th of 12 SSers and 27^th of 100+ racers. If I would have signed up for my age group I would have placed 2^nd. I was pleasantly surprised and satisfied with the results especially since I have not been riding to train for anything lately.

Results here:

http://mtbracing.smg-usa.com/P2Presults.pdf

Ride details here:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/125587834

Damascus VA Trip

2011-10-26T05:48:00.001-07:00

Well for my Birthday this year I requested a family camping trip to Damascus, VA. The request met some resistance, but eventually the two older children helped pressure the wife into going.

The plan was to pull the trailer up to the camp site full of bikes and camping gear, set up around 6ish Friday night, and start our trip down the Creeper Trail on Sat Morning.

We did not get up to the campsite until 9:30pm on Friday. We were however lucky enough to grab one of the first come, first serve sites with electricity and water.

Logan immediately started building a fire while Heather and I started unpacking and setting up the trailer. We were actually able to get the 6x12 cargo trailer set up with 1-mattress, 1-cot, 1-play-pen, and 1- sleeping pad to sleep the whole family comfortably. We put an electric unit heater in there and it kept the temps rather comfortable.

The next morning we took our time getting breakfast and loading the trailer for our trip to the top of the Creeper Trail, White Top.

Once there we unpacked and started our journey. The trail was a hit. The leaves were in peak color, temperatures were good, and the sky was blue. Unbelievably, Heather has requested that we do this every year now. That's success!

This is the only picture of Logan on the trail because he would not stay back with the caravan.

Hannah and Eli at the ice cream shop around Mile 11.

Definitely one of my favorite pictures!!!
Coming around the mountain.

Check out that monster hat!

Sunday morning I was able to get a little ride in around the campsite. There are some pretty good trails around Beartree.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/122825223

The trail head is located inside the campsite. Trail goes straight up to the ridge, for some great views and ridge trail riding, and then there are multiple options to make the ride as long or short as you want. Iron Mountain 100 is done in this location. I lucked up and picked the trail that bombed down to the road, the long way. Nice finish to a great weekend. Perfect Birthday Gift.

All Good!!!

2011-10-24T06:20:00.000-07:00

CYMBL.ORG race #4

The whole family went up to see Logan's last race of the series. It is a logistics nightmare to get everyone out of the door by 6am.

Here is Eli hanging on his balance bike.

Logan Pre-Race

He gets the hole shot again.

This course has some real elevation change for kids race. It was something like 170' in 1.5 miles. The first half of lap was up up up. Logan can climb pretty well, and he put it on the competition. Coming out of Lap 1 there was no one in site.

9:30 first lap.

I followed him on the second lap and I have to admit it was uncomfortable to hold his wheel.

How long do I have before he is handing me my ass on a bike?

Coming into the finish he pulls a disco dance across the finish.

Last race was the cabbage patch, this time disco.

You can see the parents go from smiles to "what is that?".

Podium Shots for the race.

Podium Shots for the Series.

He got a NICE kids Camel Pak for the win and a cool medal.

Big Thanks to the CYMBL organizers and volunteers! We can't wait for the next series.

I think we need to move him up an age group next time around for some more competition. It is getting hard to fit his head in his helmet.
Results for his age group.

Today was a good day!

2011-09-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

Logan had his 3rd race of the CYMBL.org race series. This time with a few surprises.

Paul Harrell of Harrell's Bicycles decided to pay him a surprise and showed up with a nice new jersey and some killer mechanical support.

This made Logan's day!

So we started out with an easy 2 mile warm up lap and then waited around for a little racing.

Again he gets the hole shot and is in the woods first.

This time he had some real competition and only won by 41 seconds. But he worked extra hard for this win and 3rd place did not come through for another 5 minutes.

The results are posted here. http://www.cymbl.org/cymbl_race4_overallresults.htm

After that we got a bite to eat and headed for Bent Creek for the rest of the day. You can't come to the mountains and only ride a few miles. Since none of us have been there before, we just headed for the most well know down hill in the area Greenslick. After 5 miles and 1200ft of elevation change we got to the top and the fun began. This is by far the most technical and longest down hill he has ever been on. He did great and was hooping and hollering the whole way down. We made our way back along the "bottoms" and back to the car with 12 miles under our belt. He was pretty spent, but rode like a champ. Ride details are here...http://connect.garmin.com/activity/115580893

On the way out the forest he had to get a picture with Smokey along with Paul's Fat Bike.

It was a good day. Lots of giggles and smiles with the sweet trails out in Bent Creek. And a Big Thanks to Paul!

CYMBL.ORG #3

2011-08-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

Logan participated in his 2nd youth race of the year. The venue was Camp Carolina in Brevard, NC. The trails are in great shape and the organization was perfect.

Logan now is trying to talk his grandparents into funding his enrollment here next summer because he knows his parents can't afford it.

Started at the front of the pack in his age group.

He said there is no strategy this time and I quote, "I don't listen to my body Dad, I just pedal".

He got the hole shot and was first in the woods.

He was also first out of the woods by a good minute or more and just kept it on through out the race.
They did start the 7-8s half way into his first lap, so he had a lot of lap traffic to contend with. He said he even helped one 7 year old get back on their bike and got stuck behind another the whole time in the woods on lap 3.

The really little ones lining up to race.

1st Place in a field of 15 or so, and he won by a good 2.5 minutes. He really makes it look easy.
This time I only coached him on podium presentation. Last time he was looking down, this time much better.
Logan and I got to spend the whole day in Brevard and even met up with some trouble makers at the Hub. We later stopped by the pump track in TR to check out Jonathan's hard work. We finally got home last night around 9pm, completely worn out from our adventures. Good stuff. Good Day! I look forward to many more of these in the future.

Next Race September 18 at Christ School.
Put this one in here just because it was in my phone and too good. Eli standing in front of a giant space shuttle hot air balloon in Canton, MS.

Proud Papa

2011-05-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sure I won an expert mountain bike race once. Does it count even though most of the fast Cola people were at some other race instead of at Harbison? Counts in my book, and it was probably one of the only times I will experience a win like that. Lets face it, I'm not getting any faster or younger, just better looking.

But my son. He has experienced a win that I could only dream about. Total Domination. We missed the first Carolina Youth Mountain Bike Race because not only am I slow, but I can not read a flier correctly either. So this weekend we got up real early and left the house around 6am. We arrived in the fine town of Hendersonville, NC ready to ride around 8:30am. So we got to see the 11/12s, and then the 13/14s ride before he had to race at 11am.

My sage advice to him was to race the first 3 laps below the pain and then crank it up on the fourth lap. The most important thing was to keep 1st place in striking distance, and don't blow up too early.

Well he started just as I said for the first 1/2 a lap and he came out of the woods in 3rd place, but I noticed he was kind of just tooling around. As soon as he got a clear spot to pass, he turned it on. Later he told me he couldn't go that slow any more and just had to go. By the time he crossed the start/finish he had pulled about a 30 sec gap on second. He came out of the woods on lap 2 looking good and still in first place. This lap he had pulled away by more than 2 minutes. On lap three I asked him how he felt and he said, "No pain Dad" and then he was off to the woods again. On lap 4 he started lapping other riders and crossed the finish line in 35 minutes, 4.5 minutes faster than 2nd place.

It was a proud moment. I still would like to see him pushed some on these races, but it definitely built some confidence and it was the first race he did without me coaching while riding along. We have agreed that he will race one more in his age group and if he does that well again, he will move up an age group for the challenge.

Next Race; August 28th Camp Carolina, Brevard, NC

http://www.cymbl.org/

It's Official

2011-05-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

PMBAR results are out. This is team "Trippin on Lactic Acid's" 6th straight PMBAR with no DNF. This year we made a few more mistakes than normal, but the ride was excellent none the less.

Finish history is

2006: ? I just remember that one hurt a lot.

2007: 32nd I think that is the year I almost died of Hypothermia.

2008: 17th Sounds like it was a good year.

2009: 17th Another good year.

2010: 19th Last year hurt, but still very satisfactory especially considering Yohan had a broken ankle.

2011: 62th Wow, what happened? Tokens, routes, lack of motivation.

We discovered our token penalty at Turkey Pen and Black. At that point we decided to just finish the race and enjoy the day. And that is exactly what we did. Our trail selection was great for a fine day in Pisgah. Ripped up Turkey, Dropped lower Trace, Up Laurel, Down Pilot (cleaned more than ever), and why not go over the top of Black instead of Clawhammer and Maxwell. Sure it added some time, but tearing down Black was well worth it.

So in conclusion, it may have been our worst finishes to date, but one of my favorite rides ever in Pisgah. And Eric brought back the pint glasses!!! A fine day indeed.

PMBAR '11 by joepelton at Garmin Connect - Details

2011-05-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

PMBAR '11 by joepelton at Garmin Connect - Details

Gear Inches

2011-04-07T07:35:00.001-07:00

“They Say” going SS is simple. Maybe in some ways, but it also complicates things especially if you live in the middle. During a typical week I can ride anywhere from Charleston to Columbia and if I am lucky I will make it to Dupont or Pisgah. This variety of elevation change makes it labor intensive to ride only SS. The optimum gear for these locations is drastically different. So my primary bike is now a 7 speed with a 40x 11-25. This gives me a gear inch range of 96-43 and is good for just about anything. But if I am going to do a specific event or ride I prefer to have the SS and almost always I get caught up in what gear to run. So now that I am using Garmin Connect and I track elevation per mile of most of my local trails, I have theorized that you can plot this information and graph the gear that would best suit you for that location. Even better, if you are going some place you have never been, you can search that trail system, get the Elev/mile and then plot it on your graph for an educated guess.

This is what my graph looks like:

Yeap, I am a Dork!

Oh YEAH!

2011-04-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

6 Hours Warrior Creek

2011-04-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

6 hours Warrior Creek by joepelton at Garmin Connect - Details

The attached link basically describes my day at Warrior Creek. I was all over the trail, slow, and there was a lot of ups and downs.

To get to the chase: I rode 5 laps in 6:42 minutes for a 11th place finish in a class of 38.

Garmin says that I only rode 52 miles, but Warrior Creek says it was 65. I guess there is 13 miles of tight turns out there that Garmin can not keep up with. Garmin also says my average was 7.8 with a max of 165mph. My math has me at an average of 9.62mph, but I am just saying.

The trail was nutty muddy the first two laps. I actually pushed really hard in first lap and dug a pretty big hole in order to stay away from lap traffic. It paid off except that lap two traffic was even more dangerous. I wrecked no less than than 3 times on the second lap. Once into a girl who slammed on the brakes while going down hill, once into a tree around a banked turn, and once Superman style over a bridge I completely missed.

Lap three went better except for the fact that I wrecked into the same tree again. This time I managed to scrape my arm up pretty good, get butt raped by my saddle, and bang my knee up real good. Thankfully after about a mile, the pain in the knee went away. It took several miles for me to forget about the butt rape sensation.

Lap four the gear choice and tire selection finally started making sense because the trail was not slimy peanut butter, but by this time I was too fatigued to enjoy it. Next time I will remember that there is no place to get spun out on this trail. 48" is way too tall for me. I thought if I picked one 2" lower than Dicky I would be good, but no. Does that make me 2" less of a man than Dicky? I digress. Next time out there 45-46". I also decided to take the high line around the tree this lap and we did not meet again.

Lap 5 was glorious lap of celebration. I counted down every mile and looked forward to finishing. I am sure that every rider around me was greatly annoyed as I loudly announce the the count down at every mile marker.

Couple of things I noticed while lapping Warrior Creek on Saturday.

1. There was a little pot smoking sculpture at the top of a little grunt climb towards the end of the lap. Every time I would struggle to get to the top of this climb, he would meet me up there just grinning and smoking his joint. One lap I would laugh, the next I would cuss him for laughing at me. Well the final lap someone had knocked him off his rock and stole his joint. HA HA, who gets the last laugh now.

2. There was a mylar balloon less than 1/2 mile from the finish of the lap. This made me laugh out loud each time because it reminded me of the "Elated Balloon of Happiness" that Jonathan described at the 2006 Cowbell.

I have not seen any pictures of the race yet, but I am sure that in every one I will have snot running from my face. I have never had sooooo much snot during a race, it was just pouring out.

So.

It was a good day on the bike. Nothing like a little racing and pain to make you feel alive.

I got technology

2011-03-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

This is what I have been up to lately; tracking my every move, ave moving speed, distance, and elevation change. I do not know what I am going to do with this information just yet, but I am sure it is important.

Cambell's/ K3 by joepelton at Garmin Connect - Details

The great thing about these rides is that the Ave Moving Speed is about the same. I am not really confident that the information is accurate though. Check out the max speed of 71MPH. I know I was cooking on the downhill, but that is even fast for me.

Average mile in K3 has 77' of elevation change.

Sesqui 3-16 by joepelton at Garmin Connect - Details

Oh Yeah, look at the elevation change at Sesqui. Who could have guessed. Average mile of Sesqui Ride has 125' of elevation change. It helps that I did a few hill repeats on the only hill out there.

Harbison 16 Miles by joepelton at Garmin Connect - Details

Another ride with 10.1 average. What gives? I could swear that I am faster than that. (A legend in my own mind). Another 71 MPH max speed??? I have also been getting some funny elevation readings. Side note: I met some guys on the trail. Group rides have a lot less ride time.

Ski Trip 2011

2011-01-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

Again this year we were fortunate enough to go skiing and stay at our neighbors incredible mountain house right outside Boone, NC. 22 people stayed at this house, comfortably I might add.

Sunday we went on a hike up the Profile trial on the back side of Grandfather Mountain. I did not get to go as far as I would have liked due to fatigued children, but the experience and the surroundings were great. Just what I needed due to the cabin fever of 12 children in one house.

These are the only children brave enough to take me up on the offer to go hiking. Troopers.
Here is a pic of all the kids together. This is at Hawks Nest waiting on our window to go snow tubing. By the way, don't waste your money. Snow tubing is not nearly as fun as skiing and it cost almost as much.
Eli and I enjoying some cookies. Apparently lying on the table is the easiest way to get to them since he is all bundled up.
Logan with his giant icicle that he had to have. Typical Logan.
Logan on the ski lift up the Oz Run.
The kids about to drop into the Oz Run Trail.

Conditions were a lot better for skiers this year. There were only a few spots of ice and the base was like 96". I could actually stop on this stuff. I think they call it powder, but this is only my second time and we were at Beech, not Colorado.

We decided to leave Thursday night to get up to the Mountain House. Friday we got up early and we were the second group to the ski resort. There were no lines for lifts until around 2pm and even then they were short. A great day on the mountain.

Never Die, Never Surrender.

2010-12-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

I learned last week that there would be a race out at Harbison this past weekend. Instead of getting ready for it, I started wondering if Logan would be ready for it. So, Wednesday night I planted a seed and let him think about racing for a few days. Saturday, I learned that a few kids would be racing the U14 class and one of the kids is this 11 year old that has beat Logan at every race they have participated in.
The first race was about 4 years ago. Logan had recently learned to ride his bike and they were having a little 1 mile kids race along with the normal race out at Harbison. So we signed both the kids up to see what would happen. Logan at 4 years old pulled a 3rd place finish behind his sister and the said kid, now known as his Rival. His sister is two years older and his Rival is 3 years older, so the results were still very impressive. Not to mention he had only been riding for almost a year and there were about 10 kids in the race.

The Rival is only a rival because every story line needs one. Look at Andy and Contidor, Lance and Ullrich. The truth is that these are kids and Logan simply has not beat this one. He also happens to be the son of some well known riders in the Columbia area who happen to manage a local bike chain.

The latest race they competed in was at the local Crit a few months back. They had a kid’s race that consisted of one lab around or ~1 mile. The Rival showed up on a road bike and Logan rode his mountain bike. Logan lost, but only by a few seconds. All I heard about for days was how he had to have a Road Bike.

Now to yesterday’s race, we decided to only race one lap of the 2 lap race which was 6 miles in length. He lined up against two 14 year olds and the Rival. At go, they all took off and Logan was solidly in Last Place. Since I was riding with him and the Rival’s Dad was riding with him, we were providing some coaching along the way. The other kids were killing the first climb up the gravel road and my doubts started to settle in. I was concerned now that this may not have been such a good idea. I continued to calm his early race nerves and encourage him to race his race. He settled in and road cleanly over the wet bridges and roots. The other kids were a good ways ahead, but we could still see them down the long straights. Less than ½ mile in the first 14 year old stopped at the intersection of Connector and Firebreak to shed some clothes. Logan just kept on riding and eventually he was taken back over. Back in last place… Then at the bottom of the quick flowing downhill at the end of the Connector Trail, across the bridge, there is a quick little steep climb. I told Logan it was a short one and to punch it. He accelerated up the climb and passed the 14 year old again. At the top of the climb we took a left onto the Stewardship trail and where it intersects the fire road, the Rival was sitting there taking clothes off. Now we are in first place just like that. Next is the longest downhill in Harbison (not very long), he rode it smart and then we crossed the bridge. We took a right on Harder and we could hear our competition closing in on us. He passed 2 beginner men and one woman through Harder. When we got out to fast part of Stewardship, I knew it would only be a matter of time before the Rival caught up. Logan is a good technical rider and climber, but flat out power is not his strong suit. I instructed him to keep the needle pegged, but just below the burn. Save some energy, because there are two big climbs left and the Rival was going to catch him. And sure enough, just before the trail crosses the fire road again, the Rival caught us. I could hear his dad saying, “if you can pass, just let him know”. But I could hear the Rival back there breathing like a race horse. I knew it was only a matter of time. Stewardship has two quick ups. One right after a small bridge and one technical, rooty climb just before the left onto Middle Connector Trail. The Rival tried to pass on the first short climb, but could not get the past Logan. Then on the tech climb Logan ran a clean line and was able to get a few bike lengths ahead. I let him know that a long climb up the switch backs was coming so recoup a little in this section. The Rival caught him again and then the climb started….

Now Logan has been to Dupont 2x this year and has done some real climbing. The first time out he blew up and had a little of an emotional breakdown. The second time he learned that if you climb at your pace, you can ride all day.

…Well, he rode this climb at his pace. About half way up there is a short steep section and he punched it. I looked back and the Rival had blown up and was walking. Now is time to attack. I let him know what was going on and to kept the power on. We got to the false flat and drank some water and then rolled past Spider Woman. Then the course took a right and another right down the hill and across the road. We were approaching the last big climb of the day and we could not see our competition behind us. Logan settled into the climb and picked off two more beginner men. At the top of the climb is a fire road with a small incline. He popped a few gears, stood up, and left everything on the trail. We took a left towards the gazebo and then all that was left was a short single track ride to the Start Finish. No one was in sight and he crossed the line in 1^st place.

Technically it was 2^nd place for the group, and he DNFed because it was a two lap race. But he was a winner today! 12 miles would have been awful, and the point was to have fun. 4-6 minutes later the Rival came across the line, and then another 10 minutes the other rider came through. The Rival pulled the plug also and we, the Dads, chatted about the race and the racers.

It was a personal victory for Logan and a good racing experience. He has a great set of skills and metal fortitude to be a good, if not great racer. I am so extremely proud of him can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Congratulations my Son! My little warrior!

Balance

2010-11-08T10:47:00.001-08:00

A necessary skill required to ride a bike, but often overlooked in life.

As I get older balance is becoming harder to find. The ticking clock in the background constantly reminding me that we are not getting any younger and we will never get yesterday back.

Had a great weekend of Riding and Partying for DD. Only expectation was getting up on Sunday. Actually felt good both days, no cramping, no GI issues, and only a few bonks. The weather was perfect and Pisgah is Pisgah.
Partner tried for the Rockstar Award, Whiskey on top of Black Mountain. No Question, Best Attitude of any racer!
Eli, Rocking the monkey suit (19 months).

Logan and I at the Guy Camping Trip.

This is how it should be

2010-09-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Went for a ride with Jonathon and Clay Saturday on the East Side of Pisgah RD. We started at the Fish Hatchery and worked our way up to Ivestor Gap via cove creek and some other single track. The weather was fantastic, the view was amazing, and the single track was, well Pisgah.

Damn fine day in the woods!

And this is a lot better than riding here: The swamps of Sumter and Charleston.

Not a Freeride type of Rider

2010-07-20T05:58:00.000-07:00

Are you thinking what I am thinking?

I have turned Harbison into my little play ground. What I mean by that is that lately I have been riding out there enough to get bored by the normal trail riding. So to liven things up I have been looking for any trail feature to launch myself into the air. Perfectly spaced root clusters to clear at speed, log jumps, alternative lines... anything to change it up.

Well while out Saturday riding with my little buddy, we dropped in just to hit spiderwoman and bail, but I saw this log at the bottom of the switch backs. While my Dad Muscles were still pumped up I thought, "you know I think that line is ridable". So I scouted the approach, no problem. I scouted the line, no problem. Then got to the dismount and landing, that might be a problem. But surely not for someone with Dad Muscles as big as mine. And with little to no hesitation I rode the log, popped the front wheel up to make the 3' landing, and was quickly reminded that I am not a freerider. Logan laughed at me so hard that for a second there I thought I was riding with some of my asshole friends. Not that I can blame him. I am sure that if I saw some dummy try to ride that line on a rigid bike and bounce off the ground like he was on a giant pogo stick, I would have laughed my ass off too. Good times... No injuries, no broken bike parts, just a memory I am sure will bring a smile to my buddy's face for years to come.

I do want to make a transition at the bottom of that log, it is still a cool line. Just no more 3' drops.

Here is some Eli goodness. The most laid back person in the family.

What a blessing.

Best Ride since, well PMBAR

2010-06-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Some like minded individuals had a good excuse to do a party ride and I was lucky enough to make it.

This was my first opportunity to take the Rig to Pisgah and I was giddy with anticipation. Last time I rode in Pisgah with suspension was almost a year ago and it was on the 5"FS Cake and the whole time I wish I was on the rigid 69er. Little wheels suck up there. My last ride in Pisgah was PMBAR and at the end I can remember hating the going down Black at the end. No one should hate going down Black and something had to change. The two reasons where the rigid fork and the mechanical disc brakes. The ride was just painful. I needed to find that happy place again where the bike disappears and you flow down the trail. I was really hoping the Rig would provide that experience.

Jonathon and I started our day at 930 with a ride from Dennis' house on Vineyard and N. Mills??? and back which ended up being about 2 hours. Vineyard has a great downhill that let me test things out. The bike was handling perfectly and the Avid Elixer brakes are great.

When we got back the rest of the group was ready to head out so we refilled and hit the trails again. This ride turned into a 5-1/2 hour party that went something like, Vineyard, xxx, Squirrel, S. Mills and back. Going down Squirrel was the most fun I have had on a bike in years. I was second in line behind Clay and he would crush me on the climbs, but I would pull him back in on the downs. As Logan would say, "We were smoken". When we got to the bottom I could not hold in the laughter. Man that is good stuff! That bike is meant for those types of trails.

We dredged back through S. Mills, my favorite trail... and then back to the house.

A great day in the woods.

2010-06-21T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hot as Hell and loosing fitness by the day.

Lately I get 2 days of big boy riding a week and two days of Father/Son Riding a week. Great for the soul, but sucks for the legs. Oh Well, it could be a lot worse.

Logan got a new bike a few weeks back and he is loving it. Scott Scale RC Jr. is crazy light and well speced. It has a XT derailluer and cassette. My only complaint is the fork, but I do not know that there are many other options for a 24" wheel.

He likes his bike sooo much that all I hear about is going riding. We have been out to Harbison or Sesqui every weekend lately to get a few hours in. This past weekend I was cashing in a Father's Day token to go on a big boy ride when the Direct TV guy threw a wrench in the works. He was supposed to show up at 830, but did not get there until 1. Typical I guess. Somewhere during the install I mentioned going to FATS and Logan got it in his head we should go after the cable guy was gone. Not entirely a bad idea. We loaded up the car and by 4pm we were heading to FATS. We hit the trails at 6pm for 12 miles of bliss through the Brown Wave and the Skinny. This was his first time there and he hooped and hollered down Whooped D Dews. It was a great ride and we would have squeezed in The Great Wall if we had enough day light. We did not get back to the house until 10pm and all he wants to know is when he can get back there to ride the rest of the trails. Soon I hope.

Father / Son Dupont Camping Trip

2010-05-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

I have been planning a trip to some real trails with Logan for a few months now. My two top choices were Dupont and FATS. My first choice would be Dupont for the obvious reasons like waterfalls, mountains, and climate. But Dupont can be a daunting place to navigate where FATS is pretty straight forward. So I contacted my WNC trail guide to see if the 22nd of May would be open for some easy kid friendly riding. It just so happens that a Fundraiser Ride was taking place that day and there would be 3 levels of rides available. All no left behind rides with experienced guides. It looked like it was meant to be, so the plans were made.

We got to the campsite Friday around 630pm and set up all the necessities. By 745 we were ready to relax, well I was ready to relax. Logan had other plans... He wanted to go to the kids loop and check out Dupont. So we loaded the bikes up and headed to Guion Farm Trail Head.

We got there and rode until dark on all the skinnies and the pump track. He rode every one of them and did it before I could.

The next morning he was up by 630am ready to go ride again. Breakfast was at 9 so we waited around for that, ate, then headed back to the trail head by 10. Again we rode and tooled around until the group ride started at 1130.

The ride started around noon. The first trail we hit was Ridgeline, which is one of the best out there. Logan really enjoyed it and even went OTB about half way down. He quickly got up and kept on going. After that it was a lot of climbing and I could not seem to get him to slow down any. We got to the top of Airstrip took in the view and then enjoyed the downhill.

This guys get up was unreal. His daughter napped down Airstrip.

Next we hit Bridal Falls relaxed and then headed up towards Reasonover??? I think.

We did a lot of climbing and Logan was starting to have a few emotional breakdowns. This was expected after 3 hours out on the trails. But he just wanted to keep going. We had a chance to bail before Mine Mountain and I made an executive decision. We cut it short and headed back to the parking lot via fire roads. I made one wrong turn, but quickly corrected and headed on back. We rode for 4 hours. After I force fed him some poptarts, gatoraide, and a rootbeer he went back out the the kids loop. I would have figured he had enough.

Later that evening back at the campsite we hung out with some of the other campers, went swimming, and reflected on the day. It started raining around 9pm and we hit the sack.

The next morning we got up started packing, got some breakfast and hit the road. He wanted to go hit Issaqueena today, but after all the rain, we opted to go straight home. Short detour to Ceasar's Head and then on to the house.

It was a great weekend and I was very impressed by his riding skills. He is one stubborn kid that once he gets something in his head, he is going to do no matter how much pain it causes. He gets it from his Mother, the most stubborn person I know.

This kid has so much self motivation that I have to pull the reigns so he does not hurt himself.

I love it and look forward to many more of these trips. I am already trying to get another one together next month. I think this time we are going to FATS.

Finding the Edge

2010-05-11T05:37:00.001-07:00

How do you know if you are going as fast as you can if you do not find the Edge. NASCAR drivers drive on it for hours and the good ones can take a car that is not handling right and still drive faster than most on the edge of control. Yeah, I just made a NASCAR reference on a Bike Blog. I do live in the South less than 2 hours from Darlington, the track to tough to tame.

Last night during my weekly ride at Sesqui during my daughter's soccer practice, I took the Rig out for a spin. This area is very sandy with lots of pine straw and some decent single track. I would not say it is the preferred place to ride for most, but it is dirt and dirt is better than pavement any day. There is a 5 mile loop out there that I have been TTing for about a year now. My best time on the 69SS is about 18:24 which was done last year on a 56" gear. Since then I have primarily been riding a 52" gear for the knees and it helps with recovery rides. This year my best time has been 19:20 on a 52". Last night I took the Rig out with a 52" gear and wanted to see how it would handle on these trails. During my warm up, I let it hang out on some of the downs and quickly found the edge. I had one of the worst high speed accidents I have had in a long time. The last one I remember was bombing down some fire road in Clemson with Jonathon, somehow loosing control, and ending up OTB in the bushes. Luckily no damage to the body or bike. That is how most accidents are, but this was a little different. I was flying through a turn with a lot of roots and sand in it and the bike just was not responding, as I continued to correct all of a sudden the front wheel grabbed and the next thing you know, I was wrapped around a 10" pine tree. The brunt of the force was taken by my shoulder and head, the bike may not of even hit anything. Dazed and confused, I got up checked and things out. First my bike. Everything is working and looks ok. Then my body, no blood, collar bone is not broken, helmet seems fine. Let's ride before the pain sets in. So I continued with my warm up and the movement in my shoulder was very limited and very sore. I guess I found the edge...

For certain, a front suspension bike does not handle the same as a fully rigid. I think the problem was that I was used to pushing the bike through corners knowing what the front end was going to do. With a sus fork on the front the suspension is limiting the amount of weight applied to the front wheel. The handling is somewhat less predictable, and I paid for it.

After the warm up I started the time trial and rode with no incidents. The time ended up being 19:17, slightly better than the 69SS, but too close to call. I did notice that I was sitting a lot more on the Rig, and a taller gear would not be a problem.

Bottom line. I finally have the Rig fit dialed in and the brakes are broken in and working perfectly. I think I am going to hang it up now until I get the tubeless strips and get it set up. I may not ride it again until I head to the mountains for a real ride. Until then, I am going to nurse this extremely sore shoulder and get back to the basics.

D-evolution of a Cyclist

2010-05-07T07:58:00.001-07:00

1999 was the year I got my first mountain bike. In retrospect, it should have been in 1993 when I entered Clemson, but I was too busy chasing tail instead of chasing trail. Around 1998 the tail stopped running and we moved in together. Shortly after, I purchased my first bike, a Trek 4500. It set me back $350 and had a Rock Shox Jett (crap), shimano alivo drive train (crap) and V brakes (crap), but it was like Christmas day to me. I rode that bike almost every day for a year. Rain, Sun, Snow, Ice, it did not matter. And looking back at my ignorance, some of the things I did were so stupid. I would ride on muddy trails and then take my bike to the car wash and pressure wash it. A few rides later when the BB creaked I would take it to the shop, still under warranty, and let them fix it. I am pretty sure they hated me there. But, I fell in love with biking. Nothing is was better than finding the best set of downhill trails and railing them. Climbing was not fun, it sucked, but it was necessary to evil to pluck the fruit of carving up some downhill single track. I was hooked!

Early 2000 the Trek 4500 was rear-ended in Atlanta after riding trails in Huntsville, Alabama. Thanks to his car insurance, I upgraded to Trek 6500 with Avid Mech Disc brakes and a Rock shock Judy fork. I thought it was the Shit. I rode it at Fants Grove and Issaqueena regularly for a year until graduation. Then we moved to Charleston, SC for work and family. Here my soul died for 3 long years. I would ride as much as I could, but the joy of riding up hill to fly down was gone. The only climbs in this area would be found at bridges and overpasses. I longed to get back to Clemson or the Upstate.

In 2004 I got the opportunity to move to Columbia and I was stoked. Most people thought I was crazy to be excited about moving from Charleston to Columbia, but it meant elevation change and a closer proximity to the mountains. Life was looking up. I started riding Harbison regularly and eventually decided it was time for a new bike. I had my sights set on a Trek Fuel EX, but then a GF/Trek Demo tour came through Columbia and I rode both the Cake and the Fuel EX. The handling on the Cake was much quicker and I was sold. This is when I met Paul Harrell. He dealed and I wheeled and walked away with a GF Cake DLX 2. I spent the next 5 years riding different versions of this bike. I think the only things that still remain are the XT crank, Avid brakes, and LX shifters. It has 5” of front and rear suspension. What more could I ever want???? At one time I had this bike down to 25lbs and was racing XC on it. Then something changed…

After many 12/24 hour races, Assaults on Mountains, and 3 PMBARs, I felt the need to go a different direction. Something inside me had changed over the last 10 years. I no longer hated climbing just to blaze the downs. I actually liked climbing. I started setting the Cake up so that the SPVs were so stiff that I might as well be rigid. Energy robbing suspension became the enemy. A lot of the riders I rode with had been on 29ers and some were even on rigid 29er SS. It became evident to me that SS is not a bad idea, especially in the mountains. Climbing out of the saddle and mixing it up just makes sense. And fully rigid would be the most efficient way to do this. Not to mention the simple fact of maintenance. I had grown tired of buying new cassettes every 500-700 miles, new $30 chains (3 a year), rebuilding shocks, rebuilding forks, rebuilding pivots. The maintenance had taken away from the joy of riding and it was time to get back to the basics. So in February of 2009 I purchased a 26” On-One Inbred frame and built it up fully rigid SS 69er. The reason that I did not go all 29er is because of fear that I would not be able to get the front wheel up as technical riding would require and I am a short shit at 5’7” just at the threshold of 29er recommendations. I also figure that 26 in the rear would be a little lighter and quicker to accelerate. After that day I rode the Cake 3 times and every time I was on it I was annoyed by the all of the moving parts and little wheels. Was I faster? Probably not, but I was having more fun and it was a simple machine. Now the wheels have been turning and I wonder if full 29er is better? If 69 is good then 29 has to be better right? And now that I have rode in Pisgah with the full rigid a bunch of times, I am really starting to miss going down hill. One draw back I found was that when it was time to point the bike down a real trail, (Black Mountain, Bennett, Turkey Pen), the ones where you can really get some speed, I am limited by the lack of control I have bouncing all over the place. So maybe it is time for “some” suspension again. I have been eyeing this GF Rig at Harrell’s for some time now. It just hung there talking to me and it never seemed to sell. Maybe destiny, but finally I made an offer on it and a week later I had made another bike purchase. It is a Full 29er, avid elixir brakes, and a sweet Fox F29 fork. I took it out on its maiden voyage yesterday at Harbison and what a blast it is to ride. Absolutely no problem getting this thing up and over logs (one of my main concerns) and it just keeps on rolling. The suspension is just enough to smooth out the trail and the 29er rear actually feels like 2” of suspension. This bike rails the corners. Well as much as the incompetent stock tires let it. http://bontrager.com/model/07572 Bontrager XDX may be adequate for the back, but a Mountain King is going on the front for the next ride. I quickly learned where the edge was while cruising through Lost Creek, and each time it was the front washing out.

This bike has a lot of potential! I can see riding it and upgrading it for many years to come. And now I have two legitimate bikes that I can swap back and forth from without completely neglecting either one of them.

I have a feeling that the Rig will be the Mountain Bike and the On-One will be the everyday rider around Harbison and local trails. As much as I really liked the suspension, I could still feel it robbing power because the climbs were too short to lock it out and the downs just aren’t that fast around here.

It will take some riding to make a determination about what is faster. My gut is that the Rig is faster. The only reason I say that is because we have a trail in HSF called Lost Creek that throws a little of everything at you. It is rocky, rooty, tight single track with short ups and off camber turns. A strong rider could time trial this trail in ~26 minutes. I typically ride it in ~28 minutes. Well over the last year I have conducted some unscientific experiments on the bike that I have ridden. The reason they are unscientific is because there is not HR info, no power info, only time and perceived effort. Of course this can change based on level of fitness, weather, trail conditions, and the day you are having. Currently this is where I am: On the Cake, I would average 27-28 minutes with moderate exertion (just below LAT). The ride was as you would expect on a 5” FS bike. The right line is the one that straightens the trail out the most. Blaze through everything. I rode the On-One fully rigid with 26” front and back and it took me 29 minutes. The effort was normal, but I could not wait to get the loop over with. The 26” front wheel fully rigid is crap. Then I turned around and put the 29er wheel on the front and did the loop again. This time it took me about 28 minutes. I was slightly faster, but the quality of the ride was much better. It is amazing how much of a difference a bigger wheel makes. Last night was my first time on the Rig and the first trail I rode was Lost Creek. Now my fitness is probably much better than when I did my previous rides, but I started the clock just to see how things shake out. It took some getting used to the handling, suspension, bigger wheels and sorry tires. I lost it a few times in the corners partly because of traction, and partly because I was breaking too late in the turns thinking that is how you ride hydraulics brakes. Finally I just started riding the trail so that I would not wash out, and just try to maintain speed. To my surprise, when I got to the trail head 27 minutes had passed and I was not nearly as fatigued as normal. Could this be? Has all that hype about 29ers really been true and my stubborn ass is just now figuring it out? It is probably a combination of things like, level of fitness, big wheels, gearing, and suspension. It will take some tweaking on the bike fit and tires before the bike is dialed in and I can see what it can really do. In the mean time I will continue to ride both Single Speeds out there and report what I find. It is an exciting new world. I can not wait to get up to Pisgah and rail some fun down hills that I have missed out on in the last year and a half.

Peace!

Go Ride Your Bike! Whatever flavor it is.

P”ain”BAR 2010

2010-05-03T07:22:00.001-07:00

This year I thought I was more prepared for PMBAR than ever. I had some long road rides under my belt. We did a 7 hour PMBAR training ride two weeks before the race. It was going to be the year we went big and cracked the top ten! Then about 10 days before the race I hear second hand that my teammate has severely sprained his ankle and may not be able to race. Not good, but we have been through some pretty bad things before. Why should this year be any different?

So…

Friday I left the house around 1:30 and got to the campground at 4:30. Jonathan was already there preparing his things for the race tomorrow. This shows that he is maturing or that my AR (anal retentive) tendencies are rubbing off on him. Normally he prepares everything the morning of and forgets at least 3 things. The next order of business was tapping the keg. This is when I noticed that his ankle was not in good shape. As we carried it to its hiding spot, he limped most of the way. Not a good sign considering we would be doing a lot of hike a bike tomorrow. Then the statement was made, “you need to drink and have a hang-over to equal out my sprained ankle”. It took little persuading for me pour my first glass and my last was not until 6 hours later. Suffice to say there was some trash talk and BS flying before I hit the sleeping bag that night.

Saturday I woke up around 6:30 got dressed and we rode out to the start / finish. Despite having poorly hydrated the night before, I felt pretty good and ready to race. Eric handed out the maps, said “Go”, and we were off up Black again. Riding a SS behind geared riders really sucks!!! Eventually I just gave up pedalling to climbing and started hiking most of the way up. We got to Pressley Gap in about 40 minutes and then started down Maxwell. At the intersection of Maxwell and Claw Hammer there were teams going in every direction. Half were going towards the horse stables and the other half towards the top of Black. Bruce, “Denny” came through and his partner had taken a left towards the stables without letting him know what direction he was going. He looked at me confused and asked what direction he went. I told him the correct way, and Bruce looked at me like I was BSing. I assured him that it would be “F”d up to lie about that and really he went to the stables. They ended up with a 4^th place finish. Maybe I should have lied. Then this lady comes by me a few times and starts cussing that her “Dumb Ass, Teammate, Husband left her”. Since I did not know who that was I could not give her any information and she started climbing Claw Hammer. After changing and eating I started my climb up. Feeling pretty good at this point, I just kept the pedals turning and made it to the top to meet Clay and Toby coming over the top of Black. I waited on Jonathon and then we followed after down Buckhorn. At the intersection of Buckhorn and S.Mills we made a team decision to stay on Buckhorn and grab Pilot first. One reason is the climb up Pilot is a bear and there were potential thunderstorms that evening that would really make Pilot treacherous. The climb up Pilot went well. The views along that climb are some of the best in the forest and the clouds were just starting to break up. Still feeling good, we grabbed the first check point and headed down Laurel. At Yellow Gap we proceeded to 5000 with little hesitation. Stopped at North Mills Campground for one water bottle and then started the climb up. Thanks to the volunteer for the PBR and we headed back down. We learned at that point that most teams ahead of us had already got 2 check points which meant that they made the opposite decision that we did and went Squirrel first. I started doubting our route choice, and completely blamed it on Laroy even though I helped make that decision over 2 hours ago. The climb back up to Yellow was tough. The heat and humidity was really starting to get to me and I walked the first part of fire road right before the gap. I was entering the mouth of the cave. We paused at 5015 for a second and started the descent. Snagged #3 and started our climb up to Squirrel. At this point our paces were about the same and I could feel the cramps starting. I got to the intersection of Squirrel a few seconds ahead of Jonathan and we took a few minutes to gather ourselves before riding one of the most demanding trails in Pisgah. The long technical climb up was very taxing. I was making stupid errors while riding and then cramping up when trying to dab. It was a balancing act to keep moving without balling up in a mass of cramping muscle. Once we got to the 4^th and our final check point, all I could think of was keep moving and get back to the start / finish. I knew exactly was lay ahead of me and it seemed I had done it many times before. All we had to do was climb out of Squirrel, up S. Mills and then up Buckhorn descend Claw and then the final climb up Maxwell. On a normal day this is a fairly easy ride, but today it was pure metal and physical torture. At the bottom of Maxwell we started our climb. I climbed most except for two places where the grade was just too much. While standing, my calves and quads would cramp, and while sitting, the insides of my thighs would cramp. At this point, the only way to not cramp was to walk. Then I turned around and saw 4 racers heading my way. All I could think was that I was about to cost us two positions. So, I got back on the bike and fought on. They passed us, but must have been waiting on other riders, because they stopped at Pressley and waited. We kept going and started the sweet descent down Black and to the finish. We made it in 9 hours and 46 minutes for a 19^th place finish out of 100 teams. This is right in line with where we have been the last few years, but this year hurt like it was the first time. Another great PMBAR in the books!

We stuck around for our 19^th place prize, and then we headed back to the camp for the celebration. I wanted to stay and party, but my body made me go to bed. It was a rough night and Sunday hurt too, but I am already looking forward to next time.

Oh Yeah The Masters

2010-04-09T07:09:00.000-07:00

I got to spend the day at The Masters yesterday. I would post a bunch of photos, but they do not allow cameras or phones. It was quite nice being out of touch in such a majestic place. Everyone should experience Augusta National at least once. The place is picture perfect. TV does not do it justice. The food, beer, and bathrooms are easily accessible from everywhere and the lines move quickly.

Go Tiger! Bootyism. Ha Ha! There were actually planes flying around heckling him. Surprisingly, the crowds were very respectful and he was still the most followed golfer.

Easter Ride with the Kids

2010-04-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Had a good ride with the kids out at Harbison on Sunday.

Logan dropped into the first part of Spider Woman for the first time. We bailed at the creek next to the bridge where I left his sister waiting. He cleared everything without a dab until we hit some really muddy sections. I can not believe there are still some swampy sections after more than a week of sunshine.

He is bugging me now to go finish all of Spider Woman. I guess we will hit it Tuesday after work.

Twist my arm.

Here is a shot of him riding the rr tie at the last parking area.

Got to love it!

Tipping the Scales

2010-03-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

I can not remember the last time I weighed 153lbs or more. I am pretty sure the last time was when I first started MTB in 1999. So the scale read 153 for me again this morning for the first time in 11 years. Hopefully this is a sign of getting stronger and not getting older. I do hit 35 this year.
Since my 100 day fail, my weeks have been looking something like this:
Ride 5-10 hours/week
Run 10-15 miles/week
Swim 1 hour a week
Lift 2 hours a week.

I actually feel like I am stronger than I have been in the last 11 years in all diciplines except riding. I still have a little ways to go. I hope if the weather ever breaks, some longer days are ahead of me. I ran 4 miles on the track the other day in 26 minutes. Nothing special, but holding a 7 minute mile is not a bad pace.
The weight lifting is probably what has cause most of the weight gain. I have been going for 2 months of 3X per week and the strength increase is noticeable. So, even if this extra 12lbs of weight slows me down on race day. Don’t talk shit. I may try to kick your ass.

Kids Rock!

2010-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

I, like most people, would like to believe that the world revolves around me most of the time. Then there is this constant reminder (kids) that put things in perspective and require a lot of attention. Sometimes this attention is negative in the form of punishment, but hopefully most of the time it is positive in the form of character building activities.
This weekend we had two events that conflicted with each other. Logan had BMX at 11am on Saturday, while Hannah had soccer in Charlotte at 10. Obviously there was no way that we could accomplish this so Heather and I had divide and concur. I went to Charlotte while she went to BMX.
Hannah moved up to Academy soccer last year and the first season together was a learning experience. They lost far more games than they won, but this was expected. It was a growing season. This season they have had a number of games and the record is like 0-7 so far. The girls really need a win to lift the spirits. Well this Saturday they went up to Charlotte and played really well. They came away with a 3-3 tie in the first game and a 4-4 tie in the second game. The team acted like they won the national championship. It was good to watch and good for the girls. Hannah played extremely well and scored 5 of the 7 goals.
I heard that Logan had a good day at the track. He won both of his mottos and the final. That was the last race out at Columbia BMX on the old track. They have changed affiliations and a new track is being built by a Pro. We are looking forward to the new design even though Logan had a perfect record on the old one. Hopefully this new track will provide some additional challenges for him.
Also recently he has earned some money from report the card and birthday. He decided he wanted a gas powered pocket rocket. Luckily we talked him out of it because they are made in China and supposedly fall apart pretty quickly. He then turned his sights on this. $247 dollars later he was terrorizing cats, dogs, and kids on the street. This thing goes 35mph! So Sunday we took it out to the RC track which happens to be next to the BMX track. He had a great time jumping and crashing it all over the place. It does look like a lot of fun and I am sure I mentioned to him how cool it is.
Later that night while Heather was tucking him in, Logan asked her if there were any jobs he could get. When she inquired why, he said, “I want to buy a RC car for Dad. I think he really wants one”.
Thanks Bud! You’re a good kid!

Failure

2010-02-16T06:58:00.000-08:00

Just look at that face! He has got that "I am getting into something" look going on. He will be 1 year old in two weeks. Time is flying by.
He is not walking yet, but he is a speed crawler and loves getting into everything.

The family went up to DC this weekend to see the in laws and there was a lot of snow. So instead of building the traditional snowman, they decide that we should build an igloo. Sure I build things all the time, but I can honestly say that I have never built an igloo. We started with a clean area, with packed snow and then we packed snow in small shoe box shaped storage containers. This was our mold for the snow blocks. It took us about 5 hours to finish it and it turned out pretty good if I do say so.
We attempted to taper it in like a real igloo and make a dome structure, but that was not happening fast enough and I feared it may fall in on a occupant, so we put a 1x4 structure up for the roof and covered it with blocks. Now it is more like a snow fortress than an igloo, but still cool. Logan was very pleased, but Hannah had to start making snow couches and chairs. Just like a girl to start decorating the place!

So during the 5 hour building experience I did a lot of bending over and I think I tweaked a hammy. Determined to keep the streak alive, I then ran for 45 minutes in the 30deg weather. The next day I was feeling it pretty good and questioning my stubbornness to continue. But I ran another 30 minutes on the treadmill to make the streak 21 days. However, yesterday I threw in the towel. Between packing the car, driving back from DC, and a sore hammy, I opted out of any cardio yesterday and broke the streak. I think I am going to take about 2 days off and recover before hitting the gym again. It sucks to fail, but it would suck even worse to injure myself over a personal challenge.

11/100 of the way there

2010-02-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

11 days of riding or running in a row. I am not sure if I have ever had a streak like this in my life.
Anyways, feeling sore, weak, and not recovered. All of this is good, but hopefully soon my body will become more accustom to it and some power will return. I am also thinking of modifying the rules a little to include a gym work out 2X per week to give the legs a rest and build some core.

The most frustrating part of this is that I was hoping to loose some weight from the extra days of activity. So far that is not the case. On the contrary I have gained 2 lbs. Figure that one out. I am pushing 149, 10lbs over any reasonable racing weight. But since I am not racing, I guess it really does not matter.

Commitment

2010-01-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Commitment is something that I am very familiar with considering that I have been married for over a decade, have three children, and worked for the same company ever since I graduated college. However, I have been inspired by none other than Mr. Harrell himself.

Reportedly he has been on a streak of 156 days of riding straight. My hats are off to you, and I do not think that I am that committed yet. But, I am going to commit to 100 days of riding or running without any time off and see where it goes from there.
Do not confuse this with training. Everyone knows that is a dirty word, and I do not want to be affiliated with any training. This is just a commitment, a challenge, and now that I have spoken these words, I would be letting myself down if I did not make it so.
Rules are simple. Ride for a minimum of 1 hour or run for a minimum of 30 minutes everyday. This sounds easy, but with my schedule rest assured that some days I will only be able to squeeze 30 minutes out of a day for myself. Of course there will be long days or riding mixed into every week, but that is all I was getting. No more 3 rides a week, 4 if I a lucky.
So far my streak is at 3 days. I started on Jan. 25. 100 days from now will be May 4, 3 days after PMBAR.
Between now and then, I hope to squeeze in 6 hours of Warrior and maybe Cohutta, the single track version.

Here we go!

Picture Dump / Quick update

2010-01-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

As with any family of five during the holidays, times have been busy. Over Thanksgiving we went to Mississippie to see Heather's side. They are in the middle of no where so we did things like ride the 4 wheelers, get stuck in the mud, shoot guns, hunt animals, and all of that good stuff. The kids absolutely love it out there. YE HAW!!!

Logan shooting his new BB gun. No bird, squirl, cat, or dog is safe. We woke up every morning and had to take a hike around the property looking for something to shoot. I told him if he shot it and killed it, he had to eat it. Unfortunately it did not deter him any.

And of course you can not go into the country with out having a big A$$ fire.

I did manage to make it out for 6 hour at Noxebee National Forest. This trail system has a lot of potential. This is not groomed singletrack/double track. I bet it is really good once the leaves have been rode into the ground.

Last weekend we made it to the mountain house and the families very first ski trip. Logan was the only boy of the 5 kids there. I guess when in Rome. He sure does make a pretty girl.

I am sure it was all in his master plan. He ended up sleeping in the bed with them too.

The next day we made it out to App. Mountain for our first ski trip. It took me 34 years to get here, but better late than never.

Logan decided he was not going to take a 1 hour lesson, so he went straight to the slopes with Heather. Hannah and the other girls took the lesson and I took Logan's spot. They obviously taught better in the kids classes or they are just good, because the girls were skiing circles around me most of the day.

Finally after a few trips down the bunny slopes and getting some shorter skies, I felt comfortable enough to hit the intermediate slopes.

Logan's idea of skiing is pointing the skis straight down and bailing out when he gets to terminal velocity. Hannah managed to defy gravity and could float down the mountain like an angle. I swear she could plow down a black diamond at 5 mph if she wanted.

I spent most of the day learning how to fall, and I got a lot of practice. I did have a few runs where I figured out the sweet spot of the skis, balance wise, and how to turn. Hint, you do not use your ankles.

All in all it was a lot of fun. I look forward to doing it again, hopefully not in 34 years.

Top of Orchard Run,

Girls at the top.

Me scoring some style points.

Heather and Logan exiting the lift. He was dangerous!!!

Logan again.

Heather, my bunny.

We spent Sunday resting the bodies and watching the rain.

Sunday I had to get the kids out of the house and go for a hike. So we hit Bass Lake in Blowing Rock. It is a old orchard house with a few miles of trails leading to the Manor.

That is the house at the top of the hill.

The lake was frozen. Logan would not quit asking if he could walk on the ice.

God help me get him to 18.

On our way up the trail. It took us a few hours to get there.

But when we did, the view was well worth it and the temps were on the rise.

A closer view of the house. Not a bad little place.

View back down to the lake.

Again, can't wait to get back to the mountains.

Back from Disney!!!

2009-10-07T09:59:00.001-07:00

We made it back from our Disney Family Vacation. Here is Logan and Hannah and Neighbor Hannah on our way into Magic Kingdom. We spent 10 hours in Magic Kingdom and still did not do all of it. Definately need 2 days in this park.

This is the Family at Epcot on Day 2. We spent 14 hours at this park and still missed half of the world. You know, they have a lot of Countries out there. We did make it to Germany for dinner though. Here is the family on day 4 at Hollywood Studios. We only spent 8 hours at this park and got in most of the attractions. They have two really good rides and the rest are stunt shows, 3D movies, and interactive stuff.

We finally made it to Lego Land where Logan thought he was in heaven.

$500 for the Millenium Falcon!

Waiting on the boat for a ride back to the Port Orleans Resort.

Eli just Chillin.

Always happy. Well almost always.

Logan found this critter at the resort. I have never seen one soooo big.

My favorite park at Disney had to be the Animal Kingdom. Here are some pictures from the safari ride.

Waiting in Line at Mount Everest. One thing that separates Disney from other amusement parks is their attention to detail and showmanship. I was very impressed with all the artifacts, fossils, history, or useless knowledge, that they packed into the lines while you waited. The great thing about going at this time of the year is that the lines were only about 10-20 minutes long.

Check out this tree. We were actually on our way into it for a Bug's Life 3D show.

Here is Eli with our rent-a-grandmom. Both Heather's and my mom were unable to make it, so we had to use the Disney Rent a Grandmom plan. Not really, it is the neighbor's mom. She helped a lot so that the family could ride stuff together. Thanks,

After 4 straight days of parks, vacation was not feeling much like vacation. We decided to go to the water parks on the last 2 days and maybe get some R&R. I think we had more fun at the water parks than the theme parks, but it was all good.

At the first water park, Glacier Bay, we rode a 120' drop water slide. OH MY GOD! Afterwards Logan played in the sand the rest of the day. I think it scared him a little. The next day he rode a similar ride but only 50' drop. Hannah and I rocked every ride out there multiple times.

Good stuff, but I am glad to be back home.

Playing in the Sand

2009-09-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Lately all the riding I have been doing is either on the road or at Sesqui which is only because of convenience. I have taken advantage of Sesqui because my daughter has soccer practice for 1.5 hours two times a week. So to keep things interesting, back in August completed the 5 mile loop in 20 minutes. This was my bar and since then I have completed a warm up lap and then a TT lap. This week I was able to complete the lap in 18:55. At least it is something to keep things fun.
I have also stumbled across the greatest MTB find ever. This product is the best chain lube I have ever used. I have used everything, or at least it seems like it, but nothing seems to perform just right. You know, no build up, last for a few rides, keeps dirt away, won’t wash off in the wet. Well this product is it. And at only $5 a can, it can not be beat. I applied it very liberally the first time to clean the chain. Then wiped off the excess and repeated the next day. Now I have 3 rides on it with no re-apply and the chain is still running smooth. And as you can see there is no build up or dirt on the chain.

This is even after a long ride in the sand after a rain at Sesqui. Now the product has not been tested in peanut butter mud yet, but as soon as it has, I will let you know. I am even using the product to wipe down my bike because it states that it will not harm paint, repels dirt, and has rust inhibitors. This product is GREAT. It also is made by DuPont. That name alone brings me happiness.

Check out that new Bontrager RLX wheel. White spokes, red nipples, on my red and white 69SS is pimpin!

It gets political

2009-09-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

I am in shock that so many people were concerned about Obama’s speech to the students on Tuesday. If the President wants to address any American we should listen. After all he is our President, and after all maybe he could reach some kids that need motivation and encourage them to do the right thing, get an education. It is not like the schools were going to show speeches by Hitler, oh wait; they do that later in History Class. Bottom line, whether you agree with him or not, he is still our President.
So, after school on Tuesday I asked my daughter if she watched the speech. She said, yes. So I responded, ‘What did you think?’ Her response was, ‘I don’t know, I did not even listen. He just did a lot of talking.’ I had to chuckle because all of that hype about kids watching it or not, and in fact probably the majority of the students were just like my child.
That brings me to my next point. When is the White House going to start using Power Point presentations? It is effective in the work place and provides people with more information than just the words coming out of their mouths. Maybe if they started using visual aids to get the message across more Americans would not glaze over during a speech.

Off the box now…

I got to ride up in DuPont on Monday. I can not tell you where we rode, only that I think we circled the entire thing counter clockwise and hit almost every parking lot. The trails were in great shape and the weather was better than expected. I am still loving the 69ss. It was railing on Ridgeline. Unfortunately, I was at max speed and I still could hear Jonathan rubbing my back tire.

New favorite beer:
http://www.flyingdogales.com/Beer-Specialty-Doublepale.aspx
It is about 10 bones for a pack of 4, but it is good and strong!!!

Palmetto Solo,
No matter how red my past may be, I will not buy MGD or the High Life. I would rather drink Old Milwaukee Beer or PBR. But if you are buying, I'm in.

Spanning the State from Mt. Plastic to G-Vegas

2009-08-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

What a weekend!!!
We woke up Saturday at 6:30am and Hannah and I were out the door by 7:30 heading to Mt. Pleasant for her first Academy Soccer Tournament. Games started at 11:30, but we had to pick up Grandmamma and make it to the fields in time to warm up. The first game went well. The girls started slow, but ended up picking up momentum and winning 5-1. The second game started at 4pm and we had been in the sun for a long time. The girls started really slow this time and were down 2-0 in less than 5 minutes. Finally they started playing and ended up winning the game 5-4.
Hannah and I then jumped in the car, and cruised to Columbia for Logan’s BMX race. It started at 8pm and we got there just in time. Logan raced well and got 2nd place in all three motos. I am going to mess with his gears some and see if we can get some a better top speed. He is crushing the competition out of the gate, but is still getting spun out on the last two straights. We ended up shooting the poo with other riders and parents until 9:30 and got home around 10:30pm. It was a long day, but I still had to get everything ready for tomorrow.
Sunday morning rolled around quickly and we were out the door heading to Greenville at 7am. Some friends of ours had requested that Heather take some family photos at Falls Park. There also happened to be a little race happening at this location. We spent a few hours doing the shoot and then the party started. Logan was eating up the atmosphere. He said he felt like he was at the Tour de France. It was very cool! We watched the start, the got some lunch. The riders then came by about every 50-55 minutes. So we would make our way back to the start finish to see them come by. After the 4th lap the race ended in a 3 lap circuit and Big George was in the lead pack of 8 or so. As they started picking up speed they were doing the 4 mile circuit in about 10 minutes. So at the final sprint George takes the win. It was good stuff and Logan watched the whole thing from my shoulders.
Well Logan had brought his Harrell’s winter jacket, made by Hincapie Sports and he really wanted an autograph. I knew this would be tough, but your kids can motivate you like no one else. We chased George through the streets of Greenville until we had him cornered. As soon as they called his name to go on stage, I snagged him and Logan got this.
Now I would normally be ashamed of such a signature that is not even recognizable, but since Logan watched him sign it, it is priceless. He wore the jacket until he went to bed.
We got back to Cola around 10:30 and in the bed around 12. It was a long weekend, but it was great.

(Here is the video of George's win. It was a lot better in real life.)

His first solid food, kind of solid. I love me some sweet potato!

1 Million Dollars!!!!

So much going on…

2009-08-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

We took a week before school started and went to Folly Beach, “Key West of the Carolinas”. It was a good time. Very relaxing and the kids learned a lot.
Logan learned what jelly fish look like and what it feels like to be stung. Hannah learned how to body board. Logan learned how to play all day at the beach drink plenty of salt water and get dehydrated. He called it “home sick”. Hannah learned how to pose for Heather’s photography and get paid. Logan learned how to catch crabs with dead fish. Hannah learned that with 7 adults in the house, if you ask enough people, you will eventually get the answer you want.

New Beers consumed during the vacation:
Terrapin Indian Style Brown Ale
http://www.terrapinbeer.com/beers/7-India-Style-Brown-Ale-
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2372/36195
Good beer, not too hoppy, decent price.

Smutty Nose Old Brown Dog Ale
http://www.smuttynose.com/beers/full_time_beers/old_brown_dog.html
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/141/35653
Another good beer, but over priced. If you like brown ale, I suggest the terrapin over the smutty nose.

But lately I have been cheap and I find the best beer for my money is a $6.45 six pack of Budweiser American Ale. Good taste, good amount of hops, and not as boring as Bud Select (my other regular beer).
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/43118

Hannah is playing on the Academy Soccer team this year. She practices 2 days a week for 1.5 hours. Now that I do not coach her team, I have taken the opportunity to exercise during her practice. So lately I have been riding Sesqui on the 69SS or running the 5 mile loop. I have to keep mixing it up or boredom will set in, but it is much better than sitting at the house.
I really need to find some time to get up to to the mountains of NC.

The next few months are about to get crazy.
We are looking forward to a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge in NC. The family of one of Logan’s friends from school wants to go. Then we have a week of Disney at the end of September. Then we have a Wedding in NC the following weekend. Then my project is scheduled to be complete in the beginning of November. Then the Holiday madness begins. Then we have a cruise scheduled to the Bahamas the first week in January. All of this while Hannah is has a soccer game almost every weekend. YE-HAW.

Well if the riding sucks,

2009-08-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

then the drinking must compensate.
It never fails that after a good mountain ride, I find it hard to find motivation to ride the same ole, same ole. Logan has also been requesting 2 – 3 rides per week which only leaves 1 – 2 selfish ride times available if any weekly chores are actually going to get done. So to compensate for the lack of spectacular riding, I have started some spectacular drinking. It really is not spectacular, but it sounds good.
This past week I have sampled 4 new craft beers and this is my opinion of them.
1. Hop Wallop by Victory. http://www.victorybeer.com/hop_wallop.aspx
Just as the name implies, a lot of hops. Very bitter, but refreshing. This was my least favorite of the bunch, but worth trying. The price for a 6 pack was something like $11.
2. Hop Devil by Victory. http://www.victorybeer.com/hopdevil.aspx
Not nearly as hoppy as the Wallop, but just enough for a good summer beer. It ranks 3rd of the 4 beers, but also worth trying. Pricing is similar to Hop Wallop.
3. Loose Cannon by Heavy Seas. http://www.ccbeer.com/beerlist/Heavy+Seas
This beer is now one of my favorites. It has a great taste with a lot of hoppiness, but not overwhelming. The % of alcohol is high enough to justify the $9.99 price tag for a six pack and it can easily be found at the local Publix supermarket. This one I highly recommend.
4. Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Company. http://www.stonebrew.com/arrogantbastard/index.php
This beer ranks in my top 10. The taste is excellent, alcohol content is good, and the marketing is super. The cap says something to the effect of, Hated by many, loved by some”. Put a few of these back and I could easily become an arrogant bastard. The only down side to the beer is price. At $16 a six pack and $4 a 22oz, they are proud of this brew. But Damn it is good!

Disclaimer: I know nothing about beer brewing, tasting, or rating. I am only proficient at consuming. Therefore the comments above only reflect my opinion, which is worth less than the time you spent reading this.

Life is GOOD!

2009-07-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here I sit Monday morning at the desk, working for the man, reminiscing about another great weekend.
We went back up to the mountain house Friday afternoon after work and arrived around 4pm. This time we had three families total, which came out to 9 children ranging from 5 months to 12 years old and 6 adults. CRAZY does not even begin to explain it! So the guys got the grocery list and headed for the store. The ladies actually put beer on the list as if we were going to forget it. $300 dollars later we were set for the weekend and all that was left was relaxing and enjoying some cold beverages.
I knew I was getting up early in the morning for NORAMM so I hit the sack around 1am. It was all good until Mr. Beam showed up.
Saturday morning came fast. The house was actually quite for a change. I made some coffee, and egg sandwich, and headed out the door. The drive was excellent. It was three miles to the Parkway, 25 miles South on the Parkway, and then 5 miles to the shuttle location. I got there early, adjusted all the air shock thingies and tire pressure and waited on the group to show. Broussard was the first to show and the only one who decided to ride up 181 at 7am in the morning. He was looking kind of rough from the previous night’s festivities at the camp. About 20 minutes later the rest of the group arrived ready to rip up some new trail. Eric has some good pics and video over here. Of the group of 8, I think only 2 have been out here before. We started down with a pecking order of fast to not as fast. Even with 5” of travel and a big ole 2.5” front tire, I knew to hang at the back. The only guy behind me was Broussard who favors trails that go up and was riding a custom soft-tail SS with a 80-100mm fork. The unmarked, unmapped trails are just amazing! It does not get much better than what we rode. We would descend for miles before going up, there was very little hike a bike, and the trails are SOOOO fast. They have a, you could die around the next corner feeling to them the whole time.
We made it to the bottom in around 3 hours with only two flats, one wrong turn, and no injuries. That is really impressive for a group of that size. Jonathan had a beer drop about 1.5 hours in, and then we fueled up again at camp before heading out for Sinkhole. The climb up to Sinkhole was great. While others might be watching the Tour or prepping for ORAMM, I was grinding my way up a LOOONG climb anticipating another fantastic descent. 1.5 hours later we started down and it was fast. We then went back to the camp and Jut opened a cooler with a keg of Pisgah Organic. It really does not get any better than this. Unfortunately, the riding was over, but all I had left to do was drive back to the mountain house and relax. I was in the bed by 9:30 dreaming of screaming down the mountain.
Sunday came and it was family time. I made a breakfast for 15, really 14 because Eli is still on the teet, but I am sure there is a trickle down affect in there somewhere. We loaded up the group and headed to Upper falls off of 181. It was probably only 5 miles from our shuttle location from the previous day. I loaded myself like a pack mule and we took the family down a 1 mile strenuous hike. I get to carry Eli in the front with one of these and a backpack on the back for towels, bottles, food, and drink. But it is all worth it to get the family into some of the prettiest wilderness around. Up from Upper Falls is a swimming hole with a natural rock slide and a rope swing. We got to the top of the slide and the water did not feel too bad. Then after sliding down and going deep into the hole, you realized that the water could not be warmer than 45 degrees. It would just take your breath away. We all played for a while, ate some lunch, and then started the hike back. From there we headed to Linville Caverns. The kids have never been “in” a mountain before and they were excited to see what it was like. After that we headed back to the house, loaded the car and headed back to cola.
What a good weekend… I am already looking forward to my next trip.

My boy kills me!

2009-07-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

He may actually like bikes more than I do and I have just nurtured that passion. About three years ago he pitched a fit at the bike shop because I would not buy him a kids road bike that was way too big for him. Paul still talks about that today.
With the Tour going on now, he will watch parts of it, but is not crazy about it. I have pointed out to him that Mark Cavendish is an ex-BMX champ and just so happens to be the fastest man in the world. So we have watched his 4 wins in this years tour in amazement.
Getting to the point…
Logan has been racing kids in the neighborhood for the last couple of weeks. We have a double ended cul-de-sac so the race starts on one end, goes all the way to the other cul-de-sac, turn around and race to the start finish. Anyways Logan is fast enough to beat even the older kids. We were out there watching the show and Logan comes across the finish line with his hand shaped like a phone up to his ear and pointing to his shirt with his other hand. I about died! He neighbors were looking a Heather and I like we were idiots, but it was priceless. I really wish I had a photo of that moment.

NORAMM Training Day #1

2009-07-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

The now annual NORAMM is quickly approaching and have to get into shape. So yesterday I started my training. This years NORAMM will be held at an undisclosed location, with an undisclosed duration, on an undisclosed date. It will also be put on by an individual that gathers with similarly minded individuals who often inflict self punishment upon themselves for unknown reasons. Not like whips and chains, but more like rigid SS rides in 36 hour non stop events just to see where the limit is. It probably has some underlying cause like guilt for being such asses, but I am not sure. I personally am not as hard core as some of the WNDC, but do have aspirations of one day being accepted by the group. So I have started my training program.
Yesterday after work I drove deep into the jungles of Sumter, SC to ride the less ridden trails out at K3. I arrived at the lot with nothing more than 2-22oz FatTire brews, and the ole 69SS. Before leaving the parking lot one was gone, about 1 hour in the second was gone. 20 Minutes later I was packing up and leaving. I obviously still have a lot of training to do. That place is just packed with the biggest spiders in the state. I would go for about ¼ mile and plow through five or more webs until I would hit the one that had the maker still in it. Then I would jump off of my bike and do the spider dance. There are a few lucky people who have actually seen the spider dance before, but not many. After an hour and 20 of that, it was all I could take so I packed it in.
My goal through this training program is to build my tolerance so a repeat of last year’s 2am "call out" does not happen again. I will also need to condition my system to be able to ride and function on beer alone due to the fact that the scheduled drops probably will have nothing more.
I can't wait!

Mountain Weekend

2009-06-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend at our neighbor's mountain house. It is tucked in between the towns of Boone and Blowing Rock only about 2-3 miles from the Parkway. This is the view from the upper level back porch. While it was 110 degrees in Cola, I enjoyed 75 degree temps and many cold beverages on that porch.

I had done some internet research for some trails and thought I found something that Logan and I could ride. It took us an hour to drive out there and we could never find the trail. It was really overgrown in this part of Pisgah. We did find this trail and gave it a go. It started off easy, but quickly got to be too much for the little guy and we turned around. At least we made it out in the woods for a while.

Later that day we took the family out to the Linville area. The look out over the gourge is pretty nice. Next time we need to get to the caverns.

On Sunday we headed to Grandfather Mountain. They have black bears, otters, mountain lions, eagles, and deer kept in habitats in the park. Then we headed up the mountain along the short but fun hiking trail. The temps up there were probably in the 50s. Logan got to wear some cold weather riding gear since we were not prepared for those temps. On the way up the mountain you could hear the wind howling through the bridge. I bet it was blowing 65mph. The video below shows how bad it was up there.

We got back to Cola on Monday. I am ready for my next trip up there. This time I will take the road bike because of how close the parkway is. I will probably still bring the MTB just in case.

Here is a recent of Eli, getting chubby like should.

Dupont

2009-06-15T06:55:00.000-07:00

Dupont never lets me down. It has probably been 1 year since my last ride in Dupont, not because I have not been up that way, but because lately when I have been up there we have rode Pisgah instead. It is always such a difficult decision on where to ride when going towards the mountains. I experienced a similar situation when I went to Green’s Friday to buy beer. There are like 2000 choices and they all look good. Luckily when it comes to riding in the WNC I am not going in blind. Jonathan is always up to providing a guided tour. And like always the route is a blast.
The ride time posted was 9am. I arrived at the parking lot around 8:20 with plenty of time to get everything prepared for a long day in the saddle. David George and Jonathan pulled in around 9am and we hit the trails around 9:30. I have no idea what trails we hit, but we rode for about 5-6 hours. On the way out to the Ridgeline trail we hit some new trail and stopped at the bottom along a fence. I thought Jonathan was taking care of business in the bushes, but then he emerged with two PBR lights. Bonus.
We then went out to Ridgeline (the only trail name I know) and back towards the cars. It was a damn good day on the bike. It was also the first time I have had the SS in Dupont. I was running a 33X20(42.8”) gear which was perfect for the day.
One thing I know for sure is that I have to move closer to that area. Life is too short to let those experiences pass me by.
It looks like the next time I go up there may be the Father/Son camping trip. Jonathan has generously offered to provide a guide of Dupont’s more kid friendly trails. Logan is already looking forward to it, so am I.

CHIGGERS

2009-06-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature always has a way of evening the score. Tuesday Night we abused the trail, today I have Chigger bites ALL OVER. I even used bug spray, but it must have washed off with all the mud and water.
Karma is a BEE-ATCH!

Singles Night Part Deux

2009-06-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

Last night was my second installment of Singles Night out at Marrington Plantation.
I got to the trailhead a few minutes early eager to try out my new gear. I changed things up to a 33x14 (61” gear) well …because I won last week and I might as well try something different. When I hit the trail there was water everywhere to my surprise. Less than 500 feet in I was covered in SC swamp mud. I went in about 5 miles to check out the rest of the trail and there were some really bad spots. So I took the road back to the parking lot. By this time a few others had arrived.
Now back in the day when I was uneducated about riding, I would ride in any type of weather. The Great Escape in Anderson, SC hated me because I used my 1 year warranty to get just about everything rebuilt on my $400 Trek 4500. Now years later I know better than to ride in muddy conditions. It is not good for the trail or your parts.
So for the record we called the race.
BUT, if the race was to have happened it might have been something like this:
Brad, VW racer boy extraordinaire, was there running his re-built bike from last week. This time he added a tooth to the back for a 42x18 (60.5”). Justin, catch me if you can, was on his new niner with gears. He was supposed to keep in the 32x16 (58”). Sure he did. Joel, Master Brewer and bike handler, had the Mamasita with a sus fork and 36x17? (61.4”). Robby, where did the trail go?, was riding his rigid Raleigh. And Sean, I like singles night, but gears and suspension make a lot more sense to me, was along for the ride.
Same as last week, clockwise and everything out there; into the woods and this time we took it a little slower from the start. Robbie was in the lead until he decided to prove that wet bridges are almost as much fun as slip and slides. While he was floundering in the ditch everyone else was trying to figure out how to make it around him. You would have thought we were racing for the state title. Oh yeah, Brad already has that. I regress, after the pile up the running order was something like Joel, Justin, Brad, ME, Sean, and Robbie. Joel was not feeling the corners with the slick ass mud and let Justin by. Then Brad went by, and then I went by. Justin had started pulling away and that is never a good thing. So Brad and I started working together to catch him. While I was in the lead I blew right by the turn for Fosters Creek (Not Curtis Creek) and we had to back track. Brad was leading into Fosters Creek, but could not hold the pace and let me by. I started getting on it hoping to catch a glimpse of Justin. After a mile or so, I was in no mans land like most races go. I had no idea how far up Justin was or how far back Brad was. I just kept pushing. When I got to Mary’s landing Brad had closed the gap. He would pull me in and then I would pull away. This went on all the way to the finish. The last turn I lost it in the corner and he was right on me. I had to get it together and hammer with all I had. Somehow I was able to pull out second place (Really I cut him off). Justin was still riding around in the parking lot and said he had been there for a few minutes. Then he rubbed it in by saying that he just wasn’t feeling good today. Thanks Man!
Joel was somewhere around 1 minute behind us and Robbie and Sean came in around 2-3 minutes back.
After the race Joel broke out the good stuff! He had a few 22oz bottles of some home brew. It was some of the best beer I have had in a long time. After some appropriate and not so appropriate BSing and cups of brew, I had to head back to the house.
Thanks for another good time.

Logan at BMX

2009-06-05T09:27:00.001-07:00

Click on Image to make bigger.

Tuesday's Singles Night

2009-06-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

….as in single speed night. A few of the Fat Tire Freaks down in the Charleston area have also picked up the single speed fever. They then decided we should race our single speeds on Tuesday nights. Sounds like a good idea to me!
I have taken the 69SS to Marrington one time before running a 52” gear. It was not a good day on the bike and vowed not to ride it there again. The trail might have 300’ of climbing in 15 miles and lots of roots, not exactly ideal for a fully rigid SS. But I am always up for a challenge. I got to the trail head around 5:45pm and decided to do some warming up with the 52” gear. About 10 minutes in I knew it was not enough. So I rode a little further up the road and back to the car to change it out. I ended up putting a 34x15, 59.9” gear, and going from there. Brad was out there running a really tall 42x17, 65.2” gear. I figured he would either kill us or blow up before the end. Joel was running a gear very close to mine. I think it was a 34x17 on a 29er which comes out to a 58” gear. I am not sure what everyone else was running, but I am sure it was close to ours. We decided to do one lap of everything out there backwards. This included some new trail that is really good stuff. As we were tooling around the parking lot, I asked if everyone was ready, they said yes, and I yelled GO! I figured we would take it easy on the flat green leading to the woods, but Joel had other ideas. He took off like a bat out of hell. It was all I could do to keep him in sight. Brad was right behind me pedaling one revolution to my four. We entered the single track and I started to reel Joel in. About 2 miles in I was finally on his wheel, and he decided to pull over and let me by. About that time I hear Brad cussing his bike. I think he dropped the chain. So I kept chugging along wondering how long I could hold off the pack. Within a mile Joel was back on my wheel. About the time we entered Curtis Creek I look back and Brad has managed to pass Joel and was right behind me. Then I hear it, he dropped the chain again. So Joel and I picked up the pace knowing that if we were going to make any time on him it would be in this tight single track trail. That was the last time we saw Brad. He was plagued with mechanicals all day and ended up DNFing. Joel tailed me the entire section. When we got back to the main trail I took a drink and Joel put on the gas. I quickly responded and got on his wheel within 500 yards. I followed for about 2 miles until the end of the Amazon and then took the lead back again. That lasted about another 2 miles and then he passed me about 2 miles before Mary’s landing. At this point I realized that he was the stronger rider today. I could not hold on coming out of the corners and he was looking smooth as usual. He started pulling away and had a good 5-7 second gap on me into Mary’s Landing. He took some water and mashed it to catch his wheel again. We entered the yellow section which is probably the most technical section out there. He started to pull away, but I was able to keep him in sight. For the next 3-4 miles I just conserved energy and drafted when I could. When we came out on to the paved section, I pulled along side him, talked for a second and then spun as fast as I could. After two quick spins I looked back and he did not respond to the attack. This was exactly the gap that I needed. So I hammered it for the last mile and pulled a victory with Joel less than 10 seconds behind. My prize is a 6 pack of Don’s Home Brew. I look forward to sharing it next Tuesday after another fun installment of Singles Night.

Weekly Update:

2009-05-26T10:23:00.001-07:00

Cycling - Riding lately has been reduced to 2 or 3X per week. If I am lucky, at least one of those days is a dirt day. Last Friday I made it out to Harbison to get in some good miles. I was on the fence about which bike to ride. I have not had the Cake on the dirt since 2008, and the 69SS is pretty rough on the bones. After much debate I settled on the 69SS. So we went out and hit Lost Creek as hard as I could, then straight to Spider Woman (w/ inner) and then out to the parking lot. The mileage was not big, but quality over quantity, I always say. I am running a 52” gear right now which is all I can handle in Spiderwoman. I actually cleared innerwoman, but lost it at the top of the rock garden. And I think that is why I keep riding the 69SS. The trail is alive, there is no time for day dreaming, and I still can not ride everything. It is almost like starting all over again.
So, another month passes and no dirt for the Cake. Maybe I will take her out in June, Maybe not.
BMX Boy- Logan had another race this weekend out at Columbia BMX. He won the race pretty easily. I was a little disappointed because he kept looking back in the turns to see where his competition was. It was a half hearted attempt. There is a Pro-Am this weekend at Lexington. I am sure the competition will be good there and he will get a chance to see some pros do it the right way.
Soccer Girl- Well the club decided not to have the end of the season tournament. So, no redemption for the Honeybees. Hannah tried out for Academy soccer last weekend and made the team. That means I will not be the coach any longer. After 5 years of coaching I am actually going to miss it. She rocked out the try-outs and now we are looking forward to increased competition. I can not believe how much this sport costs. It went from $150 per year to over $800. Oh well, there goes my bike budget.
Bouncing Boy- Eli is now 3 months old and I am not sure if he ever sleeps. He is going to be just like the other 2, bouncing off of the walls all the time. I know this because when I sit down with him he fusses. There is nothing wrong with him, he just wants me to walk him around. So I face him outwards and walk, outside, inside, wherever. He just wants to walk around and look at things. The other two were exactly the same. I am starting to believe that my wife and I are like Nitro and Glycerol. Harmless when separate, but when mixed, BOOOM!
War Department- She is starting a business in photograph. She is accumulating all the toys and has had a few shoots. I will post her pictures here next time. Right now she is doing free sittings for experience and charging for the digital photos.
Maybe this will actually pay for itself, or maybe even some of our other hobbies.

PMBAR 2009

2009-05-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Where to start?
Team Tripp’in on Lactic Acid has successfully completed the 4th straight PMBAR. (Unofficially the longest running team to do so)
I arrived at the N. Pines camp site on Friday around 6pm. BrouSSard and Jonathan were there to heckle me while I started wrenching on the gears. I quickly found out I had the wrong chain ring. It should have been a 3/32 ring instead of a 1/8. After a few choice words and a couple of beers, I calmed down and put on the 33x21 gear (40.9”). I had planned on running a 34x22 (40.2”). I know it is not much of a difference, but I had rode a 32x20 (41.6”) a few weeks back and thought it was too tall. (I really spend too much time fretting about gears) It turns out that the 33x21 was perfect!
Saturday morning came quickly; we suited up and headed to the start/finish at the Black Mountain Trail Head. After checking in and BSing with some other riders, Eric handed out the maps and said Go! We opted to start up Black without looking at the map. That is one hell of a way to start a race. I paced myself fairly well knowing it was going to be a long day. Around 1 hour into the climb we were at the Turkey Pen trail head and it did not hurt nearly as bad as it has in the past. It almost seemed quick. Then down Turkey, which was in great shape. We snagged CP#1 and off we went to Squirrel to grab #2.
I got lost after that because I thought we were staying on Squirrel, but we ended up on a Fire road climb going towards Pilot Rock. I have never been on Pilot before, so this was a new experience for me. We hiked it up, most of it looks rideable. At the top we grabbed #3 and made the decision to go get 225 instead of 5000. This would mean that we get to go down Pilot now. It was a bit technical and rough riding on the rigid fork. I had a small miscalculation and went OTB in the hum-V section. I checked over myself and my bike. I am not sure how I wrecked there surrounded by boulders and did not break anything. Apparently luck was on our side today. We made it to the fire road and started the grind. We were about 6-1/2 hours in at this point and now we had to go out to 225. I was actually looking forward to some long fire road riding for a change. It would be a lot easier on the bones. On the way out to snagging 225, Wes D passed us. We were guessing that his team was the race leader at this point depending on what other teams had done. After grabbing #4 we started heading back to the Start/Finish and keg. It was now acceptable to start day dreaming about keg beer.
There are a few things I have learned riding with Jonathan on all these years. Something is going to break, get lost, or left behind. The question is, “What?”. PMBAR 2006 Lost the Map while falling down the mountain on Laurel. Double Dare 2007 left backpack at the start finish on the starting time trial. PMBAR 2008 – Broken handle bar while going 20+MPH down Clawhammer. Now this year...
The answer came while blazing down some fire road around a blind left turn. Jonathan had been leading the way and was about 20 yards in front of me. As I came around the corner I saw one of my night mares come true. (Getting hit by a car) The Drunken Monkey was laid up underneath a Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jonathan was staggering around like he just got clocked by a MMA fighter. I wish I could have seen the whole thing, just to see how he pulled it off. He must have laid the bike down and somehow bailed to the outside of the corner just before striking the jeep. After we determined that no one was hurt, I laughed uncontrollably for at least ½ hour. How the HELL did he pull that off without hurting himself? Simply AMAZING is all I can say. The guy’s face driving the jeep really summed it up. All he kept saying was, “Are you really okay?” He just looked shell shocked. The only damaged incurred was a broken front break lever. Ironically the only carbon fiber on his bike. Also ironic that last year he descended Black with no handle bar. Again this year he went down it with only one brake.
A few miles later Jonathan informs me of a mishap from earlier in the day. While getting ready before the start he put a drop of bleach in his eye instead of eye drops. He decided not to tell me so I did not freak out. That is insane! A normal person would have lost it, grabbed a first aid kit and eye wash to flush it out. But no, Jonathan just toughs it out so his partner does not loose it. Again we were lucky that there were no ill affects. You know, blindness, or a desolving eyeball.
We made it back in 10 hours with four check points for a 17th place finish. 17th also happens to be the place we got last year, but it only took us 6-1/2 hours then. Eric definitely stepped up the difficulty this year.
As to be expected, this years PMBAR was a great event. Thanks to all the volunteers people that made it happen. I am already looking forward to next years PMBAR.

BMX Race #2

2009-04-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

Columbia BMX off of I-20 held a weeknight race on Tuesday. Coming off of Logan's 2nd place / Last place finish over the weekend, he was eager to give it another shot. I have changed his gearing to 49.9" and this would be the first time he got a chance to ride it.
When we pulled up there were a lot of kids there, so we were hoping for a good size moto for him to race. Turns out only one other kid was in his group. So we warmed up for about an hour, then it was time to race. He lined up on the gate and waited for the signal. You are supposed to try to break down the gate when the first light goes off. His timing was a little early and he spun out before the gate even dropped. Amazingly, he did not loose his balance, kept it upright, and still beat the other kid into turn #1. He won the first moto by a few seconds. Coming out of the Finish area he gave the fist pump and we shared exploding fists for his first victory.
The other racer has been racing for about 8 months, so I was expecting him to step it up for moto #2 and the final. Our plan was to take it a little easier on this moto and save energy for the final. He got a great start out of the gate, beat him through turn #1, then backed it down to finish a few seconds ahead.
For the final race we planned to go all out and leave it on the track. He made it clean out of the gate and kept the gas on all the way to the end. He finished while the other guy was still half way down the final stretch.
He is very proud of his 1st place finish and trophy. If nothing else, this was a huge confidence builder. He is already looking forward to the next race with hopes that the moto will be much bigger. I got a feeling that we will be traveling to race before the year is over.

Weekly Update

2009-04-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

Last week was not the best for riding. I spent a few days recovering from the 6 hour race in Rock Hill. Rode K3 on Tuesday. It rained like crazy for about an hour out on the trail. You know it is bad when there is standing water out there. IPOD died due to rain. There goes my only riding buddy. I guess I am back to listening to the voices in my head. Thursday did some spinning at 5:30am and that about sums it up.
I really wanted to race the Harbison Race on Sunday, but the wife pulled a trump card. I will be missing a few Sundays at church this month due to PMBAR and my niece's birthday party, so my attendance this Sunday was mandatory. I did manage to get a road ride in after church.
I have a great 50 mile Lake Wateree loop from the house. (Lots of climbing!)

Saturday morning we had a soccer game at 9am. The girls lost their first game this season. They are now 4-1. Again I am torn between how to coach these games. The other team played the same players in the same positions all game long. In other words, he played to win. I on the other hand, I rotated players through all positions making sure everyone gets equal playing time and an opportunity to grow in all aspects of the game. We lost 1-0 and had a lot of opportunities. I have now decided that we will continue to play this way in regular season, but come the end of the season tournament, IT IS ON. Here is an early prediction. We are taking home the title for Spring '09.

Logan had a his first BMX race in Lexington Saturday night. Due to other events in the area, turnout was not great. There was only one other boy in his moto and he has been racing for a year. In the first moto Logan beat him out of the gate and through turn 1, but then the other boy took him on the second straigth and on to win. Logan did not win any of the motos that night, but kept it close. He was pretty upset about it, but nothing too bad. On the way home I explained that now he knows he has to work at this to get good and not to be a quitter. His response was, "I am not a quitter,... I am a loser". He kills me.
We are going out to Columbia BMX tonight to get in some practice and try out his new gear. I think some of the reason he could not keep up with the other boy is because of the gearing he is running. He was spun out real early, but getting out the gate well. His bike came with a 40" gear. I put a 15 on the back for a 43.3", but that still is not enough. We are going to try out a 49.9 today and see how it goes.

Grind on the Green Stats Update

2009-04-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

The results have been posted at http://www.charlottemtnbike.com/GrindontheGreenway/results.htm

I managed to pull 7th out of 14 SS riders.
56 miles in 5:41:55 which comes out to a whopping 9.8mph average.
30th of all 92 riders that started. (B-)

Lap 1 52:58
Lap 2 51:21
Lap 3 54:43
Lap 4 58:54
Lap 5 1:05:32
Lap 6 1:01:31

Grind on the Green

2009-04-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

I love racing!!! For some reason I will go through all kinds of obstacles to make it to a race. Then there is the nervous feeling at the beginning, just wondering if you are ready. Are my tires good? Did I eat right? Is this the right gear? How is my body going to react to the first race in 5 months? Then they say “GO” and it is on. The pain, suffering, regret, and reward.
I had spoken to Toby P. the weekend before and he said the winner last year was running a 52” gear. So I pre-rode the course on Thursday to check out the 52” gear and after two laps I knew I could not push it for 6 hours. Apparently I am a wuss, but how much of a wuss am I? I could not decide whether to run a 50.5”(33x17) or a 47.7”(33x18). Since I have not been on the SS for more than a month, I had no idea how much the percentages would affect me. I settled on the 50.5 in hopes that I would not get dropped too early in the beginning.
The first lap started with a mass start at the bottom of a soggy, grassy hill that we had to climb every lap to the start / finish. Nothing is worse than riding through an area that has not been packed down. We headed down some fire road that bottle necked into single track. Like every other timed multi-lap race I have participated in, the first lap sucks! There were people in front of me just cruising along like it was a Sunday recovery ride. The trail was mostly tight single track, so passing was difficult, especially if the person holding up the group was 5 people in front of you. After the first lap I felt pretty good… I was on the edge of pain, just had not stepped over it yet. At this point I did not see any of the fellas that were there. I believed that Toby P., Dennis K., Broussard, and Eric were in front of me. That is a good assumption due to that fact that most of the time they are. I was guessing that Dennis M. was behind me, but I did not know for sure.
The second lap was probably the best. The early single track was open and fast. The second part of the trail, which was tight, rooty, sometimes sloppy, singletrack was a lot faster when I could plan the climbs and rail the downhills. About half way into the lap I passed Toby P. He was definitely regretting the 52” gear. We chatted a while. I kept at my pace and the next thing you know, he wasn’t behind me any more.
The third lap was beginning to get uncomfortable. I was still riding mostly everything out there and having a good time. Almost halfway into the lap I see Dennis K. up ahead. I am starting to think that I am either having a really good day, or everyone else is just hung over. Chatted up with Dennis for a while and kept on moving.
The forth lap is where the pain really started. My gut started to get that feeling that it was not digesting any energy, and I may just crap myself at any moment. Then the cramps started. I walked most of the sloppy stuff and even the mushy hill at the bottom of the Start/Finish. When I finished that lap I noticed that Dennis M. was at the RV cleaning his drive train. The mud had taken its toll on his bike and he was making some repairs. He had finished 3 laps and looked to be suffering pretty good. It was almost 3PM when I finished that lap. I knew that I would have to put in two 45 minute laps to make the 7th lap. Chances are that I was not going to be able to do that, but 2 more laps would be required.
Lap 5 was as bad as the 4th. Somewhere along the back half of this lap Dennis Kuntz passed me. I cussed him and he just kept motoring on. I passed him back in the pit area while he was taking a break, I just kept on rolling. Dennis M. was hanging at the RV with street clothes on. His day must have ended after lap 3. I figured any day now Toby would be passing me too.
Lap 6 was pretty good. My stomach pains and cramping had gone away. I was now riding most everything again. Then, Dennis K. passes me for the 2nd time. He was moving pretty good too. There was no way I could have caught him. Finished up the lap and not make the cut off. I knew that I wouldn’t, and not sure that if I did that I would have gone out again.
I think that I finished 8th out of 14 single speeders with 6 laps in 5.75 hours. I had hoped for a better placing, but the mileage is about what I expected. Looking at last years results; the same finish would have landed a 3rd place finish.
Congrats to the guys that placed:
Broussard 2nd in 30-35.
Eric 2nd in 45-50.
I think Dennis K got 5th in 30-35.

The 69SS was a lot of fun to ride. The simplicity served me well in the mud, but some suspension would have been nice on that trail.
All in all it was a good day. I got in a great training ride before PMBAR and met up with some good people.

PMBAR Training Ride?

2009-04-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday I went up to Pisgah to ride the 69SS for the first time up there. Not knowing what to expect, I ran a 32x20 or 41.6in gear. Jonathan and Rob met Dennis, Jim, and I at the Black Mountain trail head, which is the start of the PMBAR. We did two warm up loops on Sycamore Cove and ???? (close seasonal trails), which took about 2 hours. I do not think that I have ridden either of the trails. They were a blast. It also gave Dennis and Jim an opportunity to see what it was all about before embarking on a bigger journey. We got back to the cars around 12noon and decided to head up Black in true PMBAR fashion. Up until this point I had climbed most everything out there. Not as much as Rob who seemed unstoppable and was running like a 44.2 inch gear. At the club gap intersection Jonathan wanted to take the fire roads, which in hind sight would have been a good idea to test the gear. But I talked the group into climbing over the top of Black, which is really more of a hike. Once we got to the top we hung out at the overlook and decided our fate for the rest of the day. We thought of taking black to bennet, but that was probably a good 2 hour ordeal, so we decided to reap the fruits of our climb and ride back down Black. I have ridden that down hill at least 8 times from club, but only once from the top. It is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of riding, but this time riding rigid was going to be a different experience. About 10 minutes into the descent my arms and hands were killing me. It probably took 35 minutes to get to the bottom and I was the last to get there. PAIN best describes that experience.
Reflecting on the ride I think I am going to ride a 33x22 or 32x22 at PMBAR. Hopefully it will not be too slow, but I should be able to ride a little more of the trail. The 69er rigid set up rocks in Pisgah!!! I have better control of the bike on climbs and as long as the descending does not get too fast, it is easy to keep control. The 29er front wheel roles over just about anything. The bike is more limited by my fears than anything else.
The ride was a good one. No mechanicals, injuries, flats, or bonks. Even though Dennis tried to test the coefficient of friction on a wet bridge and found there was none.

On a side note: I can not wait to get this bike to Dupont!

Day out at Harbison with the Boy

2009-03-25T10:44:00.001-07:00

Here is Crash with his full face helmet on ready to start the ride. I can't even get him to wear his regular helmet anymore, the full face is sooooo much cooler.

We ended up doing the outer loop counter clockwise in about 1.25 hours. He climbed everthing out there and wanted more.
This is a video of him cruising down the rerouted section near the bluffs.
Turn the volume down. All you hear is a concerned parent urging his kid to slow down.
What have I become?

Ride in Pisgah this weekend. I can not wait to get up there to try out the 69SS.

Daddy's got a brand new ride!!!

2009-03-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

I have been toying with the idea of Single Speed, 29er, Rigid, Steel for some time, but could not find exactly what I was looking for.

I decided on a 16" On-One Inbred for 26" wheels. The nice thing about this frame is that it has sliding drop-outs and a hanger in case I wuss out. The frame has a long top tube, 23", which matches the Cake and gives me the stretched out feeling that I like. I went with the On-One 29er carbon fork with 47mm offset so that I could run it 69er or 26er. Currently it is set up as a 69er.

I took the bike out for the first time yesterday at Killer 3 on the way back from Charleston. The gearing is set up at 33-17 which seemed perfect for me. I have to say that this is one sweet ride! I was only searching for gears when I felt spun out, but this is K3 and it is a fast trail. Most of the climbs were not a problem, and the lack of suspension really did not bother me either. Now I can see why so many people ride SS bikes. They are quite, efficent, simple machines. And the 69er set up is going to stay. It is hard to beat that 29er up front. The stearing is going to take some getting used to, but it is much quicker than I anticipated.

I look forward to riding it at Harbison on Friday (as long as it does not rain)

Hopefully I will get to try it out at Dupont around the end of the Month!

Eli Photo of the day:

He looks like that guy off of Grumpy Old Men :)

New Member of the Family

2009-03-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

Eli

I am not sure what he is smiling about. All he does is Eat, Sleep, and Poop. Maybe he is thinking how good life is. Every time he cries a boob gets put in his face. I guess I would be smiling too.

No Cycling Going On

2009-01-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

Lately life is getting in the way of cycling:

The wife is pregnant and on bed rest for the next four weeks at least. This increases my responsiblities and makes any personal training seem really selfish.

Logan got a BMX bike for Christmas so we get out to Lexington BMX and Columbia BMX every chance we get. I really need my own bike so I can get some exercise while he is riding for 2-2.5 hours.http://www.lexingtonbmx.com/, http://www.columbiabmx.org/.

Check out that Kuwaharra lazerlite in the background. Santa rocks!!! Apparently he shops at Harrell's too.

Santa also brought a drum set so Logan can rock too.

Last little update.

As we know January 19 is Martin Luther King Day. Logan's class had a project about "I have a dream". This is what he came up with.

It says " I dream about a ras calld the Tr de France my dad bete Lance Armstrong"
I wish I could live up to his dreams. It is great being a super star in a childs mind.
He has a better chance of accomplishing that dream than I do.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia

2008-12-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well almost. There was no duel and we did not get to Georgia (just to the boarder), but I had to sell my soul and/or services to go.

Motivation to ride lately has been hard to come by. It could be that the majority of my mountain bike miles have been in Dupont, Pisgah, and Clemson. That makes it really hard to get excited about local riding at Harbison or Sesqui. Due to the fact that I am in Charleston during the week Marrington is another option that I exercise once a week, but that becomes painful after a while. Road riding is out because it sucks, and it sucks even worse in the cold. It is only worth doing if training is required. So due to the lack of motivation, time, and a number of other excuses, the motor for my bike is running pretty poorly.

Turns out J. Laroy came to town this past weekend and we made plans to go out to FATS. It had been about 15 months since my last visit, and they have cut some new trails out there. Sounds like the perfect remedy to a boring bike life.
Of course we nailed down the details before I proposed the trip to the war department. I knew it would be a difficult sale with Christmas around the corner and a baby due in March, but it was worth a try.
As any good salesman does, stay away from questions. Questions leave the door open for the answer to be “No”. Instead make statements like, “Jonathan is coming in town and we are going to ride out at FATS on Saturday morning”. That way the only response is, “Oh Really!” Then you start the bargaining process. 1st you must reason that it will not affect her in any way. “We are leaving before the sun comes up and I should be home shortly after lunch”. Even if this is not completely true, your intentions are good and sometimes it is easier to ask for forgiveness.
The conversation ended in me performing many hours of manual labor in the form of painting, drywall work, and finish carpentry throughout the remainder of the weekend. The list is so long that I will be working on it well into the work week.

So was it worth it? Selling your soul to the devil for a ride? (She is not really a devil) However one of her favorite quotes is, “When her feet hit the floor every morning, the devil says, “Oh shit, she’s up”.
YES it was worth it. The temps were low, but the trails were in great shape. We did not even pass one rider the whole day. The new trails are very FATS like, but not as wide. So if you like BMX style trails in the woods, there is 50 miles of it out there. If you are more into the hand built single track with “real” trail features then all you have to do is go 10 minutes away to some of the older stuff, Modoc and all.
We got about 3 hours of ride time in and decided to celebrate with some beverages and then head to the house.
I got home around 2:30 and went on a ride around the neighborhood with Logan. An hour later I was on work detail until bed time.

To Be Thankful

2008-12-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was Thanksgiving so I will take some time to reflect and show thanks. Even if the holiday is based around the whole Native American and Pilgrim relationship that did not end so well, at least for them. I digress.
Things I am Thankful for:
Family:
About two years ago this time Heather and I experienced a terrible loss when she had to deliver a child at 20 weeks. It has taken this long for us to be able to reflect and not feel just horrible about it. Long story short is do not get pushed around by doctors. Stay informed and educated. If something feels wrong, it probably is. This was an unfortunate loss that could have been avoided. But now two years later we, really she is pregnant with a little boy and he is expected in March of ’09. Either his first or middle name will be Zachary which means “God Remembers”. It fits.
My wife. Although you drive me crazy most of the time. :) This colorful life would turn grey and unbearable without you in it. Thank you for keeping me grounded.
Our two children are fantastic. They are full of life and joy to be around. My son has a warrior mentality that makes me proud. It also creates difficult situations some times, so focusing this intensity is one of my main objectives. My Daughter is bright, beautiful, and growing up way too fast. She is going to be a lot like her mother. Watch out!
I could not be more proud.
My brother David is home from Korea. He spent the last 5 years in the Army stationed in Korea. He came back with a wife and a daughter, so the family grew a little. It is good to have you back.
To all of my family that has been supportive when necessary, and provided tough love when required. Thank you.

Health:
It seems now more than ever that people are dying of Cancer. This is probably one of the scariest health problems today. When I think of things like the # of people I know that die from car accidents, shark attacks (none yet), and a number of other things, they don’t seem to add up to the # I know that die from cancer or who have had it. Just this year my Sister’s father-in-law was diagnosed with brain cancer and died within 3 months. The same thing happened to a co-worker the previous year. Maybe these deaths just stick out more than others, but none-the-less they are horrible. So this year I am thankful that my family is healthy, we have been spared so far.
Cycling is my therapy, my church, my passion. I am thankful this year for my many rides in many wonderful places. May next year be as fruitful. (With Zachary on the way it may be tough)

Work:
It seems strange to be thankful for work. It would be a lot nicer to be thankful for winning the lottery, but I hear you actually have to buy a ticket to win. With the government spending my grandchildren’s money to bail out the rich, unemployment on the rise, a few trillion dollar deficient, and home/stock prices falling… I am thankful to be employed.

Being an American:
Even if my political views differ slightly/not so slightly from our President Elect. I believe good things happen in America and will continue to. The only other option I could come up with is Australia, and they have socialized health care. So that is not an option. Plus shark attacks goes up in health concerns.
I am thankful to be experiencing this historical time and I pray things go well.

Disclaimer: Since this is more or less just a place to post thoughts and events for my benefit, I need not make the following statement. But since I know someone out there reads this, I will.
Sorry for the sappiness of this post. Just happens to be what is going on upstairs today. I promise future posts to be manlier. They will have more pictures, stories of struggles and success, and maybe even some action videos.

Homecoming

2008-11-18T06:01:00.001-08:00

Not much riding been going on lately. Actually it is down to one day a week, and I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. With the weather turning cold, Heather with child, the Holiday Season upon us, and soccer season still going it does not look good. Funny thing is that I am okay with it for right now. We did not get back into town until noon on Sunday, so I did not have enough time to make it to the race. I really wish I could have gone out and supported it. I will make it next time.

Last weekend we took the family to Clemson for Homecoming and we had a blast. Funny thing is that games are not what they used to be. I mean, they are that way for some people still, but they have totally changed for me. We were up by 7am, fed by 8am, tailgating by 10am and in the game by noon. We left the game at the 4th quater and went to the floats. After a long walk around campus the fam was ready to head back to the hotel and we were in our beds by 9pm.

10 years ago the same weekend would have went something like this.

Wake at 9am, Drink 5 beers, iron some clothes, call my date (it was still Heather), play some really loud music and party in the quad. Then we would make it to the game at noon, maybe stay till half time our until we ran out of drinks we smuggled in. Go back to the quad and eat some burgers, then we would party until 2-3am on Sunday. Those were the best of times, those were the worst of times...

Here are some picks from the weekend.

Hannah outside the Madrin Center.Logan playing CornholePregame show.I think I am so cool.At the floats.This pic was from my ride at Marrington on Tuesday. There aren't any hills, but the views are pretty nice and the single track is tight.

Congaree National Park

2008-11-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

Today we went the Congaree National Park. Here at the kids standing in front of Bald Cypress.

This picture is of a wild pig that we ran across on the boardwalk. We should have had a lot more pictures, except Heather flipped out when she saw it. As we were walking she noticed it first, she turns around with a paniced look on her face and whispers, "what do we do?". I respond, "How about take a picture". The first attempts were sad, and this last one is as the pig decides to cross our path. It was pretty cool to see so larger wild life while out in the forest.

Here is a pic of the inside of a tree.

Logan on a Cypress knee.

A forest of knees.

This is at the foot of one of the tallest trees in the South. It is a 260 year old Lollibee Pine that stands over 160 ft tall.

Looking up.

Fuzzy.

Jr. Ranger Logan.

Look at Mommy's belly in the background.

Jr. Ranger Hannah

Pics from Issaqueena

2008-11-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks Rob and Brado for the pictures I stole and posted on my site.

Yeah, that blurry picture is me on the wall at the DH course.

Sure was purrty up there around the lake.

CranksGiving Clemson 50

2008-11-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I made a trip to Clemson to ride the CranksGiving Clemson 50. http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=464919

The ride started at 9am and we finished up at 3:30. There were probably 20-25 riders and the weather was perfect. Thanks to everyone that put it on and I hope you continue to promote these types of events in the future.

Basically the ride started out with the more popular trails that are in the middle of the two fire roads. Then it branched out to the East side out to Dalton Road to the DH course. Somewhere along the way I missed one of the arrows and had to back track. I finally caught back up with Jay and Jonathan. Somewhere out in the wilderness, while bombing down a fire road, I lost control and had a fantastic crash. We were cruising at 20+MPH, I hit a rock, lost control and ended up flipping into the brush off to the side. Jonathan saw the whole thing and got a good 30 minutes of laughs out of it. I am not sure how I did not break anything on my body or bike, but all was good. Then on our way to the Loopty Loop we saw Rob coming back from the DH course. He must have been laying down the pace, because he was about 4 miles ahead of us. The funny thing is that he decided to turn around and ride it again with the group. He actually stuck around for the rest of the day. I guess he needed some base miles. We made it to CP1 for some liquid refreshments and food and then headed out again for CP2. I decided to take up the lead and missed two important turns. Since I knew where I was, I just finished the section and then backtracked to the waterfall section. I probably missed 4 miles of trail through it all. After the waterfall area I was at CP2 with 35 miles down. No one had seen Jonathan or Rob yet so I waited around for them. After about 10 minutes I decided to head out. Then I remembered that my derailleur was acting up. So I turned around to see if anyone had some tools and up comes J and Rob. So while I fixed my bike they got loaded up and then we took off. This next section of trail down at Doyle Bottom is tight single track that is slow going, but really good stuff. We then went back up the stuff I went down earlier-by mistake, and then on to the finish. We got about 45 miles in. They had food, beer, and prizes for everyone that participated. It was definitely worth the trip to support the Upstate SORBA and get an all day ride in at the place where it all started.

Grades and Voting

2008-11-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

Last year my daughter was in 2nd grade and we had some difficulty getting her motivated to study and pay attention in class. On her last report card of the year she made 1-A, 2-Bs and 2-Cs. So we came up with a financial plan to get her motivated. The way it works is she gets $20 for each A, nothing for a B, and she owes us $20 for everything C and below. We expected that this would help, but nothing like it did. This first quarter of her 3rd Grade year she scored all A’s with the lowest A being a 97. We are extremely proud of her and $100 is what she earned. Now we have taken this opportunity to also teach some other important lessons. She is required to save 20%, donate 10% to what ever charity she wants, and the remaining 70% she can do with what she likes. Now here is where politics gets involved. The school she attends had a mock election for the kids and Obama won by a slim margin. Hannah voted for McCain and was a little let down about the results. She inquired who we were voting for and why. The lesson went something like this:
D: You know that $100 you received for working really hard in Class?
H: Yes.
D: Well you are basically paying 30% in taxes under the current administration. That means while Bush is president only $30 dollars is being taken out of your earnings to pay for roads, schools, military, and government. If McCain is elected you will not have to pay any additional money in taxes. However, if Obama is elected, since you earn the most you can, he will take more money from you and give it the kids like your brother that did not do as well on their report cards.
For example: You will still give your $30 to run the government, but an additional $20 will be handed to your brother to make things fair.
H: But Dad that is not FAIR! I WORKED HARD FOR MY MONEY AND MY BROTHER DID NOT. WHY SHOULD HE GET ANY?
D: Welcome to the Republican Party sweetie.

DD 2008 Photo Dump

2008-10-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Pre Race:

Too Funny!!

Top of Mt. Pisgah Day 1

The Way Down (Pretty Colors)
After the miscalculation...Day 2 going up Art Loab Trail
Top of Art Loab Trail
Almost to 5000'

Time to Celebrate the Top:He has devious plans to hurt me.

Looking Glass along the way

Going down.

Going Up.

Thankfully it is the last climb. Straight up!

Never thought I would get here.

Broussard and Dennis for #2. Congrats

Knee (red hooded sweat shirt) is an alien.

Rumor has it that they stayed up all night drinking and then went on to win the race.

MAD Props.

2008 Pisgah Double Dare

2008-10-21T06:22:00.001-07:00

The memories are still fresh in my mind, and the pain is still very real.
This race/adventure is two 12 hour events with a 6 hour break in between. The first stage of the race starts at 12 Noon on Saturday and ends at 12 Midnight on Sunday morning. Then you get a few hours of sleep before you have to start again at 6AM Sunday and end at 6PM on Sunday. The goal is to make it to as many check points and back before your time has elapsed. The maximum check points are 10.5 in one stage.

Well team formally known as Trippin on Lactic Acid, now team PoooSaaaaay, started out good. The first test of stage 1 was a time trail to some point near the parkway. The details of the location escape me, but it went something like up Claw – down Buckhorn, up South Mills to the parkway, somewhere around there we got to the passports. From there we plotted our course with took us through pink beds (great trail) and then to the parkway for a long climb up near the Pisgah Inn. It was cold and windy the entire time. Every bit of clothing I had packed was now being worn. I bet the wind was gusting at 30-40mph and the chill was close to freezing. Eventually we found the trail head to Mt. Pisgah which was a 1.5 mile hike to the tower, and then we descended to Laurel. It was great how at the top of the parkway you could see that most trees have lost their leaves and as you went down the leaves would change colors. It was the perfect weekend for this event. Coming down Laurel I had a bit of a miscalculation and went down the side of the mountain. I stopped resting on a log that left a big honking bruise on leg. See:
I pulled myself together and rocked on. For some reason I was off all weekend and could not get any confidence. I think Broussard had some Cajun voodoo going on. Then we went down 5015 for the mandatory check pt. From there we hit Squirrel gap which is tough, but really tough in the dark, down Cantrell and then along S. Mills River. I hope I never do that trail again. There are too many deep river crossings and it is way overgrown. Not to mention it was so rocky that I could not get my speed over 4 mph on a flat trail. The temperature had to be in the lower 40s and getting the feet wet made it that much worse. Finally we made it past the Squirrel gap intersection and up S.Mills to Buckhorn. Fueled by a desire not to DNF I started climbing. Jonathan, who had been dragging me most of the day, hit the wall. By the time we got to the Black Mountain/Buckhorn intersection we had about 20 minutes to descend Claw hammer and make it back. We started cruising in the big ring yelling NO DNF the whole way. We made it back with 1 minute to spare. The race goes on.
Afterwards I ate some food and headed into town to let my wife know that I was still alive and she could stop worrying. I got into bed around 1:30AM.
Around 5AM I hear Eric, the evil genius that orchestrated this event, riding through camp ringing cow bells. So Jonathan gets up and starts to try to wake me. I was not going to go, but he kept at it not taking no for an answer. Thankfully he did. We started our next stage at 6:30AM that morning. It was really cold and dark. Everything hurts and I know I have a long day ahead of me. I had a feeling we would be going up most of the day. Sure enough the time trial is to the top of Pilot Mountain which is at the top of Farlow. It took up 2 hours to get to this section and I walked a lot of gravel. By the way that sucks. Finally to the top and there are no Passports. We have to go up to Ivester Gap to get those. Now I am deep in the pain cave and know that we have to go another 1.5 hours up to elevation 5000’. We have been there before and it takes hiking up Art Lob to the parkway and then a lot of road climbing. Then the double track rocky trail begins. We get there and find out that it is the mandatory check point. Great, now all we have to do is descend the parkway, then 276 and we are home with no DNF. That would be too easy. Jonathan had other plans. (He impresses me how he seems to get stronger as the event goes on). He wanted to get at least two other check points. So we did more hike a bike and more hike a bike. Did you know that kicking with a bike down hill hurts almost as much as going up? Sure does. Finally we get the Daniel ridge were we ride up for a while, get another check point, and descend. Now at the fish hatchery we can ride to the camp no problem. But no, Jonathan wants another checkpoint. So we hike straight up to Bennett Gap. Normally this is a great descent, but this time it was all pain. My toes were cramping up. My knees were locked up. Everything hurts! Finally at the bottom and to the finish.
We rode over 100 miles on bike and easily hiked 15 miles. Total time out was 21 hours with a ride time around 15 hours and 11 CPs total.

Now that I have had time to reflect on the race, I am proud of this accomplishment. All of the teams that go out for Pisgah Production Races are asking for pain, and Eric is happy to provide it. We finished a race that we DNFed last year and that is a victory in my book.

Unfortunately I think it is time for a new partner. Jonathan has taken his endurance game to another level, and I can not hang. Thank you for putting up with my mental breakdowns on Sunday and taking us to the finish.

To all teams that raced this weekend… You Rock!

Thanks to Eric and all of the volunteers for putting on a great event.

I will do a photo dump as soon as I get some of the pics from Jonathan.

Passion

2008-10-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing I can relate to my son with, it is passion. Ever since I was a kid I could remember wanting something so bad and dwelling on it until I got there. This related to everything from soccer, cars, RCs, bikes, video games, girls, and the list goes on. My son is no different. I would even go as far to say that he is more passionate than I ever was. And on top of that he has someone there to fuel his flames.
This weekend started with a lonely road ride through NE Cola in an attempt to get ready for this DD challenge on Oct, 18-19. I road about 2 hours at a decent pace and got home around 6pm. Well when I got home the neighbors had started a game of yard golf and some drinking was involved. So I started the relaxing phase of the day. However, Logan had other plans in mind. He insisted that we go on a ride around the neighborhood. I explained that we would go out to Harbison tomorrow and he could wait. In true Logan fashion fueled by passion, No was not an acceptable answer. With an Old Milwaukee in hand it hit me. “Am I really arguing with my son about riding his bike?” I quickly righted my wrong and we started suiting up. The ride consists of paved trails through Lake Carolina that goes completely around the Lake. It is approximately 7 miles with maybe 500 ft of elevation change. We rode it at an average of 10mph or better. I can really tell that he has been riding a lot. He is now biking every day to school and back. And every direction is a race to him.
We even saw a guy on a Tri bike that passed us. Logan tried to run him down, pulled him back for a short time, but could not hold the pace. It was quite funny.
Then comes Saturday: Some fellas were heading to FATS, and I wish I could have made it. I have not been all year and that place is another one of those MTB fun parks. It is just wonderfully made and is super fast. I did not even try to pull this one off because I am going to Pisgah in two weeks and it will be an all weekend thing. I needed to hang around with the fam and get some good riding in with Logan. So around 11am we headed to Harbison. We took the outer loop counter clockwise, missed Crooked Pine, missed the short cut to Spidey, and went down the two longish down hills. This was his first time down these trails and he did great. The reroute out there is really nice. I really appreciate all of the hard work the forest is doing. From there we hit the hiker trail only (Shhhhhh). I do not normally poach trails, but with Logan and the difficulty of the other direction, I figured I would be forgiven. Nobody complained and we kept it slow. Then we hit the new switch backs that go by the Spider woman exit. He rode most of it, but had to walk a few areas. We went down the switchback on the other side and then the entire outer loop from there. It came out to 9.1 miles at an average of 7.2 mph. He climbed everything on the way out and enjoyed the entire ride. He even climbed the long down hill section right after Harder/Easier. I wish I could average my age during a ride through Harbison, or even on the road for that matter.
He says he wants to do Lost Creek next. I explained it was harder than what he just rode, but that is why he wants to ride it. So maybe next weekend, we will see.
Keep the fire alive!

What a Good Weekend!

2008-09-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday started with a lot on the list of things to do.
Go get soccer uniforms
Go pick up the bike
Go get Logan a new BMX Helmet
Watch the Clemson Game
Go to BMX track
Watch the USC Game
Go watch the BMX races in Columbia

Everything was going good until I got to the shop and realized that my bike was on the stand with no fork in it. Turns out the fork will not even be here for a few more days. They quickly throw a spare fork on so that I have something to ride this weekend. We, Logan and I, start looking at helmets while the bike is being worked on. Unfortunately, they don’t have any that will fit his melon. I grab up the bike and head to the next location. Logan then reminds me that I signed a contract last night. He actually handed me a piece of paper Friday night and asked me to write the following: If I do not buy Logan a BMX helmet tomorrow, I will dye my hair pink. JSP”. So following through with my word we kept looking for helmets. He picked a white Bell from one of the other LBSs. On to #3. I made home to watch the 2nd half of the game. Once it was over my shirt was being tugged to go out to the NE BMX track. We went out there and Claude was on his way out of the gate. To my surprise he gladly turned around and let us use some of the loaner bikes. I put some clipless pedals on Logan’s and let him go. Hannah also came and has decided that she wants to participate. She may be a little over booked, but we will see what we can do. She rode the track great and definitely has more since than he. (Of course I mean that in the most loving way to both of them. He is all go and she understands self preservation). I got a chance to ride Claude’s cruiser and I tried some of the Manuals (that is when you fly over a jump and ride a wheelie until you come down the back side). It sure is fun and requires a lot more precision that mountain biking. I just can not stand the repetitiveness of BMX. But as long as the boy is interested, we will participate.
After about an hour of riding we all had enough of the heat and we went home to watch the other game. To my delight USC lost.
Later that night there was a local race out at the Lexington BMX. A buddy of mine put this track together and did a fantastic job. Logan and Hannah got a chance to see what racing is all about and he still wants to play.

Now that I have put in so much family time I have earned some me time. At least that is how it works in my head. Jonathan is finally back on the bike and he agreed to put together an epic in DuPont. So Toby P. and I headed to the hills of NC for some sweet single track. The day could not have been nicer. Temps in the low 80s and a constant breeze. The trail was tacky, but not wet. And the company was a cast of characters that Seinfeld would be proud of. We rode around 40 miles with a ride time around 4.5 hours and lots of breaks along the way. Not exactly epic, but our standards are low. We hit some really nice single track of which most of the trail names escape me. I do remember one downhill called Ridgeline that still makes me smile. Toby had a small miscalculation that resulted in forward somersault down the switchback. Afterwards we shared some beverages and Mexican food.
Thanks to all for the good time!

What? BMX!!!

2008-09-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday I had to run some errands and of coarse my side kick decides he wants to tag along. Nothing new… We run by Home Depot and hear how he really needs this tool that he has no idea what it does. We run by play it again sports and hear how he really wants this $200 radio controlled boat. We run by Todd and Moore and hear how he really needs a new Clemson Football (hard to argue with that logic). We run by Soccer Plus and hear how he needs a mini soccer ball. After defusing all of these wants with “Christmas is right around the corner”, I come up with a brilliant idea. Let’s go by the BMX track and see what is going on. You see, he has been asking for this Trek Road Bike for 2 years now. http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2007/archive/kdr1000

Ever since Paul pulled it down one day and let him sit on it, he has had it in his head that he needed a road bike. I actually had to drag him out of the bike shop that day with tears in his eyes. Of all the things this kid is passionate about, bikes are the main thing. For 2 years now, I have been using the excuse that the road bike is too big for him and he will have to wait until he grows a little. Lately he has been really pushing this so I had to come up with a distraction. That is where BMX comes in. I have nothing against road biking other than dumb @$$ drivers that could kill you and I have no intention of exposing my child to that until I am more confident in his skills. Not to mention that my master plan to create the ultimate cyclist requires MAD BMX skills. So after we run our errands we head to the track. I just wanted him to see what the track was all about and see some riders to see if he is interested. To our surprise there are some guys out there doing some maintenance and a few riders out there. The owner of the track introduces himself and says he has a few loaner bikes and some helmets if we are interested. Dumb question, Of course we are interested. So we suit up and hit the track. His first run is good and safe with no crashes. The second a little faster, and then the third he has his front wheel leaving the ground on the jumps. This scares me a little, because I know what is coming next, a wreck. And sure enough on the forth run he does not utilize the bank, burns the corner and goes right over the far side of the bank. I grab him up, dust him off and explain the dynamics of the bank. Come to find out the whole time I am yelling use the bank, he has no idea what I am talking about. I should have known. He gets back on the bike and we do a few more runs. Then we sit in the stands and watch some of the older guys run some laps. It is awesome to see how those guys handle a bike. They look so fluid.
After a few hours we get the call from the wife, “Where the Hell are you?” “Oh we are just at the BMX track”. “WHAT?” After I explained that it was safer than a road bike and he was ready to start riding she cools down and trusts my judgment. She hates road bikes as well, especially since so many accidents have happened around Columbia lately.

Now a few days have passed and he bugs me every day. He wants to know when he can race. When he can go ride? When he can get a new bike? He has proclaimed that he does not want a road bike (mission accomplished). He proclaims that he is not afraid to wreck, he just wants to race. I can not wait to get him out there. So it looks like one of these is next on the list. http://www.diamondbackbmx.com/bikes/race/nitrus-jr/

And of course if he gets one, I will have to as well.

http://www.diamondbackbmx.com/bikes/race/nitrus-24-2/

I am not a sit on the side lines parent. Watch out world… Here comes Logan!

Priceless!

2008-08-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

This in not staged.

After a weekend of entertaining friends, my son got into the recycling bin and created this.

The next great superhero.... Box Boy!

Not Enough Self Control

2008-08-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you cross a builder, mountain bike enthusiast dad with a fearless boy who loves cycling?

A boy that gets just about everything he asks for cycling related.

Two years ago he asked for a ramp. This is what he got.

Now recently he saw a Downhill video on U-tube and got the idea he needed one of these:

What's next? Maybe a pump track in the backyard if my wife would let us get away with it.

Damascus to Remember

2008-07-31T06:19:00.001-07:00

What was planned to be another family camping trip with a little selfish mountain biking hidden or not so hidden agenda, quickly turned into the 1st Annual Father/Son Camping Adventure.
For weeks we have been planning on going to the mountains as a family and camping. As usual the ladies were not too excited about going, but I expected to drag them along in hopes they would enjoy the experience. Late Thursday on the way home from Charleston I get a phone call from the wife requesting an out for camping. You see, our friends recently had a baby and nothing is more exciting to the girls than a new baby. So Heather and Hannah made plans to go visit friends. This left Logan and I to explore new lands all alone. Turns out Logan thought this was the greatest thing ever! As soon as I got home he wanted to know what time we were leaving in the morning. I told him 10am, which would put us in Damascus around 2pm. Well at 7am on Friday morning he is tugging on my arm asking me when we are leaving. It amazes me (not really) how without the female factor you can actually get everything in the car without playing a life size game of Tetris in the trunk and leave on time. And we were off….
We got to the site around 3pm (a few stops along the way). We were the first to arrive, so we got the camp set up. Actually I got the camp set up while Logan quickly started hunting the local reptilian, amphibian wild life. In no time he had caught numerous salamanders and every rock within a 1 mile radius had been turned over. He even caught some red toads.

Then we decided it was time for an exploratory MTB ride. We rode around the campsite looking for trails. None were suitable for his skill level so we opted for a quick road ride. We did something like 7 miles and went back to camp for some food and to see if anyone had arrived yet.
The next morning Logan woke up before the birds, ready to explore. We ate some breakfast, strapped some shoes on and went for a hike. There was a little ½ mile hiking trail next to the grounds. This was perfect. Once we made it to the trailhead we hiked in and at the fork there was a sign describing the trail as a ½ mile loop. I took the opportunity to explain what that meant. Basically I wanted to make sure he understood that if we stay on the trail we would end up right back at this point again. Before I could finish the lesson he took off running. This makes me laugh inside, because I know exactly what he is feeling. It is the same reason I love mountain biking. There is just a great feeling about moving through the forest as fast as you can go. So we did a little trail run through the woods. He would sprint as fast as he could for about 50 yards and then rest for 10 seconds then he would sprint again. After the run he was spent, so I threw him on my shoulders for the hike back to the campsite.
Once back to the site it was time for some lunch. We got with some of the group to find out what the plans were for the rest of the day. There was talk of the Creeper Trail, but not sure where we would put in or how many miles anyone wanted to do. Finally around 2pm everyone was ready to load up and head into town. About 2:30 we were in Damascus heading up the Creeper with another family.

Logan and I stuck around for a while with them, but Logan wanted to pick up the pace. Once we got out of town and there were no more road crossings, he got out front and put the hammer down. (It was a little hammer) At this point I knew that we were not going to be able to hang around with the other families and that this was going to be a father / son trip.
From Damascus to the top of the White Top is 17 miles and 1700 feet of elevation change up. I knew he would not be able to ride too long going up the whole time, so I packed a retractable dog leash in the camelpak. A few miles in he was slowing, but insistent that he did not need no stinking tow rope. Finally I talk him into letting me tow him up so that we can explore the majority of the trail. I explained that we would haul up the mountain and take our time going down. We cruised up to about 5 miles from the top when I heard him crash behind me. Apparently the retractable feature of the leash quit working and the cord got all tangled up in his front tire. He took it like a champ. He even commented that he can crash now without hurting himself. I then informed him that crashing in mountain biking is just part of riding and that learning how to crash without hurting yourself is a valuable skill to have.
When we stopped we were right next to a set of stairs going down to the river. We went down there and bouldered for a while, threw rocks, and even saw this snake.

After about 30 minutes we jumped back on the bikes and headed down. We had a blast coming down the mountain. We stopped at a few scenic areas and at a trail side store for some ice cream.

We made it back to town around 6pm making this the longest mountain bike ride of his life. 3-1/2 hours. The best part about it is that he never got bored, tired, and is still talking about the ride to this day. We got back, grilled some hamburgers, I indulged in PBR while he over did it with root beer. I would have to say that was the perfect day.
We woke up the next morning exhausted from our adventures, packed the truck and headed back.
Hopefully there are many of these adventures in our future.

Check out these skills.... He is going to be a BAD A$$ one day!

Is this Fitness?

2008-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Cycling is so much more enjoyable when you are in shape!
Almost 7 months into the year, I can finally say that I feel like I am in cycling shape. I am sure that means different things to different people. For me, it means that I can ride the road bike for 2 hours at an average of 20mph solo, or get on the mountain bike and ride knowing there are a few hammers in my pocket. This year has been a good year to date, but I never have felt strong. It felt like I was going out 100% the whole time or riding easy for recovery. As of late I have noticed a familiar, but uncommon feeling that I can turn up the screws, recover, and turn them up again, recover, turn it up and repeat. And that my friend is a good feeling.
Now what to do with this so called fitness?
I need an event to focus on or I will definitely let this fade away. Maybe ORAMM, or SM100. I know that I am doing the Double Dare, but it is just too far away to get me motivated.
Has anyone got something planned? I may even just do a sprint race.

12 Hours of Cranky Monkey

2008-07-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

This race is about 15 minutes from the In-Laws, so I made a deal with the devil and registered to race.
Goals: Ride 100 miles and make the podium.

It had been 24 months and 1 week since my last and first 12 hour solo attempt at the Cowbell Challenge. As I recall there were 30 something solo riders and I finished 10th with 10 – 8.1 mile laps. It was a good race, but there was a fair share of pain, suffering, and heat to go around.

Obviously I forgot about the pain of the Cowbell and was ready to take on another lap race and here is how it went down.
My game plan was to start middle of the pack and stay consistent all day and hopefully pick off the competition. I instructed my Father In-Law that I did not want to know what place I was in until it was time to make the ultimate decision (1 more lap or not).
Lap 1: Started Lemans style and then bottle necked through a gate. It was not the best start to a race like this, but I had 12 hours to race, so I wasn’t in too much of a hurry. There was more carnage on this first lap than any race I have seen before. This trail is NO JOKE. It literally is like 10 miles of Spiderwoman. I bet there is more than 2000 feet of elevation change in one lap and it is almost all single-track. I witnessed a guy going over his handle bars at 15 mph going down a rutted section. It was nasty.
This was my first ride on this course, so I took it easy, passed when I could, and watched for the next big wreck. Finished in 1:08.
Lap 2: This lap was much more enjoyable. Probably the best lap of the day. The traffic was gone, and I climbed everything out there except this one hill that had to be 40% grade. I had the I-9s on with a Dura-race road cassette (probably not the best choice) so my gears were limited, and I did not want to waste too much energy. I remember thinking this trail is a lot of fun! Finished in 1:05.
Lap 3: Still feeling good and pacing myself, nothing much new. I did come across a guy, who must have been part of a team, that was just cussing and wining. I look down at his set up and he has platform pedals, khaki shorts, and road tires. I make a comment that he might want to try some tires with some tread on them and he cusses me. I had to laugh the whole way up the hill. That must have been his last lap, since I never saw him again.
Finished in 1:10.

Lap 4: Finished in 1:10.
Lap 5: Finished in 1:17. Really starting to feel the heat.
Lap 6: Took a break to change clothes and re-butter. Finished in 1:37
Lap 7: The wheels on the bus go round and round, and then they fall off! This lap hurt. Of the 8 major climbs on the course I walked 4 of them. Then for the first time today a solo rider passes me. I ask him what lap he is on and he says 7. I then respond that he just passed me in the race. He then asked do I know how far ahead 1st and 2nd are. Now I gather that I am in 4th and I see the podium slipping away. So I pick the pace up a little and try to keep him in my sights, but he is looking strong.
Finished the lap in 1:20.
Lap 8: As I pull into the pits on lap 7 I see the fella that passed me earlier on that lap leaving the pit, so I grab water and gel and head out after him. I keep him in my sights for the first 4 miles of the course, but this guy is riding everything, even the 40% climb that I have not made all day. At this point he crushed me mentally. I knew that I could not catch him and I was stuck in 4th and crashing hard. I labored on and finished the lap in 1:30. I get to the pit and proclaim I am finished. Now I ask Dad what are the standings. He informs me that I have been in 2nd all day until lap 7 and now I am in 3rd. I asked how far behind is 4th and he tells me 10 minutes. Well that decision is easy to make. I have to do another lap even if it kills me. I keep thinking that the pain is temporary, but the reward is forever. I grab up some water and go.
Lap 9: I am actually feeling better this lap than I was on #8. I walk every climb with determination and attack every down hill. I finished in 1:30 and never saw another solo rider. At this point I know I have 3rd wrapped up.

The whole day I had minimal cramping and the bike performed relatively well considering the conditions. It was a great experience and it will probably be at least 1 year before I do another 12 hour lap race.

Solo
Male
1 94 Zach Rogers
GP Velot

1:00:53 (1) 2:03:38 (1) 3:08:50 (1) 4:17:17 (1) 5:28:54 (1) 6:43:19 (1) 7:55:49 (1) 9:15:15 (1) 10:29:23 (1)
1:00:53 (1) 1:02:44 (1) 1:05:12 (1) 1:08:26 (1) 1:11:36 (1) 1:14:25 (1) 1:12:30 (1) 1:19:26 (2) 1:14:08 (1)

2 84 Calvin Cheung
LSV/Kell
1:03:56 (2) 2:19:15 (5) 3:40:28 (5) 4:58:12 (4) 6:17:35 (3) 7:37:12 (3) 8:50:33 (2) 10:06:22 (2) 11:22:02 (2)
1:03:56 (2) 1:15:19 (10) 1:21:12 (6) 1:17:43 (3) 1:19:23 (3) 1:19:36 (3) 1:13:21 (2) 1:15:49 (1) 1:15:39 (2)

3 91 Joseph Pelton
Harrell's
1:08:40 (5) 2:14:26 (2) 3:24:40 (2) 4:35:28 (2) 5:52:44 (2) 7:30:29 (2) 8:50:52 (3) 10:21:31 (3) 11:52:27 (3)
1:08:40 (5) 1:05:46 (2) 1:10:14 (3) 1:10:48 (2) 1:17:15 (2) 1:37:44 (8) 1:20:22 (4) 1:30:39 (6) 1:30:56 (5)

4 89 Patrick Nagler
Team Eth
1:05:25 (4) 2:18:08 (3) 3:28:17 (3) 4:51:55 (3) 6:25:18 (5) 7:44:34 (4) 9:21:32 (6) 10:43:55 (6) 12:05:38 (4)
1:05:25 (4) 1:12:43 (5) 1:10:09 (2) 1:23:37 (6) 1:33:23 (6) 1:19:15 (2) 1:36:57 (9) 1:22:23 (3) 1:21:43 (3)

5 137 Christopher Broering
Christoph
1:09:21 (6) 2:18:29 (4) 3:31:42 (4) 4:59:29 (5) 6:23:34 (4) 7:49:00 (5) 9:15:21 (5) 10:43:39 (5) 12:14:14 (5)
1:09:21 (6) 1:09:08 (3) 1:13:12 (4) 1:27:47 (7) 1:24:05 (5) 1:25:25 (5) 1:26:20 (7) 1:28:17 (5) 1:30:35 (4)

All top five solo riders did 9 laps.
1st finished in 10:29
2nd in 11:22
3rd in 11:52
4th in 12:05
5th in 12:14

That is a pretty tight spread for this type of race. It is hard to believe 4th was only 13 minutes behind me.

Goals: How does the Rolling Stones song go? “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you just might find, you just might find, you get what you need”
#1 – 100 miles (NOPE only 96.3)

#2 – Podium (Yeap 3rd Place)

Thanks you to my family for the support. My pit crew was fantastic!

Late Edit: Found out the course has 1776 feet of elevation change/lap.

That comes out to 15,984 feet of change total.

Wild Kingdom

2008-06-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

It has been an interesting week with the Animal Kingdom.
Last week I went out to ride Harbison and I wanted to get some long easy miles. About the only way to do that out there is to ride the Outer Loop a few times. The first time around I drop into this new section of trail right after the Spiderwoman trailhead and there is a big fat black squirrel in the middle of the trail. I figure it will move as I get closer, as all squirrels do, but he just walks slowly away and I almost hit him. Then on the second lap the same squirrel is there and this time I have to swerve and yell to get him to move out of the way. We obviously need more bobcats in Harbison. Toby claims he saw one last Wednesday, if so he should be well fed.
Last night we are out riding Harbison and there are bunnies everywhere. I have been riding this trail system for years and can not remember ever seeing that many rabbits. Funny thing is we did a fire road climb a few times tonight and sure enough this rabbit is hanging out on the corner every time we go around. I figure this must be attributing the population boom. Prostitute bunnies.
Tuesday riding at Marrington Plantation, flying through the trails with Joel in tow, I see this thing in the middle of the trail. I was not sure what it was until I was within 20’ of it. By then it is “oh $h! t that is an alligator”. This guy was not the biggest, about 3-1/2’, but he was taking up a lot of single track. I did not know what to do so I just swerved around him and he struck at me. Joel freaked and rode off into the woods. That will get the blood flowing. Afterwards I figured that may not have been a good idea. If he would have got a hold of my ankle, I am sure I would have needed stitches.
Late Edit: Joel's Perspective:
Joe and I had a similar run-in with the pissed off little alligator…. Joe was moving at a good clip ahead of me and I spotted it when looking over his shoulder, but it was too late…Joe sped around it assuming it would run into the bushes, but the little lizard held his ground and appeared ready to fight. The alligator jumped at Joe’s ankle and tried to snap on it…I can only describe that alligators have many, many teeth…I swerved deep left into the bushes and narrowly missed hitting a tree to avoid the rapidly snapping gator…They are much faster than they appear, can hop through the air quite easily and should not be underestimated… upon riding my next lap, the alligator was nowhere to be found… definitely give them the right of way….never a dull moment on the trail!
Finally on the ride home in my car on Tuesday down I-77 next to the water treatment plant I see something in the road. As I get closer I realize that it is a Peacock. What in the hell is a peacock doing in the middle of I-77 at 9pm? Are peacocks even native to SC? I thought about stopping to save the bird from absolute death, but then again it is a bird and I probably would have only killed myself in the process. Maybe he made it.

Here is a picture to sum it up. This was sent to me yesterday. I do not know where it happened, or the story about it, but it is great.

Memorial Day Baptism

2008-06-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

It all started with an idea from Boozer that materialized into a request and then reality. He requested that we go to Pisgah on Memorial Day. It just so happened that his wife had to work, so his kitchen pass was secure. After some negotiating, my pass was in hand and all that was left to do was bate some others with a post and devise a route.
My intentions were good, but the results were mixed. This also happened to be my first time leading a group through the forest.
My wife has made the comment many times that everyone is not like me. And If I would just try to understand that, I would become more compassionate. I am not quite sure what she is getting at, but anyways. You can not tell me that every mountain biker does not enjoy technically challenging trails that you have to climb for hours and hike a bike to get to. What could possibly be better than subjecting yourself to the wilderness for 7 or 8 hours? Anyways, if you don’t get it you are weird. JK.
I plotted a course:
Park near the horse stables on FS477 and going Clawhammer -> Maxwell Cove -> Black Mountain-> Turkey Pen -> S. Mills River -> Mullinax -> Squirrel Gap -> S. Mills River, -> Buckhorn -> (Left on and over Black Mountain all the way to the bottom and the road back to the stables.)
One I am particularly fond of due to the variety of trails, scenery, technical challenges, and long ass climbs. I somehow figured this would be a great way to introduce a few Columbia natives to the WNC scene.
The group ended up consisting of 5 riders: Boozer, Tom, Dennis, Andy, and myself.
Tom and Dennis have never been to Pisgah before and Barrett has only been one other time. The climb up Claw to Maxwell to Bennett was uneventful other than Tom bending his middle chain-ring less than .5 miles from the car. We made it in around 45 minutes. Then the hike a bike up Black to Turkey went pretty well. Finally after 1.5 hours we had reached our first down hill section. I think everyone enjoyed Turkey for the most part. No real complaints to speak of.
At this point I could tell that Tom was struggling a little. We were only 3 hours in and we were a long way from the cars. So we kept going, S. Mills, Mullinax, to Squirrel. At the Squirrel trail head Tom was not looking so good. He even asked how he could bail at this point. I provided him with his first Red Bull and explained that should get him through the next 2 hours. We talked a little about Squirrel and off we went. Today I had a really good time on this trail, but still not my favorite. I stopped at Cantrell Creek for our midway break. Everyone eventually pulled up, we ate, filtered water and BSed for 30 or so minutes. Spirits at this point were still pretty good, but there was already talk of bailing at Black Mountain. (I actually understand, I did the same thing in the Double Dare). Then off for the remainder of Squirrel which is much easier to ride and a lot of fun. Apparently Barret did not think so because he lost his i-pod, explored the woods below the trail (fell down the mountain), and really had a bad attitude at this point. We pushed on to S.Mills where everyone seemed to be surviving. At the Buckhorn intersection I waited for the group. First to arrive was Andy, then Barrett, then Tom and Dennis. Both hit me up for some pain killers and were complaining of engine trouble. After the exchange I left to catch the others out in front. About half way up the trail I caught Barrett and Andy was not far in front. Quickly we were there at the intersection of Black, Buckhorn, and Clawhammer. I had decided I was going over Black for the first time. Andy had already opted to bail and so did Barrett. I asked them to wait for the others and I was off.
This was my first time going over this section of Black and it is amazing. VERY Scenic, caves, rocks, and panoramic. It took me 30 minutes to summit and then I railed to Bennett. A little more hike a bike and then the fastest down hill I know. That is probably my 5th time down that section and I was cru-zen. What a rush.
Got to the trail head and they were not there to greet me as I expected. So I started the ride back to the stables. I almost made it back when I saw the van pulling up.
The ride was over. 7 hours in the saddle and lots of good memories.

Barrett is the only one that had any costly damage. 1- i-pod, 1- flat, and a shifter/lever combo that got busted up in the fall down the mountain.

Definitely an Epic to remember.

PMBAR 2008 #3

2008-05-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

As they say, “3rd time is the charm”.

(You want some of this?)

(No. How about some of this)

Team “Trippin on Lactic Acid” has successfully completed our 3rd PMBAR against all odds. My back injuries this season have really been the ups and downs. Fortunately, self prescribed physical therapy and some help from my Chiropractor have me back the right track. My partner, Tomato, has had his own set of challenges from broken bikes to overuse injuries. Thankfully it all worked out, including the weather, for another great adventure.
This race was not like the others. I was calm, no expectations except to finish, and navigation spot on now that Tomato rides Pisgah like 2X a week for the last 2 years.
We received our passports and for the first time we glanced at the check points and started up Black Mountain. In the past we have marked all check points figured the route and then proceeded.
The ride/hike up Black Mountain is always painful. It is nearly 2 hours of uphill until we finally reached Turkey Pen. Just for the record, I Love Turkey Pen. This trail is miles of 6 inch wide single track with something like 12 gaps and only 3-4 of them are impossible for me to ride. It is one of the best roller coasters ever and the only price for admission is a climb up Black.
From there we stopped at the parking lot where a few other teams had gathered. Tomato gave me just enough time to pee and suck down some hammer gel before he was pushing for us to go. We were leaving just as Toby and Kenny were rolling up. A quick drop down some double track a left hand turn (Toby) and we got Check Point #1. We left there in a hurry and took a left up Laurel (???) We ran back into Toby and Kenny who seemed to be really confused. Tomato and I made the same mistake in ’06. We joked with them that they needed to follow us. As they were following my conscience got the best of me and I informed him to turn around, take a right and there was the check point. He would have done the same for us if the situation was flopped.
Down Laurel to Check Point #2. I am sure there were some turns in there, but thankfully my guide handled all of that. We then turned around and rode it back to Squirrel Gap. Supposedly this is a revered trail in Pisgah. If so you guys keep riding it and leave the other great stuff untouched. Maybe it is just me, but 2’ deep mud holes and nothing that really stands out as good single track just does not do it for me. Don’t get me wrong, this is like complaining about pizza or sex. It is still a trail in Pisgah! There are just handfuls of others that I prefer over Squirrel. Somewhere along Squirrel we reached CP#3.
At this point my spirits were High and I was feeling what I think was too much bleach in the water. We decided no filter this year; we will just chlorinate stream water. I think I over did it on the first bladder of water. None the less, the legs felt pretty good and it was now time to climb up to Black. I do not know the name of this trail, but it gradually ascends up to the Black Mountain Shelter. Last time I rode it was during Double Dare on the second day. This time I think we made it in half the time.
Right turn on Black, past the shelter, lots of hike a bike and then CP#4 at Club Gap. At this point I was feeling great. We have been on the bike for 6 hours and we have made the minimum # of CPs to complete the race. There was some talk of 5 check points or riding towards the BEER. We made the logical decision and rode towards the BEER.
So from Club Gap we turned around and hiked back up Black and descended all of the great single track we walked up before. Tomato nailed the stair drop at Clawhammer, while I walked it in front of some mouthy spectators. I made it to the beer before they did. Naa-nana-na-na.
Then the craziness hit. About halfway down Clawhammer I see something drop from Tomato’s bike. I think "what was that", and then I see him come to a complete stop. I asked him what it was as he pointed to his handle bar. At first it looked like the grip slipped off, but upon further investigation he broke it off at the end of the grip. Boy am I glad we did not go for 5 CPs. After some attempts to rig it we gave up and Tomato road out with one grip and hardly enough handlebar to pull the front break. He descended the rest of Clawhammer, Hammered up Maxwell Cove and then descended Black Mountain. MAD PROPS, that is crazy stuff. We were the 8th team to cross the line. We completed it in 7 hours and 38 minutes. Considering that 06 was 13:30 and 07 was 12:30 I am really pleased with our performance. After all the time bonuses were awarded we ended up 17th of 75 teams. What a great event!!!
I am thinking next year we go for all 7 CPs.

Can anyone say Double Dare?

Paris Mountain

2008-04-23T06:33:00.001-07:00

If you are ever in the G-ville area, stop by Paris Mountain! Of course if you are on your way to DuPont or Pisgah just keep going, but if you happen to be in town for something, you need to stop by.
I lived in Clemson, SC for 7 years. It was a long and wonderful college career. However, I never managed to do any riding in the Greenville area. As a matter of fact is was pretty well known at the time that Issaquena was one of the best places to ride in the area, and there was no need to venture any further. Yesterday I had the opportunity to ride this trail and it is well worth the $2 you have to pay at the gate for admission. This trail is like Fats and DuPont mixed up on a smaller scale and closer to everything.
Apparently a lot of work has been done out there lately on a New Kanuba trail. From the bottom parking lot up the mountain to the trail is about a 20 minute climb. Not bad for an inner city ride! We took the Kanuba to the Right and railed the entire way. I think we followed it all the way around and ended up climbing for another 10 minutes to the same intersection. After that climb I had to turn around and ride it in the other direction. I love it when you let go of the breaks and you can here the tire tread spin up to about 15 mph. Careful, this trail could hurt you. This is where it reminded me of the Great Wall out at Fats. Nice bank turns, jumps, and lots of speed! After that we tooled around the lake loop, up Prissemy (sp) and out to the upper parking lot. At this point I split from the riders. They took the road down to the Mountain Creek/Sulphur Springs intersection where I decided I would descend Sulphur Springs. This trail is not for the faint of heart, but it is not the worst decent I have ever tried either. I would have to say it is the most technical before you get to the real mountains. Then we met up and railed Mountain Creek back to the cars. We only road 20 miles, but I was spent. I can not wait to ride these trails again.
Nothing like new trails to rejuvenate the spirit.
Oh yeah and no back pain. Ye Haw!

RTTR 2008

2008-04-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Once again I participated in the Race to the River at Harbison Forest. This year the family has had a bit of bad luck with injuries and I am the only one racing. I am really hoping next year both kids will be healthy enough and motivated to race.
As the life of an over scheduled father goes, I arrived at the race a little later than I would have liked, 30 minutes before the start. You know soccer games to coach, celebratory ice cream afterwards for scoring goals, and then a mad dash to get everything loaded and down the road in time to make the race. It sometimes feels like life is a race.
Once I got there and saw a few team faces the anxiety level dropped. Jonathan has a way of putting life in proper perspective.
We did our warm up ride/BS, lined up to start, and then it hit me… I have to change my wheels before this horrible storm hits! Of course I had the race wheels on that have no tread. These tires and wheels took me to my first MTB win ever last year at this very race. The only problem is that they suck if the ground gets wet. A few rain drops, dark skies, and increasing winds scared me into changing just prior to the start. With super human pit crew speed I changed to the Mountain Kings 2.4 and increased my rolling weight by over 1.5 lbs, but I had the assurance that things would stay were they are supposed to be when things got wet. Of course it did not rain until the last 20 minutes of the 2 hour race.
The race started in a bit of a disorderly fashion, and then we entered the single track behind Jonathan, who was running 1 big gear. As I watched the lead 4 pull away, part of me wanted to pass and sprint, but my lungs and legs were saying just hang here behind Damon. He is a seasoned racer teammate, and I am sure he is going to make a move at any moment. So for the first 8 miles I hung behind Damon until we got the climb right before Spiderwoman. I still had Spoke junkie in my sights and finally caught him at the rock garden. He happened to be running because he also only brought one big gear to the race today. I got ahead and held it to the end of the trail, but he passed me shortly afterwards. I saw him a few more times during the first lap, but he took off during the second lap and that was the end of that. The second lap was uneventful. No one flatted out, bonked, or wrecked in a bad way, so the finishing order was pretty much set. It was a lonely hour of telling myself, “at least your back does not hurt”, “I know a better way back to the car where the beer is”, “Man I hope it starts raining”, “Damon is going to catch me any minute”, “I wonder how long ago the others finished” and other random conversations with myself.
Finally the finish line and I got 8th out of 11 racers. 2 hours even on 24.5 miles. That is 12.25 mph and more than 1.25mph slower than last year. Even so I am happy that I finished, beat Damon for the first time in over 6 races, and represented with the other Harrell’s mates. A few cups of liquid aspirin with friends and back to the house.
I look forward to the next race on May 3, 2008. PMBAR, PMBAR, PMBAR!!!

Injury Report

2008-03-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks around here have been CRAZY.

Saturday, 2/23/08, the kids had their 1st soccer game of the season. Logan played in his first game and scored 5 goals. Things were looking good... Hannah's team, The Honeybee's, which I have been coaching for 4 years now, had a last quarter come back scoring 5 goals to win 6-4. Those girls continue to impress me with the size of their hearts.

Shortly after we got back from the games Logan was horsing around, jumped off the back of our bed, tripped and broke his arm.

With all of the crazy things he does, I can not believe falling off he bed was how he broke his first two bones. Unfortunately I don't think this will be his last two. Heather caught him riding down the driveway one handed on the scooter 4 days after the cast was set.

The fracture is a compound, meaning it went through the skin. We spent Saturday and Sunday in the hospital because he had to have surgery. Today they had to reset the arm because the initial set did not hold. Doctor says that if he does not keep the his feet on the ground for 2 weeks, he will have to get screws to hold it in place. Good Luck!

Couple weeks back I started spin classes before going to work. Last Thursday we had a hard class and then I did some weight training before going into work. Jumped in the car and drove to Charleston, sat through about 4 hours in meetings, and then drove back to Columbia. About halfway through the meetings my back started locking up and my hamstring was cramping. I did not think anything of it until my ride back. Got to the house and I could barely walk. Turns out I have a herniated disc in my back that is pinching a nerve. I may have to take 2-3 weeks off from cycling. HOLLY $H!T!!! This is going to kill me.

Last of all the dog was taken to the groomer and got razor burn. $200 vet bill for a swollen sac and some scraps.

On a different note, the wife has been spending $ trying to get us "green". I have spent weeks replacing perfectly good light bulbs with these swirly ugly expensive bulbs. Then while I am in Charleston, suffering from a herniated disc, she goes and buys a SUV with a V8 in it. Not very "green", but the good new is that I will be able to claim Hugo Chavez as a dependent on my tax returns next year. I did not even get to look under the hood or kick the tires prior to her signing the papers and driving it off the lot.

Life is good...

Sesqui and the Fam

2008-02-16T17:50:00.000-08:00

Couple of weekends ago the boy and I decided to go for a ride at Sesqui. Somewhere along the way the girls decided they wanted to come. So a family adventure was born. We got to the trail head and evil kenevil was trying out his latest stunt. What you can not tell from this picture is that he is about to roll over a 4’ hill of pea gravel. Weeks back when he did it for the first time, the owner of the pile had not taken a scoop out of the back side. He missed that detail and almost went over the handlebars.

Shortly afterwards we took some before photos and hit the trail.

The boy and I rode up front, mainly to insure that I could rein him in during some challenging sections of the trail.
This ride would be his first one in clipless pedals on the trail. I was unsure how he would do, but he has it. I do not think there was one spill caused by the pedals.
As you can see from the pictures, most of them are of the girls. That is because the boy was up ahead of us most of the ride. About 3.5 miles in I think the wife was ready for it to end. Can you tell?

We made it out in about an hour. When we got back to the house the boy said, “Great ride Dad” and on Monday I had this letter which I will translate for the Kindergartner challenged.

“Logan Pelton I love my dad, he is the best biking dad you would ever have.” That is better than any trophy or title any day.

2007-12-05T11:33:00.000-08:00

Ups and Downs

The U8 girls Honeybees finished their season undefeated! A perfect 8-0 until we got to the end of the season tournament. I have a personal commitment that I coach by. I think at the age of 7 kids should get equal playing time and an opportunity to play at each position. If nothing else this gives me a chance to see who is best at what and them a chance to see what they want to play. Of course everyone wants to score goals, so getting volunteers for defense and goalie is hard to come by. So in the tournament final I stuck to my morals while the other team played to win, and they did, by a score of 3-2. I probably could have played my best players the majority of the game and won, but does that mean that I should have? It has been 4 days since the game and I do not have that answer. It was tough to see the girls, who have not seen defeat in over 16 games, cry because they lost. And they lost playing their hearts out. Maybe loosing will make their hunger stronger, or teach them more about winning. I don’t know, but I can not wait to help shape this team into a bunch of winners next season.

2007-11-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Title Change:
A few weeks ago I change the title of the blog again. I have never been able to find a name that really suited what I am getting at. What am I getting at? Well since this is more of a diary than anything else and the things I like to write about are not always going to be bike related, I figured a different title was required. Hense the “Pelton Chronicles”. Those of you that do not have little pieces of your DNA running around may not understand, and those that do will definitely understand. There comes a time when your accomplishments/challenges pail in comparison to the activities that your children are involved in.
I am very fortunate. I have a daughter who plays soccer with an intensity that I truly understand and a son who begs for the hardest mountain bike ride ever. Both of these sports are part of who make me who I am and I get to share that with them.
Currently our soccer team, U8 Girls “Honeybees, is tearing up the competition. We were undefeated last season, and with one game left we are undefeated this season. I think it is a 17 game winning streak. It is hard to explain how proud I am of these girls. Twice this season we have been down by more than 2 goals and have rallied back to take the win. That my friend is heart and that is not something you can coach. Sure they are only 7 years old, and sure most of them probably will choose other sports over soccer. But hopefully this sport and these seasons are teaching them how never giving up is how you become a winner.
The boy: As mentioned before he has a new bike of which he loves and I have made a vow to take him on a “real mountain bike ride” at least once a week. About three weeks ago he completed the Sesqui Mountain bike loop with very little walking, and absolutely no complaining. This loop is ~ 5 miles. Afterwards he did not even seem tired. So this week I figured I would take him to Harbison. This would be our 4th trip to Harbison and by far our longest. His request was “the hardest, longest ride ever” so I figured we would ride about an hour. We started out going counter clockwise, passed crooked pine, left on midlands, past spiderwoman, down the switchbacks, around the outer loop, up fire road to miss the rerouted uphill( the one that is great the other direction) back on the trail and out to the cars. The loop took us 1.5 hours with two big stops and came out to 8.2 miles. He made some great climbs and never complained. At the car he made the statement that he was lucky because not all dads are bicycle dads. I agreed. Got in the car and he fell asleep for the ride home. As soon as we got back and the car stopped, he popped up and yelled “THAT WAS THE GREATEST RIDE EVER!”. I would have to agree with that too…

2007-10-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

“I Double Dare You!”

Last year Jonathon and I decided not to participate in the Double Dare because we were pretty much burnt out. In hind sight we would have done much better last year because I was in better shape and the course was easier. This year we decided that we should do it, but with low expectations. I am not sure what the definition of “Low Expectations” is, but I feel sure that we accomplished it.
Day 1 Jonathon and I arrived the day of the event, got ready and we rode. I mean I got ready and Jonathon left the start line with no backpack. Always an adventure…The day was good for me and painful for him. We went up for 3+ hours straight before ever decided to go down. It is really impressive to be able to look out over the Blue Ridge Parkway and see mountain ranges that you actually started your ride from.

That’s right; you see that bald rock down there. We started riding about 4 miles on the back side of that mountain. We ended up picking up passports 2 hours into the ride at the top of Farlow. That alone was 2000 feet worth of climbing. Then we managed to hike a bike up Art Loeb to the parkway where this picture was taken. The mandatory check point was at Ivestor Gap which ended up being one of the most beautiful places I have been. The view was forever and apparently blue berries grow up there. I heard they only grow at that elevation. I will have to check into that one.

Just check out the view behind Dave. We are way up there.
At this point Jonathon is spent so we take the most direct route back the camp site looking for the most single track. We decide to take Art Loeb back down (Hike a Bike of course), Farlow Down, and then Daniel Ridge down. That is one great decent. My ears were popping. We got back before dark and had time to hang before we called it a night.

Day 2 was not as good for me as it was for my partner. He woke up after the 3rd team had left and we decided to get ready. I ate a normal breakfast while Jonathan had a PBR and a Red Bull. I am starting to think he may be an alien. We were riding in what seemed to be 40 degree weather and I am dressed for it and still freezing, while he is just in a jersey and shorts. None the less we have missed our chance to be competitive so we decided to take the single track route instead on pavement and fire roads. We took Maxwell to Claw hammer to Black Mountain to Turkey Pen. Turkey has to be one of my favorite trails out in Pisgah. It has 12 gaps, which means it goes up 12 times and down 12 times. What a blast. From there we missed the mandatory check point and made our way up to 5015. That is when we got to Yellow Gap 4 hours later. I figure if we took the correct route we would have made it in 1.5 to 2 hours, but we had a good time going. From that point we knew that we had DNFed because we where not going back down 5015 to get the mandatory, so we set out to ride our own ride. My spirit was broken and I was ready to get finished. My partner had other ideas… He proceeded to drag me through Buckhorn up to Black Mountain. At this point I knew where I was and was not to be fooled again. He went left up Black and I went straight down Maxwell. Unbeknownst to me I passed two checkpoints on the way down. Twin Falls and Buckhorn. Oh well we DNFed any ways. (I do wish I would have snuck in that last little bit of single track.) When I got back I packed my stuff and hit the road. I was tapped and all I wanted was a shower and some hot food.
Jonathon, thanks for dragging me around on Sunday, (my birthday).

Now that I have had an uneventful season for the most part, I think I am ready for some riding and racing. Things are starting to look better job wise, so maybe I can use this painful experience to build from. There is a 12 hour race in Fort Mill on November 3rd that I am thinking of doing and there is still the Swank 65. I may even throw in some short track racing for the fun of it.
Bring the pain!

2007-08-29T06:29:00.000-07:00

Mini Me:
About 4 weeks ago my son left his bike out next to the road and the trash collectors picked it up. Most kids would be upset by this, but it would not matter that much. My son saw it as an opportunity to get a new bike. After some negotiating with the trash collectors we were able to get some money out of them and the order went in to Harrell’s for a new rig. He was riding a 16” Raleigh with a coaster break and was quite good on the bike. However, he had a lot of trouble on the hills around Columbia and even more difficulty on the trails. Now granted the boy is only 5, but he has been riding on two wheels since he was three. He continues to push the limits and it is difficult to keep him reigned in within the limits. On his old bike I took him riding at Sesquentenal State park and he managed to wreck real bad coming around a corner in the sand. He cried the whole 1.5 miles out, due to the handle bar jamming him in the stomach. After events like this I wonder if I am pushing him too hard or allowing him to ride trails he has no business riding. We got back to the house and I asked him if he would ever ride that trail again. He looked at me with are you serious eyes and said “yeah Dad!” So the story goes on. He received his new bike last Friday from Paul. It might as well have been Christmas with the look on the boy’s face. So of course what is the first thing he wants to do when we get home? RIDE. And I can not fault the boy for that. It is all I want to do. So I give up some much needed training rides to spend some time riding with my son. Friday we ride around the neighborhood hitting some dirt roads of yet to be built neighborhoods and head back to the house. ~3 miles. Saturday he hears me talking to the wife about going riding and he begs to go with me. So… we head out to Sesqui. And I ask him if he wants to ride the trail that he got hurt on last time. His response was, “is it a real mountain bike trail?” Yes son. “Ok, let’s go”. So we hit the trail and he climbs almost everything out there. His new bike is a Trek mnt 60 with 6 gears on the back and 20” wheels. It is a little big, but he handles it well. No wrecks this time and we put in 4.2 miles on dirt before I have to tow him out with a bungee. I figure by now the boy has had his fill of riding and the bike will sit a few days. Wrong! Sunday morning we get up and he wants to ride his bike to the “far away park”. It is about 2.5 miles from the house and it is really hilly in Lake Carolina. So like any cycling loving father we suit up and head out. We get to the park and play a while when he decides that he is ready to leave, but does not want to go back to the house, he wants to keep riding. So we do the Lake Carolina loop. There is one climb on the loop that is about a mile long and can kick your butt on a road bike. We were on the way up when he decided he wanted to turn back. I convinced him that we were almost at the top and that it was mostly down from there. We took a break and started back up. Like a trooper he rode most of it. Finally at the top we started our descent down the twisty paved sidewalks that run along side the road. The enjoyment he got out of that riding was very apparent. He made the comment that it was like a roller coaster with no seat belts. I used this opportunity to discuss the love of climbing to enjoy the descent. I am not sure if he got it, but he sure loves going down. We made the 7 mile loop in 50 minutes. Afterwards he took a nap for about an hour, woke up and played the rest of the day. He rides his bike every day to school and really truly loves it. It looks like before long I will have a great excuse to go camping and mountain biking. It is a great feeling to see my son grow up with this passion and drive that we share.

2007-05-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

PMBAR Report:

I woke up at 4:30am Saturday morning to the sound of rain on the tent. I did not get much sleep, due to anxiety, and now I need to get ready in the cold rain. YEAH!
That was pretty much my attitude the whole morning. We got to the Start tent, checked in, jotted down the off limits roads, and then proceeded to wait in the cold for the start. At 7:45am they called the rider meeting handed out passports and said “GO”.

See the pretty new white jerseys…(Foreshadowing)
We quickly plotted the check points and decided on a route and off we went up Black Mountain. I do not know if it was the lack of sleep, excitement, pour preparation, 35lbs of gear on my back, weather, or just plain bad day, but I was not feeling it. Jonathan was powering up the climbs and I was struggling the whole time. About 2 hours in I finally started feeling like my body had accepted its fate and riding was not a struggle, but I still could not keep up with Jonathan. He had his game face on today.
From the first check point, Club Gap, we went to the West side of Pisgah. From now on that area will be referred to as HELL. Check point 2 was Daniel Ridge. No problem, I have been there before and we were still feeling pretty good. From Daniel Ridge we took a right on Farlow.

This trail is legendary. I have heard of many descending it, but no one ascending it. I now know why. This was literally some of the nastiest single track I have ever been on.
1 hour of hike a bike that would have been really hard with hiking boots and no bike. This is where things got interesting. We climbed I don’t know how many feet, but it had to have been close to 40 degrees up there and we have been wet all day. Thoughts of hypothermia kept creeping into my mind along with how I am going to get out of this. We would stop to eat and get so cold that we would have to start riding again to keep warm. On we pressed. Finally at the top of Farlow lay check point #3. Check point #4 came quickly as it was just around the corner, but happened to be the farthest point from the Start/Finish. So I asked Jonathan how much further and how many hours. We where 7 hours in at this point and the cold was getting to me. He replied 4 hours. I could have died! So after some discussion about descending back down Farlow or taking the fire road we headed out. I am happy to say that we did not take Farlow back. I do not care to ever hike Farlow again. With different conditions I might consider riding down it. Never again UP! We took a bunch of fire roads back and up “Caney Bottom”, Cove Creek and back to the East side of 276. After 276 I could tell that Jonathan was starting to bonk. I can’t blame him. He pushed one gear hard all day long. It did feel good about not being the slowest any longer. We got up to Black Mountain and started our descent. This year we actually got to ride down while it was light, but we did not have any brakes. Metal on metal with the leaver to the grip is not a good feeling.
As you can tell the pretty new jerseys aren’t so pretty any more.
We managed to ride to Hell and back and enjoy some good beer and fellowship afterwards. It was an epic day on the bike that will not soon be forgotten. What a great race. 63 miles in 12.5 hours. We placed 31st out of 75 teams. Only 41 teams finished. Nutrition was right on. Not one cramp and felt consistent the whole time. I will definitely do this race again next year, but not in the rain!

2007-04-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Fastest in Harbison:

Thanks to all of the Harrell's riders that decided to race in other cities this weekend. I think the blue man group was spread between Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, and Clemson. Due to the lack of racers left in Cola, I had a chance to win my first race, the RTTR.
Showed up for the race early enough to get the kids ready for their race and have time to warm up. During registration I was informed that there would be no Expert Class due to all the other races in the state that day. I was just hoping for some competition and a chance to try out the legs for the first time this year, so it did not bother me too bad. As we lined up to start I did not see anyone that worried me, but there were a bunch of new faces (unknowns to watch out for), the Justin pulled up, jump on the bike and lined up to start. At the start I took off got the lead and held it through Easy/Harder before I looked back to see that Justin was the only one left. Let the games begin. He passed me on Stewardship Trail so I just tailed him to the end of Spiderwoman. I could tell he was not doing good. Might have been the fact that he did not get a chance to warm up, or that he ate right before he got there. We were supposed to start 45 minutes later. Luck was on my side today. Coming out of Spiderwoman he let me by and I attacked. I did not see him again until we got to Crooked Pine, I attacked again. Got to the top of the climb before the start/ finish and dropped my water bottle. I had to turn around and pick it up and get going again. By then he was seconds behind. We had to go down the scout trail towards the gazeebo(new route for the spectators) and he was right there. I wondered if he was warmed up now and was going to attack me this time. I powered up the fire road and realized he was being dropped. I kept the power on throughout the entire lap and never saw him again. I think I ended up winning by minutes. It was a great day on the bike. 13.5 mph for 19 miles. I hope I feel this good throughout the season.
On another note: Both of my children raced for the first time this weekend. The race was 1/2 mile around the gazeebo on actual trails. In the class were 2 -12 year olds, my 7 year old daughter, my 5 year old son, and a 4 year old. My son, Logan, finished 2nd right behind Rebecca's son, and Hannah, my daughter, finished 3rd. Logan was racing on a Raleigh fully rigid single speed with a coaster brake. Beat that Toby!
After the race my son said, "Dad, my heart is going to blow up and my lungs are burning". I responded, "Welcome to racing son".
It does not get any better than that!!!