Houghtling's Hounds (Dashunds)

Well another Christmas and another Dashund to and to the collection introducing Oscar "The Cat Slayer" Duncan Houghtling. Hopefully he will pay off in the future as we have a long hair miniature female we plan on mating him with so we will see. As far as the riding goes had to do some research on lower back pain and riding and do some adjustments to the handlebar height to see if that will help, don't need to be doing the Snake Creek TT and having a sore back a hour into it. Looking forward to the New Years day ride with the CGC rinding my Vertex hardtail with some Kenda slicks recommended by Charles at my local LBS . Should be a pretty good time, Also now that they gave us Tuesday off as a Federal Holiday looks like I will probably do some trail time thinking about trying out E. Macon haven't been there in a while. If anyone has ridden there recently and has a trail update or status would love to hear it. I have adjusted my schedule to still have a chance to be competitive in the GSC Series will have to make races 4-8 and fit in the make up in Clemson S.C. to be eligible for the Series I will only have one endurance race during that time so I am going to focus my training on strength and speed to be competitive. Since I will have about 20 weeks of nothing but training time hopefully I can make the most of it so if some of the more knowledgeable and experienced riders out there actually read my post and have some training tips for me I am all ears! Well that is about it for now I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a Safe and Happy New Year and I Will See You on the Trail!

Hard Tail - Hard on the Tail

If that doesn't say customer loyalty I don't know what does!

Well I figure since I paid for it and sold the FS ETSX-30(No not the new ETSX-70) frame I had that I might as well ride it. So I took the Vertex-70 Hardtail out to Thomson on Sunday and again tonight, and it is definitely a learning endeavor. I enjoy the fact that it is lighter and faster on the less technical portions of the trail however I miss the ability to point and go down the hills or thru the rough stuff. Not that this is a totally bad thing I could use some work on my ability to pick the best line thru some of the trail, and another unexpected surprise is the way it flys thru the ditch and up the hill on the end of the trail I was surprised to find I could still jump thru there like I do on the FS and not have the feel of a much harder impact - momentum truly is a good thing at times! I am looking forward to doing the 1st Snake Creek Time Trial in January - Yes I am going to attempt to do the 34 mile course again, this year hopefully a little bit faster. I have only that and the Thomson day rides that I can participate in before I go back to work for my Uncle and have to miss the start of the season but I plan on packing the hardtail and have some better training this time while I am gone as opposed to just riding a stationary bike this time! Anyway I hope to keep up my current consistent work out schedule which is primarily cardio with some strength training going thru the next month and then get into a good training regiment for about 16 weeks and try to fulfill some of the goals I set earlier, obviously the 12hrs of Razorback is out so I wish you all luck and I will be working from a deficit when I get back as I will have missed the first 3 races of the season. Just more motivation to train harder to see if I can't accomplish the goals I set for myself for this year regardless of the adjustments. Looking to ride this weekend hopefully Dauset, not sure what day or time,(More than likely early) but if you happen to be out there as well then I Will See You on the Trail!

Cold Mornings!

Well this week has been a pretty good one for cardio training I have managed to get at least one 30min session in everyday this week with a couple of 5 mile plus runs and some high intensity training sessions in between as well as riding a couple of laps on Wensday out at Thompson. The first lap I did without a light and had to keep up with Brady and then borrowed Jasons light and rode a second lap with Brady again. Then to the shock of most OMBA members I attended a meeting!! I think Mark almost fell out of his chair! There seemed to be a preccupation with wood and how much we could get...........for Thompson Day that is. Anyway much conversation about the planning for the weekends events which sound like it will be a fun weekend with something for everyone. Anyway I am not sure where I will be riding this weekend but think I will be riding the Vertex, it has been hanging out in the garage for the past two weekends however I am leaning towards riding out at E. Macon, havent been out there lately and there was some mention of doing some trail maintenance on it anyway however I may just go ride the Pig...decisions, decisions. Well where ever it ends up being it will be early either Saturday or midday on Sunday and if you happen to be there where and when I am....I Will See You on the Trail!