Flying and Riding

Well that is what I am going to be doing for the next several months. I will have the Vertex-70 with me this time so I can get some quality riding time in while I am gone. I have some driving goals to keep me focused while I am training, and recently added the 24hrs of Conyers to the list of events I am planning to do. I am trying to get one more ride in before my departure so I might be out at either Thomson or the Pig Trail so if you happen to be out there when I am I will See You on the Trail!

4hrs of Fun

Well it was a fun 4hrs at Thomson, just for the record I did 7 laps and had fun racing the other rider right at the end there it was a good ride before I have to go for a while. Between all the CGC jerseys and Bike Store bibs you would have thought we had organized a team just for the event. Charles and Noah blew my socks off right from the start but where gracious enough to take a long break so I could catch up and we rode the 6th lap together before I headed out for my 7th. They built in a nice little ramp to circumvent a good jump through some cool water to cool ya down during the lap which is what I went through every lap, it was warm to begin with so it actually felt good, Dans Bastard was enjoyable every lap as well. Anyway if I had a hardtail I might have been able to catch old boy at the end there but when he shifted it up at the end there and kicked it in even matching gear to gear I just couldn't catch in time with the FS. Well I will have some quality training time here over the next 4 months and will be doing some big gear riding and some interval training to increase my speed hopefully so I will be competative when I get back here. I am planning on riding Wenseday night and trying to get out to Dauset this weekend so if your out there either day I Will See You on the Trail!

Smoked in Milledgeville

Well went out to Milledgeville with Charles today and was enjoying the ride right up to the first good hill. Now I am not the billy goat I used to be out in Az but I am no slouch either. So when we hit the first hill and all of a sudden I couldn't catch my breath I was pretty suprised and concerned once I did we rode to the next good hill and I was working my way up pretty well when it hit me again. This time it was pretty persistant and wouldn't go away for a while felt like my heart was just out of rhythem and I was going to be sick. Anyway this scared me a bit and forced a slower ride than I think either me or Charles was planning. Well I have been taking prilosec for about 4 days and this evening I went on line to check out if there was any side effects of prilosec that might have been a cause and I found out that one of the less frequent side effects is a abnormal heart rhythm on a severe level so I am going to get off the prilosec and see if that stops the issue. Anyone else out there had any similar situations from a heartburn meds? Anyway I will be out at Thomson Day on Saturday which will be my last event until May but I will have plenty of training time so look out when I get back! Since this time I am shipping out the Vertex between being able to actually get some riding in and using the eliptical for intervel power training I should be able to do some pretty solid training. Well even though I am not doing much to help out at Thomson Day I will be out there riding and doing what I can so if your out there I Will See You on the Trail!

The Longest Miles

Well just shy of a year later and all I can say is I must be suffering from short term memory loss in my old age. Back to the Snake I went thinking oh yea I can do this in 4 1/2 hours this year....NOT! Anyway ride day arrives and we started off groups of 3 the first 5 miles weren't too bad the creek, the mud, and a few minor climbs and I was hanging pretty well with the group I started with and some single speeders(I was smart this year and let the women start ahead of me so they wouldn't have to pass me!). Anyway my limited lactate threshold kicked in and I was starting to feel the pain around mile 7 and the granny gear was barely helping, so I rode the next 5 miles of uphill reaching the first mile long stretch of downhill on the gravel road which allowed for a quick breather before the next climb. The following 4 miles after that took some time, I enjoyed that last mile of downhill right before the midway point, getting ready for that big climb on the start of the second half.
So I am sitting there at half-way point thinking maybe I should pack up and catch a four wheeled ride back when Grant, Mark and Jake all arrive. Not bad since they started 24min behind me and caught me already, somehow that provided me with the motivation needed to decide to gut it out and finish what I started. So away we go I was able to hang in there for awhile until once again my lack of conditioning kicked in and I started lagging behind again. the second half had some more interesting features, the root wall, which was a conveniently placed 3 1/2 foot vertical wall of roots right at the bottom of a fairly flowing downhill, the 500yrd mud slick located conveniently after a creek crossing going uphill of course, the dead fall downhill, where the was a large tree right in the middle of some technical downhill section which required a dismount crossing. This was also where I ate it pretty good when I managed to get a little left of the trail and almost plowed down a couple of saplings. Then of course the icing on the cake the 2 miles of rock garden or as I like to refer to as the hike from hell, while there is some ridable area throughout it has many more dismount points than any other trail I have ever been on. This is the section where you definitely can reflect on why you got started in mountain biking to begin with as well as questioning your sanity for putting yourself through so much suffering not to mention paying for it. Anyway I saw the towers as I approached the 32 mile point signaling the end of the torture and a pleasant 2 mile downhill split between a gravel and paved road to the finish line.
Now if my calculations are correct we have 2-3 miles of downhill in the first 17 miles and then about 4 miles of downhill in the second 17 most of which is in steep sections one mile or more at a time so once again my question remains Who was the sick individual that developed a 34 mile trail with 27 miles of climbing? And why do I keep riding it?? If nothing else it should me where I need to start focusing my training and getting my latctate threshold up as well as working on my power looks like I might be doing alot of interval training. Well with that I am looking forward to Thomson Day this Saturday and in light of 6hrs of trail time I had on Saturday and the 4hrs I plan on doing next Saturday I will stick with some light road rides this week, however if your out at Thomson Day on Saturday I will See You on the Trail!

In Memory of Oscar

My last post introduced a new member of the family, this post unfortunately says farewell, Oscar Duncan died prematurely last week. It is amazing how attached you can become to a family member, because thats what my pets are, in less than a week. His passing has made this week pretty hard to concentrate on the upcoming TT at Snake Creek but I will give it my best and try to make this a healing event. I am here in Dalton all my gear set and ready to go and looking forward to the challenge once again this year. This will be a good warm up for the 4hr ride at Thomson next week especially seeing how much more climbing it has and the higher altitude at this location. Anyway I will be out there giving it my best tomorrow in Memory of Oscar so if your out there I Will See you on The Trail!