Christmas Riding thoughts

WHY DO I RIDE

The reasons I ride could probably fill a book but if I was to narrow it down to my top five I think I can keep it to a blog post

1. Freedom, no matter how difficult the section of trail I am on whether it is the worst rock garden I have ever traversed(Snake Creek Time Trial miles 29-33). Or the best section of downhill trail rolling into high banked sweeping turns that sling shot you through them I am there because I chose to be there. I had no financial requirement to climb on the bike and punish my body for hours at a time. No individual in a position of authority directing that this is where I had to be at a specific time for a preset duration. I chose to be there of my own free will I am riding simply for the love of the ride, enjoying everything from the most difficult of climbs to the best air catching, hanging off the back of the seat, Adrenalin pumping downhill section – and its all because I want to.

2. Seclusion, regardless of how big the group you ride with, whether you start a race or just out on a ride. Somewhere in that ride out there 12 miles from nowhere you can get lost in your own thoughts. Eventually you hit that section of trail where it is smooth and you go into autopilot just enjoying the scenery around you and the lack of anything resembling civilization in any direction you look

3. Simplicity, somewhere out on the trail whether your suffering up a climb, screaming down a hill, or rolling through some smooth single track the realization of how much enjoyment you can get out of the simple act of riding a bike hits you. Countless times I have found myself riding, wishing that somewhere along the lines of trying to grow up and be rich and famous how happy I would have been if I had just kept riding for the pure enjoyment of it.

4. Exploration, no matter how many times you ride a trail there is always a new aspect to be experienced. Whether it is riding the trail in the opposite direction or pushing yourself just that little bit harder to make it through the difficult section instead of taking the short cut.

5. Challenge, because what is life without a challenge. Climbing that impossible hill or navigating the scariest downhill, the sense of accomplishment when reaching the top or the bottom of either lets you know that your living your life not letting it pass you by.

Merry Christmas to Everyone and Keep the Rubber Side down!

Christmas Come Early!

Yea Buddy!! This years present is a 16.5" Rocky Mountain Element Team 2008 Frame from the Grand Rapids Cycling Company owner who had the frame and gave me a great deal. The Shop has the best selection of Rocky Mountain Bikes I have seen anywhere since Rocky is a difficult Bike to find at the stores. The Frame will go great with the Mavic 819s I have with red nipples on the spokes, the Red Cane Creek Headset and the new white and red Candy Ti2 Pedals I just bought. I also bought the white and red WTB Rocket V SLT saddle to top it off. So to get it all together I am building it with the components off the Vertex hardtail I have, not sure if I am going to sell the Vertex or hang onto it to have as a another frame to switch between will have to see. Anyway hope everyone is having a good holiday season I know I am, might have to keep my eye out for a FOX RLC 100mm fork for the bike as I might have to try that I am currently using a Marzochi MX Pro 120mm fork on it. Well keep the rubber side down and ahave a good holiday!

Home for the Holidays

Well I am back in the states for the Holidays, and lucky me it starting snowing the day I arrived and has been freezing ever since. The family is doing well and it is good to see them again, the location leaves something to be desired however. I have been able to hit the gm one day at the local HS gym here since that is the only one within 30 miles and I did some running today got in 5 miles this afternoon in the sub freezing weather - Yeah Fun!...NOT. I am looking forward to the holidays and enjoying my time with the family while I can. Here are some photos of the family pets and weather that I am enjoying.

So Much for the Trail Ride

Well I was looking forward to a good day of trail riding out at Bundang park this morning when I got up but I guess it wasn't meant to be. The two guys going with me bailed last minute, both with valid reasons but a bummer none the less. No big deal rode trails with the people I was meeting before just have to drive up myself. Well since I didn't know the way I was meeting another guy at a location to rally up and head out. Well I got there a couple minutes late and either he left already or didn't show, not sure which yet. Well that shoots that to shit so I head back to the Hump and when I get back and pull the bike out of the back of the van low and behold I have a flat! well that was the third strike. So I did what any good cyclist would do I got dressed and grabbed the Trek SL1000 and hit the road. Was feeling like being out for a while anyway so I did the 75miler again this time combining two different road rides we do for the milage. The temp was ranging between 48-54 with a wind so I had on the Craft and other snivel gear to keep myself warm and it was a good thing I did. Over all it was some good base training kept the HR avg at 148 and burned 3100 calories according to the Sigma ROX 9that thing is a awesome computer. Well that will probably be my last ride prior to coming home for leave so I am going to clean up the bikes this week and get them set aside for the month. I am already sure the hardest part of going on leave will be coming back for my second six months on Penisula but we do what we have to. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and as always, Keep the Rubber Side Down!

Almost Trainer Time

Well it has been a couple of weeks since my last post, not much exciting been happening. Doing alot of road riding, spin classes and weight lifting - typical off season stuff. Work is keeping me busy as usual and I am looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, while I wish I could be home with my family I realize there are others spending this holiday in more dangerous and remote locations than me with far less of the everyday commodities we take for granted. Meanwhile the road riding has been good for working on the speed and been getting stronger on the legs with the weight lifting. The temperatures are definitely starting to drop so it will soon be time to hook up the trainer and start riding some of the Courses on that so will see how some of these computer course push the training envelope. Looking forward to being back home soon for a couple of weeks for mid-tour, and hopefully the second half of my tour goes as quickly as the first half. That's about it for now so Everyone have a good Holiday and Keep on Riding.

Been Keeping Busy over here

Gotta have the proof if your riding this far - 75.8 miles(Basically to Seoul and back)


This is the view of Korea when I am 30 miles from Home


Not exactly sure what this sign was warning was ahead but I sure never saw them!


This is waht the fields look like when they harvest the rice in the fall


Looking good and sporting The Bike Store Gear at 0700hrs!

Well it has been a while since I last posted, have been in a MTB race, Hiked some Korea Mountains and Been working 18hr days during the week on occasion. This weekend was kinda nice had a few days off and took it easy for the most part. Yesterday was a nice day to get out and ride so I headed up to Osan AFB, Songtan, Korea met up with Mark, a rider up there and hit the road for 25miles with him. Since I had ridden up there, a additional 13mile warm-up and then back I hit the 50 mile mark right at the intersection to head back to Humphreys. Well since I had little else to do yesterday I decided to go straight head out to Pyongteck Harbor and round my ride up to a even 75 miles. Was a nice easy base mileage ride and was actually a good way to clear my head and relax.
Anyway, next weekend we are looking at hitting a race down south it is a 100 mile MTB race so need to get the ETSX ready to go - some of the hills out here can be pretty steep as I have noted in previous post. Weather is starting to get winter like out here so working more on the strength training at the gym and pulling out the Real Axiom trainer so I can keep up the riding. Looking forward to the fact that I will be back home in about 3 weeks for leave and spending the month of December back home with the family. Well that is about it for now I have some pics to post and as always - Keep riding and Keep the Rubber Side Down!

So you think you can downhill huh??

Well that was the question I was asked one bright shiney Sunday morning as I stood at the base of the slope where DHers were screaming down the trail catching massive amount air and comparing who had the bigger.......suspension. Anywho one ski-lift ride to the top later there I stood with my All-Mountain ETSX about to see how all mountain it really was. The phrase I don't think anyone has uttered to me in quite a while came out "I am not waiting for you to go down the hill", that was humbling indeed. Well to make a long story short I made it down the hill thought it was awesome, I am sure the DH guys thought I was a pansy taking the smaller jumps not to mention wearing spandex, but I can say I actually rode a DH trail on a Ski slope......AWESOME! think I might try it again.

My 200th Post cool!

Well didn't realize it till just now as I signed in write this post and add some pictures from last week but this is my 200th post on this site! Wow who would think I would find that much to write about? That has to be at least that many rides if not a few more. Anyway Here are some pics from the Saturday ride up in Daechon - Enjoy!

ORAMM will be a breeze.....

Yes folks that is Rebbeca Gross


Several of the riders that went for a second epic ride on Sunday


This is Mik our guide on Saturday and Sunday


Well if I continue to ride these trails out here doing the climbing and downhilling that is part of standard Mountain Biking in Korea I will definitely be in the kinda shape that would make ORAMM much easier. Went out to the city of Daechon this weekend to do some riding and camping and got a good dose of both of them. The camping part was good food, good beer and good friends all hanging out together. These guys and gals in Seoul that ride do this right, trailer Bar-B-Que grill, enough food to feed a small Army and one great cook who came down to camp and cook for the rest of us riders.
The riding was what I now realize is typical for Korea, the trail warm up is usually a climb that will get your heart rate up to max, levels out for a little and then climbing again. We then decided to do a downhill run before we went up the hills in our groups. So the original statement from one of the female riders was that the downhill was nothing that a beginner with a little bit of skill couldn't handle. As we are sitting at the top of the hill the DHers all start busting out shin guards and elbow pads, I ask "Hey if this is so easy why all the hardware??" oh just in case don't want to get scratched. I am thinking ok what are we in for? Sure enough it starts out mellow enough but gets kinda hectic pretty fast there where six foot drops rollers off of roots going vertical and stairs that were enough to make you teeter/tooter your bike on the wrong line(guess where I was). I once read that riding downhills that had erosion and washouts, ruts was to make you feel like you had a bigger pair than you actually did, well if that is the case then they are all walking around Korea thinking they have elephantitis of said body part.
Anyway after making it down the first run without wrecking the bike(I tried at a really hairy and rooted section but the bike wouldn't go down) we started back up the hill. This time we climbe up to the point we started the downhill at and then mapped out the climb to the fortress on the next mountain over so we could get there. The climb on the fire road wasn't to bad when we hit the point that started the single track I could tell this wasn't going to be good. Now our guide up what was going to be the most irritating, challenging, tourretes inducing, single track climb I have encountered since.......well I can't think of a climb this difficult in my extensive 6yrs of riding, not even ORAMM said yea this is rideable except for a couple of parts. My impression was those couple of parts where the beginning , the middle and The End. At times I had the bike by the handle bars and stem dragging behind me as I used my other hand to pull me up the trail. Add to this the fact that the favorite Korean past time is hiking and that puts a whole new dimension of difficulty in technical single track.
When we finally get to the top of the climb from hell, Mik our guide looks at me and ask "Are you ok?" well you can imagine the response that got. Anyway I have to give him credit though, short of the view over the Grand Canyon this was the most B E A utiful view I have seen in any country I have been to to date. I am pretty sure I could see Seoul and that was over a 100 to the north of us. Without a doubt worth the effort to get to the top. After a couple of photo ops we do some fire road back down the hill and meet up with some of the other riders on the way eventually meeting back at the point where we did the first downhill. A couple more runs down and back up the hill and we called it a day and headed back to the campground. No ride would be complete without one wipeout which I did as I made the second run down the hill on the very end of the downhill section that combined roots, washout and ruts all at once for the trifecta of downhill challenge. While I am waiting for one of the riders who was out there with us to email me some pics, Wong from Malaysia, I have a couple from the Sunday ride the group did. I wasn't part of this ride but the view is pretty much the same and some good pics so thought I would include them. So Keep the rubber side down and keep riding!

Good Training Week

Well the MTB race last week was a good measurement of how much work I have ahead of me to get competitive with these guys in regards to climbing. That was 25 miles of up the hill down the hill nothing technical in fact about 10 miles of it were road riding so I could have done without the FS on this ride. The trail was all fire road on the hill the big technical portion was maneuvering through the lose rock and gravel and maintaining your momentum up 22% grades. More than once I crested a hill only to look up and go "you gotta be kidding me!" Combined it was over 3300 feet of climbing in 25miles. The Koreans were passing me like I was standing still going up the hills on there Carbon Fiber hardtails cruising up like it was cool, however on the downhills....different story there. I would have to say they err on the side of caution going down, with good reason as someone was killed in last years event when they missed the turn. They were a little to cautious for me though, you had a fire road wide trail and your major concern was not hitting some really lose stuff and hopping from one side of the trail to the other on the turns other than that the benefits of FS definitely helped me make up ground. So for the rest of this week I have started lifting trying to develop some strength for the climbs and do some off season training while still getting in a ride or two during the course of the week. I seemed to have added a couple of inches to the waist line when I wasn't watching so need to get that back off and get the body fat back down to a acceptable percentage. Anyway here are some pre and post race pics still waiting for the website address from the event they had some good photo and sag support out at the event. Hope everyone is doing well back in the states and Keep the Rubber Side Down! Later.

Mountain Bike Racing in Korea

Well this oughta be interesting, I am in no way in competative race shape but how many people outside the pro ranks get to say the raced in a foriegn country? So I am heading out this weekend to a town called Jecheon to ride in a 45Km MTB Race with some other of my military MTB riding buddies. Should be pretty interesting I hear it is some pretty steep hills on the climbs, not technical but definitely a workout. Since I have been getting my butt handed to me on the hills out here this oughta be a experience. Life is good between work, college, and work I have managed to get in a ride or two when I can. Well it is late so I will keep it short, oh by the way I got a few pages of fame in the INSCOM Journal a article detailing the skills and exploits of my dazzling mountain biking skills! LOL but it is good reading. Anyway I will post more when I get back hopefully I keep the rubber side down and don't wear out Granny on the way up the Mountains!

Trail Riding at BUNDANG(Yep that really is the name of the trail)

This is the hoopty we will be traveling up to Osan in(amazing what $500 in Korea buys!)


Hello all, well today I went up to Seoul again and road with the group up there at Bundang Trail. Let me say there isn't a place in this country that is flat! Now having said that I would have to say(not to disparage any GA trails) but This is Mountain Biking We climbed for about a half hour on some technical single track before it even leveled out slightly and then the downhills, lets just say they would have gotten covered and rerouted if they were in GA as "Erosion" This was get off the back of the bike feather the brakes and smoke your forearms downhills. The ETSX was loving it and I was relearning skills I hadn't used since I was in Arizona, it was a blast. All told in 13.5 miles of riding we climbed and descended over 3500ft in each direction(according to the Garmin). Anyway after that we hung out tailgating in the parking lot of the park for a couple of hours telling stories cooking brauts and drinking beers it was a blast. Tomorrow I am heading up to Osan in the van with a few of the riders from Camp Humphreys and we are going to get in about 16miles of some up the hill and down the hill riding should be fun. I think the major replacement parts I am going to need will be brake pads at least initially until I get comfortable with the downhills again. I figured out a riding goal for this year while I am in Korea and that is to find the highest point that is rideable to and get to the top before I leave so I will have to work on that one because if I don't get it before November chances are I will have to wait until April or May to try it then. Anyway life is good hope everyone is well back there and if your out there on the bike-Keep the Rubber Side Down!

Trail Riding Tomorrow(Hopefully)

Well it has been over a month since I was able to trail ride last and over two months since I have been able to trail ride the ETSX so hopefully tomorrow will break that dry spell. I am planning on hitting the trail up in Osan with the Beerbelly Cycling group and will be riding up there with several members of the Anjung-Ri Cycling club here at Camp Humphreys so we should have a good warm up it is about a 12mile ride up to Osan. Life has been busier that ever here with getting into the new position at work and getting back into the flow of a real Army unit on a Army installation. 7rs at TRADOC and 4 at the Wing have made me a little rusty when it comes to actual Army activities but I am getting back into the flow of things. Well this will be short hopefully tomorrow I will have updates and pics from a good trail ride. Until then Keep the Rubber Side Down!

Hello Again

Well it has been a fun week, recieved my household goods here only to find out they lost a box that had uniforms, manuals and water bottles,(the new Bike Store green ones I recieved from Bill before I left) Have been busier that a one legged man in a gluteous maximus kicking contest so haven't gotten to file the loss report yet here. As for the riding, hit the road 3 times this week for a total of about 95 miles in the last 4 days here. Missed out on trail riding due to weather and other interfering factors but hopefully this coming Saturday we will be able to hit the trail and do some riding. Meanwhile between trying to get this place set up, work and everything else I have been keeping pretty busy. I see my cohorts down in GA are racing the last race of the GSC series this weekend good luck to Greg, Ethan, Monte and the others out there competing looks like we should have some top 3 finishers in a couple of classes for the season. I am starting to actually get this place in a setup where I can eat my meals here for a change I have been hitting the fast food establishments like I was doing my own Supersize Me dcoumentary here for the last month so it was good to actually eat all three meals without going to a drive thru today! Well it is late and I have to run 6 miles tomorrow so I will end here enjoy the pics(have to go to my flicker at http://www.flickr.com/photos/koreariding09-10/ and remember to Keep the Rubber Side Down!

Group Riding in Korea

Had to climb a few miles to get this view here!

This was the group we rode with Sunday put in about 37 miles

View of Seoul from half way up the mountain on Saturday

This was the sign about 2 miles from the top did this climb 4 times - Good Stuff!!
This is the town right outside the Post good place.

Well hello again from the land of Morning Calm. I am hanging out at the hotel still waiting for a barracks room - starting to get old living out of the luggage. On a good note I was able to hook up with the local riding group here at Camp Humphreys and was able to borrow a Turner FS from one of the guys on post and go riding down in Seoul last weekend. Imagine lending someone your Turner with a Chris King Wheelset and XTR components, and oh by the way you have only met the guy once. That is what another soldier did for me so I could go ride this weekend. I was grateful for that it was awesome some serious downhill I was wishing I had the ETSX I could have used the extra travel on the downhills which were ORAMM style steep. then the uphill was short and steep as well (see attached pic) did 4 loops around the trail and called it a day and it was a blast. Sunday did a group ride on the road on the Turner again that was a pretty good challenge once again hills that were intense. Hopefully I will get a barracks room soon and then I can get settled in and have my bikes and do some riding with my stuff. Anyway that is about it here just getting into work and Hanging out at the gym doing spin class to get some pedaling in we have a good instructor smokes us pretty good doing the session. Well that is about it for now I have a flicker account so I posted all the pics there for viewing and will keep doing it so I can keep ya posted on all the fun I have over here during the next year. I would be remiss if I didn't Wish my Wife a Happy B-Day and hope she had a good one! So to all my readers Enjoy the trail and Keep the Rubber Side Down!

Land of Morning Calm - And all day Rain!

Well I have arrived at my destination which I will call home for the next year pretty much. I was wandering around trying to figure out which barracks I will be living in this evening when I ran acrossed a couple of guys in front of one of the buildings so I thought I would ask. Well long story short as one of them was showing me the rooms I spot a Turner Hard tail and a Maverick 6+" Travel downhill bike. So needless to say I start asking about riding groups trails and anything he might know so he puts me in touch with a couple of the groups out here and hopefully I will be riding here by the beginning of August! As for the location it looks barely like I remember it from my last visit over a decade ago, there are a few buildings and locations that haven't changed but overall 90% of what I used to know is either gone, relocated or renovated. I found the new gym here today and was able to get a workout in on the stairmaster so that was nice. Anyway I am looking forward to getting into my barracks room this week hopefully and getting my stuff by Friday if possible so if that is the case I will be putting the bikes together this weekend and looking for a ride soon after. Once I get out there I will make sure to get some pics and post on the ride and how it was until then Keep the Rubber Side Down and enjoy the ride!

Inter Blog harrasment

Well no pictures and no stories other than about my packing up to get ready to fly out on Saturday so instead I will harrass Charles. Since his camera "Followed" out of his pocket the other day the camera should have gotten some great shots of the ride so I am not sure I understand the lack of photos? However Charles seems to be having some great rides (lucky bastard!) meanwhile I am making arriangements to put my Vertex in a garage for the year - still haven't found a buyer for it yet. Anyway not much to blog about no rides or stage TT's just chilling in BFE Michigan. No pictures here since my camera didn't fall out of my pocket so hope to have something to write about soon until then Keep the Rubber Side Down and enjoy the ride!

Last Trail ride in the States for the year

Well I hit a local trail up here in Michigan today. I went out to Eygpt Valley where they have about a 10 mile loop that is smooth fast and easy to ride. It was just what the doctor order I hit 2 laps and rolled through pretty steadily and just enjoyed the ride. While not hanging with my buddies down south in GA who are managing to hit the road everyday of the TDF so far(lucky bastards! - especially you Charles!) I managed to get my first ride in for the last 2 weeks now it is time to start packing for my trip to the East! I found a local Bike Store up here that actually is a Rocky Mountain Dealer had some SWEET Elements in the shop almost had me buying a new bike but definitely got me looking for something to consider when I get back. Well this will probably be the last post till I get to Korea so until then Keep pedalling and I will let you know how the trails in South Korea are once I am able to hit them.

Getting the family settled in

Well I have been up here in Michigan for 11 days now and almost have the family comfortably set in the house we are renting and getting the family pets readjusted. So far we have had to have the cleaners come back in, repairs done over most of the house, the AC inspected cause it sucks and the storage shed treated for termites! If it wasn't for the money the wife is going to be making while she is up here this would be a total nightmare for a relocation. I honestly almost feel bad because my living conditions in Korea might be better than what my family is in. On the other end Pams Pristine Cleaning has been a outstanding investment in getting the house ready to rent. The house itself looks as good as it did the day we moved in-definitely pride in their work and outstanding attention to detail! if your looking to get some cleaning done for any reason I would definitely recommend them they are well worth the price and they have a military discount!
Well in regards to riding the Lumberjack 100 became the Lumberjack 25 for me. I had to return to GA from MI to pick up the stuff we couldn't get in the car on the first trip so I returned from GA the day before the race and got in the house about 12 am that morning and then was up at 4am to drive a 1 1/2 hour to the race. That coupled with the fact that I had ridden twice since the 12hrs of Ft Yargo and took 3 weeks off during that time due to tendonitis I wasn't even close to prepared for any endurance event. Maybe I could have gotten away with that at 21yrs old but 41yrs old its a little harder to do. It was a shame to because this course was without a doubt the smoothest, fastest rolling course you could ask for - the trail was the closest thing to a paved trail in the woods you could get. This trail was the least technical trail I have ever ridden and had I been in shape would have had the fastest pace I could have averaged on trail race. As it was Chris Eatough was finishing up his second lap and starting his third about 10min after I finished my first lap which was about as close as I was to him for my race! Not sure if I will get the chance at another ride before I have to head out to Korea but am hoping for at least one more. Might be about this long before I get a chance to post again so to all my readers - Keep the rubber side down and keep pedalling!

Slow Month

First off my apologies to my avid readers for not posting anything new lately. It has been a slow month since the race and been spending the majority of it off the bike, recovering from tendinitis, and trying to get prepared for my PCS move and moving the family. I finally rode with the beginner group this past Wednesday and got to stretch the legs a little since it had been over 2 weeks since I had gotten in the saddle and pedaled any amount of distance. In the process I am trying to sell everything from my Truck to a home entertainment center. What I have found out repeatedly on CraigsList is that the only ones seeming to respond to anything outside the truck are just out to rip me off! All the offers I have had on anything except the truck have been bogus. In a moment of clarity though I might post all the items on here and see what kind of response I get, things haven't been to promising even on the OMBA site trying to sell the bikes or parts. Everyone wants you to part out the bikes and nobody wants to by the parts that I have up for sale so why would I part the bikes??! Anyway it is off to Az this weekend to see my God Daughters confirmation and hang out with the family before I head up to MI to see the wife's family get her set up and then head to Korea. The wife got called for a job interview already so we are keeping positive thoughts hopefully it comes thru. Well baring any new developments hopefully I might get a trail ride in before I have to pack up the bikes but I am planning on doing The Bike Stores Century Ride on the 31st so if your out there I Will See You on the Ride!

12hrs of Yargo Mudfest Aftermath

Well Finally I was back at the trail again for a full day fun in the saddle! While I initially started the weekend out with a minor mechanical where the cassette was locking up the hub, a minor issue that was resolved over the phone that evening with Charles. The next morning I wake up from a dream I was 3hrs late to the start of the race, only to find out its only 5am. After getting registered and enjoying the Breakfast of Champions, Red Baron Breakfast Pizza's it was time to get ready for the race. Then as I load the bike up on the car rack I notice my rear shock sleeve is separated from the bottom part of the shock so nothing is sealing the bottom part of the shock so another panicked call to Charles and after a short discussion about how bad it might be I decided to race it anyway.
The night before the race it rained enough to make the trail kinda tacky since it was extremely dry the day before. Some of the low lying areas where a little slick and apparently one of the bridge crossings was really bad you would have to ask the rider who just about ended up in the culvert. I had a sag point set up about half way through the course about 6 miles in so the first lap was actually a lap and a half about 18miles before I stopped for my first refill. The real fun began on lap 4, just after my stop for a fresh bottle and few enervite gels I head out on the trail and a couple of minutes later it starts down pouring, the trail basically became a creek and I joked to the rider in front of me how mountain biking was a dual outdoor land and water sport all at once. While that lap was definitely the wettest it wasn't the worst. At least on that lap the mud got washed off as you rode, the following lap when the rain stopped we just had fun in the mud and it was slick!
Well I think about the 5th lap is when the rear shock decided it had enough and felt like I was riding a low rider hard tail. After that lap Monte was at the start/finish area where they had hooked up a hose to spray off the bike so he helped me out with cleaning off some of the mud and put as much chain lube on as it could stand. So I head out to complete lap 7 get the light set on and head back out to the trail. Now with all my mechanical fun I had been having this weekend to make it to lap 7 of the race and actually finish 12hrs I am feeling pretty good about it. 3 miles from the end my rear wheel starts locking up on me - not sure what caused it but I cured it with some accelerade from my water bottle and finished the lap. I felt worse for my bike than I did for me I put that rig through a hurting some Charles is going to have to put some work in on that bike to get it back in race shape! I ended up with 7 laps in just under 11hrs which is slower than last years pace but due to conditions so was everyone, so I am fairly happy with the results. Big thanks to my wife and son for hanging out all day in less than stellar conditions as my support crew. My son Austin also provide help to the volunteer running the road crossing by cheering for riders and stopping traffic. Also to Monte for helping me out and motivating me the last two laps, and finally James who provide the post race beer that I am holding in the pic Monte got of me. Congrats to all the guys who raced, Monte, Mark, Duckman, and anyone else I missed and once this weather lets the local trails dry I Will See You on the Trail!