Saturday, July 16, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Welcome to Nats
It's a straight up 2 mile climb that'll seperate the men from boys, followed by an amazing 4 mile decent. It's going to be tough boys...
G
Monday, July 11, 2011
US Cup 9 Recap
The Guantlet
That's what this weekend felt like. Not only in terms of a wam bam thank you mam, down and dirty trip, but also in terms of overcoming yet even more problems to somehow manage a good result. I seem to be problem prone, but I will say I've become much better in dealing with problems since having so many over the years. Now days if a trip comes without problems it's a suprise.
This weekend consisted of heading down solo to Huntsville, AL for the US Cup #9. I had one goal, a top 5 in the Cat 1 class. It would be no easy feat on a good day, and forget it on a bad day. There's some fast cats down there, with some baggin ex-pros who make it even tougher to get a good result.
I stayed in COMO Friday night and had a nice dinner with the Mum and Sis, followed by some sweet bowling in which I hit my normal score (77), and some laser tag after that which ended up being a blast.
Woke up in the early AM, and hit the road about 8:30. The 8 hour drive was seemingly easy and fairly fast, and before I knew it I was setting up camp and getting ready for a pre-ride.
I jumped in with a group of three guys who I recognized from Bump and Grind, and we hit the loop railing what would become a very difficult course. I enjoyed the shit out of it pre-riding, but would find out come race day that some sections were much much harder when you've been pegging all race. Riding easyily along was fun though.
The track was a great mix of wide open drag race singletrack, and then it dumped into very tight and rocky singletrack that was a real challenge. The rocks were slick, but they played to my advantage being I was on the rock slaying Epic. Some sweet downhills, some techy uphills, more drag racing, and then it ended with this long, old run down road climb. That thing seemed to go on forever, and it would be here that I would conquer my demons the following day.
Enter problem...
Towards the end of the lap, I'm hammering along feeling great when I hear a loud pop, and my cranks seize. I look back and at first it looked like I had torn the shit out of my rear derailleur. After a little further inspection I found out that I had only sheered the bolt that holds the hanger. What little luck was to be found in this situation was that that was the best case scenario. I could have easily ripped the derailluer beyond fixing. Luckily I stopped quick enough to save it.
So long story short, I didn't have a spare. Neither did any of the three guys I was riding with who all happend to be on Epics. Neither did the Kenday/Tomac crew who had a full shop trailer. Neither did Home Depot. I looked for an hour trying to find a metric fine thread bolt that would work. It's 9:30pm and I still havent had dinner. I manage to stumble into a pub which happend to have very good fish taco's, sweet potatoe chips, and a local stout brew. I never drink before races. I didn't care at this point...
Enter My Hero
Justin Marquand. The equivalent of MacGyver. Several riders told me to see him. I knew him from a few races we raced together this year. He told me he had a ton of those bolts... At home. He was on his frankenbike, a 650B Cannondale carbon Flash. So he left the bolts at home that he would have had if he would have been racing his Epic. But he had a million other bolts, and in less than 5 minutes he had me fixed up. I'm still not sure what he did. I know it involved screwing two different bolts together, to create one bolt that in the end ended up being stock like perfect. Thanks again Justin, without you, I would have drove 16 hours to not even be able to race. Note to self, always have extra bolts. I'm a ex-singlespeeder who hasn't raced gears in years, so it was a common problem I overlooked.
There's something else that Justin saved me with. I thought the race started at 11:30. Not this week he said, we race early, 9:30. Great, I would have woke up and totally missed it all together. I'm a mess sometimes...
The next morning I woke up and headed down to town to grab some breakfast. My phone was dead so I couldn't look up any good breakfast places, so I just resorted to a loaded breakfast burrito and tots from Hardees. I don't recommend them for race day fuel. My warm up was warm. At 8:30 it already seemed to be real feel 100 degrees. The woods were ridiculous. I rode the road climb for the first time, since the day before I had to hike it out.
Enter Problem #2
I've had a slight issue of my chain getting lodged in between my lower derailluer jocky and the cage. Turns out it was getting worse. This isn't a deal breaker, but it makes pedaling a little harder, and you can't back pedal because the chain sucks the derailleur forward. It was stuck after just a short rocky section.
I figured I'd race it anyways... I've already been blessed with the luck of getting one problem fixed, and the bike still shifted and worked, so I hoped for the best and rolled it anyways.
It was a long way to travel not to start.
The Race
There were 10 or so 19-29 experts, and 25+ total experts or so that lined up to start. They started us off in waves, with one minute gaps. I managed to get the holeshot, which was suprising because back at Bump and Grind I could barely hang on at the start. It seemed like no one wanted to take the lead so I decided it was time to see what my legs could do.
I was flying through the first section feeling PRO. I could hear the riders behind me getting shelled off the back, popping like pop corn. I hit the open park area and had to slow down a bit to re-think of where the trail entered. I noticed only one rider had my wheel, Seth Kemp. Some 19 something ex-pro... Ya, ex-pro.
Anyways I find the trail, hammer some more, and then in a moment of G-Wiz glory I do what I do best. Hit the deck. Hard. Like GMapes, head to the earth in a very hard and quick fashion. Sorry G, but you land on your head more than anyone I know.
Seth asked if I was good. I think I said yes. I was seeing stars. Luckily I've wrecked so many times this year that I've become very good about dealing with it, picking up the pieces (which usually means bottles, and glasses) and moving on. Another rider made his way past me, and I slowly began the chase.
I could see them up the trail about 10 seconds after entering the real mans singletrack. It was the rockiest part of the trail, and also the most overgrown. Pretty crazy overgrown actually. It was a constant barrage of getting hit by tree limbs and bushes. It was so overgrown it was hard to see what was around each corner. It was also stupid hot. No air movement, humid, and extremely stuffy. It was night and day the difference between the open singletrack in the beginning of the loop, and the jungle track.
So they pass a pro rider, and I quickly catch his wheel. Somehow I become content in riding his wheel. It was about the time the techy climbs started, and the adrenaline rush had worn off leaving me huffing and puffing in the heat with the hills. I also bobbled on one of the climbs, jamming my left knee firmly into my handlbar,breaking open skin and allowing more adrenaline to flush the system. The saving grace of riding his wheel was he let me draft him up the pavement climb. I actually did pass him, but he caught back up and rode my wheel for a bit of that first hell climb, but saw I was struggling a bit so he took the lead and made sure I stayed with him. He even slowed down once to let me catch back on.
So the beginning of the second lap was uneventful. We caught 2nd place in my age group in the open park, and quickly put in a gap. I kept on his wheel until the middle/end of the lap when I hit a wall. That was about the time Andy Johnston passed me. He was the overall Cat 1 winner, and also an ex-pro. I remember reading on his blog one day that the only reason he races Cat 1 is because it pays better, but preferred the pro races because they were funner. That should have been motivation enough for me to keep his wheel and lay down the wood, but unforunately at this point my wood was getting water logged and I didn't have much to lay down.
It took a lot of self talk motivation to get through that lap. But the motivation quickly picked up when I passed Seth, who had a flat. At this point I was sitting 1st in my age group, and 2nd overall. There's no way in hell I came all the way down here to quit while being in such a good postition.
It was at the moment that I began to face my demons.
These demons have been more prevalent as of late. It seems with the recent change in life, and a few rough races, that I have had doubts and less motivation. It was time to break a few walls down like Berlin and find out just what I was made of. These demons had to meet their maker.
The third lap started out fairly well, and I was still able to power through most of the sections fairly well. Then I hit the jungle. Luckily the first rocky section went fairly smoothly and I stayed very consistant. Then the back half started. It was a section that had no flow if you weren't on it, and I wasn't on it.
I got passed by a 40-49 expert, which then put in me in 3rd overall. I couldn't keep his wheel, and I felt like I was baking in the oven like the Phillsburry Dough Boy. It was hot, I was low on water, and cramps were sitting in. I was fading worse than Lindsey Lohans career.
Then Seth passes.
At this point I have about 3 miles left to go, and I knew that I couldn't give up any more postitions, because even after the finish you have to watch for the guys that started behind you but finish with a better time due to the time splits. I wish I could have stayed on his wheel, but I was in survive mode at this point. I just didn't have it.
I pushed hard, and then pushed harder. I imagine that I spent more time with my eyes closed, teeth clinched then not. I was entering what would turn out to be a deep, dark, extremely difficult pain cave. The last singletrack section consisted of a few decent hills and lots of power flats. I just keep turning pedals, knowing I would pop out on the road soon enough.
And I did... And that's where I met Jesus.
The last time up the road climb was unlike anything I've ever experienced in racing. I was so close to the end, with this cracked, weathered, and worn out road being the only thing standing in my way. I started out fine, but minutes later I felt like stopping and dying on the side of this stupid fucking road. I closed my eyes and thought about every painful interval I've done this year, every power hour, the 14 second lose to 5th place at Bump and Grind. I had less than 10 minutes till the finish on what could have been the missing half of my upgrade, and I was for damn sure not going to let this road get in my way.
So I manned up. I dug so deep that I was either going to finish the climb in glory or break down and have to be hauled off in an ambulance.
I eventually made it to the top, and just like that it was all over.
I collapsed my bike and fell upon a picknick table asking a gentleman for his assistance in filling up my water bottle. I was so drained I couldn't move. 10 waterbottles drank later, and I finally started to come around. I had been severaly dehydrated, and I'm lucky I didn't have to go to the hospital. I knew it, but I pushed on anyways. Two and a half water bottles for a 2 hour and 15 minute race in that heat wasn't near enough. I should have done two bottles an hour. But when you don't have a bottle handuper, you deal with what you have in order to save as much time as possible.
In the end one other 30-39 racer did pass me in the overall, finishing around 30 seconds after me, putting him 30 seconds in front of me with his 1 minute time split.
I finished 2nd in my age group, and 5th overall. Mission accomplished.
I broke down camp, took a quick shower, and drove the 8 hours back to Columbia where I quickly passed out, woke up, and drove the hour to work making it in at 8:30 for our Monday morning meeting.
The guantlet is done. It was success. It was filled with problems, glory, and most of all adventure.
Toss another great memory into the memory bank.
Now I need to get some serious rest and recovery, lick my wounds, and get ready for Nationals Saturday...
Yet another battle looms on the horizon.
Let there be fight left, for I'll need every bit I can muster for this one.
G
I had every intention of taking lots of photos, but due to the craziness of the situation I only managed to snap one. It truely was a beautiful place.
That's what this weekend felt like. Not only in terms of a wam bam thank you mam, down and dirty trip, but also in terms of overcoming yet even more problems to somehow manage a good result. I seem to be problem prone, but I will say I've become much better in dealing with problems since having so many over the years. Now days if a trip comes without problems it's a suprise.
This weekend consisted of heading down solo to Huntsville, AL for the US Cup #9. I had one goal, a top 5 in the Cat 1 class. It would be no easy feat on a good day, and forget it on a bad day. There's some fast cats down there, with some baggin ex-pros who make it even tougher to get a good result.
I stayed in COMO Friday night and had a nice dinner with the Mum and Sis, followed by some sweet bowling in which I hit my normal score (77), and some laser tag after that which ended up being a blast.
Woke up in the early AM, and hit the road about 8:30. The 8 hour drive was seemingly easy and fairly fast, and before I knew it I was setting up camp and getting ready for a pre-ride.
I jumped in with a group of three guys who I recognized from Bump and Grind, and we hit the loop railing what would become a very difficult course. I enjoyed the shit out of it pre-riding, but would find out come race day that some sections were much much harder when you've been pegging all race. Riding easyily along was fun though.
The track was a great mix of wide open drag race singletrack, and then it dumped into very tight and rocky singletrack that was a real challenge. The rocks were slick, but they played to my advantage being I was on the rock slaying Epic. Some sweet downhills, some techy uphills, more drag racing, and then it ended with this long, old run down road climb. That thing seemed to go on forever, and it would be here that I would conquer my demons the following day.
Enter problem...
Towards the end of the lap, I'm hammering along feeling great when I hear a loud pop, and my cranks seize. I look back and at first it looked like I had torn the shit out of my rear derailleur. After a little further inspection I found out that I had only sheered the bolt that holds the hanger. What little luck was to be found in this situation was that that was the best case scenario. I could have easily ripped the derailluer beyond fixing. Luckily I stopped quick enough to save it.
So long story short, I didn't have a spare. Neither did any of the three guys I was riding with who all happend to be on Epics. Neither did the Kenday/Tomac crew who had a full shop trailer. Neither did Home Depot. I looked for an hour trying to find a metric fine thread bolt that would work. It's 9:30pm and I still havent had dinner. I manage to stumble into a pub which happend to have very good fish taco's, sweet potatoe chips, and a local stout brew. I never drink before races. I didn't care at this point...
Enter My Hero
Justin Marquand. The equivalent of MacGyver. Several riders told me to see him. I knew him from a few races we raced together this year. He told me he had a ton of those bolts... At home. He was on his frankenbike, a 650B Cannondale carbon Flash. So he left the bolts at home that he would have had if he would have been racing his Epic. But he had a million other bolts, and in less than 5 minutes he had me fixed up. I'm still not sure what he did. I know it involved screwing two different bolts together, to create one bolt that in the end ended up being stock like perfect. Thanks again Justin, without you, I would have drove 16 hours to not even be able to race. Note to self, always have extra bolts. I'm a ex-singlespeeder who hasn't raced gears in years, so it was a common problem I overlooked.
There's something else that Justin saved me with. I thought the race started at 11:30. Not this week he said, we race early, 9:30. Great, I would have woke up and totally missed it all together. I'm a mess sometimes...
The next morning I woke up and headed down to town to grab some breakfast. My phone was dead so I couldn't look up any good breakfast places, so I just resorted to a loaded breakfast burrito and tots from Hardees. I don't recommend them for race day fuel. My warm up was warm. At 8:30 it already seemed to be real feel 100 degrees. The woods were ridiculous. I rode the road climb for the first time, since the day before I had to hike it out.
Enter Problem #2
I've had a slight issue of my chain getting lodged in between my lower derailluer jocky and the cage. Turns out it was getting worse. This isn't a deal breaker, but it makes pedaling a little harder, and you can't back pedal because the chain sucks the derailleur forward. It was stuck after just a short rocky section.
I figured I'd race it anyways... I've already been blessed with the luck of getting one problem fixed, and the bike still shifted and worked, so I hoped for the best and rolled it anyways.
It was a long way to travel not to start.
The Race
There were 10 or so 19-29 experts, and 25+ total experts or so that lined up to start. They started us off in waves, with one minute gaps. I managed to get the holeshot, which was suprising because back at Bump and Grind I could barely hang on at the start. It seemed like no one wanted to take the lead so I decided it was time to see what my legs could do.
I was flying through the first section feeling PRO. I could hear the riders behind me getting shelled off the back, popping like pop corn. I hit the open park area and had to slow down a bit to re-think of where the trail entered. I noticed only one rider had my wheel, Seth Kemp. Some 19 something ex-pro... Ya, ex-pro.
Anyways I find the trail, hammer some more, and then in a moment of G-Wiz glory I do what I do best. Hit the deck. Hard. Like GMapes, head to the earth in a very hard and quick fashion. Sorry G, but you land on your head more than anyone I know.
Seth asked if I was good. I think I said yes. I was seeing stars. Luckily I've wrecked so many times this year that I've become very good about dealing with it, picking up the pieces (which usually means bottles, and glasses) and moving on. Another rider made his way past me, and I slowly began the chase.
I could see them up the trail about 10 seconds after entering the real mans singletrack. It was the rockiest part of the trail, and also the most overgrown. Pretty crazy overgrown actually. It was a constant barrage of getting hit by tree limbs and bushes. It was so overgrown it was hard to see what was around each corner. It was also stupid hot. No air movement, humid, and extremely stuffy. It was night and day the difference between the open singletrack in the beginning of the loop, and the jungle track.
So they pass a pro rider, and I quickly catch his wheel. Somehow I become content in riding his wheel. It was about the time the techy climbs started, and the adrenaline rush had worn off leaving me huffing and puffing in the heat with the hills. I also bobbled on one of the climbs, jamming my left knee firmly into my handlbar,breaking open skin and allowing more adrenaline to flush the system. The saving grace of riding his wheel was he let me draft him up the pavement climb. I actually did pass him, but he caught back up and rode my wheel for a bit of that first hell climb, but saw I was struggling a bit so he took the lead and made sure I stayed with him. He even slowed down once to let me catch back on.
So the beginning of the second lap was uneventful. We caught 2nd place in my age group in the open park, and quickly put in a gap. I kept on his wheel until the middle/end of the lap when I hit a wall. That was about the time Andy Johnston passed me. He was the overall Cat 1 winner, and also an ex-pro. I remember reading on his blog one day that the only reason he races Cat 1 is because it pays better, but preferred the pro races because they were funner. That should have been motivation enough for me to keep his wheel and lay down the wood, but unforunately at this point my wood was getting water logged and I didn't have much to lay down.
It took a lot of self talk motivation to get through that lap. But the motivation quickly picked up when I passed Seth, who had a flat. At this point I was sitting 1st in my age group, and 2nd overall. There's no way in hell I came all the way down here to quit while being in such a good postition.
It was at the moment that I began to face my demons.
These demons have been more prevalent as of late. It seems with the recent change in life, and a few rough races, that I have had doubts and less motivation. It was time to break a few walls down like Berlin and find out just what I was made of. These demons had to meet their maker.
The third lap started out fairly well, and I was still able to power through most of the sections fairly well. Then I hit the jungle. Luckily the first rocky section went fairly smoothly and I stayed very consistant. Then the back half started. It was a section that had no flow if you weren't on it, and I wasn't on it.
I got passed by a 40-49 expert, which then put in me in 3rd overall. I couldn't keep his wheel, and I felt like I was baking in the oven like the Phillsburry Dough Boy. It was hot, I was low on water, and cramps were sitting in. I was fading worse than Lindsey Lohans career.
Then Seth passes.
At this point I have about 3 miles left to go, and I knew that I couldn't give up any more postitions, because even after the finish you have to watch for the guys that started behind you but finish with a better time due to the time splits. I wish I could have stayed on his wheel, but I was in survive mode at this point. I just didn't have it.
I pushed hard, and then pushed harder. I imagine that I spent more time with my eyes closed, teeth clinched then not. I was entering what would turn out to be a deep, dark, extremely difficult pain cave. The last singletrack section consisted of a few decent hills and lots of power flats. I just keep turning pedals, knowing I would pop out on the road soon enough.
And I did... And that's where I met Jesus.
The last time up the road climb was unlike anything I've ever experienced in racing. I was so close to the end, with this cracked, weathered, and worn out road being the only thing standing in my way. I started out fine, but minutes later I felt like stopping and dying on the side of this stupid fucking road. I closed my eyes and thought about every painful interval I've done this year, every power hour, the 14 second lose to 5th place at Bump and Grind. I had less than 10 minutes till the finish on what could have been the missing half of my upgrade, and I was for damn sure not going to let this road get in my way.
So I manned up. I dug so deep that I was either going to finish the climb in glory or break down and have to be hauled off in an ambulance.
I eventually made it to the top, and just like that it was all over.
I collapsed my bike and fell upon a picknick table asking a gentleman for his assistance in filling up my water bottle. I was so drained I couldn't move. 10 waterbottles drank later, and I finally started to come around. I had been severaly dehydrated, and I'm lucky I didn't have to go to the hospital. I knew it, but I pushed on anyways. Two and a half water bottles for a 2 hour and 15 minute race in that heat wasn't near enough. I should have done two bottles an hour. But when you don't have a bottle handuper, you deal with what you have in order to save as much time as possible.
In the end one other 30-39 racer did pass me in the overall, finishing around 30 seconds after me, putting him 30 seconds in front of me with his 1 minute time split.
I finished 2nd in my age group, and 5th overall. Mission accomplished.
I broke down camp, took a quick shower, and drove the 8 hours back to Columbia where I quickly passed out, woke up, and drove the hour to work making it in at 8:30 for our Monday morning meeting.
The guantlet is done. It was success. It was filled with problems, glory, and most of all adventure.
Toss another great memory into the memory bank.
Now I need to get some serious rest and recovery, lick my wounds, and get ready for Nationals Saturday...
Yet another battle looms on the horizon.
Let there be fight left, for I'll need every bit I can muster for this one.
G
I had every intention of taking lots of photos, but due to the craziness of the situation I only managed to snap one. It truely was a beautiful place.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Weekend Lead In
Well it's half way through Friday, and I'm thinking I'm ready for it to end. Some days I tell ya...
Wanna race this weekend? You have a couple of choices.
First is Castlewood, part of the UFD East Series. We raced State there last year, and it's a pretty cool course. Bring your climbing legs, cause you'll need them. The East series has had even worse luck than us westeners with rain, but it looks like it's for sure going down this weekend.
Up north there's a full weekend of offroad TT, Short Track, and XC racing going down around Omaha, NB. You can find all the dirt for that here.
There's also a race down at SAC River in Springfield, part of the MWFTS. It's been all to long since I've raced down there. My last go at it was a very poor Expert performance that had me DNF'ing. Hopefully I can get down there for teh 6/12 hour race in September.
Me, well I'll be taking a long trek down to Huntsville, AL to race a SERC race, and I'm ready to get to it. Legs are feeling good, and minus some much un-needed stress from work, I'm feeling great. I'm off to Columbia tonight to have dinner and hang with the Mum and Sis, and I'm staying with a friend to make tommorows drive just a bit shorter. Drive all day, pick up my packet, pre-ride the course, pitch a tent, and pass out. Wake up Sunday for some dirt church racing fun.
I saw the bibs earlier this week. They made me think of CChambers. I bet he would rock the shit out of these.
So on to cross since I know so many of you are already quitting racing road or mountain to "train" for cross. Maybe one of these years they won't start cross so damn early... Anyways, here's a link to a sweet set up to run hydro disc brakes on your cross bike. Unfortunetly the Crux I plan on getting isn't disc brake capable, but I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of disc's on cross bike this season.
Specialized has finally rolled out some of their 2012 lineup on their website. Nothing to special, other than that pretty Venge. I'd take one if they wanted to give me one...
Hmmm... how else can I waste time today. Oh, how about Kona again. I don't know why but I've always like Kona for some reason. I've never even have had a chance to ride their rides, but they've always interested me.
Like this, the new Kahuna 29er carbon. This on top of their new 29er All Mountain dually, and the 29er AM hardtail. Bikerumor was on top of it as always.
Alright, enough rambling. I'm going to try to finish up, head out somewhat early and ride trails to relieve the mind.
G
Wanna race this weekend? You have a couple of choices.
First is Castlewood, part of the UFD East Series. We raced State there last year, and it's a pretty cool course. Bring your climbing legs, cause you'll need them. The East series has had even worse luck than us westeners with rain, but it looks like it's for sure going down this weekend.
Up north there's a full weekend of offroad TT, Short Track, and XC racing going down around Omaha, NB. You can find all the dirt for that here.
There's also a race down at SAC River in Springfield, part of the MWFTS. It's been all to long since I've raced down there. My last go at it was a very poor Expert performance that had me DNF'ing. Hopefully I can get down there for teh 6/12 hour race in September.
Me, well I'll be taking a long trek down to Huntsville, AL to race a SERC race, and I'm ready to get to it. Legs are feeling good, and minus some much un-needed stress from work, I'm feeling great. I'm off to Columbia tonight to have dinner and hang with the Mum and Sis, and I'm staying with a friend to make tommorows drive just a bit shorter. Drive all day, pick up my packet, pre-ride the course, pitch a tent, and pass out. Wake up Sunday for some dirt church racing fun.
I saw the bibs earlier this week. They made me think of CChambers. I bet he would rock the shit out of these.
So on to cross since I know so many of you are already quitting racing road or mountain to "train" for cross. Maybe one of these years they won't start cross so damn early... Anyways, here's a link to a sweet set up to run hydro disc brakes on your cross bike. Unfortunetly the Crux I plan on getting isn't disc brake capable, but I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of disc's on cross bike this season.
Specialized has finally rolled out some of their 2012 lineup on their website. Nothing to special, other than that pretty Venge. I'd take one if they wanted to give me one...
Hmmm... how else can I waste time today. Oh, how about Kona again. I don't know why but I've always like Kona for some reason. I've never even have had a chance to ride their rides, but they've always interested me.
Like this, the new Kahuna 29er carbon. This on top of their new 29er All Mountain dually, and the 29er AM hardtail. Bikerumor was on top of it as always.
Alright, enough rambling. I'm going to try to finish up, head out somewhat early and ride trails to relieve the mind.
G
Thursday, July 7, 2011
SPIN! Pizza Ride
So I made it up to my first Spin!Pizza road ride last night with Tdonn. It always ends up being a great ride with good people at a good pace. If by good, you mean fast. I like it fast.
So we met at Trav's place and rode to Spin!Pizza at 4950 Main in KCMO. The ride meets at 6:00, with the Advance group (Us) going off at 6:15, and the more relaxed group going off at 6:30.
There are also rides on Monday at the Spin!Pizza in Overland Park, and Saturdays in Lee's Summit. You can find all the info here. Any place that has cassettes on their hanging lights is approved in my book. Add to that the awesome salads, flowing beer, and even gluten free pizza crust, and you have the makings for a joint you're sure to enjoy.
Anyways, back to the ride. Riding over, I felt really good. The Mavic R-sys wheels were doing what they do best, climbing like champs. Legs felt fresh, and I was ready for some hammer fun time.
The ride over to the stomping grounds with our deep group of Advanced riders was good, and we managed to keep everyone together, even through all the stop lights. That's not easy to do, considering there are a freaking ton of them. Somewhere in the ride over, the constant stop and go started to get to me, and I started feeling a little off.
Luckily we arrived to the gates of Cliff Drive, and even though it's closed, we started on our slightly revised route that turned out to be really fun, with some good climbing mixed in to make it interesting.
We keep together fairly well for the first lap, and then Tdonn called out lap 2. Apparently this was the first week in which two laps was done, because I noticed a few riders were surprised.
So I figured I'd attack and make it even more interesting. I felt really good, but unfortunetly I wasn't really 100% on the turns we took the first time around, so I'd have to stop my attack and look back to make sure the group was behind. I did this 3 or 4 times, and eventually made the right turn, and then got caught by the group as we made our way down to the circle turn.
Keep up, put in a dig on the hill but my core kept blowing up and in the end I managed to lose the lead group of 3. It's always a challenge balancing hard core workout days and hard riding days. I do find that it really challenges the legs though, because your core is already spent, so the sticks are left to do the majority of the work. I was spent, and had a blast getting some good work into the legs.
All in all a great ride with a good group of riders. I'll be back next week, but I'll probably hold the back of the pack down, because Nationals will be just a few short days later and we'll be flying out the next morning.
After that, I foresee alot of Spin!Pizza throwdowns in the future.
Hope you can join us.
G
So we met at Trav's place and rode to Spin!Pizza at 4950 Main in KCMO. The ride meets at 6:00, with the Advance group (Us) going off at 6:15, and the more relaxed group going off at 6:30.
There are also rides on Monday at the Spin!Pizza in Overland Park, and Saturdays in Lee's Summit. You can find all the info here. Any place that has cassettes on their hanging lights is approved in my book. Add to that the awesome salads, flowing beer, and even gluten free pizza crust, and you have the makings for a joint you're sure to enjoy.
Anyways, back to the ride. Riding over, I felt really good. The Mavic R-sys wheels were doing what they do best, climbing like champs. Legs felt fresh, and I was ready for some hammer fun time.
The ride over to the stomping grounds with our deep group of Advanced riders was good, and we managed to keep everyone together, even through all the stop lights. That's not easy to do, considering there are a freaking ton of them. Somewhere in the ride over, the constant stop and go started to get to me, and I started feeling a little off.
Luckily we arrived to the gates of Cliff Drive, and even though it's closed, we started on our slightly revised route that turned out to be really fun, with some good climbing mixed in to make it interesting.
We keep together fairly well for the first lap, and then Tdonn called out lap 2. Apparently this was the first week in which two laps was done, because I noticed a few riders were surprised.
So I figured I'd attack and make it even more interesting. I felt really good, but unfortunetly I wasn't really 100% on the turns we took the first time around, so I'd have to stop my attack and look back to make sure the group was behind. I did this 3 or 4 times, and eventually made the right turn, and then got caught by the group as we made our way down to the circle turn.
Keep up, put in a dig on the hill but my core kept blowing up and in the end I managed to lose the lead group of 3. It's always a challenge balancing hard core workout days and hard riding days. I do find that it really challenges the legs though, because your core is already spent, so the sticks are left to do the majority of the work. I was spent, and had a blast getting some good work into the legs.
All in all a great ride with a good group of riders. I'll be back next week, but I'll probably hold the back of the pack down, because Nationals will be just a few short days later and we'll be flying out the next morning.
After that, I foresee alot of Spin!Pizza throwdowns in the future.
Hope you can join us.
G
Monday, July 4, 2011
Re-Connected
Sometimes it takes a face slap, 10am hungover/still drunk wakeup call via 10 and 11 to really get the soul refired up.
My soul is officially on fire.
You may not understand what just happend, unless you're aware of the goodness that lies deep within Landahl.
Rewind to the happenings of the weekend that led to the adventure today.
Saturday was a blast of heat and a few lessons learned that seem to always re-present themselves in the heat of Summer. I picked up the Epic from Bike Source Saturday, after Travis S worked magic on it during the week to get the creaks worked out. As always, Bike Source and their infinite wisdom solved my noisey problems and had the Epic rolling smooth and silent. After the pickup, it was off to Swope to rail the trail for a few hours.
Man, Swope is sweet. Trav caught me in the parking lot after putting in a lap before I arrived. My stoke factor was high riding the bike of my dreams, and I proceeded to shread a lap at break neck speed flossing the rocks like Bruce Lee whips ass. After stopping for a water break, and a short wait for Travis, we were back off at it. Stopping was a bad idea. The heat was so ridiculous that my body instantly rocketed up what seemed like 10 degrees. Note to selves, don't stop in the woods when it's crazy hot. I never could seem to get cool after that. Once the core heats up, it's like hell getting it cooled down again.
Sunday was a short road ride with a buddy who was in town from Colorado. I'm rolling on some Mavic R-Sys wheels from Trav which felt amazing. I had been rolling some extremely heavy Velocity B43 rims laced to Ultegra hubs. The B43's weigh 770g's for the rim only. But they'll make you strong like Arnold. The Mavic's felt like helium and I was enjoying making my manly gears do work.
So that lead to last nights shannagans. We had a little BBQ with some of the OG's of Ethos, along with our new lady friend racers of 0-11, Sara W and Karen B. Things started out harmless and laid back, and I had every intention of only drinking a few drinks and keeping sober for a good ride today. We'll after the few drinks were done, I realized it was only 7:30 and I was feeling frisky.
Luckily Sara was laying the Worthington hammer down on some margaritas, and she quickly became my personal bartender for the night. I love tequila. It doesn't love me.
Things went bonkers about the time we left to head up to another resident for some fireworks action via said resident's roof. The fireworks were pretty sweet, and I officially popped my KC 4th of July cherry. I was deep in converstation with a cutie, to which I'm sure was full of rambled slurred unfinished thoughts, but in between that I did happen to catch a glimpse of some bright and pretty booms.
There was a big ass block party going down just a block up the road, so the party quickly shifted that way. We then were treated to a very insane drum line presentation done by one of the local schools. They had everyone going crazy, and there was a little dude who had to be only 8 or 9 absolutely killing it on his drum. Many more beers were passed around and consumed as after the drum line finished we were treated to a second floor balconey concert by a local KC band. I forgot who they were, but they were good.
I stumbled back to Trav's with the group, had more drinks, and then sometime later found myself passed out on the coutch.
Today
It's 9am, July 4th and I just woke up... I never wake up hungover. I didn't today either. It was more than hungover, it was more like still under the influence.
1 hour later and I'm standing at the Argo trailhead looking over Jessie's SS Stumpy he let me borrow for the day, wondering what in the hell I was doing.
I shouldn't be here right now. I should be asleep. Or at least laid up on the sofa with a large chocolate milk watching the tour wishing I didn't feel so horrible.
We rode up the open field trail back to Family trail. Then we got to Gunbarrel. We stopped. Trav had the front of his Epic pointed down the chute. If you know the chute I'm talking about, you know that it's the portal to a land of real mans trails, where the weak get spat out and the strong are lucky to ride dab free.
Welcome to Gunbarrel at 10am hungover with a bike you've never ridden when the rocks are slick as snot.
10 and 11 soon followed.
Somewhere deep in that jungle of trail a little light inside my soul flickered. Then it flickered again, and before I knew it I was smiling ear to ear walking my bike up some ridicously steep slick rock hill. I was having fun. And alot of it.
3 hours later and we emerged victorious in an injury free symphony of destruction which included every inch of trail at Landahl. Every little bit it had to offer we tasted, even 10 and 11 in it's full glory.
It's been way to long since I've stepped away from the training routine, and took a good long ride in the woods hungover and looking for nothing more than an adventure. Usually it's go ride, ride hard, do intervals, ride harder.
Sometimes riding slow enough to actually smell the roses is exactly what the soul needs.
Even if all I could smell was the alcohol seeping from my pores.
But my demons were exorcised, and in the end I'm a better for it.
And then I looked at clouds poolside and snapped this picture. It felt fitting. I photoshoped it like I normally do. Phones can do crazy things.
Go have fun this week. Life's to short not to...
G
My soul is officially on fire.
You may not understand what just happend, unless you're aware of the goodness that lies deep within Landahl.
Rewind to the happenings of the weekend that led to the adventure today.
Saturday was a blast of heat and a few lessons learned that seem to always re-present themselves in the heat of Summer. I picked up the Epic from Bike Source Saturday, after Travis S worked magic on it during the week to get the creaks worked out. As always, Bike Source and their infinite wisdom solved my noisey problems and had the Epic rolling smooth and silent. After the pickup, it was off to Swope to rail the trail for a few hours.
Man, Swope is sweet. Trav caught me in the parking lot after putting in a lap before I arrived. My stoke factor was high riding the bike of my dreams, and I proceeded to shread a lap at break neck speed flossing the rocks like Bruce Lee whips ass. After stopping for a water break, and a short wait for Travis, we were back off at it. Stopping was a bad idea. The heat was so ridiculous that my body instantly rocketed up what seemed like 10 degrees. Note to selves, don't stop in the woods when it's crazy hot. I never could seem to get cool after that. Once the core heats up, it's like hell getting it cooled down again.
Sunday was a short road ride with a buddy who was in town from Colorado. I'm rolling on some Mavic R-Sys wheels from Trav which felt amazing. I had been rolling some extremely heavy Velocity B43 rims laced to Ultegra hubs. The B43's weigh 770g's for the rim only. But they'll make you strong like Arnold. The Mavic's felt like helium and I was enjoying making my manly gears do work.
So that lead to last nights shannagans. We had a little BBQ with some of the OG's of Ethos, along with our new lady friend racers of 0-11, Sara W and Karen B. Things started out harmless and laid back, and I had every intention of only drinking a few drinks and keeping sober for a good ride today. We'll after the few drinks were done, I realized it was only 7:30 and I was feeling frisky.
Luckily Sara was laying the Worthington hammer down on some margaritas, and she quickly became my personal bartender for the night. I love tequila. It doesn't love me.
Things went bonkers about the time we left to head up to another resident for some fireworks action via said resident's roof. The fireworks were pretty sweet, and I officially popped my KC 4th of July cherry. I was deep in converstation with a cutie, to which I'm sure was full of rambled slurred unfinished thoughts, but in between that I did happen to catch a glimpse of some bright and pretty booms.
There was a big ass block party going down just a block up the road, so the party quickly shifted that way. We then were treated to a very insane drum line presentation done by one of the local schools. They had everyone going crazy, and there was a little dude who had to be only 8 or 9 absolutely killing it on his drum. Many more beers were passed around and consumed as after the drum line finished we were treated to a second floor balconey concert by a local KC band. I forgot who they were, but they were good.
I stumbled back to Trav's with the group, had more drinks, and then sometime later found myself passed out on the coutch.
Today
It's 9am, July 4th and I just woke up... I never wake up hungover. I didn't today either. It was more than hungover, it was more like still under the influence.
1 hour later and I'm standing at the Argo trailhead looking over Jessie's SS Stumpy he let me borrow for the day, wondering what in the hell I was doing.
I shouldn't be here right now. I should be asleep. Or at least laid up on the sofa with a large chocolate milk watching the tour wishing I didn't feel so horrible.
We rode up the open field trail back to Family trail. Then we got to Gunbarrel. We stopped. Trav had the front of his Epic pointed down the chute. If you know the chute I'm talking about, you know that it's the portal to a land of real mans trails, where the weak get spat out and the strong are lucky to ride dab free.
Welcome to Gunbarrel at 10am hungover with a bike you've never ridden when the rocks are slick as snot.
10 and 11 soon followed.
Somewhere deep in that jungle of trail a little light inside my soul flickered. Then it flickered again, and before I knew it I was smiling ear to ear walking my bike up some ridicously steep slick rock hill. I was having fun. And alot of it.
3 hours later and we emerged victorious in an injury free symphony of destruction which included every inch of trail at Landahl. Every little bit it had to offer we tasted, even 10 and 11 in it's full glory.
It's been way to long since I've stepped away from the training routine, and took a good long ride in the woods hungover and looking for nothing more than an adventure. Usually it's go ride, ride hard, do intervals, ride harder.
Sometimes riding slow enough to actually smell the roses is exactly what the soul needs.
Even if all I could smell was the alcohol seeping from my pores.
But my demons were exorcised, and in the end I'm a better for it.
And then I looked at clouds poolside and snapped this picture. It felt fitting. I photoshoped it like I normally do. Phones can do crazy things.
Go have fun this week. Life's to short not to...
G
Friday, July 1, 2011
It's FRIDAY!
Man, it feels good to clock out... It's 3:30, on Friday and I just finished up my last call for the day. Now nothing but thoughts of sweet trail, my even sweeter Epic, and hanging and eating with good friends cross my mind. With Monday off, it's bound to be a great three day riding block. Today's an off day, with a quick nap, some dinner, and then off to Hazel Hill for some fishing to cap off the day.
Apparently I have teamates who have decided racing road is fun... Not sure why. We're a mountain bike team, but I guess not eveyone thinks like I do. I wanted to race a race in Iowa but no one wanted to go with. Oh well... My two main go to guys are out. One with a broken ankle (Steve) and one with work commitments (Trav). I need to find a few more friends who are always game like these guys.
Next weekend I'll be traveling solo to Huntsville, AL for a SERC race. I don't really blame anyone for not wanting to go on this one. It's a long way for a XC race that wouldn't matter for most. But I'm trying to get that upgrade, and it's a qualifier. Drive down Saturday, race Sunday, and head straight back.
So back to the roadie scene... It's the Tour of Lawrence this weekend. I do hope that at least everyone escapes safe and sound. Apparently there was a really bad wreck last weekend at one of the St. Louis races. I hope Randy pulls it out... I don't know him, but I feel for him and his family.
Anyone catch the newest editions to the 29er movement? One is the Transition Bandit and the other is the Kona Satori. Big trave1 29ers... 130mm full sussy's. I wouldn't mind swinging a leg over one of these and railing Swope. Any where else and you don't really need the extra travel.
Big wheels, big travel.
Also, did you happen to see that the World Marathon Mtb Championships was won on a 29er last weekend? And 2nd was the Epic 29er. Pretty solid results for the big wheels.
Ride Swope tommorow, then more trail Sunday and Monday. I've been really enjoying the shit out of Swope lately. I used to hate it... Rigid out there will do that to you. Then the Epic got a taste of it. Ever since then it's been on like donkey kong.
That's all for now... I'm going to go to sleep.
Hope you all get out to enjoy a ride this weekend, and have a safe 4th!
G
Apparently I have teamates who have decided racing road is fun... Not sure why. We're a mountain bike team, but I guess not eveyone thinks like I do. I wanted to race a race in Iowa but no one wanted to go with. Oh well... My two main go to guys are out. One with a broken ankle (Steve) and one with work commitments (Trav). I need to find a few more friends who are always game like these guys.
Next weekend I'll be traveling solo to Huntsville, AL for a SERC race. I don't really blame anyone for not wanting to go on this one. It's a long way for a XC race that wouldn't matter for most. But I'm trying to get that upgrade, and it's a qualifier. Drive down Saturday, race Sunday, and head straight back.
So back to the roadie scene... It's the Tour of Lawrence this weekend. I do hope that at least everyone escapes safe and sound. Apparently there was a really bad wreck last weekend at one of the St. Louis races. I hope Randy pulls it out... I don't know him, but I feel for him and his family.
Anyone catch the newest editions to the 29er movement? One is the Transition Bandit and the other is the Kona Satori. Big trave1 29ers... 130mm full sussy's. I wouldn't mind swinging a leg over one of these and railing Swope. Any where else and you don't really need the extra travel.
Big wheels, big travel.
Also, did you happen to see that the World Marathon Mtb Championships was won on a 29er last weekend? And 2nd was the Epic 29er. Pretty solid results for the big wheels.
Ride Swope tommorow, then more trail Sunday and Monday. I've been really enjoying the shit out of Swope lately. I used to hate it... Rigid out there will do that to you. Then the Epic got a taste of it. Ever since then it's been on like donkey kong.
That's all for now... I'm going to go to sleep.
Hope you all get out to enjoy a ride this weekend, and have a safe 4th!
G
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)