BIKE PORN!!!!

Yeah you read that right. Its a busy week here at my household, getting the bathroom finished, starting the season of yard work. I did finally get my shiny parts in like I was hinting about. Shimano's 3x10 drivetrain. It shifts smooth. I was only able to get out on the trail for a few hours on Saturday to test it out. I also had to break in my new Manitu R-Seven Fork. Lets just say that the first few big hits at the WWC I was a little worried about it, but it held up just fine and I think it will be good to go for this weekend for the 6 hours of Warrior Creek. I am hoping the rain holds off and the trails are nice and tacky to ride on.

I dont have a lot of time today, but here are some pictures of the new and improved culprit.

Here is the after pic, I am showing it first because it is pretty, like a flower.




Is 30 gears enough? Probably not but thats as many as they make right now.


White on white fork, looks so smooth.


And the before pic, you can see how much work I put into it.

Well, gotta go finish up some stuff, ill try to be clever some other time, until then enjoy the new stuff.

Finishing Up

So where I left you yesterday was with a lot of pictures and links to click. I hope you took your time to click all the clicky things.

I think where I left off was that I was headed into the single track just ahead of the one poor soul who left his gears at home. As I really start to get peddling and getting my heart rate up I had a pain in my side. For once I didn't hit a tree, but it was a stomach cramp. I haven't had one of these while mountain biking in a long time. And it hurt.

I did manage to pass one of the riders in front of me on one of the climbs about 2 miles in, but it was short lived as my side was continuing to be in pain. At the same time both the guy I passed and the single speeder passed me on one climb. Last place again. I would like to say that I made a valiant effort the 2nd half of the race and made myself a contender for a mid-pack finish, but that would be a lie. I finished the race in last place.

I think I am done with the Southern Classic Series for this year. With my busy spring schedule, 2 weddings, 1 bachelor party, 1 bachelorete party (designated driver for that) 6 hour race, honeymoon, easter and traveling all in 2 months, I think it is best I just sit it out.

In other bike related news, I did try new grips on my borrowed steed.



I was a little worried that with the larger handle I wouldn't be able to grip the bar as well, but that fear proved false. I also missed having the bar ends last race as well, those were a nice comfortable addition to the bike to make it feel a little more at home. I can't wait to get the on the culprit.

In other news my new "shiny parts" finally came in. I dropped off the culprit this afternoon at Queencity Bicycles and am going to let John do his magic putting them on. I hope to have everything done by Friday as I need to get some hours for riding in. Only 2 weeks until the 6 hours of warrior creek, and I haven't ridden any longer than 3 hours this year.

I think I am done writing for the week here, I might post some pictures up once the culprit gets back in action, but until then, I will try to have some good stories about the wedding that I am going to this weekend.

Hobby Park Race

This past weekend was the 2nd race in the Maxxis Southern Series up in Winston-Salem. And probably my last race in that series for a while.

See, proof I was there

I awoke early after staying up too late to watch the basketball games, although I did restrain myself and only had one beer while I was out.


On to the story, I was actually there with plenty of time to spare. A well prepared racer would have taken this time to warm up, get to know the course. And then there was me. I ended up shooting the perverbial shit with Dave. It is a relatively short course by this series standards, and that didn't help my cause at all and it started with a tough hill climb on pavement that they use for soap box derby cars, and it was steep. I think the Mutt has a picture of it on his bloggy thingy, check it out if you really want to see it. Upon the crest of the hill I was 2nd to last going into the singletrack. I only manged to beat some poor soul who was riding a bike with one gear. Why? I don't know, they make them with up to about 30 now.

Oh, I also wasn't riding my own bike again as I am still waiting for my new shiney parts to come in. I did have some new equipment in which I thought would make me a faster rider. Ergon Gr2 Grips. I bought them hoping I could get them autographed by the one and only Sonya Looney, but to no avail.

Ill probably have to settle for Dicky to get an autograph.
(both photos stolen from their own reputable sites)

Its time for dinner here, I added a lot of stuff for you to click on to get directed away from this site, I will leave you hanging how the rest of the race went, or you could just ruin the surprise and google for the results, either way it wont be pretty.

Finishing Up

Well, were I last left was I had one lap down of two, no rear brake, and witnessed a horrific crash between a rather large somebody and a small somebody. I think somebody described that type of reation to me one time as "physics"


In retrospect I probably should have pre-ridden the course, you know, to get a feel for it, look out for the climbs, descents, one jump in which threw many a rider off their bike. But I didn't. I thought that all of this road training I was doing was going to at least make me mid pack competitive. I was wrong. This course was more challenging than I was expecting and I paid for underestimating it. It reminded me a little of my trip to Nationals in Colorado, except the course was harder. My hats of to the suckers that did it for 6 hours that day. Anyway the point is that I was suffering.

To make matters worse I was just starting to catch up to people with about 7 miles to go. I kept seeing them in my sights on all of the switchbacks as I crept closer and closer.

5 miles, I start making a pass on a rider, and then another one same section. I see a few more riders a few hundred meters up. Closer and closer I was coming up to them. 3.5 miles left and all I hear is "thud thud thud thud".

Shit. Flat tire. I probably should of had her fix it, it would have taken less time

As I was struggling to fix it I realized about 4 minutes in that I needed another tire lever tool which I didn't pack. As I am struggling around asking other riders if they have a $.99 piece which could save my race, the riders I just past are now flying by. After asking, another rider throws me one out of his jersey, but at this point it was to no avail for position, just to ride back to the finish line.

I checked the final results, 21 of 23 total, on a bike that wasn't mine, missing a rear brake, and getting a flat tire. Not good by any means. But I did take away something from all this.
1. Ride your own bike
2. Check bolts before racing
3. Always carry a spare tire lever.
4. Maybe get in shape.

I have another race this weekend, so unless I get something new to talk about, I will post up next week.

The Starting Line

After discussing yesterdays adventure of trying to get to the race I might actually talk about the race itself. Best I start at the beginning.

Since I am still waiting for my new shiny parts to come in, I was allowed to borrow Jays Kona "The King" for the race, on a condition that I buy him a drink, and don't break anything. Also sorry for the crappy pic but it was from the cell phone.



After taking it on a test ride for about 3 miles I decided this would do, plus I like the color and that is all that really matters. After all of the mayhem and madness of trying to get everyone registered for a 6 hr race, pro class, expert class while dealing with losing an hour of sleep and jumping on one foot while eating a twinkee (I made that last part up) the race was ready to begin about an hour later than scheduled.

I lined up and then took off with the rest of my class. As usual I let the fast guys go ahead and I just waited patiently for my turn to head into the woods and into the single track. After about 6 turns I was catching up with people who started to fast. A little quicker than usual but I wasn't complaining.

I am just riding along, minding my own business on a trail I have never rides before (and wisely decided to race without ever seeing it) and I start to run into race traffic. This is a new experience for me as I am usually the race traffic and never have to deal with going around a slow person. A few miles and a few passes later I get bottlenecked into a hike-a-bike section. This is one of 2 in which I was going to find out.

About 6 miles into a 9 mile lap I started to notice that something was wrong with "The King". The rear brake was getting a little, whats the word for it? Sucky. yeah, thats the word. I kept pulling it hoping for some stopping power and it just wasnt working.

When you pull the brake all the way like this, and nothing happens, it is going to be a long day

By the end of the first lap I was right were I wanted to be, near the back middle of the pack with plenty of energy. I also was without a rear brake. This was not part of my plan and had to adjust how I rode to make sure that I didn't break a bike that wasn't mine. As I crossed the start/finish line I noticed one of the Clydesdale racers (200 +lbs) mashing his pedals and zooming up behind me, I kindly moved over to the side to watch him pass when out of nowhere a 78 lb 12 year old girl comes right into the course.

She darts in front of him and knocks his handle bars. She is thrown to the ground and he gets bucked from his bike. I didn't bother to stop and see how they were doing as it happed right in front of the ambulance so they were better prepared to deal with the issue than I was. I did see her start to get up as I walked past but she looked like she was in shock. The Clydesdale was lucky he didn't get thrown into one of the 4 foot around boulders in all the chaos, that really could have been bad for everyone. On a side note I am pretty sure they were both ok as he finished the race behind me and I can only hope the little girl was ok, but having learned a lesson about physics.

That is lap one, complete.

Tomorrow, the final lap and the letdown finish.

First Race Report of the Season

It wasn't all smiles on the course on Sunday:

Photo and street cred to Lunchbox

For my adoring fans who check my facebook account for updates you probably already know the lackluster result of 21 of 22. I would like to say that I just suck that bad at racing and hang up the number plates for good. But I am at least a few spots better than that.

It all started when Siggy picked me up at an early bird special 6:15 in the morning. Although the course was only about 2 hr 15 minutes from Charlotte, it was his first Southern Series Race and he was ready to go in my driveway before I had my breakfast ready. Even though the race wasn't until 10:00 am it turns out we needed the time due to some crappy navigating my yours truly. His phone/GPS died along the way before we got to the split off point in Greensboro. He was smart enough to print off the directions on paper though. I was not smart enough to follow them.

When the GPS unit off I made the executive decision to keep going on the incorrect route and we headed east towards Raleigh instead of North towards Virgina. After about 20 minutes I realized my Christopher Columbus set of navigation skills (he was looking for India) and we had to re-evaluate our plan of attack to get there. Turns out we were close enough to the directions from Raleigh that we ended up taking the back roads through wonderful places such as Yanceyville NC


This was about all we saw until we got to the race course. Smelled a lot of good stuff though


We ended up late enough to have to park off site due to the attendance of the race. Although it was only about 3/4 of a mile from the start, it was enough to be a bother.

Well, I need to possibly stretch this out for another few days so I think I am going to leave the actual race report till tomorrow. Ill get back to it then, the images and stories are burned in my head.

It smells like burning....

Ok, so a Ralph Wiggum quote is about all I have to come up with this week. Wait, I can do better.


And what has been burning has been my legs recently. I keep putting in all of these road miles in the vain attempt to be remotely competitive this year. I also had a chance this weekend to get out on the trail a little bit before it rained. I got to ride with The Mutt, and Dirty Party Cycle at Whitewater center, but only managed to get in about 7 miles before what the DPC called "Pretty Female Obligations" Not the knitting club that the Mutt was referring to earlier today. I should tell him that I got a scarf for him though.....

I also managed to see the MaddSS, but he was with one of this teammates doing a real race pace so we decided to let them go.

I am still waiting for my new shiny parts to come in so I can build back up the culprit. I am almost positive they will be in by the 6 hours of Warrior Creek, but not quite confidant they will be in by this Sunday for the first race of the Southern Classic Series in VA. Well, the good news is that I do have a back up plan, in fact 2 of them. Both my friends have offered me their bikes in case mine isn't ready. I guess that is payback for almost making it fall off the rack last time we rode together.

I don't really have much else going on, just waiting as this is the start of a long list of weekends full of activities.
March 13 - Race in VA
March 20 - Race in Winston Salem
March 27 - Lake in Sanford? Possibly?
April 2 - Warrior Creek
April 9 - My bachelor party
April 17 - Ericas Bachelorette party
April 24th-ish - Easter
May 1st ish - Drive up to Iowa
May 7th -ish - Get Married
May 10-16ish - Bahamas
May 24ish - Burn 24?

Ive got to nail down some of these days, or just turn the page on the calendar. Have a good week and I should have something from VA for you then.