My ass hurts....

Yup, you read that correctly, the past two weekends I have spent over 10 hours on a bike minimum.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot if you compare it to the amount of hours that most roadies spend on a bike, but this is mountain biking, a totally different sport.  Stand, sit, recover, stand, turn, root, climb, root, sit, stand, you get the picture, its not easy on the rear end. 

Last weekend I went up to Lake Norman State Park.  After racing Anne Springs a few weeks ago, I figured that Lake Norman has about the same elevation climb as Ann Springs, minus the roots, plus the mileage.  Win-Win.  I awoke early Saturday and headed out there for some big miles, at least for me.  I ended up doing the entire 3 loops  and Mombo before I finally was able to ride with a friend of a little bit.  In case you're not my face-friend, here is the go-pro.  Be warned, it's not very exciting as there are not any crashes, but it does show the great and flowy trail.

Total mileage for the day, probably somewhere between 55-60 miles. Total time: 5 hours.

Yesterday I met up with my former Queen City Cycles teammate Russ for some early morning fun at the WWC.  We have always passed each other either getting on or off that trail at ridiculously early hours so I knew the 7:15 start time would be no problem for him. 

I really wasn't feeling it the first  2 laps (they were not full laps, we did skip weigh station and gas line in case he reads this) but at over 10 miles a lap, regardless of options, it was a rough time for me.  I didn't eat very well the night before and it came back to haunt me.  We took an abbreviated 2nd lap to get back to the parking lot as he had a honey-do list for his new home, and I was picking up a new riding partner, Josh, at 9:30.

Josh and I hit up the new East Main section first, then went on to ride the entire WWC (minus the weigh station because I hate it).  It took some time but my stomach finally started feeling better around the 3 hour mark and I was beginning to find some flow and lucky for me Josh was having a hard time finding his lungs, but after a while we started to get some pace under our belts.  We had a good ride talking about nothing and everything in particular, stopping when we wanted to, going as fast or as slow as the conversation dictated.  Total ride time for the day...4 hours.


You might be wondering why I am putting so many hours in  on the bike.  Even if you're not I'm going to tell you anyway, the Tree Shaker 8 hour mountain bike race.  I could have just signed up for the 4 hour version, but I am not that smart.  This event will also tell me if I can do the 24 Hours of GA in the end of October without too much suffering.

Finally, there is always room for a new equipment review.  Guess what it is yet?

Still confused?

 Sexy looking

 I ordered a set of Xpedo SPD pedals.  I sent an email thanking them for sponsoring a Charlotte riding for the winter short track, and they sent me a coupon code to try their product.  

I ended up ording their lowest level of pedals, but to my surprise they still weighed less than the Shimano XT pedals.  Winning again.

I left them on their easiest setting for the first time and had no problems getting into them.  I do need to adjust the tension to make it a little harder to get out but that isn't the pedals fault, that is just me making sure I don't use them to strap myself to the bike and can't get out. They adjust ability of the pedal is very easy as well.  Just one hex wrench and I am good to go.  After 4 hours on the trail, I think they are a solid investment and will serve me well.  I think that's it for the day, I might have some better stories for next week, I mean, I will be on the bike for 8 hours, something funny or painful has to happen to me - right?

Travelin' Man

12 days, 2500 miles, 7 states, 1 baptism, 1 graduation, all nieces and nephews and former roommates.  It was one heck of a trip.  We got a rental car and luckily I was able to convince the burrower to take a few of my friends on the trip...Seabiscut and the road bike.  I used the old roof rack from the Kia and made it fit the rental, it was close enough for me.

We drove 12 straight hours on Friday to stay at my buddy Chucks place as it cut the drive short and got us into the central time zone.  Kope showed up to stay the night and help us make some bad decisions and Marty and Leah made an appearance at dinner to get the party started before heading home.  It was just like old times, beer, ping pong, video games and watching youtube videos.  (We really never had that much of a life so that was a normal weekend for us).

We then woke up early to make the drive into Chi-town to see my Grandma, on the way out of town to go meet my godson for the first time. We went out to dinner with both sets of his grandparents and called it a night early (he had a big day the next day).  He also called me to color coordinate for the dinner.

This picture was taken before he peed on me.  Kid has good taste.

Sunday was then taken up by the baptism.  He was stoked, I could tell. I gave him his one gift (that he has to grow into, but never too early to get them riding) and how could he not be happy?  Also the cake was as big as he was, how could you not be happy with a cake like that?

Monday, I took off and headed back down to my old high school stomping grounds to drop off the burrower with her parents as they headed to western Illinois and I stayed around the area at my buddy Marty's place.  We stayed up way to late on a school night, playing music, and I figured out why I never picked up an instrument....I have no rythem.  But there is a video somewhere on facebook of a bad attempt of us playing Journey, while intoxicated. 

I woke up early as usual, and took the road bike down to the I&M Canal to punish myself for the drinking.  It hurt.

It would be great for a cyclocross bike though, hard packed gravel that travels from Chicago all the way to central Illinois.  A lot of history there if you want to learn about it, otherwise just a beautiful excuse to ride and not have to worry about traffic.

Wednesday I headed back up to northern Illinois to meet up one last time with Web (sans baby) and Dan came down from Wisconsin to play 9 holes of golf.  I scored a respectable 63 or so.  We grabbed lunch at local bar and then I made the last minute executive decision to drive up to Wisconsin to see Dans son, and of course his wife, the bear.

Yup, he is going to be a soccer player.  I am showing these youngsters the right sports to play as they get older.  I am glad I made the trip up there as I don't always know when the next time will be to see them.  I stayed for a few hours, ate dinner and then continued on my journey down to meet up with the burrower and see my new nephew, Payton.

Being only 2 months old, he didn't do a whole lot of tricks yet, but I am sure he will get taught some pretty good ones. 

We basically hung around that part of the state until her sisters graduation.  We did take our other neice up to our old college stomping grounds of St. Ambrose and meet up with my last former roommate and our nephew who just turned 1 that day.  We went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate.

That was actually very tough to crawl into, I almost didnt get out.

Those are about the highlights of the vacation.  I did manage to get a short mountain bike ride in up in Davenport.  I was very impressed with the trail i rode up there, managed by the IMBA chapter FORC (friends of off road cycling). It was
Sunderbruck Park.  It was well maintained, decent elevation changes as it was right on the river, and reminded my of the trails back here in Charlotte, but just shorter. 
I did manage to enter one of the Wednesday night short track races down in Rock Hill when I got back, but I did that just to get a feel for the trails there as I think my next event is going to be the 8 hour Tree Shaker, but more on that another time.