Recharged

Since the 8 hour Grind on the Greenway about 3 weeks ago my and the bikes have not been on speaking terms.  No, there wasn't a big fight or anything traumatic, we just decided to take a break, it was probably best for the both of us.

I was doing so much "training" ( I use that term loosely because if you look at my results you will wonder what I was doing with my time), but basically I was riding so much, just to ride that it took all of the fun out of it for me.  I had problems finding people to ride with, and you can only do so much by yourself without getting bored.

I have been riding my bikes for a little over 4 years now and have never been to the mountains until yesterday.  I got an offer from one of the wife's co-worker's husbands to meet up with a few of his friends and do what he was told  a "hike a bike" marathon.  He warned me that his friend means business and I could back out for another day of a little more single track friendly.  By now you should know that I don't have better judgement and wanted to go with.

I opted to take the Culprit with me, as it is my only full suspension bike, and I was warned that I needed one.  I do not regret that decision as I got everything I needed ready the night before and the alarm set for 5:45 am.

It was a little over 2 hour drive to the entrance of Pisgah National Forest.  Even stopping for breakfast, we were early and luckily took a wrong turn and found this little gem right off the road.

This was a sign of things to come with all of the rain the southeast has been having.  We turned around and headed down the gravel road in which we were supposed to meet at.  About 10 minutes later my new friends came, warned me one last time, loaded up all of our gear, water bottles, gel packs, and cambelbacks and started our journey.  I was warned that the climb to the top of the trail was a 6 mile fire road climb.  It started out social for about 2 miles of it, everyone talking, having fun, and then we took a turn to another fire road and the pain really started.  One of the guys broke off the front and turned back and asked "anybody coming?"  There were no takers so he went off the front.  I kept with the group for a few minutes but when everyone switched to their granny gear, I still stayed in my middle ring and "took off".  I finally ended up catching the guy who broke off the front somewhere up the road and we were together talking for a little bit until he looked at his watch/altimiter, about a mile left to go, and he took off.

I let him go as I knew it was going to be a long day and ended up about 5 minutes after he did at the peak.
About 10 minutes later the other 3 guys showed up.  Everyone grabbed some food and drink, and then hit the trail.  The one we hit was called "Laural Gap".

I cant put into words the trail as it was rocky, slick (it had been raining for the past week), rooty and dangerous drops, I have have never had more fun on a bike.  I had the helmet cam on for the first trail we hit but it doesn't do the trail justice as how steep and technical the descents were, plus when I fell off the side of the trail it somehow ended up pointing to the sky.   Although the Culprit is a full suspension bike, it was not designed to handle these drops, even when I had my ass touching the back wheel and the trail was that steep, it still rattled my body.

An hour gravel grind uphill and an hour and a half downill/hike a bike through 6 feet drops, washed out trail, multiple creek crossings in which almost swept you off your feet and we finished the first loop.  I can't put into words the experiance as I needed the change of pace from normal riding.  I will have the go-pro video up in a few days I am guessing after I review the footage and see what is good and what the camera was pointed at the trees for. 

The bikes weren't happy with all the mud bogs, a few of them went went over half way of the wheel into them, good thing the creeks washed everything off.

Tree Shaker wrap up

(Ive actually had most of this written for a while now I've just been lazy uploading pictures)

Last Saturday was the Tree Shaker 4 and 8 hour race. Me and Seabiscut were ready as we could ever be.  Usually this race happens in the fall for 6 or 12 hours, but when it was moved up to the summer, the time was shortened to accomidate for the heat, and it was needed.  90 plus degrees by 9 am, it was going to be a hot race.

I woke up early to meet my teammate Kyle and Steve of South Main Cycles, we decided to all pit together as we didn't have any support from our significant others.  They were rocking out the 4 hour single speed class while I decided to do the 8 hour solo class.  Before the race the pit area was a pretty chill place, everyone hanging out, swapping stories, getting food and water bottles ready, trying on bikini's....Yeah the MaddSS looks about a solid "B" cup.

The start time was coming near and Neil went through the pre-race annoncements, love your neighbor type stuff, thank all the sponsers (always thank them for their support) and no sticking stuff in other peoples wheels, no matter how much you want to.  All the racers went down to the bottom of the hill for a all inclusive start.  I lined up somewhere near the back as I knew I had a long day ahead of me, espcially with the heat.

Neal said "go" and the field was off, I held my spot for most the climb up the hill but made a pass every now and again as we roared through the start/finish line.  Having only raced part of the course one time I didn't know exactly where the passing areas of the course were and I found a wheel and held on.  Luckily i picked the right wheel and ended up making a few cruial passes on some flat and downhill wide open sections.  After about 15 minutes of riding there was no one behind me, looked like I got ahead of the person who got off to a fast start but was struggling on the hills. 

The first lap was uneventfull as I just pedaled a slow and steady pace, kept up with the people in front of me and pulled into the pit area in about 56 minutes.  A respectable time considering all of the traffic on the course.  I didn't bother taking any food or water as it was still almost cool by summer standards and I still had one bottle of fluid left. 

Lap two I kept the pace fairly high for me, made a few passes, got passed by a few more and just enjoyed the trail.  I think second lap was somewhere around 52 minutes.

Lap 3 took a few minutes in the pit area, grabbed some food, some drink, and had Daniel fix my grips as they were slipping due to the humidity.  A little bit of lock tite on them and problem solved.  Lap 3 ended and I completed lap for with no major problems and no incidents.

By the time I finished lap 4 the 4 hour race was wrapping up, I came in just short of 4 hours.  I took a few minutes, ate a sandwhich, banana, had something to drink and sat around for about 15 minutes just watching the other races come by and finish or get food and head out to do another lap if they were doing the 8 hour race. 

I saddled up the bike again, grabbed a new pair of gloves (highly recommended for long races) and went out.  By the time I got about about 55 minutes later Kyle told me him and Steve took 1st and 2nd in the solo single speed 4 hour race.  Since Steve had to go back to work real quick and run his bike shop it was just Kyle there enjoying a beer. 


I sat around with him a while talking and we realized we were hungry.  We ate some great barbeque from Lolas Southern cafe (highly recommend if your ever downtown for food) and I grabbed a beer from Old Mecklenburg Brewery.  I sat around for probably around 30 to 40 minutes just hanging out talking, eating, drinking beer and watching everyone else suffer. 

We finished our meal and Kyle had to head out.  I congraguated him on his win and took off for my final lap.  I felt darn good after having a BBQ sandwhich and a nice microbrew in my stomach.  The trail was quiet and calm and empty.  I was just riding along and towards the end of the trail I saw a doe with a young fawn.  The trail split between the two of them as I neared and both of them took off.  The fawn ran as it though I was chasing it and then when it knew it couldnt get away it stopped and "hid" in the brush.  Those are the kind of momments that make all of the suffering worth while, watching nature and being a part of it.  I waved goodbye to the doe and let her know that I wasn't going to hurt her baby and finished up my lap.

I did have time to go and do another lap but found out when I looked at the standings that it really wouldn't do anything besides increase my possibility of cramping up, plus I had a cookout and pool to go to.  I did as best as I could and ended up 12 out of 13 place.  It sounds slow, but in reality this is a lot more than most people could do, the Charlotte area is full of fast mountain bikers who train a lot more than I do.  On the other side, I am pretty sure I could beat all of them in flippy cup or beer pong.  I just race for the enjoyment, the competition, and the beer at the end.

I want to do this event again, like all of Neil's races, it was well run, well marked course, plenty of food and more importantly plenty of good people, this will definitely be added to my yearly rotation for races.

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.

The Godfather

 Me and the Burrower (or is it the Burrower and I?) have had a busy couple of weeks.  Last weekend was the Kentucky Derby, which, like everyone knows, is an excuse to put on floppy hats and drink early in the day.  We ended up at the usual hang out spot to celebrate, watch my horse (Sabercat) lose, and then starting Cinco-De Mayo festivities ensure. To make sure I finished off my case of PBR, it ended the night with flippy cup as usual.

Normal weekend here in Charlotte.

Later that week was also our first wedding anniversary.  We made it magical-esk like usual, with just dinner and a movie.  Nothing fancy, but we are simple people.  What people mostly give for traditional wedding gives doesn't apply to us.  She wanted a new vacuum, and I wanted a go-Pro.

I figured the irony of taking a picture of a camera would be lost on most people, just I just went with the stock photo.  I haven't had a chance to test it in action yet, but here is just a test of some of the fun in which you can have with it, I was pretending I was an airplane.  If your my facefriend I posted it, otherwise I believe I deleted it already.  It was magical, you can believe me for that.  But this will definitely be helpful for future post to come and more importantly crashes to be witnessed.

Last Friday we also went to the All American Rejects concert.  This is one of my favorite bands and I have been a fan since the beginning.  It was a kick ass show.  I also loved the venue, the Fillmore, a small place compared to an amphitheater, but a great sound and energy.  Plus I am old, and there was only minimal ringing in the ears after we left.

Since the Burrower had to work all weekend I made a point to go up to the Uwharrie National Forrest trails.  I haven't been up there since last August for the official "opening" of them, but it offers real climbing without driving up to the real mountains and it is a lot closer (1 hour vs 2.5) for me to get to. It is also so peaceful out there.  There was one moment of excitement, I almost got run over by a flock of deer, ironically on a trail called "White Tail".  It does make you enjoy nature, even if you are scared for your life.

Not much in terms of racing for now, but I am going on vacation next week to become the godfather to my old roommates son.  It will be a week of fun, drinking with old friends, and just general craziness.

Then the next week watching my new little sister graduate from high school.  It will be an action, travel packed week so hopefully when I come back I have more good stories and pictures than this post. 

I am allowed to bring the bikes, lets just hope the roof rack in which I have fits the rental car...could be a game time decision. 

How the unnamed Marin got its name

Its been a while since I've posted, 6 hours of Warrior Creek recap I believe.  I stopped riding due to not eating enough food (which could have been solved by eating some and waiting to digest some) and a sore neck.   Once you have ridden with a sore neck, you never realize how much you want to turn your head.  Anyway this has been on going for about 3 weeks. I have tried new pillows, icy-hot, etc, but I think what I needed was rest from the bike, so I really haven't ridden decent mileage since then.  As I was driving up to Lake Norman State Park, I was thinking it was time to get back on the horse, figuratively anyway.  Then it hit me, who is the most famous horse you know.  Seabiscut. Oh, also the Kentucky Derby is coming up and I thought it be appropriate timing as well for it.

Introducing...Seabiscut.

I know, I have used this photo before, but I am to lazy to walk down to the garage to take another one so deal with it.

Another fun adventure I had on my few weeks off non-biking was waking up early to help with the Charlotte Youth Cycling league.  

This was the only picture I took, I tried to get the rain and didn't want to get the camera out so again, deal with my crappy photography.

 I was out there early to set up the youngest kids course, and stayed to help clean up.  I even was out there for a few mini laps at Fisher Farm as a course marshal, making sure the little rebels didnt get lost or hurt.  It was fun except for the weather.  Rain.  The first 2 hours it was just a light drizzle so they didn't call the event off as the rain never got to the trail.  The 2nd 2 hours was miserable and cold.  The oldest group (16-18) only had one person sign up, so the call was made to take down the course markings and high tail it out of there to a warm shower.

I ended up going back to Fisher Farm the next weekend for the Sun and Ski shop clinic.   There were a few brave souls (about 6) who came to learn some basics of mountain biking.  It is always nice when a shop gets involved in the community.  Most of the shops in the Charlotte area do this as well and that is why Charlotte is such an underrated mountain bike Mecca. Anyway we had fun teaching them the basics of braking, drops, roots, shifting, etc.    Heres Patrick (not me as I had the camera) tackling the boulder garden and having fun.  We played around on that boulder garden for about 15 minutes just having fun.

And finally back to the title of the story, this past weekend. 

I decided to make the trip up to Lake Norman State park and check out the 28 miles of trail there.  Since there was a race in South Carolina this weekend, my buddy options were limited, so I went by myself and just enjoyed the ride.  I wanted to take pictures but was having to much fun to stop.  After 3 hours of what I thought was decent pace ride, it hit all the trails and decided to call it a day.  I should have called it a day earlier in the day (did that make sense) because I ended up coming home and doing yard work.  Figure that one out. 

I did end up getting this sweet jersey from Sun and Ski though from Twin Six.  I don't know how this was on the clearance rack, but it pretty sweet. I think I should have washed it before wearing it though, it rubbed my nipples (I have sensitive nipples), but I also looked sexy with it open blowing in the wind. 

Thats about it, me and Seabiscut will try to make some more adventures before going off to Illinois in a few weeks for some family obligations.  But thats really just an excuse to ride out of town and drink more beer.

Warrior Creek Recap

37 degrees.  That is what I awoke to at 430 in the morning because I couldn't sleep anymore.  I was afraid to trust my alarm as the Burrower (check our her blog here) was out of the time zone in Illinois (don't pronounce the "s") visiting family and welcoming my new newphew Peyton James to the world.  I stayed back to make sure the dogs got fed and because I signed up for this race in October.

Anyway, back to the story, me and Steve met up at the Trek Store in Charlotte to carpool up to the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek in Wilkesboro NC.  I did manage to see the Mutt coming out of his place where I assumed he stayed all night.

These are some of the best trails you will find anywhere in the country and they are basically in my backyard.

39 degrees, that was the temperature right after the pre-race announcements.  Me being the smart one I am looked at the weather forecast and didn't do a darn thing about it.  I just brought my jersey and shorts for the ride.  I saw everyone dressed up in arm warmers, leg warmers, wind breakers.  Me, I just found a sunny spot and waited for the start.  I am glad I did though. As soon as the race started, it was on like Donkey Kong.

I started off in the back, letting most everyone go ahead of me.  This being my 3rd year signing up for a 6 hour race I knew what to expect and decided not to rush myself.  I was happily moving along in the first lap after dealing with crashes, people dabbing their foot, falling off their bikes into ravines, the usual for a mass 300 person start.

Finally around mile 8 of 12.5 I was "lucky" enough to have the person in front of me fall and hit a tree.  After the obligatory "are you ok" I lost the group of 10 I was traveling with.  Seeing how I was only riding for 45 minutes at that point I made the decision not to waste energy by trying to chase them down.  It was a smart move at that point.  I had an open trail in front of me and I could see the group about 4 or 5 turns ahead.  I didn't waste any extra energy using my brakes needlessly and stopping and starting and I caught up to them right at the start/finish line.

This is where I made a mistake.  I swapped out my water bottle, took some electrolyte tablets (for my leg cramps which I knew would be coming soon) and headed out.  I didn't eat any food which was a mistake to haunt me later.

Lap 2 was pretty uneventful. I just enjoyed the trail, talked a bit with a few people before I passed them or they past me and kept going.  But towards the end I started to feel hungry.  I grossly underestimated  my calorie usage and the stomach felt weary (but the legs and lungs were strong).  It is hard to figure out what to eat for a 6 hour race when the longest in which I have rode is about 2 hours.  But I finished the 2nd lap and ate some clifBars, grabbed more electrolytes and more water bottles and headed out for lap 3.

I was feeling real good but just weak.  My leg cramps were keeping under control, I was keeping my fluids down.  I enjoyed the rest of the 3rd lap and decided to take a seat.  I had more than enough time to go out for another lap (over an hour and a half before the cutoff time), and very possibly could have gotten 2 more in (if I was in shape).  But I decided to sit down, enjoy the sun and have myself a beer (err, not allowed on federal grounds, it was a coke with a lot of foamy head)

The final results weren't bad for my time, I was the 3 or 4th person to "finish" with 3 laps, so I must have been doing ok.  It was fun time to just hang out in the pits as always and watch everyone else suffer while you have a cold refreshing "coke" and cheering them on.  I met a lot of great and fun people on the trails and in the pits and it was a great event put on again, and learned more lessons about endurance mountain biking for next time.

My race calender is free for the next week or so, and then the Southern Classic Series starts up again.  This will definatly make me faster, maybe even a top 10 finish?  Nah, lets not get ahead of ourselves. 

First Rides report

Waking up early on St. Patrick's day usually spells trouble as that is just an excuse to start drinking early.  Well, that is still my plan, but I also had a plan of doing a few laps at the USNWC to really see how the unnamed Marin performed.  I just had one test lap at Shermans Branch, and a race at a course up in VA, but neither of those I really have anything to compare to until this morning.

Breakfast started out as usual, a few eggs, toast, orange juice, I filled up the water bottles with Poweraid and left to get to the trail by daybreak.  Already dressed when I got out of the Jeep I hit the trails on cobweb clearing duty.  With the unnamed Marin being my first 29er I was still getting used to how it handles compared to my full suspension 26 inch ride.  One of the first things I noticed during the damp morning ride was how much less the bike seemed to slip off the side of damp, dewy roots.  Not saying that it didn't slip at all, but it was noticeably less than the Culprit.  Part of that might be me not knowing how to ride good lines, part of it might be the Continental Race Kings 2.2, and part might be the bike is not set up as tubeless yet.  I can probably fix 2 of the 3 easily.  Tires and tubeless being the 2.

Another adjustment in which I had made from the last race in VA was putting more air pressure in the fork, it is amazing what a difference that makes.  In terms of climbing I am still getting used to a hardtail but I think I am making the transition rather seamlessly.  When getting out of the saddle to climb the rear end of the Nail likes to stay planted which is a good thing.  Another thing I noticed is that this bike rewards a nice steady out of the saddle pedal strong.  It even fooled me as I had to downshift a few times to get into a harder gear to stop from spinning out and climbing Goat Hill and the Gas Line climb.  Success.

I am also glad I got this bike as the geometry and long steerer tube makes for a relaxed ride for all day adventures.  I did fit myself on a Rocky Mountain 29er, and decided it wasn't for me.  The Rocky being a very race oriented bike does accelerate out of the gate quickly, but for all day riding, 6 and 12 hour events and marathon races comfort is a major factor for me.

I am already in process of getting the Marin the way I want it, switched out the personal preference items such as grips and saddle.  I also am getting it set up as a 1x10 with parts on the way. I am also liking the huge 185MM rotors up front to stop.  I can't wait until they are completely broken in. Patrick from Sun and Ski was nice enough to swap over my XT drivetrain from the Culprit to the unnamed Marin. Luckily I didn't have to switch out the crankskins to match the new color scheme.

Hey, if you can't beat them in a race, at least make sure your bike looks better than theirs.

So far I am very happy with the new ride.  As of now it comes in at 28 lbs right on the dot with pedals, heavier Ergon grips,  water bottle cages (that match the frame), spare tube, levers, and CO2 cartridge.  After it goes 1x10 and tubeless I will weigh it again, just to see.  But for an out of shape endurance racer like me, I think this is the bike to have.

Up to VA

This past weeks adventure takes me up to VA. This Maxxis Southern Classic Series seems to cover a lot of the south region for some incomprehensible reason. This was also the first time racing on the yet to be named Marin. I was only able to get out and ride the 11 miles on Saturday at Shermans Branch to really see how this 29er handles. Shermans is a great place to ride, but not really a great place to test equipment as it doesn't cover a whole lot of different types of terrain to see how a bike handles. But taking a nice easy lap there I found out my time was only an hour and 1 minute. Not to shabby for a casual stroll around the grounds. I might be able to attribute some of that to a 29er, and maybe most of it to being in shape this year after a mild winter.

After calling it quits after playing drinking catch phrase but before beer pong came a short night of sleep. Not only is it a 2 hour drive to Danville VA, but it was also the start of daylight savings time. Insert cheesy pic here.

 Me and my carpool buddy/teammate Doug e Fresh hit the road at almost exatly 6 am (or 5 am if your counting hours of sleep).  After a McDonalds run, almost running out of gas we made it just in time to register and have Dougs race goof off.  He was racing beginning mens 40-49.  This just gave me extra time to get ready and goof off.  I did end up managing to find the Mutt who introduced me to D-Wayne hunter.  I have been a reader of his mishaps for a while and it was nice to meet him.  He also showed me how pro-creation works.

It was an educational experience for all.

After Doug finished I was ready at the starting line for my race, Sport men 30-39.  Due to my points ranking I was put into the back of the field.  The race went off with a bang and I kept the leaders in my sights for about the first 2 miles of tight twisty full of trees singletrack. I wasn't used to the wide handlebars on the new unnamed bike yet so me an some trees had a few good words.  I did managed to finally settle into a pace and keep going.

 I think this was taken lap one on a very Warrior Creek-ish fun and flowly section.  Thanks to random photographer Mary Whit-Jones who is friends with Mr. crackednipples. 

I felt real good and completed the first 9 miles in a group of about 4 people.  It felt weird actually racing and feeling like I have a chance to beat someone.  I started on the second lap and then felt the dreaded cramp starting in my legs.  I hate when this happens.  I am not used to standing up and pedaling up climbs coming from a full suspension to a hardtail so my legs were not used to the effort yet. 

So an even longer pointless story shorter, I cramped with 4 miles to go, legs locked up, and lost about 4 spots.  I did manage to put together an almost respectable 17 of 26 places.  Still not as good as Doug e Fresh's VA state Championship

 And we drank PBR to celebrate and went home.  Yup, that is all for now.  With the next race being 3 hours away at the 6 hours of Warrior Creek, I really need to get in some major time to have a respectable showing there.  But at least I got a new ride to do it on, with some minor modifications on the way.

With the Winter Short Track season ended it only is a few weeks away from the Maxxis Southern Classic Series. The first race in that series this year was down in Sumter SC. I thought I was more ready than I was, but things didn't turn out so well, racing wise anyway. Coming into the sleep little town was a National Guard Air Force base. When I hit the side road to go to the state park these were posted about every 100 feet.

Ok, this wasn't the actual sign, but I forgot my camera and I still use an old cell phone which doesn't take pictures well from a moving vehicle, but you get the point. Bomb range = bad idea to bike there. As expected I turned away from the range to enter the State park and was was directed by the rangers where to park and set up.

Stock photo of the park ranger. Like I said I didn't have a camera with me.

 I got there early enough to watch the beginner and children's class go out. Teammate Steve Pep's old son even decided to give racing a try, the course was supposed to be around 13 miles for one lap. After goofing around for a little bit more and talking to some of the Charlotte crew that made it down there it was time to get warmed up and ready to go. The race started and went off without a hitch, no crashes and no extreme mad dashes to the front. I guess everyone understood that it was going to be a 26 mile race. You can't win a 26 mile race in the first quarter mile, but you can definitely lose one. As we entered the newly cut singletrack, I should have known that I was in for a world of hurt. The problem with newly cut singletrack is that everything is soft. It takes a lot of extra energy to pedal. But I entered in around 7th or 8th place of 16. After a few more miles the course was a lot tougher than I expected and what everyone led me to believe and I started slipping back a spot at a time. I even started slipping back to the leaders of the old man class who had caught me.

 Continuing to ride seemed like forever as this trail seems to go into the middle of nowhere. There were some short punchy climbs that put a hurting on me, and then long flat stretches over hard packed sand where you could really get your speed up. Being the first real race for the season I tried to conserve energy the first lap and not push to hard to pick up places but tried not to lose them. More twist and turns, and even a fun little pump track section was the short climb to the top of the "hill" where there was a long fire road trail to the finish. Usually not a bad thing to have, but it was long, like a few miles long. It was also the sloppiest part of the course as it had rained the night before. And that water was cold riding through it and it got everything all muddy. 

After that the race was pretty uneventful. Just another full lap of suffering, and oh yeah, they miscalculated the mileage. It was really over 14 miles per lap. At the end of the day I rode near 30 miles of trail. That is a lot more than I was expecting. I started having leg cramps the beginning of the second lap so I tried my best to just keep pedaling. Eventually I did finish. I didn't stay around to wait for the awards ceremony as I knew I was way at the bottom, and found out I finished 14 of 16. The good news is that I finished though. That kind of heavy mileage is just forcing me to get into better shape fore the 6 hours of Warrior Creek.
And in other news, it was time for a ride change. I have a full suspension 26 inch Haro and wanted something different. So I went to Sun and Ski sports test rode 2 different bikes. I save the details, I ended up going with Marin Nail 29er.

Yes, I got the water bottle cages to match the color of the frame. If you can't win, at least be stylish.

I did make some minor changes already, removing the reflectors number one, putting pedals on, changing out the grips and seat, but I forgot the after pictures. Oh well, there should be many more this year as this will be my primary race bike. Now only if I could get to give it a real test ride before my race tomorrow....