Its Been too Long....

Since I have done a post.  About 2 months worth.  Ideally I always wanted to do at least one a week, more for my own record of what I am doing to look back at years later and be like "what the %&*$ was I thinking, that was so awesome!"  Also I guess some people actually read this thing hoping for some kind of insight into my ever so exciting life.  Or you meant to type someone else's name into google and mine came up.

Any of those may or my not apply, but at this time I actually do have a lot going on.  Check it out.

Get it?  Do I need to spell it out for you?  Two buns in the oven.  If it took you that long to figure it out, I feel sorry for you as you probably get outsmarted by a 5th grader more often than not.

Thank you Jeff Foxworthy for letting me know that my remedial math and geography skills are just that.  Remedial. 

Most of my time is spent getting ready for those two buns to finish baking.  Should be done sometime in July by all of the doctors predictions.  Until then the burrower has been having the normal pregnancy sickness that hasn't ceased since I placed said buns in said oven.  Meanwhile, my Halo skills have improved remarkably due to her early bedtime and my free time increasing after dark.

This year at the short track races was also an improvement for me personally.  Although I was still at the back of the pack, I was actually at the back of the pack fighting for positions, and not just hanging out waiting for the bootleg beer to show up.  Looking back at it, my lap times improved every week and I felt stronger.  Its the simple things in life for me sometimes

 Photo Cred: The burrower

Photo Cred: Michael Quinn

The way I figure it, I have half a riding season before I have to worry about getting a set of sidecars for the bike.  That may be dangerous on the trail.  So I am making the best of it, especially this week with daylight savings time. I am able to get out and ride after work.  I also have decided to be just a trend behind in the moutain bike world by trying this new 2x10 system.  

What does that mean?  It means only 20 gears instead of 30.  Why do you ask?  I honestly don't know anymore.  They made it so now you only have 11 gears.  I can't keep up with the cool kids.

With 6 Hours of Warrior Creek coming up in less than a month, I figure I better start riding.  What better time to get ready for 6 hours of sitting on a bike than 3 weeks before.  I figure the last minute preparation worked for me in college, might as well try it now.  And just because I bought the picture last year of me at Warrior Creek, I am putting it up again.  Its a picture of me, how can that be bad?

Photo cred: Ryan Sigsbey

Plus this picture is about the only thing that keeps me sane at work, just thinking about falling out of a rock garden on my bike.  Sometimes its the little things that get us through the day.

Hopefully I will be back again before Warrior Creek, but I make no promises. 

Lets start at the end and then work to the beginning...

I tend to do things backwards. Mostly because it is more work that way, and usually a better story. I learn my lessons the hard way. So instead of going in order of fun/exciting events in chronological order (thank you spell check for change chrological for me) of day off on Friday and going to the mountains, bike build, bike race, I am just going to reverse it.

And I will start at the very end and pictures probably say it best.

Picture courtesy of The Mutt



That summed up the race on Sunday. My first ever did not finish. I should have seen it coming, I was doing average at the race, all of the other new shiny shifty parts were working almost seamlessly considering there was no break in period, and then this happened. I blame my mechinic, which is me for trying to reuse a pin on the Shimano chain. By doing so it stretched it out and popped off. Score one for SRAM and quick links.

Up until then I was riding along, minding my own business. There were a lot of people out on the trail taking pictures and I managed to get a hold of some of them. This is the fun part of short track. Some of the crowds are still drunk and hollaring from the night before waiting for a crash. And they bring cameras.




Thank you Burrower and Lunchbox for the action shots


Another good one by the Burrower, stupid tree got in the way. She was waiting for the next lap to get another action shot, but alas, there was no more.


On the other hand, all of the other stuff in which I put on the short track bike held up good. I think I will just save those wasted 4 hours of my life for tomorrow. Here are some more pictures.



Thanks Alex Hawn for posting these public on the F-Book

Tomorrow, how I wasted my Saturday afternoon.

Finally, the Reveal

I know last weeks suspense was just to much for many of you, and a few lucky souls had the opportunity to see what was in the works, they just were lucky enough to show up at our 3rd annual ugly sweater contest. Those post and pictures might just show up later this week if I get enough reader response, or just any proof someone reads this thing.

This year I am going to try and race 2 bikes. I am going for a short track/less than 20 mile 26inch hardtail, and a full suspension for anything longer than that or endurance races. I will make exceptions for the full squish when I race Beaty though. I hate that place.

Also I am going to try changing up the drivetrains, as I hinted last week. 2x9 here I come. Going with a 27/40 FSA afterburner.


I should be ok to handle anything in which Charlotte trails throw my way on a hard tail. I still do need to set build the thing. Another cool feature about new stuff is the SRAM cassette.



This will look pretty sweet as I was able to color match with my mavic wheels.

Style points count for the final standings right?


I asked the Mutt for some help over the weekend, but after I was speaking with Little Miss Sunshine on the F-Book she stated they had a holiday party in which they were in charge of making 17 trays of jello shots. I really can't blame him for putting his priorities in correct order. I did the same thing and wasn't in a whole lot of motivation to move off the couch due to my own previous nights activities.

Also this past weekend me and the burrower had a "required" church function for our marriage thingy coming up next year. Good news is that the weather was pretty crappy during it so I didn't feel like I missed anything. Bad news is that the weather was crappier on Sunday so couldn't ride at all this weekend. I am going a little stir crazy as I haven't been on the mountain bike since following the MaddSS and Mrs. MaddSS around Fisher farms for about 18 miles or so. It also has been bitterly windy so I haven't even had the motivation to ride the roadie to work in the morning. Hopefully I can get a few rides in before the winter series coming up in a month.

Also the Maxxis Southern Classic Series released their 2011 schedule, good news is that I should be able to hit most of those next year. Maybe between the extra road miles and not being as bad of shape as last year I can get some top 10 results when there is more than 10 people racing. It is a stretch goal, but one in which I have.

If I get the motivation, and have all of the participants in the ugly sweater participants sign releases I might just get back on the blog this week. And hopefully some more biking somehow. Good news though, the shortest day of the year is coming up, and that only means the days get longer, and more biking to be done!