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?

At Least I wasn't Last...

Another Wednesday night race in the Summer Series and another race in which I did not do well. At least I wasn't last. I checked the unofficial results and was 12 out of 14 or 15. It is nice to know that I might have gotten a little bit better without actually training, but I don't really enjoy Reni Park either. The trail knomes were kind to the place with the 2nd half of the trail being a lot better than the first half, but maybe thats because there is an actual flow to the course and not just an up and down trail for 3 miles.

Actually the race was pretty uneventful for me as only one tree hit and no crashes. I just go to these races for the people though. A bunch of bike race pro's wannabe who all enjoy a nice beer afterward. To bad they don't allow beer at the park so we got hotdogs instead. Provided by the local club Tarheel Trailblazers

All of the members do great work and really make Charlotte a mountain biking mecca.

I did have a request for the burrower to come and take some action shots of the races as she did capture me in my finest on the boat.


I will see if she can make an appearance for a few of these just for the photography.
Anyway tonight is one of the first Summer Concert Series at the Whitewater Center. I just love being outdoors, listening to music, and watching people fall off rafts.

I also received a text message from the Burrower stating there is going to be no rain foretasted for the next 10 days. Lets go Ride!!

1 More day!!!

And then the fun begins for the most pain and torture I have probably felt in a while. The 6 hours of Warrior Creek. But before I look forward lets get caught up. Today is Thursday (Finally) which means that I should have stuff to write about from this week. Well, good for you I do. Tuesday I had the day off for the reason I had to take the burrower to the doctor. This was a good day because she had hip surgery over a month ago and the doctor finally released her back into the wild. This means that I no longer had to drive her to Gastonia (35 minutes each way) 3 times a week to go to work and also get my lunches back where I previously took her to PT.

Once she got cleared to get released I was off!!! Shermans branch it was. It was such a beautiful day that I couldn't help but want to ride. I was planning on doing 3 laps there in preperation for the race which would put me about 3 hrs 30 minutes or so but ended up bailing after one because of chain suck. After leaving there discouraged and a little bit pissed I took my bike to Sun and Ski sports. They have lifetime adjustments on all bikes sold there and I didn't have time to go down to my team shop at Southpark Cycles. Turns out all I needed to do was oil the chain. Problem solved. Why didn't I think of that?

Also a plus of the Burrower being able to drive is that I get to ride my bike to work again. After the winter short track season my hardtail front fork was just completely destroyed and didn't work. Luckily my neighbor Leo is a bike guy as well. He doesn't care to ride them but he loves to work on them. Good for me because I am the other way around. He just happened to have a front shock just laying around. He said this makes up for the tires I gave him a few weeks ago, small block 8 and a nevegal.



So ended up coming home and I asked my buddy who is borrowing the Blefferprise-rent a wreck jeep to stop on by as I left my WWC pass in the vehicle. I am not paying 5 dollars to ride there when I already bought my season parking pass (which is definaly worth it even just for the concerts). But as we were talking out there all of the neighbors started to come home and then let the dogs out. Leo and Eli brought Ralphy back from the walk, and the college type kids let their little Pippen go nuts in the street. Rocky and Jasper hate that we can't let them out. We actually could let Jasper out and he would be fine, but Rocky's report card states "does not play well with others" He tried to nip at every dog that is not Jasper.

Heres Jasper:


and Rocky


And to top off the rest of the week I was able to complete a full ride around the WWC on Thursday. I even did the hated gas line and truckers loop. The sad part was I hit the trail before MadSS got there and did it by myself. But I did see him in the lot and finalize a few plans for Saturday. This will probably be the last post for the week as Friday I have a cookout in Lake Wylie, then the Race Sat, and then Easter Sunday. So next week should have some good stories as well. Happy Easter Everyone!