Dec. 31, 2019

A classic Pisgah ride, glad I finally got to do it!

12+ switchbacks up

3 miles of downhill

Dec. 29, 2019

A couple of hours in Uwharrie calls for a post ride beer!

Nov. 23, 2019

NCCX UCI race #1 Hendersonville

By the time my race started, it was raining, the course was muddy and I was cold. I knew this day was going to suck when I started my warmup, I headed down a hill to turn onto a bike path when I crashed, sliding across the pavement, great… road rash and I haven’t even warmed up yet!

I took my call up, and finally got a good start, as we turned from the long start on the road into the grass (mud) the rider to my right crashed in an explosion of water and mud, it was cool to see!

My race sucked, I kept falling off my bike or it was sliding out from under me. I was still in the middle of the pack-ish when we hit the small wooded section, on the long straight somehow my bike just washed out and I crashed pinning my bad knee under me, I didn’t slide due to the mud, I just stuck like a golf ball. I couldn’t figure out which way to roll to relieve the shooting pain and was worried other racers were going to hit me or my bike.

Finally everyone passed and I could get up, I slowly remounted and rode for a bit to see how I felt. Nothing was broke and I even caught a rider on the next lap.

We had a fun battle for DFL and I had a lead as we hit the woods a final time, I had caught one of the elite women racers and told her to hold her line and stay on teh gas, I was racing for a position. Unfortunately on the last turn, she turned into my line and the other racer came around, as I got around her and started my sprint, my chain sucked up, release start again, same chain suck… race over I finished DFL. I hate muddy races!

Nov. 19, 2019

Me and the farmers chasing the light in the fall.

Nov. 10, 2019

Today’s NCCX race visited the sand in Pinehurst. This is not the correct line!

My day started good and I was in the lead group as we hit the sand the first time, the group split and 4, 5 & 6 started our battle on lap two, I took a bad line and fell to 6th before…

my rear wheel came out of the drop outs on one of the sand pits and took me a minute to figure out what happened and reset the wheel.

I fell to 8th and chased hard to make contact with the 2nd group, I finally closed within a couple bike lengths but had popped and quickly got dropped.

no body behind me was gaining and I couldn’t make contact, so I finished 8th. I always like racing here, it is so different and even with a tough day, it’s still better than work! (Thanks Clay for the pictures)

Nov. 9, 2019

NCCX in Sanford, a flat-ish dry fast course – as I arrive why is everyone covered in mud I wonder…

My race: I got a call up so I started on the front row and after the sprint was in 6-ish place, but a rider washed out a touch and I had to brake and fell to 10th.

I had to push hard and caught up to the 3,4,5 group but never was able to pass any of them, so finished 6th, but I am very happy with my race is 40+ Cat 3. I felt stronger and rode away from people today. Why? I lost 5 pounds this week going back to Keto. Weight to Power ratio is real! I would like to lose more this week!

Nov. 3, 2019

A busy day! Grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, oil change on the Tacoma, bottom bracket change on the cross bike (after finding it frozen after last week’s race), tennis with Sean, bike race and indoor climbing gym.

This week’s race was Winston-Salem. Because it was also the state championship, we had a bigger field

I made the decision to start more aggressively, and had a top 6 spot through the first turn

But I faded quickly to 9th, where I stayed till I had to dismount on a root (first picture)

I finished 10th!

After the race I was only 1.5 miles from the climbing gym.

 

 

 

 

Sept. 29, 2019

Wouldn’t think it needed saying…

Bill and me

Sept. 15, 2019

‘crossiscoming is now ‘cross is here!

First race of the year, an open Cat 2-3 on a very bumpy course, including this multi line minefield.

I started on the front row, and stayed with the lead group for a while, it’s a training series and no matter how hard I want to train, I can’t duplicate the effort racing takes. There were over 20 racers and I finished top 10 – I think. When I finished, one of the experts yelled nice job keeping the young guys honest…. umm fuck you! ; )

Aug. 25, 2019

On top Caraway Mountain. This was the first time I had ridden over Caraway Mountain, so the group decided I should also do the climb to the summit, up two pitches, one 18% and one 20%. Then at the top, Dave (in back explaining the next climb) says we need to climb to the fire tower too.