July 8, 2020

Race day. It rained right as I started my warmup and as I was cruising along I went down hard, the bike just slide from under me on the wet packed red clay. I crashed again on the warmup just trying to get out of the woods. I was not excited to start the race after that… but I did and settled into 4th as we entered, exited and re-entered the woods, as we did there was a sweeping turn into a bridge and I just didn’t trust my tires grip and rode off the course, falling to the back of the pack. I rode hard and got back to 5th without any more crashes as the course dried as racers rode. Don’t worry, Kali is OK.

the iPhone amazes me sometimes!

July 5, 2020

It must be love, I cleaned Kali before I cleaned Rojo

But the Rojo got her turn

New stickers….

July 4, 2020

Day 4 I stayed at DuPont, so many great trails (and a couple I hope I never ride again)

It took 11 hours but I got the 100 miles in!

July 3, 2020

DuPont State Forest and Slick Rock of the East

Post ride cool down (until I found leeches on me)

July 2, 2020

Kali got dirty today, Tsali was still wet in spots but rode the Right and Left Loops

July 1, 2020

I have been unhappy with my bike fitness, so I challenged myself to ride 100 miles before July 4th.

Day 1 Down and back up the Virginia Creeper

June 25, 2020

A ride in the woods.

May 27, 2020

Introducing “Kali” my new (to me) mountain bike. Honestly this is a nicer mountain bike than I thought I would ever own, Niner Jet RDO – all carbon full suspension, XT drive train. I named her after the Hindu goddess Kali – “she who is black” – Kali’s earliest appearance is that of a destroyer of evil forces, her eyes are described as red with intoxication and in absolute rage. (match red highlights on the bike)

May 13, 2020

Finally a mountain bike race in 2020 and I got my ass kicked! Cat 2 50+ and they were fast, I rode as hard as I could and finished 14 minutes behind the winner, would have been DFL, but 2 were DNF.

May 10, 2020

Escape the normal mountain bike trails and visited Mayodan to pre-ride a race course. Last time I rode here was teh state championships and I crashed three times in the race…. not a good day!