Week 3 of Recovery: When Life Gives You Lemons....

Perhaps the best thing to come out of this injury and taking some time off the bike has been the increased time I’ve been able to spend with Jordan. She and I met right as I was starting to ramp up my training, which meant our days together were often interrupted by long training rides or were limited by recovery from those rides. This past week was a good example of making the best of a bad situation.

In an effort to get some kind of exercise in I went for a trail run. The initial plan was to run on Monday, but rain cancelled that. So on Tuesday after work I dusted off my Nike’s and head off to Enterprise South. I was hoping to get in two miles, with the backup plan being a fast hike through the woods. From the start I could feel a slight pull from my right ribcage, but nothing too terrible so I kept on going. The rest of the run was pretty much what I expected given how long it’d been since I ran. The pain in my ribs was overshadowed by the pain in my legs. Two miles later I was climbing myself back into the truck and licking my wounds.

I was thinking maybe I could run again later in the week, but that was shutdown the next day when woke up to legs so sore that it hurt to walk. So the rest of the week was spent taking short walks and generally trying to stay more active then normal at work. The weekend is where the fun really began though.

Our plan for the weekend was to have a date night either Friday or Saturday and go on a hike to Snooper’s Rock at some point, weather dependent on which day. Rain Friday night pushed our date to Saturday. After waking up Saturday morning with no ride planned and looking like rain in the forecast for that afternoon, we decided to head to knock out some shopping. We hit up the Brainerd Market, Target, then went up to The Lodge Factory Store in South Pittsburg. While we were there we decided to grab lunch at Top of the Rock Brewery in Jasper Highlands and snapped a few photos while we were there.

Later that night we head out for our socially responsible date night. Which included dinner on the patio at Flying Squirrel, beer at Heaven and Ale Southside, and more beer at The Fountain Head Taproom before heading home to grab some sleep for the next day’s adventure.

The hike to Snooper’s Rock was fun. It’d been way too long since we’d been on an adventure together, so it was nice to get out and explore. The up and down, slightly technical, 6 mile hike to Snooper’s Rock and back was just what the doctor ordered. Good exercise and beautiful views abounded. Once the hike was over we finished with lunch at Basecamp on the Northshore.

Post hike while eating lunch we both agreed that we couldn’t recall a better weekend together then this one. After months of dealing with training for our various events and dealing with the fallout from the ‘Rona, it was great to return to some form of normalcy if only for a weekend. So despite being frustrated at all the injuries and setbacks throughout the year, the one good thing that’s come from all this is increased time spent with Jordan and the accompanying increase in the strength of our relationship.

I’m not exactly sure what’s coming fitness wise in the next two weekends, but with Shenandoah 100 taken off the schedule we’ve got some exciting plans in store for Labor Day weekend. Which has turned from a race trip to an extended weekend long celebration of her birthday. Keep checking back for updates!!!

Week 2 of Recovery: A Decision Had To Be Made

Forty-nine minutes. That’s how long my first foray into riding outside lasted and that’s also how long it took for my saddle sores to flare up…again. Its now been 2 months that I’ve been fighting with saddle sores. Its gotten to the point that I stress out before every ride because I worry that they’ll cause epic amounts of discomfort and I’m usually correct. There’s been one ride in the last 2 months that I haven’t developed sores…ONE.

I’ve previously had little issues with saddle sores. To the point that when I was riding previously I’d basically stopped using chamois cream because I didn’t need it. I’ve been using the same saddle on all my bikes for years now. It’s been so long since I’ve had to deal with this that I’m kind of at a loss at where to go from here. I’ve tried a lot of remedies in the past two months and have had little success with any of them. I’ve gotten a fit on my Top Fuel, changed out the saddles, bought new bibs, changed the way on put on chamois cream, and adjusted the angle and height of the saddles. None of it is working.

Back in late May I did a 71 mile road ride and was in the saddle for almost 5 hours and got no saddle sores whatsoever. Now I can’t ride for an hour on the same bike, with the same saddle without constantly squirming due to discomfort and my sit bones being so tender that I can barely sit down in a chair afterwards. So it came time to make a decision given everything that’s been happening in the last two months…

I’m taking a break from the bike for the next two weeks, but more then that I’m pulling out of Shenandoah 100. The rest of the season is still up in the air as well, so we’ll see. Bartram PM on August 22nd is out for sure, which leaves Big Ring Challenge, Payne Cave, and Dirty Spokes 6 Hour still on the calendar.

When I started considering pulling out of Shenandoah 100 I took solace in that I could possibly change my Big Frog 65 entry to Cohutta 100. However it was announced this week that those races have been postponed to next year due to concerns over the ‘Rona. Other races I’d planned on doing look bleak as well. Registration for 5-Points 50 is currently on hold and Black Bear Rampage is subject to the Forestry Service just like Big Frog was. The 2020 race season is currently in shambles. I may just call it a year, lick my wounds, and start planning for 2021.

So today starts 2 weeks off the bike. I need to find something else I can do to stay somewhat fit. Tonight I’m going to give trail running a go, but given how tender the ribs are it may just end up being a fast hike.

Week 1 of Recovery: Finding the Positives

No one likes being injured, that much is clear. For me, major injuries take a toll beyond the traditional physical pain. With me already being prone to short and long term depression, a major injury like this greatly affects my mood and general outlook. I get predisposed with how I feel and what I can’t do, like ride my damn bike. Being a rib injury, this has also made sleeping more difficult because I’m rarely comfortable and my sleep suffers because of it. So one can imagine what a fowl mood I was in for parts of the last week. As I healed up and started to move with more ease my mood started to lift and I was able to take a clearer look at everything. Obviously I wish I’d never crashed, but there are some hidden positives; primarily with the stack up of some other ailments over the last few months.

• Continued frustration with sciatica in my right leg

• Numbness in two fingers on my left hand

• Numbness in my big toe on my left foot

• Middle/upper back pain

• Saddle sore flare up over the last month

Taking a break from the bike will hopefully heal some of these while others need rest and equipment modifications. I could dedicate an entire blog to equipment thoughts…because I’m neurotic like that…so I’ll spare you for the time being. The numbness on my left hand is a new issue seemingly related to the new bike, so its currently in the shop getting a Bontrager DropLock Remote and ESI Fit XC Grips installed. I typically run the ESI Fit XC grips on my bike and rarely have hand numbness problems with them. I’ve ordered a new saddle for the bike to counter act the discomfort and replace the saddle broken in the crash. Since it’ll be awhile before I’m back on the mountain bike any report on that will have to wait. Over the next few weeks I’m going to look into better insoles for my shoes. The rest of my issues hopefully just need rest and, when I regain movement, stretching and exercise.

How am I feeling now? The first couple days were pretty freaking terrible. It hurt to basically do anything more strenuous then sit on the couch and drink whisky. By Wednesday I was able to move fairly freely without major pain and could start to do some daily tasks without wincing. Thursday morning was my first day back on the bike…or trainer to be specific. Nothing major; just 30 minutes of low effort spinning in Zwift. I could feel my ribs on almost every pedal stroke, but it was stiffness not pain for the most part. I resigned myself to take Friday off and try a bigger trainer ride Saturday morning. I had committed to getting on the trainer for an hour and a half. My intentions were to keep things low effort, no major climbs and spin at 90 rpm in Zone 2. That…well lets just say that didn’t happen.

When I climbed on the bike I felt pretty OK. Obviously I could feel stiffness in my ribs, but it wasn’t really pain. I got started slowly on the “flat” terrain and settled in with a group of 3 others that went off the same time I did. As we got into Titan’s Grove and started to pedal through the rollers and up the KOM climb two of them dropped off, leaving me and one other guy. Now I’m not sure who started the pissing contest first, probably me, but we soon found ourselves consistently ramping up the pace bit by bit until we were full on at race pace. He started to gap me when we made the turn for The Jungle 12 miles in. I let him have the descent down to the bottom, feeling confident that I could lull him into a false sense of security for the climb out. I was right; I caught up right as the gravel of the Jungle Loop ended and we head back towards the main section of Watopia, passing him on the turn out. (Jordan gave me a stange look when I yelled “Remember me!”) He hung on for quite a while, but then I started gapping him more and more. Soon the gap was over a minute and by the time I hit the Desert he was all but off screen. Now of course there’s the legitimate chance that this “race” was all in my head and that he was unaware of what was going on…but motivation comes in all forms including imaginary.

So how did I feel after riding 30 miles on broken ribs and spending most of the ride in Zone 4? Not too shabby actually. I still struggle to lift things above chest level, but at least I know I can manage sustained effort. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do interval style workouts or feel secure enough in my movements to venture back outside, but I’ll take this as a win.

So some ailments are getting a chance to potentially heal and I can ride the trainer. I’m happy with that. Maybe next weekend I can venture outside even if its just to the Poop Loop.

This Could Ruin My Season...

Mountain biking is an inherently dangerous sport. The general rule is its not a matter of IF you crash...but when. You never know when the rock or root will throw you off line, when a turn is too loose to hold the wheel, clip a tree with the handlebars, or even just choose a bad line. For most of my time riding a mountain bike I’ve been fairly fortuitous when it comes to crashing: I don’t crash with that much frequency and if I do they rarely cause major injuries. But it does happen.

This past Saturday started like any other. I woke up early, ate breakfast and drank some coffee, then packed up the gear and head to the trail. In this case the East Overlook Trailhead on Raccoon Mountain. I prepped my gear and bike and waited for everyone else to show up. After some short conversation we head off into the woods. I was second into the woods and not pushing particularly hard on East Rim(a trail I’ve ridden hundreds of times) when I clipped an off trail rock with my pedal. A fluke of a thing that happens on occasion, but rarely ends terribly. This time I was going fast enough that it threw the whole bike off line and I did a complete yard sale into the dirt, tumbling over on my right side. I knew as soon as I hit the ground that it was bad. I picked myself up while everyone behind me checked to make sure myself and the bike (the real priority here) were OK. The bike emerged with a broken saddle, I wasn’t so lucky.

After some encouragement by me the rest of the guys left off to continue the ride while I walked the bike back to the trailhead. Lifting up the bike onto the bike rack confirmed what I felt…at least one fractured rib, possibly two. I had the same injury 8 years ago, so I know exactly what it feels like. I slowly changed clothes and limped myself back to Jordan’s house. When I got there she had a look of concern on her face because she knew I was planning to be gone for several hours, yet here I was home way sooner then expected. Being the amazing mother that she is, she insisted on torturing me (I mean cleaning my road rash) with rubbing alcohol. I had little time to sulk though because we were also celebrating her son’s 8th birthday on Saturday. So I slowly limped my way through the rest of the day, aided by ibuprofen, bourbon, and Jordan assisting me where needed since normal tasks hurt.

So where does that leave the rest of the race season? In doubt. The last time I fractured my ribs I was out for 6 weeks and when I returned I still felt pain in that area for another 3 weeks. These were shorter race though, not 6 and 10 hour epics. I’m sure I’ll be healed up the for the races later in the season, but the imminent ones are doubtful to say the least. Hardford 50 is out for sure as its this weekend. Bartram PM on August 22nd is looking doubtful as well, as its less then 4 weeks away. Shenandoah 100? Exactly 6 weeks out, so its in limbo. Maybe I’ll be healed by then and maybe not. I’m less worried about pain while riding and more worried about re-injuring by riding for 100 miles on trail I don’t know.

As of Monday morning I feel…not too terrible. I can’t lift much of anything with my right arm if it weighs more then a couple pounds. I also can’t lay on my right side and getting up from sitting or laying down is a painful experience. Otherwise I’m moving around fine and breathing like normal. Tonight I’m going to give the trainer a try and see what happens. That will be my life for the next two weeks so I can keep the legs fresh. I’ll hope to ride on the road shortly thereafter then maybe introduce some trail on week 5 to see how it feels. Right now my goal for 2020 looks to be at risk. I’d like to say this was a surprise, but I mean 2020 has been a bit of a disaster anyway; so I should’ve been expecting this all along.

Reclaimed 6 Hour Race: A Lesson In Positive Thinking

It’s easy to think the world is conspiring against you. Like the balances of life have tilted against you for no other reason then to laugh at your suffering. The weeks leading up to Reclaimed have been marred by this; especially the last week. Since buying the Top Fuel my life has been thrown into a bit of disarray. Weather, work schedule, errands, saddle sores (thanks to my shiny new bike), and problems sleeping have thrown a monkey wrench into my training as of late. The week leading up to Reclaimed was no different…and possibly even worse.

On Monday I’d planned to ride to work, only to forget to set my alarm. I could’ve rode my mountain bike after work, but I had to mow, do laundry, clean the house, and had a post work conference call that delayed me getting off work on time so I pushed off riding until Tuesday. Work was pretty stressful all week anyway as everything I did seemed to not work or go slower than anticipated. I rode to work on Thursday, but the ride home was miserable because I couldn’t get comfortable on my road bike, which previously didn’t bother me. Jordan came over that night and we had a great dinner, but suddenly my less then 2 year old HVAC stopped working. It was close to 80 degrees in the house. After trying to get it working for an hour, we made a late night dash to Jordan’s house so we could get some sleep….which didn’t come for me as I was stressed out because of my HVAC.

Jordan and I had taken a half day on Friday so we could head to Cloudland Canyon State Park early to squeeze in more time at the campground. That in and of itself was uneventful. The drive up was smooth as was the setup. Jordan’s son was having a great time running around the camper, watching Megamind and Space Jam, and finding places to hide from his Mom in the camper. You’d be amazed the small spaces a 7 year old boy can fit into. Dinner was steak fajitas cooked in a cast iron skillet over a fire. Then drinks and early to bed.

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I’d hoped my run of bad luck was behind me, but I was woke up from a restful sleep at 3:30 AM to the sound (and smell) of Cal throwing up in the camper. After cleaning up vomit, poop, and taking him for a walk I settle back into bed at 4:00 hoping to fall back asleep. Blissfully I did…after staring at the cieling for 30 minutes.

Race Day started out great. Despite the early morning puke alarm I woke up refreshed and in a good mood. I ate a quick breakfast and drank some coffee, then started getting my stuff together. A quick walk around the pit area and I spotted Craig Lawson and his son looking suspicious. Knowing they needed supervision I convinced them to let me setup my stuff under their tent along with the Juniors race team he coaches. Once I got all setup there it was time to warm up, so I elected to ride up and down the road while contemplating my strategy for the start. At some point Jim Farmer started yelling at me about getting a shout out in the blog, so here you are Farmer.

Lap 1

There was a staged start due to the ‘Rona, so I went off at 10:01 with the rest of the Masters and the Sport, Grandmasters, and Ultra Masters. Noticing that everyone else was starting slow, I decided to drop the hammer some to get ahead of everyone before we got into the woods and the Hogsback trails slowed us down. I didn’t want to get stuck behind someone on either of those trails. There was some congestion, but David Buntin and I got free at Peace Can and dropped the hammer. It was through Kettle Bottom that I realized just how fast we were going. I did my best to push aside lingering thoughts about going out too hard. Through the pit to grab water bottle. Lap 1 done…47:58.

Lap 2

I decided to dial it back a little bit for Lap 2. David got back into the woods before me, but I was close on his tail. We caught and passed some folks through the first couple of miles of trail. Once we started going up Fugget Lift David dropped me. I figured it was probably a good idea to save some legs in case I needed them later, so I decided not to chase. This turned out to be a good decision. Back into the pits for another bottle and a Stinger Waffle. Lap 2 done…49:29.

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Lap 3

It was Lap 3 where I started to notice that it’d been awhile since I’d really seen anyone. I was passing the random 3 Hour rider and got passed by a Pro and one Team rider, but the trail seemed oddly empty. I was starting to think about where I was in the standings. Best I could figure was that I was close to the front or off the back. Rather then let those thoughts linger I kept on the pedals. Lap 3 was also the lap where I realized that I forgot to put beer in my cooler. Back into the pits for a banana, another water bottle, and to text Jordan to bring post race beer. What would I do without her??? Lap 3 done…52:13

Lap 4

Lap 4 was where things started to fall apart a little. I started to feel some chafing, though strangely only on one side. My upper back was starting to make itself known and my sciatica was flaring up as well. Still hadn’t seen anyone from my category in a while…which was beginning to make me nervous. Into the pits where Craig let me know they were going to pack up and head out, so my pit crew was taking off. (Thanks for the assist Craig!!!) Water bottle and bacon and I was off again. Lap 4 done…56:46

Lap 5

Part way through Lap 5 and still having not seen anyone I decided to check the standings for the first time. I needed to know where I was so I could decide if I needed to hammer that last lap or just survive it. Crossing the finish line I went over to the results table and saw….nothing. I wasn’t on any of the results sheets, let alone my category. I grabbed the race director real quick to let him know and grabbed my last bottle. Lap 5 done…56:49

Lap 6

Not having fully committed to surviving or hammering and concerned that all my work was going to be for not, I kept pushing on. I was taking it somewhat easy thanks to chafing and back pain..then I finally saw someone from my class when they caught and passed me at the end of Peace Can. I realized who it was after he went by, so I gave chase. We started the climb up Fugget Lift and I was climbing faster than him, so I passed and gave the rest of the climb all I had. Once up to the top I glanced back to see I’d dropped him. Not wanting to take any chances I resolved to keep on the gas until I crossed the finish line. Which I somehow managed to do. My legs were telling me I was done, but I kept telling myself that I could hammer out the last few miles of the course. Lap 6 done…53:27.

Jordan and her son were waiting for me at the finish line with smiles abound. The race director came up to let me know that they had record of all my laps and just needed to plug me into my category. Jordan however had some bad news…the HVAC on the camper had died and she was unable to get to come back on. Not wanting to leave the dogs in the camper for too long, she went back to the campground and we texted back and forth trying to get the HVAC to come on while I waited for results. All our troubleshooting was for naught as she couldn’t get it to turn back on, which meant packing up the camper…after I’d just ridden over 50 miles.

My GPS had me at 6 laps in 5:23:20 and I rode 55.43 miles. The results ended up screwy because I was missing from them, then they had me in the Grand Masters 50-59 class, and some people in my class started later than others. Thankfully they got everything straight in the end. I finished in 2nd place out of 11 people for 6 Hour Solo Masters (40-49). I was about 10 minute behind 1st place and 15 minutes in front of 3rd place.

Getting on the podium was an unexpected result for my return to geared class racing. Masters was the largest category and I assumed I’d finish mid-pack at best. I was certainly helped by the course being on trails that I knew very well, but it’s also quote obvious that I’m much faster on gears. And that the Top Fuel is stupid fast!!!

The takeaway here is that I one needs to remain positive in the face of adversity. Given the last few weeks leading up to the race I had plenty of reasons I could’ve called it quits. Lots of excuses for me to throw in the towel, but I didn’t I and came out the other side better for it. Quitting or even slowing down mid-race would’ve cause regret and doubt. I have no regrets about this race; I gave it all I had and was rewarded for it. Reclaimed is in the books and my post race celebratory bourbon has been drank!!! Next up is Hardford 50 in two weeks.

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Impostor Syndrome

While there are many reasons I love my girlfriend Jordan; perhaps one of the more important is how intelligent she is. We often have incredibly deep and complex discussions on a variety of topics. Her perspectives are always well thought out and nuanced. One evening a few months ago we were talking and somehow landed on the subject of my military service.

I was Active Duty Army for almost 10 years and deployed several times to the Middle East while in the Army and one time as a Department of Defense contractor. By any measure I’ve done my part to serve and defend the country that I love. Why then do I feel awkward when people thank me for my service? Why is there a sense of guilt when using Military discounts or benefits? Why do I feel the need to downplay my contributions? When I presented all this to Jordan her reply and was quick and direct: Impostor Syndrome

I’d previously chalked up my feelings on the matter to a multitude of factors that, while having some validity, certainly didn’t leave me unworthy of praise. My job in the Army didn’t require me to be on the front lines, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t important; quite the opposite actually. Thankfully I emerged from multiple deployments unscathed both physically and mentally, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have lingering issues that rear their ugly head on occasion. While I didn’t deploy as many times as some people, I was gone enough that it had a detrimental effect on my personal life. Sure I didn’t retire from the Army like others, but I did give almost a decade of my life in service to my country; more if you consider that I spent the next 4 plus years working for Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. Despite all the above, I always felt unworthy of the praise people heaped on me.

Once I read up on Impostor Syndrome it was quite obvious that it was the cause of many of my feelings towards the Army as well as several other areas of my life like work and interpersonal relationships. Why do I bring this up in a blog about mountain bike racing? I’m glad you asked.

When I was in the Army I excelled physically at a handful of things. One of those was ruck marching. I was an excellent runner, often the fastest in the company/battery, battalion, and brigade. Because I was a fast runner and skinny I was often the target of smack talk when it came time to ruck march as a unit. They assumed because I was skinny that I’d lag behind on the ruck marches. I’d often prove exactly the opposite by finishing the rucks faster then most people, while also carrying more weight to prove a point...both to them and myself. That point was “I’m faster then you and there’s nothing you can do about it”, but also “If I can do this I really do belong here”. It was a challenge to myself to prove that I wasn’t an impostor or fraud.

Hopefully now you can see where I’m going with this. At 41 years old I’ve moved beyond the need to prove things to other people; but I still feel the need to prove things to myself. I truly do love riding a singlespeed, but part of the reason I did it was to prove to myself that I could. That it wasn’t gears and fancy full suspension that tamed that trail, but skill and determination. In a perfect world with no injuries I’d still ride full rigid. This is the reason that I delayed moving to full suspension as the injuries piled up. I was determined to find a way to deal with sore hands, back spasms, lower back pain, etc. Anything less was unacceptable.

Immediately after buying the Top Fuel I felt like I’d failed; like I’d thrown in the towel on my goals. It took a couple days for me to realize that it was actually the opposite. My goal for 2020 was to compete in all the Chainbuster 6 Hour races and finish Shenandoah 100. I realized that giving up would’ve been just not showing up on race day. Instead I did the exact opposite by dropping several thousand dollars on a new bike just so I could go do the race!!! It was akin to pushing all my chips to the center of the table while staring down my opponent…which in this case is my own body. Moving to gears and suspension wasn’t failure, it was making adjustments so that I could succeed at what I set out to do.

Have I moved past feeling like a failure or an impostor? While I’d like to say yes its just not that simple. As of this moment my singlespeed is in the basement waiting for some parts to be replaced. I walk past it when I do laundry and still feel a tinge of regret for not being able to follow through on my initial plans. That being said, I feel positive about the remaining race schedule for the first time in months. Am I going to feel like failure at the end of the season? Possibly, but keeping focus on what I did accomplish instead of what I didn’t will be key to keeping those demons at bay.

This weekend begins my return to racing in the geared classes. Over the last few weeks I’ve working to get the Top Fuel to its completed form and its finally there. Reclaimed is coming on Saturday at 5-Points. Jordan and I are headed up to Cloudland Canyon on Friday to make a camping weekend of it. So even if the race doesn’t go quite as planned we’ll have a good time. I’m looking forward to what a return to the geared class will bring.

The New Whip: 2020 Top Fuel 9.7

For a long time I’ve resisted buying a full suspension bike. Not that I haven’t owned some before, two to be exact, but I didn’t really enjoy riding them as much as I did hardtails…singlespeeds to be specific. Then there was also the money factor; to buy a quality full squish bike is no cheap investment. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I thought I could stave off full squish by running 27.5 Plus, but while those bikes were fun, they were just too sluggish for my riding tastes. So when I set off to find a full squish bike I started off with a list of qualifications and bikes and then started eliminating bikes that didn't hit what I was looking for. The list was below:

• Since it was going to be a race bike it needed to be as light as possible. So I decided on either carbon fiber or titanium frame.

• Again, this was to be a race bike, so 29 inch wheels were the choice here.

• My races of choice are 6 Hour races and long distance epics. As such the bike needed to be comfortable for many hours in the saddle.

• I set my budget for the bike for $4000, leaving some room for upgrades and to set it up personalized for myself.

• Knowing that a lot of my rides and races were going to have long road and/or gravel sections and big climbs, I wanted to have remote lockout or similar functionality at least on the rear of the bike.

• If was going to go to a full squish bike I wanted it to have some chops when the trail pointed downhill. Plus this was going to be my primary bike. It needed to blur the line a little between race bike and trail bike.

• I wanted to buy a bike from a local shop in town. Both because I want to support my local bike shops, but also because I wanted a place that I could easily get the bike fixed should warranty issues come up.

Those requirements eliminated a lot of really nice bikes. I was especially unhappy to check off the the Pivot Mach 4 and Santa Cruz Blur. After all the chips fell the Top Fuel was the only one left standing. It was the only bike that hit everything I wanted. But would I actually like it? A quick trip up to Scott’s Bicycle Center in Cleveland, TN, a demo bike, and two blistering laps at Enterprise confirmed that the Top Fuel was what I was looking for. Tons of PRs all over the course and I wasn’t even pushing all that hard. So now that I’ve got a shiny new Top Fuel what’s next?

Upgrades

To put it mildly, I’m neurotic about the parts I spec on my bike. In some places I can deal with lesser spec parts, but in others I’m often uncompromising…and that’s putting it kindly. Thus far my upgrades limited to a few areas where I felt I was getting the most bang for the buck, though there was one change I made that was purely visual and has little effect on performance.

• The first thing to get tossed was the stock saddle. I gave it a go on the demo ride and didn’t like it, so I swapped over to my preferred one: WTB Silverado

• The second part to go was the brake rotors. I hated the way the stock rotors looked, so I swapped them over to some Shimano RT-66’s. This probably has very little performance benefit, but it basically cost me nothing since I had them in my spare parts bin already.

• Next to go was the wheels. The stock wheelset was heavy and the engagement on the hubs was meh…at least compared to what I usually ride. So I purchased a set of Bontrager Kovee Pro 30 Carbon wheels. The reason I selected these wheels over other is that they were a great mix of price($1300), weight(1500 grams), internal rim width(29.5mm), hub engagement (3 degrees), and Trek’s amazing warranty.

• Drive-train upgrades remain minor. The SRAM NX groupset, while not blingtastic, works just fine. I could save some weight by going to a GX cassette, but those cost TWICE as much to replace. So I’ll stay with the NX shifter/RD/Cassette for the foreseeable future. I did pull off the SRAM XX1 crankset off my singlespeed and install it on the Top Fuel with the help of a SRAM PressFit GXP Bottom Bracket and a Boost offset chain ring.

• I have a Bontrager Line Pro 35 Carbon Handlebar and a Bontrager Line Pro Stem incoming as well. While I may not see much direct performance benefit from this, carbon bars do allow for some flex and additional vibration damping. So it was a worthwhile upgrade given my long distance race aspirations.

• In the future I may swap out the Bontrager XR3 Team Issue tires, but 4 rides in and I like them just fine. If/when they do get swapped out I’ll most likely go with a Maxxis Ardent Race/Ikon combo.

How Does It Ride

In a word…FAST!!! One of my concerns regarding full suspension bikes was feeling like I was pedaling in sand. I’m happy to say this was an invalid concern. Previous geared, full squish experiences were 8 plus years ago and with 3 and 2x10 setups. Modern 12 speed drive-trains and suspension technology have obviously come a long way since then. So while I do miss some of the immediacy of singlespeed; it’s no where near as bad as I thought. The bike pedals great.

The other concern I had was feeling disconnected from the trail. Part of the reason I like hardtails is because I can feel the trail beneath me and react accordingly. This concern was also invalid. The bike never feels like its floating above the trail, a testament to the suspension tuning. While I can now stay seated over bumpy sections of trail, I’m not isolated from it.

The first big ride on the bike went great; 62 miles on Lookout Mountain with Thom Lerch. I’ve got much “re-learning” to do with this bike. Trusting that the front end is going to stay planted uphill is an issue, while how the bike is going to react through rough sections is another. This isn’t a comment on the bike, but a difference in riding styles that I need to get used to again. Whereas before I look at a rock garden and figure out a way to pick my way through it, now I have the option of going OVER it. Speaking of riding styles; I also need to view my line options differently now. Thom even commented on how I was still taking a lot of singlespeed lines; which isn’t a problem persay, but there are certainly more lines available to me now with 115mm of rear suspension travel.

One of the most surprising things to me is just how laterally stiff the bike is. Turn in is crisp, even with the stock wheels, and the bike holds the chosen line like a rabid dog. While I was expecting an increase in stiffness given my previous bike, I wasn’t ready for this level rigidity.

Things I’m Not Crazy About

This list is short since I had reasonable expectations given the 9.7 is the “entry level” carbon fiber bike in the Top Fuel lineup. Meaning that these issues are fixable or just something I need to get used to given they differ from my usual preferences.

• I don’t like the grips. Normally this would be an easy swap to something else, but the lockout mechanism is integrated into the left grip. So swapping out the grips would require removing the lockout (not an option) or moving to the Bontrager DropLock Remote. So for now they stay on and see if I get used to them.

• The RockShox Reba RL is a perfectly serviceable fork, but not my preferred option. I’d rather have a Fox. While I’d like to swap out the fork, given how much money I spent on other upgrades its probably not in the cards for a long time, if ever. I was running a SID on my SS, so I have nothing against them, but in a perfect world all my bikes would be running Fox forks.

• While the SRAM NX drivetrain works pretty flawlessly, it’ll take some time for me and my legs to get used to the gaps in the gearing. The jumps from gear to gear are wider in places then I’ve been previously used to. The good news is riding a singlespeed all this time has gotten me accustomed to always being in the wrong gear. So if I’m spinning or grinding at an imperfect cadence it’s not the end of the world.

Final Thoughts

Thus far I’m thoroughly enjoying my new bike. One of the best parts of this bike is being able to plan a stupid long and difficult ride and know that while I may be tired afterwards, at least I won’t be hurt. I’m looking forward to trashing this bike in the future and seeing what its truly capable of. My transition to the geared racing classes starts on July 18th!!!

Life Update: World on Fire Edition

Well its certainly been a strange (checks calendar) three and a half months hasn’t it? Between COVID-19, murder hornets, the Chatt tornadoes, and now protests and riots; I just haven’t felt like it was appropriate for me to work on my blog. Actually that’s not completely true…I’ve been lazy too. I’ve come to the realization that if I keep waiting for the perfect time to give an update that it’ll never happen, so here we are. How have the last few months treated me? Well….

Pandemic and Lockdown

I’m essential so I’ve been fortunate enough to keep working. Despite most of my company working being sent home, I’m still driving into work every day. Little has changed for me on that front apart from not being able to go out to lunch. That has forced me to start bringing lunch to work, which means that I’ve been making much healthier choices for the mid day meal. Which I suppose is a silver lining of sorts.

Training Schedule

While the lockdown certainly affected my ability to train , it was only a little bit. ESNP was still open as was 5-Points, and roads were briefly very empty; making for some relaxing road rides. So I’ve gotten some excellent training rides in and I’m starting to feel really good about how my overall fitness is progressing towards Shenandoah 100. Some of my rides have felt really good and I can feel my legs getting stronger little by little.

Jordan

Things between Jordan and I are going great…better then great even…amazing!!! We’ve managed to keep up our routine through lockdown, she bought a gravel bike, and we’ve been able to workout together quite often despite everything. We competed in the Virtual Rucking Hill Climb Series, which had its good and bad moments. This past weekend we packed up her son and we headed down to Florida to spend a long weekend with my Dad and Step-Mom and had an amazing time just chilling by the pool. This is, of course, when her boy wasn’t begging us to play with him in the pool…which of course we happily obliged.

Race Schedule

Everything hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows of course. The pandemic has forced three of my races to be rescheduled so far. Big Frog 65 (which was supposed to be a test run for Shenandoah) was moved to October, Dirty Spokes 6 Hour to November, and Bartram PM to August. For now it looks like my next race, Reclaimed, will proceed as scheduled on July 18th. The rest of the schedule is up in the air as the races are far enough out that they still have time to make a decision on them. For now I keep training as normal.

Body

This is where things get depressing…or good…or strange...or heck I don’t know. When I started this endeavor I had two major concerns:

• Lower Back

• Sciatica

If either or both of those gave me fits I knew I was going to have to make changes or bail completely. For awhile it looked like my back was going to be fine and that sciatica was going to be the limiting factor. Strangely, those have now flipped. The sciatica gives me occasional fits, but its gotten to the point where I barely notice it day to day and riding doesn’t bother it all that much. My lower back has been a different story. Its gotten progressively worse since February. To the point that I can barely do one lap at ESNP without pretty significant pain. Two laps and I’m moving gingerly the rest of the day and the day after that. Its forced me to make a decision that I long knew was going to come eventually, but I hoped to stave off for a few more years.

New Bike Day

I was faced with the choice of giving up on racing or transitioning to a new bike. Not being the type that gives up easily, I chose the latter. I didn’t make this choice lightly. I stewed on it for several weeks, messed with the fork settings, and tried taking smoother lines; but all were in vain. Part of me wanted to try the cheaper route and put gears and bigger tires on my Soma Juice, but I knew deep down that wasn’t going to work and I’d end up spending money in vain. I started making a list of what I wanted and how much I wanted to spend, then started researching full suspension bikes. Ultimately I landed on a 2020 Top Fuel 9.7 bought from the folks at Scott’s Bicycle Center in Cleveland, TN. This marks two firsts for me; first ever Trek product and first ever carbon fiber, full squish bike. Why did I land on a Top Fuel? Well that’s a question that will be answered in my next blog post.

View fullsize

61 miles into a 62 mile ride

The Remaining Race Season

Moving from SS to gears means swapping classes. I’ve already swapped my Shenandoah 100 entry into Men’s Open and intend to do the same for Big Frog 65. I’m still signed up SS for the remaining of the Chainbuster 6 Hour Series and I’m currently in second place in the overall standings for that class. However there are still 7 races remaining in the series and I only need 5 to qualify in the overall points standings, so I can move to Men’s Masters (40-49) and have a remote shot at doing some damage in the year end standings. I have yet to sign up for the rest of my race schedule and will probably hold off until I find out if they’re going to happen or not.

The Singlespeed

So does this mean that I’m giving up on singlespeeding? Hardly. I just had a “new” wheelset built for it using my old SS hubs and some new Crest MK3 rims, its got new tires sitting in a box, and I removed the SID fork in favor of a more plush Fox 32 CTD fork I had laying in the basement. I love my singlespeed far too much to just stop riding it. Rather its going to move into part time duty. I’ll stay off it for for the time being while I get adjusted to the new bike and get it dialed in. I’m not ruling out more races in the SS class in the future, but for now I’m going to focus on the geared class

So that’s the life update for better or worse. Things haven’t exactly gone the way that I intended, but they could always be worse. Tune in next week as I breakdown why I landed on the bike I did and what upgrades I hope to make to it.

Singlespeed Part 1

Interactions with people at the last few races have got me thinking about how I became a singlespeeder, why I still ride one, and the general mindset of the singlespeed sub-culture. So this is the first post of a multi-part series about the how’s, why’s, and who’s of single speeding as I see it. We’ll start with the story of how I found myself a committed follower of the Singlespeed Cult.

I started mountain biking in 2009 and, like many others, started out with a cheap bike. It was a 2009 Specialized Hardrock Disc. It served me well that first season, but I not so secretly lusted after the fancy full suspension rigs. So when the time came for a new bike in 2010 I settled on a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR with 26 inch wheels. This was a year or so before 29ers became mainstream, but they were popping up all over the place and I was curious. So when a friend posted his Haro Mary SS for sale online priced at $300 I took the plunge, despite having little interest in riding with only one gear.

The Haro Mary SS was as barebones as they come. Full rigid steel frame and fork, mechanical disc brakes, cheap wheelset; but there was something about it. I couldn’t quite land on what made it so much fun to ride. I started riding it more after I put a fork on it, then more still when I upgraded the wheelset, suddenly the bike came alive even more then before. I upgraded the brakes next, then the cockpit. All of the sudden I realized that almost every time I rode I was grabbing the Mary.

Mary SS in her Final Form

Black Bear Rampage 2011 was the first time I’d entered the Singlespeed class in a race. I’d spent much of the season racing in the geared classes, but always ended up training on the Mary. BBR 2010 was a calamity for me. At that point I’d never ridden more then 20 miles before, but I’d signed up in a geared class and finished the 40 mile distance in 5:46. So imagine my surprise when I crossed the finish line on my Mary in 3:49, almost 2 hours faster then the year before!!! Obviously there had been a ton of training in the year since, but I also attributed some of it to the bike; wrong as that may have been.

For some reason I entered the 2012 season still running gears. That season was easily my most successful from a racing standpoint. I finished 2nd in my age group in the overall TBRA points series and set a personal best at BBR that I still haven’t come within 20 minutes of since. But for much of the year all I wanted was to race in the singlespeed class.

Starting in 2013 I rarely entered races unless it was in the singlespeed class and trained on it almost exclusively. I traded in the Mary for a Niner One 9, the Scandium model, and dropped the suspension for in favor of full rigid awesomeness. Ignore the droopy chain…this was from the inaugural ride.

Who Needs Suspension?!?!?

My singlespeed addiction continued when I built up my Silent Cycles cross bike. This bike has turned into my default choice for commuting around the city.

For the 2015 race year I went to a Niner Air 9 Carbon with matching Niner Carbon fork and later a SID XX World Cup.

When it comes to buying mountain bikes the first thing I check is whether I can set them up as a singlespeed. One of my goals when I started riding again this year was to get in good enough shape to take the gears off the Chameleon. Once I got there I sold the frame when I realized how much of a pain it was going to be…it was cheaper to buy the Big Honzo frame.

So its now 2020 and I’ve been riding singlespeeds for the better part of a decade and I’m almost back to where I started all those years ago, riding a steel framed singlespeed. I’m uncertain how much longer my body will allow me to continue, but I’ll hang on as long as I can. Why??? Tune in next week to find out.

Race Report: The Flow 6 Hour

The third race of the young 2020 race season was The Flow 6 Hour at Tannehill Historic State Park in central Alabama. I was looking forward to this event because I’d been wanting to check out the trails at Tannehill for some time now. Oak Mountain State Park in Birmingham is one of my favorite places to ride and the same people responsible for building and it, also built and maintain Tannehill. So I knew I was in for a fun time.

Leading into race day was quite dramatic. A couple weeks before I’d had the fork rebuilt on the SS and hadn’t gotten a chance to test it out yet. There was also the problem of the epic amount of rain the Southeast has been getting lately and the chance of a cold, wet day. Jordan and I had also decided to make this race the first camping trip of 2020, which meant getting the RV ready. So yeah…lots of stress leading up to Saturday. We arrived Friday afternoon with little drama and setup right along the race course so I could pit at the RV after every lap. We then settled in and cooked some dinner.

Morning came and I started preparing the bike. 32x19 was the gear choice, boring but consistent. The weather for the day called for it to be 46 degrees at the start time and possibly reaching the low 60s later in the day, so I dressed on the light side so I could easily strip stuff off later. Once the bike was ready I worked on setting up the pit.

On Thursday before the race I snooped to see who was in my class and recognized a couple names that didn’t surprise me. Chad, Forrest, and Ray; my old buddies from Huntsville and Flynn, the guy who took first at The Gobbler. I was going to be in for a long day. I lined up towards the front comfortable in the fact that the start was long enough to spread everyone out, but the trail came fast enough that I wouldn’t have to fight through too many people on the first climb. I saw Chad go off on the front, no surprise there. Up the first climb I worked my way through some people, then settled into some pretty sweet single track leading to the second big climb, which is where Ryan passed me. Less then 4 miles in and I was already down to 3rd place. The rest of the first lap was uneventful as I mostly tried to familiarize myself with the course. First lap down in 53:55.

Lap 2 started after I dropped the arm warmers and vest. I didn’t think I’d have to drop the arms warmers, so I asked Jordan to find the sun block because…ginger. Heading up the first climb I spotted another Singlespeeder and gave a moderate chase, reeling him in at the second climb. We spent the rest of the lap chatting and it turned out he’s from Chatt as well. Small world and big world at the same time. I stopped for a banana and gel and watched Phillip keep on riding…4th place and a 57:51 minute lap.

I felt pretty strong starting Lap 3. I knew my time might be slower because the steepness of the bigger climbs were slowing me down. I need less time on the trainer and more in the woods, rain please go away. I set my best time of the day through the longer flow portions of the course. I was pushing on those sections to hopefully reel Phillip in to no avail. 59:53.

Heading into Lap 4 my legs were good, but my hands and back were starting to act up. Benefits of having not ridden much in the previous 4 years. Legs came back quick, but the rest is still catching up. I was having to be gentle in some of the tougher sections of the course. Everything is getting better little by little, but in the mean time I suffer. Still no sight of any other singlespeeders through Lap 4. My hopes of 6 Laps were dashed when I pitted…1:04.15.

Lap 5 was a calamity from start to finish. I started off slow, but steady. The first two climbs came quickly, but shortly thereafter I couldn’t focus on the trail because my hands and back were distracting me. I was pretty tired and in some pain so I wasn’t able to focus on the trail and made some mistakes along the way. Shortly thereafter I heard someone behind me and let them by…it was Forrest. I drug my sorry bones through the rest of the trail and onto towards the finish line. As I passed Jordan all I could mutter was “Beer, Wild Trails Cup, Please”; which being the angel she is was waiting for me when I came back to the pit. 1:08.42.

I thought I was in 5th place, but it turned out that when I left for Lap 5 I was in third, so Forrest passing me knocked me off the podium since Phillip had pulled himself after 4 laps. Well damn!!! Had I known I might’ve pushed a little harder on the last lap!!! My fault.

Overall it wasn’t a bad day. Sure getting knocked off the podium sucked, but there were many positives to the weekend in general. I can feel my body coming back around to race shape as I suffered a whole lot less this race. The weather was perfect for the race and for camping. Speaking of camping; our first camping trip together was a blast!!! Finally…Cal and Birdie continue to get along like gangbusters and loved camping with us. See their adventures below.

Next up is Big Frog 65.

Chattanooga Brew Ruck Challenge

Although this is ostensibly a blog about mountain bike racing, I’ve chosen not to remain so rigid to that idea. Instead I’d like to use it as a blog about mountain bike racing AND other events that I chose to do that may or may not be the best of decisions. Back in early January I was scrolling through Facebook when I came across the event page for the Chattanooga Brew Ruck Challenge and I sent it to Jordan as an example of the types of events that I’d like to do with her…in the future. Well much to my glee she was all about it, so I signed us up. The basic premise of the event was teams of 2 or 4 ruck with back packs (20 pounds for women, 30 for men) to the local Chattanooga breweries and complete a set of challenges at each location. Some of these challenges were trivia and some were physical. The order of the breweries was set, but you don’t know the next location until you complete each challenge. You can take whatever route to get to each brewery that you like to.

Saturday morning brought several inches of snow to the Chattanooga area. When I picked up Jordan we couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. This event was going to be hard enough as it was since we hadn’t trained for it, but snow was going to add another layer of difficulty…and fun.

The Tap House

The first “stop” was at The Tap House in St. Elmo for the pre-event meeting, gear check, and ruck weigh in, and first trivia/penalty challenge. The first trivia question came, which we answered very wrong and meant a penalty was coming after I did the lemans start. Fifty squats later and we were on our way to The Terminal Brewhouse. Rucking to The Terminal was mostly uneventful. We chatted with some people along the way and talked strategy about cutting some time off by walking through the neighborhoods. After a couple miles we arrived to our next trivia question and posted the required selfie to our Instagram team page.

The Terminal Brewhouse

Stop number three was Wanderlinger Brewing Company, hidden behind The Moxy Hotel…a quick trip to be sure. We weren’t too enthused about the 10 burpees that were required at that spot, but we powered through nonetheless. Another quick selfie and we were on to the next stop.

Wanderlinger Brewing

The next stop on the train was Chattanooga Brewing Company. On the way to CBC was when we started to get some separation of the groups, with some getting tied up with trivia penalties and the speed of the rucking getting to others. CBC brought three trivia questions, one of which we got wrong. Which meant a we had to complete a 30 second plank with our packs on. Planks survived and selfie taken we moved on to the next location, stopping for a mirror selfie along the way.

The fifth stop on the ruck was Barley Chattanooga. This challenge was to take a picture of a moose somewhere inside. While inside we snapped our selfie with the Abdominal Snowman, another of the moose, then head out to get the next location. It was here that we found out we were currently in second place of the 2 Person teams and overall!!! This was a bit of a surprise to us both, now the pressure was on. Could we catch the people in front of us? What about staying in front of the people behind us? We trudged on, both feeling pretty strong at that point. The next location was Renaissance Park, which didn’t mean good things for our bodies I was sure.

Barley Chattanooga

Rucking to Renaissance Park was where things started to get interesting. It was starting to get hilly and we had to decide which bridge to cross over on. We picked the walking bridge, which in hindsight was probably not the best decision as it was still covered in snow. We arrived at Renaissance Park to the smiling, devious looking faces of more volunteers…they knew what was in store for us. First we had to bear crawl up the grassy hill with our packs on, then upright rows using our packs as the weight. Hugging our packs and doing reverse lunges was next, followed by 20 step ups. They finally took mercy on us and let’s us proceed to Heaven and Ale so we could get our selfie and find out what the next stop was.

Heaven and Ale

When the women at Heaven and Ale said the words “White Oak Park” I died a little inside. Then a little more when she told us we had to use Hamilton Rd to get there. At this point we were almost 7 miles in and I knew then that the 10 mile estimate of the changed course wasn’t even close to accurate. We trudged on heading towards White Oak Park. We were about halfway up the hill when we came across the first place team; there was no way we were going to catch them.

Arriving at the park, we were presented with more physical challenges to complete on the grass filled in lines of White Oak. First up was bear hugging our packs and heading up the hill, across, then back down. These were followed by holding the packs against our chests, then squatting and pushing the packs above our heads. High Low Planks with the packs was next. Finally we had to do a relay up the hill and back down. I went up first, tagged Jordan, then glanced to my side to see that we weren’t alone at the park anymore. We dubbed them CrossFit couple because they definitely had that look about them. We were slightly confused because we hadn’t seen them at the start, but there they were at White Oak Park.

Originally the course called for a stop at Big Frog Brewery, but weather had caused a change of plans. I was both relieved to cut off the additional miles, but also disappointed because I’ve been wanting to check them out. Jordan and I plan to swing by for a date night at some point in the future. We grabbed some nutrition, put our packs on, and headed back out of White Oak Park on the long haul to Hutton and Smith. I was keeping a close eye on time as we only had two hours left to get to the last location and a long way to go. On the way down the hill on Hamilton Rd we started see the groups coming the other direction. We felt comfortable they they wouldn’t catch us, but were worried about CrossFit couple since they looked like legit baddasses. We were correct. We made it down the hill no problem, but they passed us full on running just before we hit Market St. We were now in third.

To give our shoulders a bit of a rest we flipped our packs to the front and kept grinding towards the Market Street Bridge. Along the way Jordan expressed concerns of a blister, so we took a break at Market and Cherokee to have a look. There was no blister, just a hot spot, so she threw a band aid on it to protect it and we started moving again. Part way up Market Street Bridge, Jordan had a moment of distress. She later told me she almost cried. Somehow she reached down and decided to gut it out. She started feeling better once we passed the halfway point of the bridge, so we pushed on down Market St before heading left on MLK and arriving at Hutton and Smith. There was no trivia or physical challenge there, so we got our selfie and moved on.

Hutton and Smith

Odd Story Brewing Company was the next stop and we were presented with more trivia. Somehow despite near exhaustion and physical pain we managed to answer all the questions correctly; which was good because the penalty would’ve been singing and no one wants to hear that. The final leg was upon us!!!

Odd Story Brewing

Naked River Brewing was the last stop and finish line of the course. Jordan and I leaned on the gas; we had 40 minutes to get from Odd Story to Naked River. Plenty of time, but at that point we just wanted to get it finished. We arrived at Naked River feeling pretty exhausted, but happy that we’d completed the course in time. The patch was ours and we’d secured 3rd place in 2 person teams and overall. Final time was 4:15 moving time and 4:35 overall.

Naked River Brewing Company

We headed inside for a much deserved post ruck beer and meal. We spotted CrossFit Couple at the bar and chatted with them. Apparently the weather had slowed them down and they arrived 15 minutes late, which is why we didn’t see them. So yeah…badasses, both of them. We drank our beer, ate our pork sandwiches, and sat through the awards and raffles before heading home. We spent the rest of the night on the couch nursing our sore muscles, watching Chasing Amy, drinking some bourbon, and eating terrible food.

I gushed about how well Jordan did in a Facebook post, but I want to say more here. Rucking isn’t easy but she stayed with me step for step. I did a ton of ruck marching when I was in the Army and I was pretty good at it. So for her to be able to keep up with me all day is super impressive. Jordan is an absolute machine and I can’t wait to find out what else she’s capable of. We’ve talked about doing more rucking in the future, so I think its safe to say that we’ll be back for Chattanooga Brew Ruck Challenge 2021!!!

Beast Mode On

Learning From Past Mistakes

I don’t always make the best decisions. Often my eagerness, “dang let’s go get ‘em” attitude, and ability to suffer through just about anything gets me into trouble. This often lead me to overestimate my ability or fitness. Nothing illustrates this more then the year 2015; otherwise known as “The Year I Quit Cycling”. For a more in-depth write up of why I quite see my very first blogpost; the primary reason was injuries. But how exactly did I get injured in the first place and how could I avoid making the same mistakes in 2020?

Last week I was digging around in my Strava profile looking for the GPS record from Big Frog 65 in 2015. I couldn’t find it, which wasn’t surprising as I tended not to use GPS for races back then. I like to obsess over the data I see on those and will overthink the race if I don’t make it to checkpoint “X” by a certain time. I always used it for training though, which is when I realized that training data from leading up to Big Frog was……sparse. Looking farther back into my Strava data made me remember just how little I was riding leading into 2015.

Leading into late Fall 2014 I had been doing very little riding. But teaming up with a friend on a 6 Hour race reinvigorated my desire to race, so I quickly signed up for Oak Ass 50 and 6 Hours of Dry Creek, neither of which I was in shape for. Then came the decisions to do Snake and Big Frog 65. The only problem was that suddenly time change hit and I wasn’t doing much riding. From November through March I was lucky to get in 1-2 rides a week and spent zero time on the trainer. So when I rolled into Big Frog 65 that year I was working on little more then one month of riding more then once a week. Not surprisingly, Big Frog was a bit of a calamity. I was doing OK for most of the race, but had a mini-meltdown on the last 7 miles because my back gave out.

This became a recurring theme throughout the year. I’d start out strong, then fall apart towards the end because of my back, or legs, or whatever. I figured I could half-ass my way into racing shape by just signing up for long races and doing a few long rides here and there. I spent much of my time prepping for the upcoming SORBA Chattanooga races, drinking beer, watching Netflix, and going out to bars. I failed to consider that at the time I was 36 years old and couldn’t just pull myself off the couch and ride for 65 miles. My ambition far out matched my commitment to training and it stayed that way for much of the year. As my back got worse and worse, I rode less and less. Which eventually led to the meltdowns that were Iron Mountain 100 and Black Bear Rampage.

So when did I injure my back exactly? Looking back I firmly believe it was during Big Frog 65. I was in no way ready to ride that race on a full rigid, super stiff, carbon singlespeed. Perhaps if I was riding a geared bike I might have had less of a problem. The last 7 miles of that race was intolerable. For the rest of 2015 I was constantly fighting with my back. It got so bad that by the end of the year I couldn’t do ONE lap at Enterprise South Nature Park without wanting throw the bike in the woods and leave it there.

Since then I’ve felt some remnants of that old injury, but nothing like I experienced in 2015. Its also taking much longer for my back to start hurting. While I might not be as fast as I was back then (yet); I strongly feel like I’m in much better shape. Both endurance wise and overall functional strength. I’m riding more then I have in years and this will help me later in the year. I’m looking forward to Big Frog 65 this year and the first big test of all the work I’ve put in thus far. April 25th is circled on my calendar.

Hold the phone, we’ve got updates!!!

If you’ve been following along closely, or at all really, you know that no more then two weeks after I unveiled my grand training plan, life came along and did what life does to plans. Which is laugh maniacally, then proceed to shatter them like a tank driving through a plate glass window. Overkill if you ask me, but you didn’t so I’ll get to the point: My plan needed an update and it now looks like I have one.

Before Jordan slam dunked her way into my life all I had to contend with was the 55-60 hours a week I spent working and then taking care of Cal and adulting. Adding her to my life has been incredibly rewarding, but has also made finding time to train more complicated. Carving out time to ride hasn’t been all that difficult since I can just ride the trainer in the morning on days that we hang out. The struggle has been where to fit in time to strength train. The solution ended up coming from Jordan herself.

Jordan’s company has an onsite gym that she’s a member of. During the week they have several Crossfit/functional training classes available to their members…and guests. Since I shifted my work schedule around a few weeks back I’ve been spending Tuesday and Thursday evenings with her. Now on those nights we’ll go to the 5:30 PM class and get our swoll on. It appears that they’ll work different body parts on different days. After a few weeks I’ll need to take stock of what’s not getting worked and either supplement at home or at my own gym by myself. Some yoga will still be part of the plan, though I’m unsure how much. Finally, given the weather and daylight savings time issues I’m not sure how much outside riding I’ll get done between now and March. So the new schedule looks something like this:

Monday Morning - Strength Training

Monday Evening - Ride

Tuesday Morning - Trainer Ride

Tuesday Evening - Crossfit

Wednesday Morning - Rest Day

Wednesday Evening - Work, then late night Yoga

Thursday Morning - Trainer Ride

Thursday Evening - Crossfit

Friday Morning - Strength Training/Trainer Ride on alternating weeks.

Friday Evening - Date Night/Ride on alternating weeks.

Saturday - Big Ride Day

Sunday Morning - Yoga

Sunday Afternoon/Evening - Work, then Bro time with Brian

As far as structured cycling workouts? Yeah those fell by the wayside as well. Since the new trainer arrived I’ve been just working on getting some base rides in with either a few hard efforts or Zwift “climbs”, which I always go harder on since I like climbing. Tour de Zwift is going on as well, so there have been a few good mid-week rides thrown in. As of this writing I’m through Stage 4, with three more stages to go. On the subject of Zwift, I still enjoy it way more then normal trainer sessions, but I struggle with motivation to be on there for more then an hour. Some of it is discomfort, which will go away, and some is fighting off the remaining boredom. This is why Tour de Zwift has been good; group rides in Zwift are more enjoyable then riding alone and help to keep me engaged. I’ve also upgraded my Zwift setup from casting the iPad to plugging in an Apple TV 4k. The Apple TV has much better graphics and runs much smoother with less lag then my previous setup.

Finally there’s been some small adjustments to the race schedule. I mentioned in my Snake Creek Gap Race Report that I was skipping the second Snake in favor of doing another event with Jordan. We’re going to be doing the Chattanooga Brew Ruck Challenge together on February 8th. The other change is adding the Dirty Spokes 6 Hour on May 9th at Fort Yargo to the schedule. This race will count towards the Chain Buster Series points. The next race on the schedule is The Flow in at Tannehill Ironworks State Historical Park on February 29th. That will also be the first camping trip of 2020. Add in that Valentines Day and my 41st birthday are in February and I’ve got lots to look forward to over the next month.

Race Report: The Gobbler 6 Hour

The Gobbler probably should’ve have ended in disaster for me, but somehow I managed to emerge at the end unscathed. Leading into race day it was calling for rain all day. I’d also never ridden at Conyers before, so I had no idea how to gear the bike. Then I found out at the pre-race meeting that the course was only 6 miles long, leading to a last minute change in strategy.

I ended up choosing to run 32x19 since that’s my go to gear for most courses when I don’t know what the terrain is. The 6 mile course meant shorter lap times, so instead of stopping every lap to grab nutrition I was going to have to go by feel. Weather reports looked bad; calling for rain coming at 1pm, exactly halfway through the race.

The start of the race was a fairly predictable scenario, with me lining up at the front and immediately getting passed by half the participants because I was spun out. Once we hit the woods and I got my first look at the course I immediately started regretting the gear choice. The course was flat, apart from two steep climbs, but the turns were so tight that I was pushing harder then I wanted on exit to get back up to speed. 32x20 would’ve been a better gear choice, but I was stuck with it nonetheless. Lap 1 ended in 35:38 and I went out for a second lap without stopping, passing my smiling girlfriend at the pit.

After finishing Lap 2 I pulled in for a pit stop. I swapped out bottles, ate a banana and a very stiff waffle, then head back out. It was Lap 3 where I started to get concerned. My left quad was cramping for some reason, but it was manageable. My lower back also started to stiffen up a bit. Nevertheless I kept pushing on to Lap 4 without stopping. Halfway through I was starting to feel hungry and I could start to feel my legs in the big climbs, but my speed was still consistent.

I stopped after Lap 4, ate another banana and two strips of bacon, then asked Jordan to check the standings when they were posted at 1pm, which was the halfway point. It was 1230 and I was looking forward to the 3 Hour racers leaving the course so I could spend less time fighting through them and more time just turning the pedals over.

Lap 5 and I had a moment…and it was not a good one. My legs and back felt terrible and I really felt like I wasn’t going to make it the next three hours. I continued to push through, enjoying the much more empty course. Coming out of the woods I knew I needed to stop again. Jordan let me know that I was currently 6th out of 7. Shoving a banana down my throat did little to renew my mood.

Out I went for lap number 6. At this point my hands were beginning to hurt as well. All the roots, rocks, and high speed sections were starting to take their toll on me. Towards the end of the lap the rain started coming in. Not enough to effect the course, but it was coming whether I liked it or not. Finishing Lap 6 I had to pull up a chair and sit for a moment. My back ached, my legs felt dead, and I was not emotionally ready to head out for another lap at that point. Jordan captured this moment perfectly…

The Look of Despair

My pit boss gave me a time check and it looked like I probably had enough time left for 2 more laps. Half a PBJ later I was back on the bike heading out for lap 7. It was then that I caught site of another singlespeeder. I didn’t know where he was in the pecking order, but I was going to see about chasing him down. I dusted off my tired legs and started the chase when a funny thing happened; suddenly everything felt…not terrible? I caught him right before the first big climb a little more then halfway through the course, only to find out that he wasn’t in my class. He was just riding a singlespeed in the 50+ class. We got to talking, mutually distracting ourselves from the pain of 7 laps. We crossed the finish line side by side and decided to head out for Lap 8. It was just past 3pm we’d just run a 43 minute lap, so there was a good chance that we’d get back in time.

The final lap brought some pretty bad conditions. The first half of the course was muddy and slick. There were several “oh shit” moments throughout the lap. He passed me after the first climb, but I gave chase and passed him on the second, steeper climb. After we popped out of the woods I spun hard to the finish and crossed with 11 minutes to spare. Jordan was waiting for me with the other half of my PBJ and a much needed cold beer.

Post race we started putting things up and getting ready to leave. I wanted to see where I finished, so we head over to results tent where….singlespeed results were not yet posted. There was apparently something wrong with the results. Given that the last time results were checked I was in 6th place, I contemplated just leaving. After watching the podium for several other classes go I spotted a women carrying the singlespeed results and much to my shock they had me in 2nd Place!!! Apparently only one other rider decided to go out for an 8th lap, which pushed me behind him as the only other person to do that many laps. I took my proud place on the podium and gathered up my medal and swag. So I guess the lesson here is keep pushing no matter what. Because maybe, just maybe, you’ll land on the podium for no other reason then wanting to impress your girlfriend.

Changes Coming???

First off, my plans and goals for the year remain the same. Apart from dropping the second round of Snake off the schedule there have been no changes to the races I want to complete this year apart from adding the Dirty Spokes 6 Hour race on May 9th. The changes I speak of are of the scheduling workouts variety. Back in September/October when this whole idea started forming, I wasn’t anticipating meeting someone who I’d be willing to adjust my schedule for. But when lightning strikes sometimes you have to make changes in the fly. So what changes are coming? I don’t exactly know yet.

Since early December my training has been of the “shoot from the hip” variety. Getting sick, going over the bars, meeting my girlfriend, traveling to see family, the holidays, and two races in the first few weeks of January have thrown my finely tuned plan into chaos. With The Gobbler coming up this weekend and only one race (The Flow, Feb 29th) between now and Big Frog on April 25th; I’m looking forward to establishing a new routine for my workouts. Dedicating time to a relationship means that if I want to commit the same amount of time towards training as before then I need to sacrifice time elsewhere. So where does my time currently go? I’m glad you asked. See below in no particular order.

• Work

• Bike/Working out

• Sleep

• Jordan

• Chicago Bulls games

• Other TV

• Adulting

• Friends

• Reading

• Social Media

Of the items listed above, the things that are most likely to get cut out or at least dialed back are the Bulls, TV, and social media browsing. The Bulls are a dumpster fire at the moment and I have little interest in dedicating several hours a week watching them continue to flounder. Other TV can also be cut back as well. I can still watch some TV, but I don’t really need to watch Season 3 of Supernatural for the 14th time on Netflix when I can be doing something productive. Finally, I spend way too much time browsing social media. I’m going to cut back on that since its basically the opposite of productive.

Additionally, I’ve been reflecting on Snake all week and on how I felt through much of it. Usually Snake is a crampfest for me once I hit the Rock Garden. The combination of all the hard miles and the various hike a bike sections often send my legs into “we quit” mode. That didn’t happen this time. I could feel fatigue in my legs climbing up to the tower, but I wasn’t cramping. Why not? Much of the 2019 was spent running in addition to riding my bikes. I suspect that all the running helped prepare me for all the hike a bike sections. In previous years the closest thing I did to running was walking to the fridge for more beer. Apparently the running has been of some benefit to my mountain biking after all.

So now here I am wanting to introduce running into my already busy schedule, while also trying to work around the rain and find time for my girlfriend. How? Good news is that Jordan likes to run, so we can run together sometimes. She also goes to the gym and does yoga, so maybe there’s a way to combine some of those together as well? Dunno. Lots to think about.

I’ve got about a week to sauté on it and come up with a new plan. I’m not interested in making drastic changes the week of a race, so next Monday I’ll return to an actual training plan. Look for a new breakdown post come January 27th. It’ll be nice if I can stick to the new plan, but we’ll see.

Race Report: Snake 2020 #1

Snake Creek Gap Time Trial is one of those races where you’re pretty much assured to have terrible weather, and 2020 was no different. Rain saturated the trail for several days leading up to and the morning of the race. Conditions like this are where riding a Singlespeed really pays off. Random branches, mud, grime, and dirt have little effect on the drivetrain where there’s no rear mech to worry about. My goals for the race were pretty straight forward; don’t get hurt, finish the race, and try not to eat the horse poop that littered the first half of the course.

I wasn’t too stressed about race day setup for the bike. Since I run an Ardent/Ardent Race tire setup and didn’t need to swap to beefier tires, all I needed to do was swap to 32x22 gearing. Other than that it was just a matter of airing up the tires and hitting the go pedal.

I pulled up to the starting line early, choosing not to warm up because I was going to be spun out on the fire road anyway. Being the 7th person off allowed me to get ahead of the crowd and not have to fight through people on the climbs. I got passed by several people on gears, as expected. I managed to keep several of them in sight until the first creek crossing.

After blasting through the creek I picked my way through the geared riders up the first big climb. I also got passed by the first singlespeeder of the day, I was no longer in first place. As the gravel trail slowly turned into single track, things got steeper and slicker. I don’t recall ever seeing this many leaves down on Snake before. It was already wet, but with the leaves traction was now a bigger issue then before, making climbing a problem.

Shortly before the gravel descent I got caught by the second singlespeeder, and now new friend, Clint Flowler. We’d spend the rest of the day trading places and talking, taking both our minds off the suck. Up the next climb and down a small descent my GoPro died…guess I should’ve charged the batteries the night before. When Clint and I came down the descent that ended the first 17 miles, we got caught by my old Huntsville Alum Forrest Ege. I stopped slightly longer then both of them at the halfway point to scarf down a waffle and banana, I was now in 4th place.

Up the first climb of the second 17 I tried my best to keep Carey Lowry in sight, but got caught up in some rocks while she floated over them on her full suspension. I passed Forrest shortly after only to get caught by him again when we hit the ridge. Clint had pulled far enough ahead that I was no longer able to see him, so I focused on just doing my own thing for the time being. Bombing down the first big descent and splashing through all the creek crossings I figured I’d gain on him some anyway. Towards the top of the gravel climb I started to reel in Forrest again, but he didn’t stop and I had little chance of catching him in the rocks. Clint was leaving the SAG just when I’d arrived so I needed to make my stop quick. A glass of water, another banana and waffle later I was back on the bike.

It was now time to play in the rocks. Rather then try and set a fast pace though them I decided to just methodically pick my way around, up, and over them hoping to limit mistakes and stay on the bike. As the trail got rockier and steeper I managed to reel Clint in and pass him, but he remained on my tail for the rest of the race. We picked our way down the washed out final dirt descent and prepared ourselves mentally for The Wall. We continued to chat as we pushed our bikes up the climb.

My favorite part of the course was looming and I was getting excited because I’d been saving my legs all day for The Rock Garden. I was riding pretty well through it, gapping Clint in some areas with him catching me in others. We got bogged down by a coupe of riders and pushed passed them towards the radio tower. We rolled down the final gravel and road descent towards the finish line. Down the road I couldn’t hold Clint’s wheel, limited by my knobbier tires I suspect as neither of us was pedaling.

Crossing the finish line I high fived a yelling Craig Lawson, who had previously tried to tempt with with whiskey mid race, then proceeded to the smiling face of my girlfriend. Despite being covered in several layers of mud and muck, she graciously gave me a congratulatory kiss. We then head off for her car because, angel that she is, she’d brought beer and a change of clothes for me.

Lookin’ Fly in my The Black Bibs kit

Overall Snake 2020 was good to me. I finished 4th out of 6 in Singlespeed with a time of 4:28:24; 8 minutes slower and in much worse conditions then my last attempt in 2015. It was also my cleanest run of Snake yet. The plan was to do Snake in February as well, but Jordan and I are teaming up for the Chattanooga Brew Ruck Challenge that day. I suspect drinking beer and rucking around Chatt with my girlfriend will be much more fun then doing Snake a second time. Stay tuned as the next race is The Gobbler in Conyers, GA on January 18th.

2019 Year in Review and Thoughts on 2020

What a difference a year can make huh? This time last year the last thing on my mind was riding my bike, let alone that 360ish days later I’d find myself with a spankin’ new blog and a schedule full of upcoming mountain bike races. 2019 was definitely a strange and difficult year for me. Filled with emotional highs and lows and a smattering of the strangest injuries I’ve ever experienced. Add in the fact that my odometer rolled over to its 40th year in 2019 and you can begin to understand just how odd it was for me. Throughout the year I’ve gotten back on the bike, rediscovered running, lost around 40 pounds, made a ton of new friends, rekindled old friendships, grown closer to my family, and overcome adversities that I never thought I would face.

Despite all the fun I’ve had this past year, there were times when life looked pretty bleak. Some of this was my own doing and some of it was life slapping me upside the head; then kicking me when I was down for good measure. But somehow I always managed to get back up and continue to move forward. How? To be honest some days I don’t know what got me up and running that morning. Maybe it was fear that if I stopped moving forward that I’d suddenly stumble all the way back…and I didn’t want that. My Strava Year in Review stats are modest compared to previous years, but not bad when one considers that from 2016 to March 2019 I rode maybe 100 miles total. So I feel pretty good about the fact that I logged 1,551 miles on the bike and 115 miles running in 2019.

Shifting gears to 2020, my race season starts this Saturday, January 4th at Snake Creek Gap Time Trial in Dalton, GA. I’ve raced Snake on a single speed several times. It’s going to hurt something fierce and it’ll probably end with me covered in mud and possibly some blood. The next race will be The Gobbler on January 18th in Conyers, GA. This will be the first 6 hour race of the year. While I’m not in bad shape at the moment, I’m certainly not in good enough shape to feel completely prepared for either of these races. That’s fine though because I intend to approach these races as little more then organized training opportunities. Everything will be building, first, to Big Frog 65 in April and then Shenandoah 100 on Labor Day weekend.

So how am I feeling rolling into 2020? Physically I’m a mixed bag at the moment. My legs feel capable of doing some good things, however my back is causing some problems. The sciatica in my right leg is slowly getting better, or at least bothering me a whole lot less. The fact that it hasn’t gone away yet is concerning and may require a dreaded appointment with the doctor. Going over the bars two weeks ago stopped all weight training, though I’m looking forward to picking that back up next week. My lower back is still a work in progress, as is my middle back. My hands are giving me some fits, but that may be due to limited time on the mountain bike lately. Other then that everything feels pretty good.

Emotionally I’m not gonna lie; things are pretty freaking great right now. One of the best results of 2019 was getting closer to family and friends. This year being as difficult as it was required me to lean on them more then in years past. Work is busy, but easily handled by buckling down, so no real stress there. When I started this endeavor back in November my love life was pretty nonexistent and I was OK with that. I wasn’t sure how I would be able to work someone into my life, given my goals for 2020. Where am I now? Well I recently got blindsided by a freight train cleverly disguised as a 5’2” brunette. She’s an absolute tour de force of a woman who’s shaken up my previously quiet little world. I’m looking forward to some amazing adventures with her next year.

Overall 2020 looks to be a pretty exciting year for me. I don’t expect everything to go perfect, but things are looking good and I’m excited to see what the next 365 days hold. Look for the first race report of 2020 next Monday!!!

Trainer Upgrade: Wahoo KICKR

Eagle eyed readers will remember that I initially bought an Elite Suito trainer for my foray into the world of Zwift. Initially I liked that trainer and assumed it was going to serve me well for years to come. My thought process behind buying that particular trainer was that it had most everything I wanted out of a trainer. It was a smart trainer, adjusted resistance automatically, thru axle compatible, and direct drive. It was also cost effective enough that if I didn’t like Zwift I would feel like I didn’t waste too terribly much money.

While it worked very well in the beginning, it started to develop a near constant creak that was driving me more nuts then I already am, so I returned it. I briefly considered getting another of the same model or something in a similar price range like the Wahoo KICKR Core, Tacx Flux S, or Kinetic R1. Thing is the one I really wanted all along was the Wahoo KICKR; and seeing how I really enjoy Zwift the purchase now seemed worth it.

So I bit the bullet, purchased the trainer and it arrived on my doorstep last Tuesday.

The next step was to unbox it and set it up. The trainer comes with a Sun Ringle 11-28 cassette pre-installed, which I had to pull off since my Ocoee Baseline runs a 11-34 gravel cassette. Adapters to run thru-axles come in the box, so I pulled off the QR and put on the end caps for 12x142. Everything else was pretty straight forward, just push out the legs, adjust the feet for level, move the slider for your wheel size, and plug it in.

Digging the anodized blue

One of the small things that shows Wahoo was paying attention was the included disc brake insert. I thought this was a great idea and totally geeked out on it once I figured out what it was.

Its the little things…literally

Next was downloading the Wahoo Fitness App and connecting the trainer and sensors. The KICKR includes a Wahoo RPM Cadence Sensor in the box. I had previously bought a Wahoo TICKR Heart Rate Sensor as I was unhappy with my Apple Watch constantly dropping the signal mid-ride. I connected both of those, then moved to the trainer. The KICKR was in need of a firmware update, so I happily obliged running the updates being the computer geek that I am.

Once it was updated it was time to mount the bike. Not much of a change here, pretty straight forward.

My first impressions were good. It was much smaller then the Elite Suito, but also a few pounds heavier which added to the stability. Ergonomics wise I was surprised to find out that I didn’t need a riser block on the front wheel to get the bike level. Moving it around was much more confidence inspiring because it wasn’t covered in layers of plastic and everything was much more compact.

It was when I threw my leg over the bike and started riding that the difference in quality started to become more apparent. It was obviously quieter without the creaking, but the hum of the flywheel was quieter as well. Rhythmic in a way that the Suito never was. It was also incredibly smooth and the stability was much better. It never sat well with me how much the Suito moved around under me despite my many attempts to adjust the feet.

What really stood out the most to me was the nuance of resistance adjustment when using Zwift. The Suito always felt like it had preset resistance levels for each grade change. There was little subtlety and it always felt like it didn’t really take your speed into account. The KICKR is much different. Not only did the resistance smoothly change as you slowed or sped up, but it also changed as the within the grade percentage. In Zwift, when the grade number turns red it means that your closer to the next percentage. You can acutally feel the KICKR increasing, or decreasing, resistance accordingly for this.

I’m extremely happy with my purchase at this point. I probably didn’t NEED to upgrade to as nice of a trainer as the Wahoo KICKR, but I firmly believe it was well worth it.

It Happens, Then It Keeps Happening

For most of the year I’ve been fortunate enough that life hasn’t gotten in my way too much and its allowed me to ride pretty regularly. The past two weeks however have been a struggle. I won’t say that everything that could go wrong did, but there were definitely some “life happens” moments that have made riding and working out difficult. How does one deal with this adversity and keep motivation high when life keeps kicking you in the shins? Well it ain’t easy. Matter of fact, its much easier to throw up your hands in surrender. Too often I choose this path when I need to put on my big boy pants.

My recent trials started two weeks ago when I woke up with a scratchy throat, sinus headache, and general blah feeling. I’d obviously caught a bug somewhere. Despite feeling less then ideal, I finished that day’s workout and ride. I didn’t sleep well Monday night and felt like death warmed over Tuesday morning. I had planned a ride with Taco(Aaron Smith) that night, but had to cancel. Vague hopes that I’d be able to ride the trainer when I got home were quickly killed when I began to feel worse with every passing hour. When I got home I called it off, popped some pills, and hit the rack at 8pm…early even for me. Wednesday brought some relief because I got some sleep and started feeling much better. Work flew by and I got home and threw my leg over the trainer only to get a phone call from Memphis 10 minutes into the ride. When a Memphis number pops up on my phone it can only mean one thing; the alarm at the office was going off. Begrudgingly, I got off the bike and headed back to work to make sure everything was secure. Much of the drive back was spent with me intending to throw in the towel for the night, but I’d missed the ride the night before and didn’t want to feel guilty for missing two days in a row so I fired the trainer up again when I got home. Since I missed a ride on Tuesday, I made up for it on Thursday, rode the trainer again on Friday evening. That’s when things started to get interesting.

As I’ve mentioned before, Saturday is the only day I have to get in a big ride. The weather was beautiful and I was feeling adventurous so I head off to Raccoon Mountain to play in the rocks. Riding on Raccoon was great…until it wasn’t. I’d left from the East Overlook and head down Electric Ave, to Laurel Point, down High Voltage, up Livewire, to Small Intestine, then up and down Grindstone Ridge. My intent was to hit road near the Visitor’s Center, then Six Flags Connector trail that bypasses the first part of Megawatt, back to Laurel Point, and up Electric Ave to the East Overlook. However on the connector trail that leads from Grindstone to the road there was a surprise waiting for me. A metal cable was laying across the trail that I didn’t see. When I hit it, the cable popped up, caught my foot, and sent me over the handlebars. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but the bike didn’t unclip and folded me over in a direction that the body isn’t supposed to fold.

30 Minutes Before I Got Folded in Half

My lower back was now in a bad and way. So bad that my weight training was put on hold last week. I wasn’t too worried though because I knew there was no permanent damage and I could still get in some trainer time, until I couldn’t.

The first several rides on my new Elito Suito trainer were great. Everything was working smoothly and I was thoroughly enjoying the trainer for once. On the fifth ride however it started making a creaking noise on every pedal stroke. On Friday I pulled the cassette off to find that the freehub body had come loose, so I tightened it down, put the cassette back on, mounted the bike, and started a ride. Everything was blissfully quiet…for 20 minutes. I finished the ride and and intended to check it out on Sunday, which I did. The free hub was still tight as was the cassette and through axle. The noise was coming from the flywheel itself, not anything related to the freehub. See the video below:

That happens on every pedal stroke, so you can see how it would be quite annoying. Since I purchased the trainer through Zwift sending it back was super easy. They have a 30 Day Hassle Free returns policy. It went back last Monday, so I didn’t get my normal Monday night ride in. Since I was generally unhappy with the old trainer I went with a Wahoo KICKR, which is the trainer I wanted from the beginning and will have a blog post about next week.

The point of this long, rambling mess of a blog post is to point out that sometimes life gets in the way of training plans and one needs to quickly adjust fire. Things haven’t worked out perfectly, but I’m focused on doing what I can to get ready for Snake on January 4th. I might not be getting in the types of rides I want, but any ride is better then no ride and that’s what I’m focused on right now.

The Race Schedule

When I started thinking about mountain bike racing again I started to debate what type of races I wanted to do and how often I wanted to race. My OCD wanted me to come up with a rigid schedule that took into consideration rest between races building up to an “A” race, then tapering off into the off-season. I also considered just winging it and doing races that sounds fun whenever I heard about them. What I decided was a hybrid plan. I’ll have a race schedule that will have some rest built in, but I won’t rule out adding some races that sound fun. If anything the season almost ramps up AFTER my “A” race…which is probably not the best idea. However, many of the best stories often come from bad decisions. Before I get into the schedule itself I want to lay out some of the reasoning behind picking some of certain types of races.

6 Hour Races

I’ve mentioned before about enjoying these types of races and there are several reasons for this. The atmosphere of 6 hours races is pretty cool. Most people come as groups, bring EZ-Up tents, coolers, chairs, and often people bring their families. So they lead to a fun, friendly kind of feel that I enjoy. They’re often not terribly intimidating. Not sure if you can ride solo for 6 hours? Grab a buddy and tackle it together or sign up and do what you can for as many laps as you can. The race courses, while not always beginner friendly, aren’t usually too difficult. This often leads to a good turn out, which in turn makes the races more fun. One of the main reasons I like them is because I see them as a race yes, but also as an opportunity for training. How many of us really want to run laps of our local system for 6 hours? I know I don’t, but 6 hour races often provide to motivation to get in a big ride when I would otherwise quite after 3 laps.

Gravel Races

When people first started talking about gravel grinding and gravel races I wasn’t that enthused. It seemed boring. Sure it was dirt like mountain biking, but the routes were so tame that it seemed uninteresting. It was also slower then road riding, so there was not much excitement there either. It wasn’t until I got my cross bike that I started to understand the appeal. Its way more challenging(and fun) then I’d assumed and I don’t have to deal with traffic like road riding. The real reason for gravel races though is the scenery. Since I’ve started riding gravel I’ve seen some absolutely jaw dropping scenery and I’m all about seeing more.

Endurance Races

The appeal of endurance racing really boils down to one thing; challenge. Often times these races don’t take place on finely manicured singletrack or machine built trails. Old school mountain bike trail, hiking trail, gravel, road; these races typically have everything. They’re not just physically difficult, they’re often mentally difficult as well. When you’re 7 hours in and everything hurts, it takes another type of toughness to settle in and finish the race when all you want to do is quit. Its in those moments that you often find out more about yourself and just how far you can push your body and mind.

Those are the three types of races I’m looking at doing in 2020. I’ve done the XC racing thing and it was fun, but I don’t have much interest in it anymore. Stage racing is on my radar, but I need to build up to that and am looking into doing one in 2021. Endurance racing is probably my favorite because you often get a chance to ride old school, hand cut singletrack. I started mountain biking in Huntsville, AL and that’s pretty much all there is. Its knarly and difficult and I always enjoy the fight of riding that type of trail.

Below are the races that are set in stone:

Jan 4th - Snake Creek Gap Time Trial

Jan 18th - The Gobbler 6/3 Hour MTB Race

Feb 8th - Snake Creek Gap Time Trail

Feb 29th - The Flow 6/3 Hour MTB Race

April 25th - Big Frog 65

May 30th - The Bartram PM 6/3 Hour MTB Race

July 18th - Reclaimed

Aug 2nd - Hardford 50

Sep 6th - Shenandoah 100

Sep 13th - Black Bear Rampage

Sep 29th - The Big Ring Challenge

Oct 10th - 5-Points 50

Shenandoah 100 is my “A” race. Everything I train for in 2020 will lead to finishing that race. Any positive results elsewhere will just be a side effect of the work put in for Shenandoah 100. There are several other races that I may do depending on several factors. Dirty Spokes 6/3 Hour on May 9th is a possibility. Chainbuster Racing puts on a Gravel Series that I may participate in if the schedule allows. The interesting decision will be between Fonta Flora Barnburner 50k vs The Payne Cave. It looks like they’ll be on the same day, October 17th. The decision may come down to how I’m doing in the Chainbuster 6/3 Hours standings. If I do Dirty Spokes listed above I can skip one of the Chainbuster races and not lose series points. Once Pisgah Productions announces the date for Barnburner I’ll have a better idea of what I’ll do. Think I missed a race? Let me know. If I can’t do it this year I may add it for 2021.