Humid day at Swayback

I found out Mitch was planning a trip to Swayback and called him to verify he was still going as it appeared there was not much interest. He said he was and I met YetiGuy (Scott) and Shane at the airport exit. We headed down to Swayback and got ready to ride. We headed out following the Black trail. We followed the trail around and the first part flowed pretty well. We continued on around and came out on the power line trail. I think Scott and Shane were not liking our pace, so we decided to split up. We continued on around and it was a nice ride until we got to the back corner near the swayback bridge. I don’t know what happened, but this section wiped me out a lot more than usual. I think the humidity was affecting me a lot. We finished on up and sat in the parking lot talking to the group from Pensicola while eating a snack and refilling our camelbacks. We headed out to ride the black trail backwards this time. We figured we would run into Scott and Shane this way to make sure they were ok. This first section had the most elevation change and I was once again panting. We finally made it through and somehow I was making the correct turns and we were successfully riding it backwards. Once we got a bit into it it eased up and we were moving at a good pace. I almost took a wrong turn off one of the power line trails but we figured it out and made it around successfully. I had intended to do 3 laps, but after 2 I was satisfied. I probably could have ridden one of the short loops, but I think a whole one would have been more than I should have done. As long as I get another ride in this weekend, I will be satisfied.

Granny Gear, Conyors GA 2008

I started off the trip by swinging by Cahaba Cycles to pick up the Titus. I was supprised to see they had put the 2008 stickers on it when they fixed it. Titus did an excellent job with the weld and it is impossible to tell it was repaired. I was a bit worried that there would be a giant weld over where the crack was, but it appears they cut off the piece and rewelded a new one on and it looks like new.

Anyway, I headed toward Atlanta and a 3.5 hour drive turned into a 5 hour drive. First I got stuck in traffic because of a wreck, then there were a couple of places where road construction narrowed the road to one lane. The worst part is that it was also rush hour. I was hoping to get to Conyors around 5:30-6, but it was a little after 7 when I finally got there. I really wanted to preride the course (the whole reason for leaving work early) so I got ready quickly and took off with Jay and Brendan. They had arrived a bit before me and Brendan had borrowed one of the Ellsworths to ride. We rode the first half of the course and I was pleasantly supprised. It was relatively fast and not very rooty. This part was a lot of fun but had one shorter uphill that was pretty steep and a second that was longer but not as steep. We got back to the campsite (it was very close to the midpoint of the ride) and Brendan decided to take the bike back as I think they told him he could only borrow it for 30 minutes today. Me and Jay continued on and I was amazed at the change of terrain by crossing the road. We immediately rode out on a huge slickrock section. There was a constant climb that kept getting more steep towards the top. I had to put it in granny near the top to make it without dabbing and I knew my legs would be hating this section during the race. The trail immediately turned down and after a quick descent down the rock, the trail went into the trees. This section of trail has a number of steep descents followed by relatively short but steep climbs. This finally came to a brutal climb that kept getting more and more steep and technical near the top. I had to walk the top bit of this even though we were doing a casual pace. This would definitely be a walk (hopefully a fast walk) during the race. After this, the trail was relatively level and fast through the woods. There were a few spots in the trail that would toss your bike in the air and I thought this would have been a great spot to get some cool pictures. The trail crossed back over onto the slickrock for a bit of technical rocky and rooty sections with some high speed bumpy descents before crossing the road and heading to the finish line.

We got back, changed and headed to get dinner. I was told we were going to go to a buffet and I was a bit uncomfortable when I saw it was a Golden Corral. I have not eaten at one in quite a few years as I generally try to avoid any place where the average person who eats there is very overweight. I know that this is a stupid reason, but I don’t eat at McDonalds or pretty much any buffet (Chinese and pizza are at the top of the list). Back to dinner: I started off with some steak, bourbon chicken, buffalo chicken, mashed potatoes and a few other items. I was pretty full after this plate, but watched everyone else finish 2 or 3. After a rest I got some fruit and Ice cream. I friggin love Ice cream! I think I ate the least out of everyone with Joe slightly edgeing out Brendan for the most. I was probably the only one who did not get my money’s worth. We swung by Walmart where I picked up some tent stakes and earplugs as I forgot to get them at home. Lastly we swung by Brown’s (similar to Green’s) before heading back to camp for the evening. I headed to bed as I wanted to get a decent nights sleep as I figured I wouldn’t get as much tomorrow night.


We got up and got ready for the race. Joel showed up and unloaded tons of food. He borrowed an Ellsworth and him and Brendan rode at least the second half of the course as Brendan did not get to the night before. We came up with our running order: Lee, Joe, Brendan, Me, and Jay.

The start was a running start (I can’t spell Lem???) and Joe took off onto the trail. We headed back to our campsite to see him pass. He came flying by somewhere in the mid to low 20 minutes. At this point we didn’t know exactly how long it would take to finish from this point, but Lee was nearer the front of the pack. We headed back to see him finish and Joe head out on his lap. Lee managed a 50 minute lap even with the run. Joe took off and we slowly figured out we were pretty much exactly in the middle of the course (timewise). Brendan went next and of course I was getting nervous during this time. I don’t know why, but I am always nervous before my first lap. He finished up and I took off. The course was pretty brutal when racing, and I did a bit of walking but still finished with a mid 49 minute. When I got back to the tent, Joel had made some chicken kabobs and I grabbed one off the grill. We continued rotating out and I got my second lap that afternoon. I figured this would be my fastest lap, so I pushed myself a bit more than I should have and ended up with a 48 minute. Somewhere around this time we realized we were in 3rd place in our division. We were scooting away from the team in 4th, but the team in second was relatively close. Joel cooked some incredible steaks and I ate half after I had recovered for about 30 minutes after this lap. I think Jay finished right before dark and Lee got to do the first night lap. I decided to try to get a little sleep before my next lap, but at 8:00 it was too early and I could not sleep. My first night lap was at about 11:00. This is only the second time I have ridden at night, but I felt pretty good and it is so much fun in the dark. There was something pretty cool about coming out of the woods and being able to see by the light of the moon (it was close to a full moon) and the rock was slightly illuminated but swinging back into the trees it was like going into a tunnel, this course was really like a rollercoaster at night, and going a bit slower (due to the limited sight distance) I enjoyed this lap a lot. My bike started making a rattling noise from the rear near the end of the ride, but it seemed to be OK so I decided to check it once I got back. When I got back I checked out the rear suspension and could not find anything. I also checked the brake and shifter lines and couldn’t really find anything there either. I rode it around in the field and could not get it to duplicate the noise, so I thought it was either the chain slapping the chainstay or one of the brake lines bouncing against the frame. I prepared everything for my next lap and tried to get some sleep, but I only ended up getting about an hour before waking up for my next night lap. I had not planned for this as well as I should have and did not bring but one long sleeve jersey. This second lap I had to put on wet clothes and was pretty cold. It took me a bit longer than it should have to warm up and I could tell I was tired as I was riding a bit sloppy. I still managed to duplicate the time of my first night lap and it was really nice once I got warm. It was really quiet in the woods and I was finally learning the trail well enough to remember what the trail was about to do. My bike was making the rattling noise again, but I realized it was only doing this in the highest gears in the back. I assumed (my mistake) it was just chainslap since the chain had the most slack here. I once again tried to duplicate it when I got back but could not. I thought it must just be because the slickrock was so bumpy (this is where I noticed it most). I had some slight chainsuck but was able to deal with it as it was not bad. I was just going to oil my chain when I got back and figured it would go away. I got back to the tent somewhere around 4:00. Joel was awake and offered to make me some Miso Soup. I have not had any in a while and it was just what I needed to refuel. I went back to sleep and slept for an hour and a half before I woke up. I think I was worried about oversleeping and somehow woke up before I had to. I had decided to wait till light to work on my bike as it would be easier and hopefully would finally dry.
On my last lap I almost immediately was having trouble with the bike. I was having chainsuck every time I tried to downshift to quickly spin up the hills. This killed my momentum and by the time I backpeddled to unkink it I had come to a stop and then had to start from a stop. Also, all of a sudden the low gears in the back started popping between gears. I flipped the bike and tried to adjust the shifter, and it seemed to be lined up over the gears and work correctly, however as soon as I got on and put some weight on the pedals, it would pop and not stay in gear. I was pretty pissed and was trying to run up the hills when this happened and keep going as I did not want to stop in the woods since there was not much room to get off the trail. Right before the midpoint I flipped the bike again and realized the shifter was pulling to the side when I put some tension on the chain. I tried to bend it back straight and got it close. I jumped on again and headed on my way. At the top of the first climb (before going over the second street), I just bent it back as hard as I could (I was a bit gentle before as I didn’t want to break it). I think I finally got it pretty straight and the rest of the ride I only had minor chainsuck. I had intended this to be my fastest lap when I took off as I though I knew the trail well enough to make up for my diminished strength. However I ended up with about the same time as my night loops. I had really thought I would not be able to do another lap so I had a beer and ate a good bit of food to celebrate. Jay, then Lee ran good laps and we realized that if Joe could run his fastest lap of the day, we could send someone out on one more lap. There was not really a point to this as it would not change our standing, but it would give us the same number of laps as the Columbians (the second place team that we were barely holding off from lapping us). Joe said he was going to have a fun lap and actually enjoy the course, but I decided to wait before taking a shower just in case. Joe flew by the campsite right about 22 minutes. I had no idea if he was trying to make it or not, so I was going to be ready in case he did it. He was on pace for finishing right under the cutoff and I felt that if he killed himself to make it in time, I was going to be ready to do a last lap. We were all waiting on him at the finish and watching the clock count down. Right as the clock clicked to 12, we saw him off in the distance. He ended up only finishing a bit over a minute late. I was a bit relieved as I knew my last lap would have been terrible as beer and a lot of food do not improve my riding.

I finally headed over and took a shower. My shower door did not latch very well and a big wind gust blew my clothes off the side as well as the door open. I was torn between picking up the clothes that were now getting wet and closing the door back. I decided to shut the door and ended up with slightly wet “drawers” but it was all good. It felt good to finally get clean. I left my shirt off while packing trying to lessen my farmer (I think I shall refer to it as a biker from the jersey) tan. We packed up and headed over to the awards ceremony. They had a great pasta dinner with meatballs before the ceremony. We won 3rd place in the 5-Man team and all got a medal and each won a set of tires. This was a nice surprise as I didn’t think we would get anything.

One last thing to mention: If you are going to do one of these races, it makes a world of difference having someone as a pit crew. Joel volunteered to do this for us and kept the whole team fed (with better food than I usually eat at home during the week). I believe this had a lot to do with our results as we were able to spend more time relaxing between laps than worrying about which energy bar we were going to eat (As I would have survived off of energy bars and bananas only if he was not there). A big thanks to him.

Here is a link to the results of the race. Our team name was BUMP n Uglies.

http://www.grannygear.com/realtime/public/class.php?display_standings_flag=1&class=5M

Here is the link to my pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/GrannyGearConyersGA2008

12 Hours of Dirt, Sweat, and Gears

We all met after work Friday at Brookwood all to head up to Tennessee to camp out before the race. We took a slight detour to get some dinner and it ended up being a pretty good BBQ. We went on and got there a bit late. We set up the tents and had a beer before going to sleep. It began raining at about 3AM and rained until about 7:30AM



The next morning we got up and got ready for the race. It started at 9:00AM and went until 9:00pm. I got registered and was the 3rd in line after Lee and Corb so I grabbed my camera and tried to get a few shots of the start.



Lee took off and we all went back to the campsite as the tail went right past. As all the racers started going by we kept looking for Lee. After about 1:45 hours we started worrying that he had had a wreck. The trail was really sloppy and we saw at least 7-8 broken derailleurs and everyone was caked in mud. Everyone else went to go check to see if there had been any injuries and I stayed at the trail. He finally showed up carrying his bike because the chain had sucked into the spokes on the rear wheel and would not even roll. I offered to swap bikes so he could ride the rest of the way out, but he declined and kept on going. I don't think he realized how far he still had to go. He finally finished it up and Corb took off. He told us he had broken a bit before the halfway point so he had carried the bike 6 miles.



Corb had also had to deal with some mud on the trail, but managed to come out without breaking. I was getting a bit nervous while waiting for him and took off to the start without my gloves. I had time and ran back to get them.



When Corb came in, I took off on my lap. I think I got really lucky as the trail was finally getting dry. For some reason I thought the big climb was near the middle of the trail, but it ended up being near the beginning and I realized I had pushed a bit too hard because I didn't have it in me to make it up without shifting down to granny. I realized this was a mistake in the mud because I ended up spinning the back tire and then I had to walk it because there was no way to get back started again as it was really slick. This happened a couple times and I was getting a bit mad. It really bothers me when I have to walk something. It is a huge sign that I am not in good enough shape. About halfway through I finally started feeling better as the hills were more "rolling" and I was able to keep my speed and enjoy the trail. It was actually a pretty nice trail through this part with a few rocky sections and some short, but nice downhills. I came out on the trail by the campsites and didn't see anyone at our tent as I rode by. I knew the last section was not too long, so I pushed to tr to finish with everything I had. Things were going well until I got to Lucy's trail. This little rocky climb beat me and I had to walk up it as I had no energy for a technical climb at this point. I finally made it to the top and it was a nice ride through the field back to the finish. I made it and thought I had run a high 1:08 according to the Garmin. (I later found it was a 1:10). I was feeling a little nauseous and went back and sat under the tent to recover.



Brannon took off next and ran his lap. I knew we shouldn't have invited a single speed guy as they are so freaking slow. Pokey pokerson finally finished with an annoyingly slow time of 1:05 (this happened to be the best lap for our team). At this point I was almost feeling like standing up again ad getting something to drink and eat.



Mitch was next and after his ride we realized we were in 4th place. Lee ran his second lap and cut his time by over 1/2. I guess it helps to ride the bike instead of carry it. Corb took off on his second lap and I stated getting ready to ride. I knew he would be finishing right about dark, so I was getting my light mounted and ready.



I was pretty excited as this was going to be my first night ride. Corb finished right at about 7:30 so I knew I had 1:30 to finish. I didn't know how much the dark would slow me down but I was pretty sure I could make it. I set off and made it to the trees before having to turn on the light. I just left it on high as I saw no reason to dim it. There was a bit of light at first but I noticed thee were small reflectors on the trees (which was pretty cool). I paced myself much better and saved my energy to take 911 Hill. I made it up and looked at my Garmin and saw the mileage was 3.something. I thought this odd as I thought I was closer to 5, but just kept going. It was pretty dark at this point and I was learning to look with my whole head instead of just my eyes and also to just let the bike handle the trail as some of the roots and rocks were a bit larger than the appeared. I adjusted my light a few times and finally got it where I liked it. I could see other riders off in the woods with their lights which was a little strange, but night riding was pretty relaxing. As I got near the back of the trail and couldn't hear the announcer, It was really quiet and the cool air was feeling nice. One thing a little strange was the intensity of the light as I looked out on the descents. Bouncing down the rocks, the light seemed to be changing intensity as I was looking down the trail. I got back to the trail b the camping and looked at my mileage. It was still 3.something. I must have hit the stop button by accident, so I started it again. I was a bit mad as I lost most of this lap, but I at least have one good map of the trail. I saw the time was about 8:27 so I pushed it a bit as I realized I was on almost the same pace as last time. I once again hit Lucy's loop and I decided Lucy is not my favorite person as once again the hill beat me. I had a bit of energy left and tried to jog up the hill this time. I finished up around 8:40 and felt pretty good this time.



Mitch also rode a night lap. His lap didn't count, but he wanted to get in a night lap since he had also never ridden at night. When he finished, we went ad grabbed some dinner (BBQ) and got ready for the awards ceremony. and Swag giveaway Lee won something right off (I think it was a gift certificate of some sort).



We won 3rd place in the "Here for the Beer" category. We got cool little awards and a bag of a few goodies. We stood around and they gave away a lot of nice stuff. Finally they just stated throwing stuff into the crowd. I caught a jersey and will check it out later (it is a bit dark out). We grabbed a few beers and went to sit by the fire and relax before bed. We were trying to decide where to go ride tomorrow and didn't really make a decision before we went to bed.

Here is a link to the Website for the race:
http://www.dirtsweatandgears.com/

And here is a link to the results, you can click on our name ("BUMP" under the Here for the beer category) to see the lap times:
http://mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=790350

Also my laptop crashed (motherboard failure) so I am going to have to get the pictures on here later.

Fast Lap

Well, I just got home from a ride to set up the Fish for the race this weekend. The Bike is a Gary Fisher HiFi Carbon that Cahaba let me borrow while mine is being fixed. I seriously doubt I will have mine back by Friday, and I wanted to at least get a rough tune on the suspension before I end up in a pack of people trying to descend a technical section. I roughly set up the rear at 150psi and the front at 90 psi. I took off into the trail heading counter clockwise and don't know exactly what got into me, but I set off on a pretty good pace. The front was bouncing everywhere so I kept decreasing the rebound. I was relatively happy with the rear (a bit stiff but ok) with the rebound in the middle. I saw Omar and a few other serious racer types getting ready for Bump N Grind as they were all making good time going the opposite direction from me. I got to Blood rock a little before 30 minutes, so I knew this could be a decent lap, so I pushed myself a bit. I finally realized that the rebound became better by tuning the dial more toward the +. I still was not particularly fond of the shock as I headed down the Jeep trail. I just let the Titus go and point where i want to go. This bike would bounce around a lot and not absorb as much. I decided I needed less air in the shock, but I was not going to stop. I could have probably run this section at least 1-2 minutes faster on my bike as I was going pretty slow. I ended up slightly shouldering a tree between Chimney ad the BMX track as I was trying to go a little faster. I pushed myself and got back to the parking lot and I was amazed at the time. I had run a 1:27:12!! This is a good minute faster than my fastest recorded time so I a quite happy. Also my average heart rate was 177 with a max of 196. I tried to keep the max down a bit (i have seen as high as 202 when I was pushing really hard) and was surprised the average was so high. I think this is close to my max time as far as pedaling, so I have a ways to go to get in the hour teens. I am pretty happy but I just got through weighing this bike and it is ballpark 26 lbs even (on the bathroom scale) which is a little less than 2 lbs lighter than mine (27.8). I could feel a slight difference during the ride and it makes me want to lose a bit of weight off of mine.

Biking on the road?

After going to bed at 7 last night (I really do need my 8 hours of sleep and I was lacking after the trip to Mobile and Atlanta) I was feeling much better. I carried the Crown Jewel (Road Bike) to work today in hopes I would be able to get away in time to make the Watermelon ride at Oak Mountain. I was able to leave and got there a bit early. I got ready and decided against wearing the camelback as I knew we had to be back before 7 and that limited the ride to about an hour or so. I really didn’t know what to expect but Barbara suggested I ride with Cal so I took off with them. I have never riddent his bike on the road before (other than the test ride that was just up an alley and back). It felt really good and I was a lot more comfortable than I thought. We were moving at a pretty comfortable pace and with the weather very nice, the ride was very comfortable and relaxing. I noticed I was very comfortable and had no trouble with any of the climbs (yes I was actually a bit worried as the bike is geared differently.

A couple of things I noticed on this ride:
For some reason I seemed to fall behind on the descents. Even if I was tucked down and Cal was sitting up, I would not gain on him at all.
I also was getting a bit sore in the arms and shoulders. This may just be because I am not used to the riding hand position. I tried to keep my shoulders and elbows loose, but I think I may be stretched out just a bit too far. I will have to ride more to see.
Lastly, I think I could stand to have a larger gear. This is not something I will be changing at any time in the near future, but I may check to see what my options are. I was wishing for one more gear a few times, but I may just need to get use to spinning at a slightly higher RPM.

I had an excellent time and will definitely go for a few more rides. I can definitely see how it would be easier to train on a road bike. My average HR for this ride was 140 for an average speed of slightly over 15 mph. This is significantly less than a normal Mountain Bike ride. I think I have a bit more, but I don’t know how much, so I will have to go on a few more rides to see.

Sending back the bike

Ran the bike by Cahaba Cycles tonight and dropped it off. Chris told me Titus had thought they would have it done in 2 weeks or less. He also tried to loan me a Fish Hi-Fi, but I didn’t want to take it as I am about to go out of town and I see no reason for it to just sit at my house since I will not be able to ride it. I think I will wait till I get back and see what the status is. If I will not have the Titus back before the race, I will probably take the Hi-Fi to Oak for at least one lap to get it set up right and get a feel for it. I was thinking about riding the Botanical gardens ride, but I ma so tired I think I am going to just go home and go to sleep.

Showing Crack

Just a quick update. Here are a few pictures of the crack. I called Chris Leven at Cahaba Cycles and he assured me they would take care of it. He said I could take it to any store, so I e-mailed Chris Storie at the Pelham store letting him know I was planning on bringing it back to him Tuesday Night.