The Coast

The Bearded One (TBO) lined up a CX ride to the St. Marks lighthouse.  We both had Good Friday off, the weather was going to be perfect, and he had set up the route on Ride GPS.  I'll admit to being somewhat skeptical about some of the dirt roads he was using, especially since there were gates across them when I checked them out on Google maps.  Oh well, I thought, he's an experienced traveler, he must know something I don't, so I didn't mention my misgivings, I just loaded up in his new vehicle on Friday morning.

A Hint of What Was To Come

"Dammit Norman, I can't believe you didn't bring your glasses!"  "I have no idea how to get to Natural Bridge Road!".  TBO was trying to get his phone to give him directions.  He was getting a little flustered.  I knew how to get there, just not the most direct route from Midtown Tallahassee.  It was at that moment I began to realize that TBO may not have the best sense of direction in the world.  However it was his ride so I just smiled and listened to his phone give him directions to some kind of natural nursery.

We Ride  

We did finally find the Battlefield Park at Natural Bridge, get unloaded, and set out on the bikes.  After a couple of miles we came to the first dirt road turn, I mentioned that it looked like the exit had a gate across it when I checked on Google.  "Why didn't you say something about this before?" TBO asked.  I just shrugged and said "I may be wrong, lets see how far we can get".  About 2 miles as it turns out.  We back tracked to the paved road.

 

 

"We're only going to be on pavement another quarter mile, take a right at the first gate".  Once again I didn't mention that this looked like a private gate, not a gate on the St. Marks refuge.  It was locked so we hopped it.  After a mile or so we came upon another gate, this one marked posted, we headed back to the pavement.

 

 

This was taken by TBO.  He's a pro.

Port Leon

Once on the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge we rode out to the Port Leon site, thinking we might be able to make a loop.  Another dead end.  Another back track along the muddy road.  After TBO checked his phone (remember I didn't have my glasses, I won't make that mistake again) we got on a levy and turned toward the Gulf.

 

"This is where we were supposed to come in"

 

 

The Lighthouse

 

You've all seen it.  It was my first time.  It was worth the trip.  We turned north and with a good tail wind we went back to 98 on the pavement.

Once back in the car, all loaded up, TBO looks at me and says "Now how do we get home"?

Eats

It was a good ride, I'm giving TBO a hard time here but I enjoy it when someone else makes the plans. 

The Lovely Wife and I had dinner at Oscars in Beautiful Downtown Havana that night.  It truly was a Good Friday.

Blue Ridge Mountain Skies

North Georgia is only 6 hours away.  It has mountains.  It has many trails.  Why don't I live there?  Oh yea, I couldn't make a living.  But damn I love the mountains!

Race Weekend

The week started with the first GSC race in Macon Ga.  I crashed in the time trial Saturday and got 4th, The Kid got second, plus he beat my time by 19 seconds.  Hey, I did crash.  In the cross country race on Sunday The Kid and I both got second place in our respective classes.  My legs lasted until half way through the last of 3 laps then they decided they'd had enough.  Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining about a second place finish, it's just that I have quite a bit more work to do on the OMTP.  I admit it did make me happy to get to the top of a hill on the last lap and see the newbie in our class trying to stretch out a bad set of cramps.  He had been hammering hard out front since the start.  That extra lap in sport does make a difference.

 

 

 

We left Macon after the race and arrived in Blue Ridge Ga. at around 6 pm., found the cabin, and went to Ingles.  Tired and hungry is not the way to go grocery shopping.  I wish they had an Ingles in Beautiful Downtown Havana, it's an awesome store.

Anyhoo, we purchased enough to get us through that night and the next day, went back to the cabin, had a drink and some pizza, then passed out on the couch in front of the fire.

That was Sunday, Monday dawned cold and cloudy, and after coffee and bear claws, we started our recon of the area.

We put the Subaru to good use fording small streams and climbing rocky roads in search of trail heads and bike shops.  It flooded that evening, so no biking on Tuesday.

Take a Hike

But we did get to hike.  After the obligatory Lovely Wife's shopping time (which we do on every trip) we hiked up to Green Mountain.

 

 

 

The Ride

 



Wednesday I decided (against the advice of Sam at Southern Cycles) to take the fam to the Ocoee Whitewater Center and ride MTBs.  Short story is the Lovely Wife crashed when I mistakenly took her on a trail labeled difficult.  She did manage to ride 2 hours though and was kind enough to let The Kid and I do a little single track ride by ourselves.  I want to go back, the trails aren't as good as Dupont, but they're not as hard as Pisgah.  I just wish we had studied the map a little closer before we left the trail head.

 

Eating Out?

 

The town of Blue Ridge is kinda weird.  No alcohol except beer and wine in the restaurants.  Imagine the horror of eating strange Mexican without the aid of a Margarita!  The eating establishments were not always open either.  Next time we'll just buy more at Ingles and stay at the cabin to eat. 

I hope the "next time" is this summer.

As he stares up into heaven
I'm sure I know the reason why
He's thinking about, about that promised land
In those blue ridge mountain skies
(Marshall Tucker)

You Get What You Give

 

I improved!  Not by much but it's something.  The OMTP has me testing every 6 weeks with a 20 min. time trial.  I use the same route, same bike, same time of day, and record the results.  I was almost scared to compare it to the last one, what if I didn't improve, did that mean I was actually getting slower?  The results didn't exactly make me feel like I'd hoped.  I even asked my coach if it was real improvement.  She then made me feel silly for even asking.  In the end though she said that yes it was improvement and to stop sweating these little details.

After the test I met my lovely wife and Jim (who according to him had just destroyed the Saturday Charies Ride) at Momos for some tasty beers and pizza.  Apparently Momos had just won some type of award for their own brewed beer called Squirrel Nut Brown.  It was as good to drink as it was fun to order.  And yes, I know beer and pizza is not a good recovery meal, but if Big Jim can do it, I can do it.

Demo

 

Felt had their demo deal at Higher Ground Wednesday so The Kid and I got to sample some carbon fiber toys.  We both rode a 29" hard tail and a dually.  The dually was the Edict Nine One, this was my first extended time on a high end 29er with good suspension and I was very pleased with the way it handled.  Keep in mind I am a goob when it comes to bike set up but I do know what I like.  My only complaint was the pedal bob, even with the shock on pro pedal it was noticeable.  Plus the bike had some big heavy knobs on it so the weight was up.  The hard tail was the $5000 Nine something and I soon realized my butt is too old to ride a hard tail on Overstreet.  I'm still sore today.  Funny thing, the hard tail didn't seem to turn near as well as the dually for either of us.

Race Weekend

It's here.  Individual Time Trial on Saturday and the XC race on Sunday.  Last year at this venue it was 98 degrees so the promoter let the 50+ Sport class go 2 laps instead of the usual 3.  It should only be in the 70's this weekend so it'll be 3 laps for us old guys.  The trail at Macon is not very technical but it does have some steep climbs that came towards the end of the lap last year.  It hurt doing 2, it's going to be interesting doing 3.  Plus I don't know who the players are this year.  The top 3 from last year should have all been promoted to expert so I don't know who to watch for.  We had that all worked out by the end of the season last year which made it fun. 

I'm so excited!

Are We There Yet?

It's a little over a week until the first race of the Georgia XC Series, I'm on Scratch and Endurox, and  I followed the plan (mostly).  I've lost some weight and I've worked on my skills.  I would have loved to update my ride but other things have dipped into my bike pool so that will need to wait.

 

So when Jim asked me last week if I thought I was ready I had to pause before I answered.  To tell the truth I'm not really sure.  That's what makes the first race so interesting.  It is what the plan calls a "B" race so I'm not supposed to be in peak form just yet.  I don't know who will show up or how much work my competitors did during the year.  Did I do enough?  Did I go hard enough on the hard days?  It may seem silly for an old guy to prepare and plan for a sport level bike race, after all, why spend so much time, money, and energy chasing a little plastic medal.  But look at it this way, worst case, I am in pretty awesome shape.  I look amazing in my kit, and for the most part, I've enjoyed the training.

It's Cold

 

Which brings me to last Sunday's ride.  The motivation level was low on Saturday night.  Zac, the Kid, and I had ridden Tom Brown that day (high in the low 50's with a 20 mph wind), then gone by Higher Ground for a couple of beers (just Zac and I, not the Kid).  Afterwards I succumbed to the aroma of Momos and got a slice to go.  I built a fire when I got to the house and devoured the pizza.  The wind was still blowing hard outside after I finished a hot shower and had settled in on the couch.  There were two rides already planned for Sunday one going off at 9:30 and another forming up at around 12.  I was having a hard time committing to anything.  I figured rather than ruin someone else's ride I'd just do my own thing after church.

Sunday morning dawned cold and cloudy.  I had three cups of Jumping Goat coffee down when Jim hit me up to see what I was doing that afternoon.  After some hemming and hawing I agreed to meet him at 1:45 and we hauled the bikes up to Amsterdam Ga. to go on a 3 hour (planned) CX ride.

Yes, I mislead Jim, but not on purpose.  I had mistakenly assumed the plan called for one thing, but when I checked, it called for something different.  I figured somebody who is in as amazing shape as Jim is wouldn't have any trouble with an hour of hard effort.  After all, I'm 10 years older than he is, he should be able to cruise along while I labor.

Well we did the easy hour, then I picked it up a little.  Jim started asking what zone I was in (like it really matters to him).  He then proceeded to half wheel me at every opportunity.  After about half an hour he started acting like he was getting tired and maybe the pace was more than I had advertised.  He had "done the Chaires ride the day before bla bla bla."  He was getting hungry so he started fumbling around in his new roadie vest for food.  I just kept on pedaling.  All of the sudden I hear "All right you son of a bitch I'm fed now, let's go".  Why all the hostility?

We finished the hour of pain (for me) and started rolling down the road toward the truck.  Jim was still accusing me of all kinds of sneaky things.  I had planned on doing another hour at an easy pace, but as we turned into the north wind, it seemed to go right through me.  I lost all my will to continue.  My hands were suddenly freezing and I just wanted to get to the warm truck.  Fail.  I just did not have the spark to keep riding.  Jim was willing to do whatever I wanted to do but I just could not face another hour in that cold.  I guess that's what separates good cyclists from the rest, the ability to suffer.  I was bummed.

Is That All There Is?

 

Anyhoo, that's the first ride I've just quit in a long time.  Should I be disappointed?  Is that a barometer for my fitness?  We'll see on the 17th.