Adrift

Cross is over for me, at least until after the first of the year.  It was sad to see Swamp Cross end last Sunday.  I look forward to this event and it was especially sweet since The Kid and the Gator Cycling Team attended.  But now I find myself without a specific goal as far as cycling is concerned.

Do I want to do XC in 2015?  How about the longer distance stuff again?  Or maybe just do whatever the mood strikes.  I took this week off to see how my internal rudder would react to not having some kind of plan.  I find that I miss it.  I am terrified of ending up like my friend Big Jim but I can see how that could happen.  Unlike moto, cycling requires that the motor stay tuned all year long, which makes taking any time off totaling longer than a week a potential problem.  I hope to start back on the base XC plan Monday, so we'll see how it goes.

VHS to DVD

I converted all my VHS tapes to DVD while I was off the week of Thanksgiving.  Aside from the usual family stuff I had some footage from old moto trips, both racing and a trip we took to Colorado. I have to admit it started a twinge of maybe getting back into moto again.  Not racing but dual sport or adventure riding.  I hate to get my mind going in that direction.  But moto (at least dual sport) is soooo much easier than cycling.  (See above)

Thanksgiving day, we had the course all to ourselves.

Some Race Stuff

At Dade City CX I got a stick stuck in by cassette on the first lap of the 55+ and ended up burning matches to get back on.  Eventually losing a sprint for 6th place.  Not quite what I had hoped for. Then for some reason I thought it would be fun to ride the 4/5's.  I was knackered at the end of the day.  On Sunday I had a better race but my legs had decided to take the day off.

Swamp Cross was a completely different type of course and I only entered the 55+ class, getting a third, for my first trip to the box (in a real race, Tallahassee doesn't count).  Sunday I ended up 4th but still managed to beat the guy who got second on Saturday.

I really love CX.  It's hard but it's always interesting.  Yea it's a lot of travel for two 45 minute races. But it's the whole experience of the weekend, eating dinner on Saturday night, watching the other classes race, and even the trip down and back, that all add up to a good time.

As I type this the RHCX team (Ric and Tim) are contesting state CX champs in Tampa.  I had made other plans and am a little bummed I didn't go.  This time of the year has so much going on.

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to The kid coming home and The Lovely Wife being off for the holidays.  After all it's not all about me, or is it?

This Will Only Sting A Little

I want to warn you about a most vile creature that lurks in the woods of South Georgia and North Florida.  It has a mean bite, venom, plus it can fly faster than you (or I apparently) can run, will attack in waves of hundreds, and will not give up until you kill them, or they kill you.

Yellow Jackets

Yep, that's them, little bastards!  I've worked in the woods for 30 years and I'd rather see rattle snakes than these little demons from hell. And that's a good description!  After all, they come out of the ground like a ghost, quiet, waiting till the group assembles on a poor unsuspecting soul, who's only sin was just walking too close to their nest.  Then, they attack!

Minding My Own Business

I was just walking the woods, checking behind one of our logging crews, looking up at the tops of the remaining trees to make sure they had cut the weakest ones.  Minding my own business, thinking about how good the forest looked on this gray cool morning.  When I feel the first sting.  Right under my nose, I knew immediately what it was, so I took off running.

The Viscous Attack

And oh did I run.  Swinging my arms trying to dislodge them from my shirt I burst out onto the two track road that runs back to the area where the trees are being loaded onto the trucks.  I sprinted toward the loading deck, thinking that if I could make it to my truck I might be safe.  I didn't think about the fact that I was covered in the yellow messengers of death.  What would I have done when I jumped into my truck?

I stopped and looked down at my pants, they were covered in them.  Shit!  I took off at a sprint, that's when the operator of the loader hollered "What the hell you running for, oh shit there's yellow jackets behind you, RUN!" (he has a keen sense of the obvious).  About that time the older black gentleman yelled "Come over by da fire, we'll smoke'm off!"  I was in full panic mode by now, I'd never had them pursue me this far from the nest.  I headed for the fire.

I Wish I'd Had A Camera

So as I ran around and around the fire the guy took off his jacket and beat me with it as I came by. The devils spawn never touched him, they kept after me.  I tore at my shirt thinking if I could get it off maybe they'd stay with it but I couldn't stop to get the buttons undone.  All the while this guy wailed on me with his jacket.  I heard him say "I ain't tryin to be weird but theys crawlin down the back of your pants".  Oh, that's all I needed.  By this time, between the smoke and the jacket ass whip-pin, we had gotten most of them off.

Headed For The Truck

I thanked the crew profusely and sprinted for my truck.  I did think I heard some chuckling as I ran away.  I went home and gobbled some Benadryle (sp?), then headed to the emergency room just to make sure I didn't go into shock.  The TMH emergency room is a story by itself that I won't go into here. Suffice to say they were efficient and I had no reaction to the 13 stings I received.

Thinking Back

When I was retelling the event I got to thinking how funny it must have looked to that logging crew to see this old gray haired dude running up to them waving his arms and trying to pull his shirt off. Then me running around and around the fire while this guy pummels me with his smoky, grease stained jacket every time I went by.  It would have been a YouTube sensation.

Not exactly like this but it felt like it at the time

A Little Cross at Cross?

I was looking forward to Tallycross.  The weather was going to be cold and windy, The Kid was coming home from school, and I was going to get to race my bike.  All happy things in my world.

Halloween

But first I had to survive Halloween on Friday night.  We've been putting on a show at our house for at least 10 years and the locals look forward to it.  They start lining up before sundown with the little ones.  We are pretty G rated until it gets dark then we let the zombies out.  One of the older kids told me "man I want to come work for ya'll next year".  Fun times.

I think I'll start dyeing my hair

Saturday CX

The race venue is in a great spot, easy access, lots of parking (which turned out not to be a problem) and really good terrain to work with.  Unfortunately very few riders and almost no spectators were there to enjoy it.  Why? I don't know the answer to that.  Very little shop participation, no vendors, and no food truck.  All were there last year, so what happened?  We even had a keg of beer last year, sadly, none this year.

From a racers perspective the event was well run, and the course well marked.  I have a few niggling complaints about not cleaning the corners of sticks and limbs but that's just me.  A small group of us lined up for the 35, 45, 55 class, with only me and one more in the 55s.  I had fun riding, just not much racing went on.  The faster riders were way ahead and the slower were way behind.  For my $25 I got a $.25 medal.  The Kid had a good race though, finishing 2nd in cat 3, we waited in the cold for podiums but got tired and headed home before they were held.

Tragedy Strikes

I won't go into detail about it.  I don't usually post sad things here but it happened and it had a bearing on my weekend.  Our beautiful, loving cat of 8 years, Frodo, was killed Saturday evening.  It left our family in shock and sadness.  He was a great cat and will be missed.  This event seemed to send me on a downward spiral that I still haven't fully pulled out of, and that's not really like me.

Sunday CX

Nobody ever takes pictures of me.

The racing was much the same as Saturday, at least from my perspective.  I lost interest about three quarters of the way through.  Riding by myself, it was just like a training ride, only it cost me another $25.  Today however, I had brought beer, so we found a sunny corner, cranked the boom box up, and had a small party.

The Kid had a good race though and managed to finish 3rd.  He enjoys CX and was happy with his ride.

Opinion Time

This event won't last.  No payout for the elites, no goodies for the rest of us, no local involvement, and a long way to travel for the majority of riders, will spell the end of our little race.  At least on the FLCX calendar.  I know the riders are out there, just last week we had 50+ show up for a trail ride.  I know, I know, that was low pressure and no cost, plus they had beer.  Tallahassee is just that way, lots of riders, not many racers.  That's not a bad thing, but it doesn't bode well for promoters trying to put on races.

This was the scene last year, nothing like that this year.

Cross is hard, plus you're out there where everybody can see you.  No place to hide, no drafting, so I get it, it's not for everyone.  I was just hoping a few more would give it a try.  Somethings going to need to change if we're going to do this again next year. 

This year, fun but lonely.  

But that's just my opinion.  And you know what they say about those.

A Little Break

I took some time off from blogging.  Mostly due to a lack of motivation on my part.  I am surprised I didn't get any requests wanting to know what had happened.  All five of you must have had plenty to read lately.

Keeping Cross Weird

Silk and I got up eeeeeearly on a cool Sunday morning to make it to the Macon Octoberfest CX race. He insisted on driving, which was nice, but I will admit to my confidence being shattered when the first thing he says as I get in his truck is: "In the interest of full disclosure my check engine light came on yesterday.  It's probably nothing though."  And it wasn't, but it added to my pre race jitters.

Silk drives like it's a race so we made it to the venue with a whole 20 minutes to spare.  I raced first and since it was in the mid 40's I had a bit of a hard time warming up.  Plus there were the digestive issues of getting up early and riding in a truck for 3 hours.  I won't go into detail, those of you who have experienced this get it.

Muddy bike, they ran us back and forth across a ditch

Anyhoo, the track was fast with some great flow, and mostly flat.  I got 8/22 in the cat 4/5 35+ which didn't disappoint me too much.  Silk got 2nd in the cat 1 35+ after an exciting race.  He says he has some things he needs to work on but I don't know about that.  We hung around and watched the rest of the races, even doing some polite heckling.  It sounded like we were the only ones, it was a calm crowd.

We hit a Moe's on the way home and since Silk was driving I decided to get some extra beer at a Jr. store.  It was a good day.

Fireball 50

I didn't decide to go to this event until the day before.  We had planned to race in Atlanta but that fell through, and as it turned out, that was a good thing.

The ride was billed as a 50 mile MTB ride in the ANF.  The hook that got me interested in going was the fact that there was going to be a keg in the woods about 10 miles from the finish.  Silk and Shank had also decided to go so off we went on a clear 48 degree October morning.

Someone had done a bunch of work, the bushy sections I had ridden during the summer had been trimmed, logs had been ramped, and turns were marked with ribbon.  As I've said before, I love riding the ANF, and this day was turning out to be one of the best.  Our group pace was steady without much testosterone and we found the keg almost untouched. 

There's something about a beer before lunch out in the woods, on a clear fall day.  To say the least, the 10 mile ride back to the truck was interesting.

Now I've promoted events before and I know how hard it is to get something like this to work.  I estimate there were at least 50 riders that started the ride and I'm willing to bet not one of them had a bad time.  It was a no pressure, fun day, and I hope to do something like it again.

Tallycross

Is this weekend.  Two days of cross without any travel.  I'm pumped.  The Kid is coming home and plans to race both days.  The weather is going to be cold (for us).  Plus Halloween is Friday night. 

Does it really get any better?

There's No Fool Like A Gold Fool

But before I could get to the Fools Gold 50 Mile Mountain Bike Race I had a cross country bike race to do.  Sunday a week ago was the Tallahassee round of the Florida State Championship Series.  I love this race.  It signals the beginning of fall (even though it was 93 degrees), plus it's on my home trails.

There were quite a few familiar faces on the line in the 50+ expert class.  I lined up next to Mark who usually finishes way ahead of me (and will today).  Hammy was on the other end of the row, he and I have been racing against each other since we both started in base and my strategy was to hang with him.  Mark and I decided who would go to which side of the trees about half way down the start, then the whistle blew.

I fell in behind Hammy and we passed a few riders going out the multiuse.  He seemed to be struggling so when he took one of the alternate lines on the single track I passed him.  Much to my surprise I could just see Mark up ahead so I managed to get on his wheel, where I stayed, until the last quarter of the last lap.

I (mistakenly) thought I had saved some for the climb up the gun range.  Mark, being the savvy racer he is, had figured that was what I was doing.  So as soon as we hit the climb he stood up and was gone.  And like Wiley Coyote in the old Road Runner cartoons I just watched him ride away.

But I wasn't disappointed, no, not in the least.  I was glad to have gotten to race with someone and had a really good time doing it.  I finished 8/15.

The Kid managed 7th in a very competitive 19-29 sport class while smoking my lap times.  It was a great day.

Fools Gold

Four of us loaded up Friday morning headed to Dahlonega Ga.  After some very poor navigating by Big Jim we finally got to the trails and unloaded.  The first couple of pedal strokes in the mountains, after a summer in Florida, are pure bliss.

We rode the last 10 miles of single track that would be in the race the next day and had a blast.  Until Tim blew out his tire.  Fortunately we weren't far from the truck and he was able to locate a new one for the race.

Saturday morning was cool with a slight breeze.  In the past the roll out has been medium paced behind a car, so I didn't warm up much (first time that day I didn't follow my OMTP instructions).  I lined up in the second half of the start group (didn't follow instructions again).  The gun went off and the car gunned it.  So much for the neutral roll out.

It took a couple of miles for me to loosen up the legs and start to pass groups of riders.  I hit the long road climb later than I had planned but not much I could do about it at that time.  I settled in for the grind.

I ate when I was supposed to, drank when the alarm on my Garmin went off, stopped at the sags I had planned on stopping at, and kept my efforts within what I had trained for.  I had the best Fools Gold ride I'd ever had.  I actually had fun and didn't feel like complete dog crap at the finish plus, I only suffered 2 small cramps which worked themselves out.

In the end I managed to shave 40 minutes off my 2012 time, finishing 12th in the 50 plus class.

That night we hit the same little restaurant in downtown Dahlonega that we'd eaten at Friday night. Pitchers of beer were poured, much food was eaten, and some football watched.  It was truly a great weekend.

I Remember To This Day, The Bright Red Georgia Clay

"And the way it stuck to the tires after the summer rain."  That's a verse from the song "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo."  Do you remember it?  Man that had to be something like 1972?  I don't even remember who did it.

Anyhoo it was running through my head this past Sunday as we tackled a short version of the Sausage ride.  The clay roads were soaked, which made it seem like riding on shag carpet.  We had a pretty big group roll out but it quickly got split up due to a flat on the first section of clay road that had recently been rocked.  I got spit off the back of the lead group (the ones that didn't stop for the flat) before mile 20 and ended up riding solo for the rest of the day.

Well that's not really true.  I did get to ride with Silk and Tim for a brief period as they went by.  I couldn't hold their pace and had to watch them disappear into the distance.  I was shooting for a no cramp ride so my speed and effort was down.  Not that it didn't hurt, a lot.  But, no cramps!  Unfortunately I couldn't eat my sausage dog at the end of the ride, in fact, I couldn't eat anything until later that evening.  I was shattered.  I was still walking around in a daze Monday.  Maybe it was the ride I had done on Saturday that set me up for such misery.

The Day Before

Nobody liked my ride idea when I threw it out Friday night.  So I left the St. Marks Trail Head alone at 9 am.  I do love my forest rides, and while I enjoy company, being by myself has it's advantages.  I got a little turned around (which is part of the fun) but had a good loop down to Trout Pond and back. Yes, the bushes were bad in spots, and it was hot with not much shade, but to have nothing around but trees was nice for a change.

Leaning against a tree at the old Springhill Pit.

Florida XC Race

It's this weekend at Tim Brown.  I'm in for a GM 1 butt kicking.  By that I mean I'm the one who'll get it kicked.  Don't care, I'm looking forward to racing anyway.  

Then it's Fools Gold, followed by Cross season.  Ain't life grand?

Oh, by the way, the song?  It was Lobo, 1973.

Hard Labor

I did the work.  Really, I did.  I had practiced my hydration and feeding during 4 and 5 hour rides.  I had kept my heart rate in the prescribed zones.  I had put in the hours.  Not once did I experience a cramp.

The Race

I got up at 4:00 am, filled the bottles, slathered on chamois cream, and hit the road to Gainesville. They had gotten a huge storm the night before so I didn't want to look at the radar.  Even when it started raining as I got to Tallahassee, I resisted the urge to look.  I was going regardless and worrying about the weather wasn't going to help.

When I got to San Felasco the volunteer at the gate said the road going in was under water but "you shouldn't have any trouble", yea, I had just washed my truck the day before, so of course the road was muddy.  "This trail drains well" I told my self.  "No problem!"

I set up the tent next to the Swift Cycles group and waited to for The Kid to show up.  Dr. S-works had picked up a mysterious malady while he was in Canada and had bailed on me.  This makes twice. As it all turned out he made the smart call.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the humidity was off the charts.  I was sweating just getting the tent up.  We had decided to do the race solo since I was really here to test my preparation.  So we lined up in the corral for the .25 run to get to the bikes.  Hmmmm, a 1/4 mile run in bike shoes, in 90 degree heat.  Not quite what I had expected.

Laps

To say the first lap was a zoo would be an understatement.  People crashed, bikes flew into me, riders just stopped in the middle of the trail for no reason.  Still I watched my HR monitor and kept it as chill as possible.  The course was 8.7 miles per lap so we had planned on 6 laps to get our goal of 50 miles.  It as a little slick in spots but mostly in good shape.  The first 2 laps were ridiculously easy.  The Kid and I were just talking and pedaling, I was feeling pretty froggy.  Riders passed me, I passed riders, laps went by, I was enjoying the ride.

At the beginning of lap 5 a rather large lady stopped at the base of the first hard climb, effectively blocking the whole trail.  I resisted the urge to say something and dismounted.  As soon as I got back on the bike and hit the pedals the cramp monster jumped on me.  "You've got to be kidding!" I said. So I stopped (off the trail) and downed the first mustard packet.  

I don't know whether you know this or not but straight mustard on a 98 degree day is not the most pleasant thing to gulp down.  It gets on the water bottle so you get to taste it for the next few swigs. Still, the cramps let up.

Until they didn't.  So packet number 2 goes down, but not quite as easily as number one did.  By this time nausea had set in.  Dehydrated?  Mustard?  A combo is my best guess.

And it went down hill from there.  Not the trail mind you but my race.  With cramps firing at any time and my stomach in bad shape, I rode the last lap at a survival pace.  I had stopped having fun.

Finished

Once we got done it took a half hour to get cooled down enough so we could load the tent.  Even The Kid was suffering. In the end we finished in under 5 hours but it wasn't what I had hoped for.  

Anyhoo, my take on all this is I just went too hard for the conditions, and PB+J is not the food to eat in that type of situation, gels were all I could get down.  I'm going to try another type of mix that has a higher content of sodium.  Plus I just need to stretch more.

This showed me that I don't go as hard during training as I do in a race situation.  Lil Ball had been telling me that but I normally ignore him.  On the plus side I got to spend a day on the bike with The Kid and see some familiar faces from the XC races.

I couldn't eat anything until I got a smoothie back in Tallahassee.  After that I started feeling better. But getting out of bed the next morning was an experience.