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.

Almost There

I'm in week 12 of the 12 week OMTP, the 50 mile one.  I've found this plan to be a little more entertaining than the XC race version.  Having to plan for longer rides plus the hydration and food brought an extra challenge.

So this is as good as I get?  After all the structured rides and gym time?   I was hoping for, I don't know, maybe to feel stronger?  As usual when I get to this point in the season I start to doubt myself.  I always feel like I didn't go hard enough.  Which is easy to say when you're in an air conditioned room but not so easy when it's 100 degrees and you're in your 5th hill repeat.


Sometimes I envy riders who have done this sport for years.  That type of fitness base, if kept, has it's advantages.  But I do have the luxury of never having "been fast".  I came to this sport late so my challenge is to keep it entertaining while the inevitable effects of aging creep in.

8 Hours of Labor

The Kid and I are doing the 4 hour solo at this race Sunday.  It's a 9 mile loop which drives me crazy while I hamster around and around for 4 hours.  But that's part of the challenge.  It will be a good test of my hydration and feeding as I'm planning on packing just like I'm doing a 50 mile loop.  I'm looking forward to it.  95 degrees and humid for 4 hours on a bicycle, what's not to like?

Electric?

Lots of buzz in the MTB world about electric assist bikes.  Looks like some major players are lining up product.  This reminds me of how 4-wheelers were introduced onto moto trails.  What once required some skill and fitness to access all of the sudden became easy.  Fat families and people who had no business in the woods all of the sudden started showing up on their cooler equipped fat tire machines.  In short they destroyed the trails, got into places they shouldn't, and eventually got all of us kicked off of public lands.

Maybe it's not the same thing.  We've sure got it good around here as far as trails go.  I can't thank the folks that work on them enough.  I'm not sure easier access plus more people is a good thing though.

Hard To Swallow

"Just a little more to the left, ahhh that's it"

So this past week Lil Ball has accompanied me on my OMTP rides.  Hill repeats Tuesday followed by 20 minute intervals Thursday.  He's young and a past expert, but has been off the bike lately.  I figured I might be able to keep him in sight on Tuesday.  That lasted about one quarter of the way up the first hill when he easily motored by.

We did 6 of these and I was never able to get close.  But having someone to chase did make me push harder than just doing it by myself.  Still.

Thursday

The Kid joined us tonight for 20 minute intervals, all on the MTB, (as were the Tuesday hill repeats).  My legs felt dead from the start of the first effort.  Do you know how aggravating it is to have two riders glued to your rear wheel while you do everything you can to shake them?  On the last interval Lil Ball went around me and proceeded to disappear into the trees.  I know they're both younger (well a lot younger) but I really don't like these "wake up calls".

When I asked what I needed to do to improve all I got was "turn better".  And just how do I do that? Should it even bother me?  I had a great time riding the intervals, the hill repeats, maybe not so much.  I'm fortunate to be able to just get out here.  All of us are.  So why worry about turning speed?  After all, I got to spend 3 hours with The Kid.  Who, by the way, gives me a look that can only be described as pity when he goes by me now.

Both of these guys have so much cycling ahead of them, so many options, while my own option pool seems to be getting a little shallow.  Poor poor pitiful me.  I've really got it bad don't I?  Not.

Coming Up

The 31st is the 8 Hours of  Labor MTB race at San Felasco.  I think Dr. S-works and I are going to team up.  It'll be a good opportunity to hone in my feeding and hydration on the bike.  Then it's the Tallahassee XC race, which should be humbling.  Followed by Fools Gold.  Then cross season starts, which takes me through till winter, then the whole thing starts all over again.  Man I love a good routine!

Aren't you proud of me?  I got through this whole ditty without using: anyhoo, Beautiful Downtown Havana, or The Lovely Wife.  Plus I'm going to put this crap back on FB so my Mom can read it.  My list of subscribers is rather small.  See ya on the next page.

4+4=Sausage

The sky is bluer (more blue) in Ocala than here in Tallahassee.  We seem to get more haze this time of year while down there it's just puffy white clouds.  Maybe because the Atlantic is on one side and the Gulf on the other?

But just because it's blue doesn't mean it's not just as hot.  I made the 3 hour drive to the Santos Trail Land Bridge Trail head 2 weeks ago and enjoyed the change of scenery.  It's great to be able to ride 3 hours and not repeat any trail.  The truck thermometer said 100 when I got done with the ride.  It didn't take the AC long to cool it down though and I had Neil Alday and Further South to listen to.  I hit the Moes in Alachua for my obligatory burrito and then just enjoyed the drive back.

50% Chance

Of rain on the Saturday following my Santos trip.  Dirt Hippy (DH) and I had planned a long CX ride with the hope that the rain would hold off until we got done.  So naturally as we got to the furthest point from the truck the bottom fell out.  We took pavement back which was fun in a strange way.  Once again, just something different.  By the way, it was dry where we had parked the truck, and it didn't rain again the rest of the day.

Two 4's

This past weekend the OMTP called for 4 hour rides Saturday and Sunday.  DH, Dr. S-works, The Kid, and I did a variation of the Grape Vine Loop on MTB's Saturday.  The temperature was almost pleasant for a change.  It was just a trail ride pace with a little effort on the Tom Brown single track section but it was enough to make me tired.

Sunday was the monthly Sausage Fest ride out of Bradley's Store which is 66 miles of clay and paved roads. Since most of the regular crew was vacationing or hung over we had a small turnout.  El Gato, Shankasaurous, Big Worm, The Kid, and me rolled out.  The Worm pulled the rip cord early and short cut back while the rest of us pedaled on to Boston Ga.  Once again it was a reasonable pace with only a few short efforts.  That ride is a workout regardless of how slow you go though.  So many rolling hills, combined with the rough clay just wears me out.

Anyhoo, we finished it off with sausage dogs and drinks on the front porch of the store.  As we sat under the ceiling fans there was a continuous parade of people coming and going in and out of the store.  Everybody was friendly and chatty.  Seems a beat up old wooden store, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, plus a tasty piece of pork product, just brings out the best in people.

By The Way

That 8 hours really hurt.  Even if it was mostly chill it took me 4 days to not feel tired.  I had trouble getting my hear rate into the prescribed zones and when I did I had a hard time holding it there.  It's been nice to have a light week this week.

Burned Out From Exhaustion and Blown Out on the Trail

I'm tired of our local stuff.  If I was more of a roadie maybe I wouldn't get so burned out.  But I am.  Doing 3-4 hours at a time on the same trail system does get tedious.  Not tedious enough to get on the road however.  I still prefer anything dirt over pavement.

Come In She Said I'll Give Ya Shelter From the Storm

Add in the daily monsoons that are always accompanied by the sweltering humidity and you can see how it takes some of the fun out of riding.  Just a year ago I was in Colorado at this time.  I lust for the west like a dog does a squirrel during this time of year.  But life just got in the way.

In A Little Hill Top Village

Anyhoo, I'm headed to Santos early Sunday morning for a taste of something I haven't seen every week for the past month.  It won't be any cooler or dryer, but it will be different.  At least I can ride for 4 hours and not cover the same trail twice.

I Offered Up My Innocence

I finally got tired of the Magura brakes on my Epic.  I had had them warrantied twice and still they didn't perform properly.  Now they want me to send the system off so they can take a look at it.  Nah, I just went ahead and put Shimano XT on.  Soooo happy I did, I can't believe what a difference it makes in the way the bike handles.  Of course the new Racing Ralphs may have something to do with that.

Got Repaid With Scorn

Back to the Ocala trip this weekend.  There seems to be little interest from the crew in accompanying me. Must be my amazing speed on the bike recently.  I don't know what's happened.  I know the OMTP is hard to integrate into group rides.  Plus others are on their own training calendars and they also don't mesh very well.  And I guess some folks are just tired of riding bikes.  I get it, I really do.  I've been fortunate to find someone to tag along every once and awhile so I can't complain.  I do miss The Kid, I didn't realize how many times he went along.  However riding alone has it's merit.  I'm certainly getting plenty of practice at it.

By the way, the subheadings with song lyrics made The Lovely Wife uncomfortable since they don't have anything to do with whats in the paragraph below them.  So I apologize.  But I find some weird joy in sticking them in so please ignore it if it bothers you.

I'll Take A Little Bit of Everything

Not Tallahassee but I like it

The Biscuits and the Beans

Things are a little different around our house now.  The Kid is off at UF and he decided to stay down there this past weekend.  That's the first time in 18 years he's spent more than 7 days away.  I didn't realize how much we did together till he was gone on a weekend.  The adjustment is taking longer than The Lovely Wife and I thought it would.

Whatever Helps Me to Forget About

Anyhoo, the OMTP called for 3 hours Saturday, followed by 5 hours Sunday.  I had a previous engagement Saturday morning which left me getting my 3 hours in the mid afternoon sauna which is Tallahassee in July.  The whole ride I kept thinking about the 5 I was planning on doing the next day.

During dinner Saturday night at Monk's, over craft beers and amazing hamburgers, the ride I had planned to do with a group Sunday started falling apart.  Seems the clay roads had gotten rain that evening and by the time I got home at 10:00 it was too late to re-plan.  I set the alarm that night thinking I would just do a long forest ride.  Alone.

Once again, not here, Blankets in Atlanta

I was awake before the alarm Sunday, thinking about all that sand in the ANF.  When a loop just happened to appear that I thought had a good chance of taking 5 hours without slogging through underbrush.  I parked at Higher Ground at 7:40 and headed south.

I won't bore you with the details of the ride.  I managed to hit Fern, Tom Brown, Munson, and all points in between.  According to my coach I was supposed to work on hydration and fueling.  All the while maintaining a zone 2-3 pace with limited stops.  I had 2 PB+J sandwiches and a couple of gels for fuel, plus Scratch in my bottles for sodium.  To say it was humid would be an understatement.  I'd stick my head under the shower at the dog water and couldn't tell a difference.

The Thing That Brought Me to My Knees

In the end I did my 5.  Even if I had to ride a couple of loops around the parking lot.  The fuel part worked well, I had no gastric distress from the PB+J.  No cramps, until I got home and put on my compression socks.  I did run out of water 45 minutes from Tom Brown while headed back, leaving me to ride 15 dry.  Which doesn't seem like a big deal today but kinda hurt yesterday.

So Pile on the Mashed Potatoes, and an Extra Chicken Wing

That's how this kind of ride goes though.  When you're in the middle of it you start to hate the roots, the heat, and the bike.  But come Monday when you look back you're like "that was pretty fun" and start planning another.

Cause I'm Having a Little Bit of Everything