Greetings Nova Scotia!

all photos from a Google search

Checking my recent stats for the blog I discovered that I have finally made it. I have had 2 unique visitors from Nova Scotia! As a kid growing up and going through public schools, geography class held few mysteries to me. I never really felt the desire to want to travel to most of the places the pictures in the text books introduced to me, save for a very few places.

I've always wanted to visit Scotland and Ireland. While living at the old barn, I used to get NPT (Nashville Public Television) on the rabbit ears and would catch the Globe Trekker series on Sundays. Usually the chap in the video would be trekking across Ireland or Scotland by foot, bike, and mail truck (apparently you can ride with them) sleeping in farm houses, hostels, and doing it all for low amounts of money. The countries intrigue me.

The next place that I dreamt of visiting was Antartica. Maybe it's the penguins, perhaps the frozen sea, but it always captured my imagination. If I had a Moots Snoots and the insight/wisdom of Mike, a bike trip around base camps in Antarctica would be a fun adventure.


Though, the most coveted far off land that has held my interest since 3rd grade has been Nova Scotia. Perhaps it is it's Gaelic heritage that makes it seem to be a Scotland I can drive to or the fact that so many of the photos remind me of Robert Altman's Popeye. Whatever it is, I've always been intrigued by Nova Scotia, Scotch Whisky, and Single malts. Even Pisgah holds a special Gaelic place in my heart and I've often said I'd rather be in Pisgah than anywhere else (though Mulberry Gap has made the North Georgia Highlands a close second).

Sadly though, much like my second place in the second biggest race in the international cycling calendar (here be the first), my success is only brought upon by this guy leading the way. Apparently the Nova Scotians only found out about my little world by clicking a link in an awesome post on mtbr by dicky himself as he tries to make a windfall profit off of Richard's hard work.

So, welcome Nova Scotia! How is the riding up there? What time of year would be the best to visit? How close to Peter are you? Anybody have some spare floor space and want to take me mountain biking?

Update on the Poey Sun Garden

The sun flowers planted around Po's grave have really started to come out and bask into the sun. Several more are soon to pop open. Most are in the 5 foot to 6 foot range. The big 10-12 footers haven't come in, perhaps next year. The myriad colors are amazing in person.

Young Guns

Dish says "grrr" to his lil' admirer, Jack

Sunday was the Lock4 mountain bike race, put on by Bikers Choice who also did Saturday's XTERRA. Slumlordess and schemer extreme Hannah was out for her first ever mountain bike race. Not only did she surprise me and race the sport class instead of beginner, but she actually opted for the wake up early and race class vs the sleep in and race later one. Amazing! ;-)

KRS was the lone Moots rider racing. The bed felt way too comfy at 6am and 54 degrees and the pocket book liked not spending another $50 for a chance to win a tire for me to jump into the mix. But H, Slumlord Joe, Dish and I did get up, get donuts, and head out to cheer everyone on. It was another amazingly cool 76 degree and puffy clouded July day in the South. Excellent weekend for racing.

krs-1 nearing the end of lap 1 sitting just off the back of leader Adam "5 lap" D.

krs-1 chasing hard for the uphill finish

Adam "5 lap" D. leading the charge

"5 lap" diggin' hard for the victory before heading out to race expert

krs-1 finishing, a strong 2nd place finish for Ybb Moots man Keith

Meanwhile back in the woods, Hannah was racing her way onto the female podium. Stuck between chasing down 1st and 2nd and holding off 4th, who was somewhere out there behind her.

Hannah and Gracie hammering up the last bit of trail before the start of lap 2

H. with the water bottle handup

Hannah with 2 miles to go

H. and a barking Dish, cheering Hannah along the uphill finish

Joe commends krs-1 on his strong finish (either that or consoling him for being a Jets fan)

A moment with Matthew interupted by a smiling, waving, scene stealing Molly. The video interview taking place here is hilarious. I'll try to get it posted this week.

I won a tire!

Jose (who's bike looks eerily a lot like mine) won some lube!

The Han got a new chain and a bottle!

Congrats to all. Strong finish Adam and KRS. Way to go Hannah! Jose, you are getting too strong and fast. Matthew, strong riding my friend and way to keep the fun aspect a priority! Molly, great to see you back out in the mix. Congrats on your win. Kaylee, I hear you killed it too, nice work!

Thanks to all of you for having grace, humility, and manners and not being a-holes yelling "get out of the way" to spectators, moms, kids, other racers as you rudely barged through and got support by cutting course and then entering backwards on course to return.

Speaking of Pros...

Mad props to DtheP for tearing it up and taking the pro class win. DtheP is definitely a pro with class!


Seen on the web:
Death of the hardtail 26'er?! Psssh. Whatever. Mine are alive and well.

Moots Stage Race: Definitely a cool event. Wish they had a dirt road or fat tire category.

Try Third

(Credit - All photos: H.)
The Lock 4 XTERRA took place today under amazing conditions. It was 54 degrees F outside when I woke up at 5am. 77 degrees, breezy, puffy clouds, and blue skies met with 84 degree lake water with a mild current. Perfect. I'm still amazed this is July, usually we're roasting under high temps and even higher humidity.

The girls and Dish accompanied me to the race and it was nice to have the support on hand. The parking vs the sign in vs the transition areas are spread out a lot at Lock 4 Park. To the race promoters credit though, they did arrange to have 3 tractors hooked up to flat bed trailers with hay bales loaded to shuttle people back and forth. But for me, it was nice to have an extra set of hands hauling gear, and all the cheering, jeering, and heckling. Thanks to Mike for the loan of the buck. We had to pay a $10 one day license fee, which is fine, but why couldn't that have been done when we registered online? Lots of folks were caught out on that little gotcha...

The Moots (me) / Zion (mike) pit - rigid ss'ers

Me and Mike getting counted into the water for the start. Sharp rocks.

First leg of the 1/2 mile swim. That's me way out in front of Mike.

The race pretty much went as I imagined - I beat Mike out of the water (surprised myself with a 16th position out of the water), bikes were pretty even with Mike actually bringing back some time on me, then he caught me just shy of 1/3-way into my second lap, just past the paved hill in the woods. There were lots of friends out on course today (Chandler, Taylor, John, Big Poppy, Rick, Chip, and others) cheering and marshaling. Thanks for all the encouragement along the course!

Out of the water heading for the bike leg

Out for 2 laps of fun. Lock 4 was in amazing shape. Thanks Aaron B.!!!

Mike out of the water.

Off to put down the power. He's damn near untouchable on this course.

Heading out for run lap 2.

Mike in hot pursuit. Whoop Whoop!

"Uh Thad, What's your 20?" - Mike beating me.

No officer, I'm not drinking, see I can stand on one foot and still drink my beer... er gatorade.

I'm happy no mechanicals were suffered by me or Mike allowing us both a great race, and the swim didn't kill either one of us. It was an exciting race trying to finish well and keep Mike at bay for as long as I could. He nipped me by about 2 minutes 40 seconds at the finish, but neither of us could shake the curse of the third place. (I think his time was 2:02:56 and mine was 2:03:36, results aren't posted yet)


After the race and pre-awards, I enjoyed some watermelon and a nice dip in the lake with the pups, generally just out enjoying the fantastic weather we've been treated to as of late. Perfect weekend for being outside, on a bike, and at a lake. There is a mtb race out at Lock4 tomorrow too. Hannah is heading out for her first race ever. I'll either support or throw my hat in the ring for SS, we'll see how the legs are feeling after todays effort.

mmmm

Me and Dish

Riley Boy

Lil' Tommy

Dish yowling for someone to throw a rock and Tommy swimming laps.

Single, the new Dingle

Single, the new Dingle

After all the rain we've gotten lately and rain chances yet to come, I took the 15t cog off the back to give myself a little extra mud clearance in the back. I also altered my gearing to better suit a muddy course but not handicap me if it turns out to be dry. I'm hopeful it's not a mudfest this weekend. I really don't want to trail run in mud, though it can't be any worse than the trail sludging of DSG.


My poor bike was showing it's neglect badly before Tuesday's N/S out and back epic, so I took some time today to strip it down and give it a little Cooperization. Anybody out there experience the odd tightening of the spd pedal on the spindle to where it doesn't spin, then suddenly seems to pull loose and act normally? It's like it slides up on the spindle, but I can't make it happen. Has happened twice now while spinning the cranks to clean the chain, but not consecutively. Time for new pedals?


The Lock4 XTERRA is this Saturday and I finally got registered today. 72 registrants as of last check which is up from 52 this morning. I guess everyone has waited until late to see what the weather would do. High of 77 is forecast for race day with several nights of 60 degree temps, the lake should be nice and chilly come 8 a.m. Saturday.

My old CX rival Dan "white lightnin" Werle (an Ironman triathlete who frequently runs 11 miles to work for a 12 hour shift. Yeah I said runs.) and 8Ball (I can run 6 minute miles after a year of couch sitting) are the only names I recognize out of the registrants. I've no idea of who the other competition are, putting this into the complete unknown category for me. I've also only had about 8 days where I swam, and only a handful more days involving running. I hate running. OK, I don't mind running for about 2-2.5 miles, but anything more than that and I just get bored.

It'll be interesting as I know there will be people who are faster in the swim than I am, but they may not be as strong on the mtb allowing me to make up lost time. Then there's the benefit of getting out of the water and on the bike sooner, but then the next lap you have to fight through all those just starting the bike section. I know I'll not make up any time in the run and people like 8ball will start to bring back time on people like me. It's going to be interesting. I'm putting money on 8ball finishing better than me. I think I'll get him in the swim and our biking is close, so unless I get 4+ minutes on him before the run, I'm as good as caught as I'll be surviving the run and he'll be running the run.


The nerves are exciting, with the exception of PMBAR, it's been a while since I've done a completely new and unknown event. It'll be a new experience and I'm sure I'll be performing faux-paus right and left as I'm not hip to the tri. My transitions ought to be a gas to watch, especially trying to put on a full zip jersey while soaking wet and have the race number pinned onto the front.

Off to patch tubes.

Get Awesomer!

Why settle for less awesome like some guys when you can go so much more awesome? Rich from Backcountry Research sent me some updated Awesome Straps along with 2 super load toting Back Forty Awesome Straps. The Back Forty's are so big you can strap a Rich Dillen to your frame and still have room for actual useful items too.

New and improved rubber and stitching allow for more and better reefing and durability

Awesome Strap in front of the new Back Forty Awesome Strap

The new back forty strap gives me a bit more room for my monster Park multitool, extra chain links, master links, and levers. This setup didn't budge or hinder for the 64 choppy beat down miles put to it yesterday. A quick saddle adjustment need had the easily accessible tool out and put back in less time than digging it out of a pack. No dropped items, no noises, no sweat. So awesome.