Lights Out!

Despite the daylight hours getting longer, it's still dusk-thirty by the time I get home from work. So sad to not get out to enjoy the sun and warmth of the day. I bared the cross yesterday, but it was to torturous today. Especially when you have friends like 8Ball who roll in mid-ride just to let you know they're out enjoying the sunny, warm weather while you're stuck inside.

Ah, but I planned ahead. Batteries were charging whilst I worked, making for a very merry puppy when I got home from work. 'Tis the season of the night ride: Still 68 degrees out. Still a bit too early for bugs. And no sign of spiderwebs hanging face level across the trail.

I'd forgotten how fun trail riding is in the dark. The lights force your focus narrow. Everything fading into black behind the fallout of the light in your periphery. Sounds seem louder and crisper than during the day due to your other senses blinded by the darkness. You force the pace. Faster. The shadows shift giving the trees the appearance of dancing side to side as the lights on the bike weave around the trail. Faster still. Soon the intense focus brings a calm zen-like flow and the stress of the day rolls off with the beads of sweat.

It's not about fitness. It's not about speed. It's about fun. About escaping. About focus and clarity. About not hitting the trees.

Plus it's a little creepy out there alone in the dark woods.

On the less dark and more warm and fuzzy side of the blog, we have a new arrival at the farm. She came just after the cool front passed in following Monday's big storms. A happy and healthy little baby girl. Congrats Han!

Packing It In

Not getting consecutive days off has altered my tradition of mini-trips over a weekend. I've adapted rather well to the split days off and actually kinda like it better. Or at least it's a nice change. The week gets broken up nicely and on weeks like this one I end up feeling like I had two weekends sandwiched in.

A gravel ride was planned all week by most of us. Each day the list of participants seemed to grow larger and larger. One name I was particularly looking for never came across as a confirmed ride. I had hoped The Godfather would come experience our little slice of heaven, but I never heard a word out of him. When Parker and I showed up on time (only 5 minutes late - Parker needed to stop for water) though, he greeted me in the parking lot. Today was going to be a great day.

Several new to our gravel riders came out, even a few came off the couch (that would be Mathew back there behind Daniel). Not a single person bailed and everyone did a great job with the hills and myriad creek crossings.

Typically for each additional rider over a group of 3, your chance of flat or mechanical doubles. Despite a cast of characters 13 members long, only 4 flats were had and we finished with a much improved average speed as well. Though the perfect conditions and 80+ degree weather probably didn't hurt either.

While riding, Stanley and I were taking notes for a Tennessee version of the Death March. H. suggested that we do it near Halloween. I kinda dig that idea. A Hallowed Hollers Ride (or for you Harry Potter fans maybe a "Deathly Hollers" ride). Stay tuned, it's gonna happen. I think it'll be a lot more fun and offer a better experience for people than just another road race.

After a long day in the saddle, I came home to two very upset pups. They missed out on all the fun. Since the weather was still amazing, we headed out back to play in the creek and lake. Nothing like a cold creek to make the legs feel good again after a long day in the saddle.

Dish and JD got in some run amok time and took turns fetching sticks in the lake until the sun started to get low in the sky. We watched as it set behind the ridge, then headed back up to the house. Damn this was a great day.  How's that for some half full action H.? :-)

Also, if you're local and got some time Friday and Sunday, looking to camp and work on some trail contact me. If the weather cooperates I'll be getting out for some camping, trail work, and riding at a private invitation location this week and could use some help.

"You Cannot Run with the Hare...

 all photos by H.

And hunt with the hounds."  According to an old proverb that is.  Being based on an expression of truth though, it befits my Chickasaw Classic experience. I think next time I'll just ride with the hound. 

Work, life, the have-to's and need-to's consuming all available time squeezing out the want-to's, lack of sleep, lack of riding. Pick an excuse, it's probably in there. All of these conspired to leave me little actual time to ride these past few weeks just as our local XC race series was taking off.

I could have sat it out, after all I'm not in "race shape". Isn't that the acceptable excuse? It rained for days before the race, it'll be muddy and I'm over muddy races tearing up my equipment. A more solid and defensible excuse, right? Wrong.

The local Columbia Cycling Club had put a lot of time, effort, and trail work into readying the course for the AMBC race. It was cold, damp, and muddy, but not horrible. Typical perfect spring classics weather and as a fan of the nasty hard races, I did what any out of shape wannabe-cobble racer would do: Race to find fitness. Plus Vic would call me a sissy.

Though my carb-challenged legs tried to dig deep, the ab ripper x addled glutes countered every positive by cramping at the most inopportune times. Cramping is new to me. Last year when food and water did everything possible to avoid going into my system, I never suffered a single cramp. Not at PMBAR, DSG, or even in the 114 degree heat and 86 miles of nothing to eat or drink in Kanza.

It made for a slog of a race. But I dug in and pedaled on. Taunted by the cheers and jeers of H. and Stanley. While JD quietly offered his support. Or was that jealously for not getting to race too?

It's funny the things that run through your mind as you suffer through a race. When you're out front and winning, you barely seem to have time to think about much other than not hitting a tree or casing a rock. When your spun off the back alone for most of the race, it seems like an endless amount of time is available to ponder life's greatest mysteries such as "why am I out here?", "I paid money for this?" and "if I plow into that rock maybe I can quit with a mechanical?"

But no matter how bad your performance. How muddy the course. How bumpy the roots. Crossing the finish line reminds you of the joy in accomplishing the task at hand. You're better for it.

HERO: Rick Harmon racing his first race back since overcoming colorectal cancer. 

Besides, no matter how bad I was hurting out there, it's still better than not being able to be out there at all.

The Thot Plickens

Meet Daniel. Daniel bought his mountain bike back in October of last year. He's 9 years old and Sunday's wet and cold Chickasaw Trace Classic was his first ever mountain bike race.  He pre-rode the nearly 10 mile trail twice before lining up to race - for the first time.

He owned the 14 and under class from the gun. Even under the heckling of the tifosi. This kid is my hero. Impressive, most impressive. Way to go Daniel.

Chickasaw Trace Classic

Tales to follow as time allows. For now a teaser shot from JD's perspective.

Thorax XR3 1138

The week of the super moon. I thought it'd chill out a bit after last weeks big hurrah, but CDT seems to always bring about expedited days with to do lists as long as daylight. I did come away with some cool parting gifts though.

120tpi XR3 Team Issue

For being a good student and paying attention in class Tuesday night, I was gifted a set of Bontrager XR3 Team Issue tires to try out.  I had a choice and was torn between the minimalistic XR0 and the knobby XR3 I opted for the meatier knobbed tire in anticipation of this weekends potentially mucky mud race. A multi-wheelsized mtb owning co-worker grabbed the XR0 to test in a 26" size so we could swap tires later on.

A little rim adjusting was needed before starting the tubeless conversion.

I used to be a Conti tire guy until they swapped to the triangular shaped knobs and started feeling all squirmy in turns on me. Maxxis has since been my go to tire the past 2 years, the Ignitor for winter and loamier trails, Aspens for everything else (cross, gravel, xc, pisgah). I really love the Aspens. It'll be a switch riding something with big knobs. It's also saying something for the tires that I'm actually taking the time to swap out and setup another tubeless wheelset. I absolutely loathe swapping out tires, which is why I run the Aspens everywhere. Yet here I am not only swapping tires, but going through the hassle of another tubeless conversion as well. Yep, the tread pattern intrigued me that much.

Bye bye stinky cloth tape.

Weighing in at 505 grams and composed of 120tpi rubber, the XR3 comes in under the 535 (120tpi) / 570 (60tpi) 2.35 Aspen tires I have. I can't find any documentation to support it, but I believe the XR3 Team Issue utilizes their Tubeless Ready technology (ok so maybe I wasn't paying that much attention. I do know the XR0 doesn't employ TRT in order to make a super light race tire, but I'm told they seal up just fine.)

Nice open lugs should be good for shedding mud. Time will tell.

I can vouch for the ease of setup on the XR3's though. Mine setup without a hitch in mere seconds. At first I thought the profile was going to be a lot smaller than the 2.25 Aspen, which has a nice high volume casing making for a fat, cushy ride with minimal weight penalties. Though once pumped up, the XR3 2.20 casing plumped up nicely.

(Left) Aspen 2.25 fresh off the trail compared to the newly setup XR3 2.20 (Right)

We got a little bit of rain today and I'm hoping to get out tomorrow on my trail out back to test how they handle. I'm a little leary the transition from center to corner might be a bit abrupt (ala old style weirwolf tires) but I'm holding out hope they ride similar to an ignitor with better shedding power. Had I paid for these tires, I'd be pretty stoked about their new guarantee:

You'll Love Our Tires. We Guarantee It.

We’re so confident in the performance of the new Bontrager tire line that we’re backing it with a guarantee unsurpassed in the bike tire business. All Bontrager tires are unconditionally satisfaction guaranteed for 30 days from the date of purchase. If you - for any reason - don’t like your new Bontrager tire, return it (along with your original sales receipt) back to the place of purchase within 30 days of purchase date for full refund or exchange. It’s that easy.

That means I can buy, try, and be confident that if they don't ride as expected, I'm not stuck with tires that suck. I can return them for a full refund or exchange them for another set. Pretty awesome.

Speaking of awesome. I took receipt of my new Raxter Thorax a couple weeks ago. Aside from them never hearing of someone named "TeamDicky" and charging me extra for merely mentioning his name, the rack lived up to it's promises. Well for the most part.

It's not as light as the site made it seem ("feather light"), though it's not overly heavy. It's a good weight, just not the lift it easily overhead light pictured. It's also extremely well made. I'm impressed with most of the details. The trays are great. The ability to adjust bikes left or right of one another makes loading multiple bikes a breeze. I love the velcro straps in lieu of the finicky ratchet strap devices common to other brands. And it folds up easily and quickly. My bikes are safely tucked up behind the car on the road and after a week of traveling with bikes on the interstate, I still got 35.5 mpg using low grade gas.

The biggest nit I have with the Thorax comes solely from the assembly stage. Paying as much as I did for the rack, I expected it to go together extremely well. And it would have. 6 simple bolts to assemble the trays and one bolt for the folding arm mechanism. The folding arm bolt was accidentally omitted from the package which made the rack unusable until I purchased a substitute bolt from Home Depot. To their credit Raxter got me a bolt out ASAP.

The tray bolts didn't fit smoothly through the square holes and required each one to be knocked in with a hammer. Each whack threatening to strip off the threads rendering the carriage bolts useless. The holes on one side were 1-2mm off from allowing the bolt to slide through. This garnered some cursing while assembling. It wasn't that the holes were off as much as it was the tray slot was bent out a bit and once one bolt was tightened, it pulled the holes into better alignment.

At first I was angry. I'd been dreaming of owning a Raxter hitch rack for over a year and finally got a car that accepted a hitch, installed the hitch, saved up and purchased the rack. I probably had some out of wack expectations due to that. Then I thought about it and realized I'd rather have too tight a tolerance in the rack than too loose, which makes for a very sturdy rack in which it is.

All in all it came together reasonably well and I've been enjoying the rack as intended. The assembly frustrations are the only real negatives I have about the rack. Raxter customer service was easy to get in touch with and responded immediately to the missing bolt. The rack easily accommodates my road bike and mtb, as well as allowing H's bike to no longer require the use of the frustrating faus bar. No more wrestling 3 bikes onto a hanging rack strapped to the back of the car. No more worries of things rubbing against/through the carbon fork stays.Three bikes fit with ease and still allow me the use of my hatch and returned to me the use of my rear wiper. Life is good. Long live the hitch rack.

Rut Row!

JD trail side waiting on the gang.

JD and I got out for two rides in the woods this weekend. Friday was near 85 and sunny. The first really almost hot day we've had this year and JD was a little slow to adapt. He limped along on our ride barely able to trot which actually turned out for the better as all the hours of elbow greasing, lack of sleep, and lack of water this week had finally caught up to me, sapping me of energy and motivation. We enjoyed a slow pace out on the trail, spent some time chilling in the creek, then headed home early. We were cooked.

Sunday proved to be similar temps and just as sunny, but after finally getting some decent rest, JD and I were feeling more spry. Chickasaw was the destination and with the upcoming XC race next Sunday, the parking lot was a veritable potpourri of who's who in the Mid-TN mtb scene. We had a new bike owner out experiencing the woods with us on what is probably one of the best ever first time ride experiences a newby could have. Perfectly manicured trail, clear skies, perfect temps, lots of polite riders, JD the amazing technicolor dream dog, and a cast of characters in the parking lot creating the perfect post ride festival atmosphere. I think we spent as much time hanging out as we did on the trail. Taking it back old school days, eh Daniel?

The water was cool, perfect for a post ride dip and several mid-ride stops. Good for keeping the pup cool (evaporative cooling works wonders) as we wound around the trail that got me hooked on mountain biking as an adult-esque person.

Saturday felt like a blur. The doors opened at work and the next thing I know we were closing, an hour late. A good problem to have but one that set off a chain of events for the night. Adam had plans at 7 but we'd also planned on getting a short road ride in post work. No worries, we'll only be about an hour or so. Other than starting an hour late, everything went pretty smoothly, everything except for my legs.

Caution: Ruts are deeper than they appear.

Finally starting to come around after a good climb and a hard 43mph quasi-sprint dig, Adam pressed to turn right and hit another big climb. I mentioned we should do an over and back rather than follow it all the way back to the main road for the sake of daylight. We decided to see how we felt after tackling the beast. Halfway up though, we were tempted by a road that had always intrigued us. A loose dirt and gravel rutted out logging road. You know, the perfect conditions for a road bike ascent.

On the way back down Adam's wheel felt a little wonky and was rubbing the brake. He thought he had just knocked it out of true and was going to take a moment to fix it. Turns out the hub flange busted, not gonna fix that. So we decided to skip the steep climb and rapid descent for Adam's health, and limped the bike back towards the shop.

We loaded the bikes on the car and headed home, stopping in town to find a spot to grab some dinner. Then the phone rang just as we both took notice of the time: 6:45 pm. The dangers of adventure roading, broken equipment and loosing time. (Double) doh!