Great Unexpectations

Last weekends plans to race got put on the back burner when I found out that we would be getting a visit from lil' Miss Maeve. It's been about a year since we last got to see this little bundle of joy. I couldn't wait to see her experience the farm. It was a great weekend. Sad I only got one full day with them, but cherish all the moments I did get. As Maeve would say "More. More."

Watering the "Neighs" (aka horses)

Bushhoggin'

Time to "More. Fork. Neigh" (aka feed the horses)

Helping Aunt H.

Feeding the chickens.

She thoroughly enjoyed my bottle collection. Salsa/Gravel Rocks.

MOAB

and Moots.

She also liked my hats so she got her own cycling cap complete with "Neighs."

Dining room table photo for my EMIL. 

Rockstar on the way to the zoo.

Maeve and her friend Nora rolling to the zoo with natural style. 

In Between Daze

photo cred: T. R. Ludwig

The week has been simultaneously moving fast and crushingly slow since Sunday's State Championships. The weekend races are fast approaching, but so is a sinus infection. Hoping taking the night off from riding will help spur a speedier recovery, or at least prolong my collapse until Sunday afternoon. We shall see.

I did manage to sneak out for a damp recovery ride with the pups before work on Tuesday. Work on Tuesday? Yep, had to fill in for a few who have been out for trade shows. Perhaps that's why time seems so slow, losing that day of play.

JD has been feeling it too and has been pretty wiped out come end of day. It's a hard knock life for a shop pup. Guess riding Weds night with recently crowned National Champ Farkas was a bit much for him too.

Between riding, working, falling ill, and racing we also bid adieu to our foster dog Roxie. She has been successfully reunited with her owner in a new house with a yard. No more apartment restrictions instated by wacky neighbors fearing for their lives from a potentially vicious 10 lbs jugular biting bath-salt addicted pit-russell zombie dog. It's going to be a little lonely around here without her, but she's going to love having her family back. She's such a sweet dog and desperately needs to be somebody's only pup. Lucky her owner came back for her just in time, she was developing quite the list of people wanting to take her home.

And let's not forget a little levity. Jocularity in full effect when I rolled my road bike out from the back of the shop to pick up some more acetone. I thought the wheel felt a little funny. The dual magnets were good to boost the average speed though. Well played Adam, well played.

Consistant Coaching: The 2012 TN State Championships

 This one is much bronzier than the silver from last year. 

Another year, another State Championships. This year the race fell on the Montgomery Bell race two weeks after my protege Daniel and I took our first season XC wins. We are both coming into late season fitness and were feeling pretty good about our chances. We pre-rode the course the Tuesday after Mousetail and followed our normal routines as much as possible trying to stay fresh and ready for the State Champs race. Competition would be of higher caliber being a State Champ race, but we were feeling good. Our main rivals were our own teammates, Jim (GrassMOOTS) and Jamison (MOAB) Simms and we would be racing them on their home course. Home court confidence on their side. Slight ego boost from a good showing last race on ours.

Me, Jim, and Shaggy photo cred: Andrew Head @ Swiftwick

Before I knew it we were off. I'm not the best at getting a good start but somehow found myself sitting in the lead before the first turn of the grass run before entering the singletrack. I sat up a bit and went into the woods 5th. I'm a slow starting diesel, never have been fast from the gun. We got into the woods and positions were swapped. I realized I had someone hot and heavy on my rear, it was Jim. He's way to fast to be behind me at the start and I let him pass. Dumbest move ever. He was gone never to be seen again until the end.

Daniel too, found himself leading the hole shot into the woods. He sat up and let Jamison lead him in (Coach's tactical blunder there in hindsight) and the boys revved through the woods with lap times equaling those of older and more experienced riders. These JRS haul some ass. He was closing the gap to the lead when a teammate/friend/competitor hit a tree pretty badly and got his leg pinned down. Daniel stopped and helped him up and made sure he was ok, then told the first adult he saw (Jim Simms) out on course and made sure someone knew to check on Nathan.

Daniel ended up third (just like Coach), unable to bridge back up to the race ahead. In my book though, he's a Champion. He did the right thing and made sure Nathan was ok before racing off. These kids are going to go far. 

Daniel, Jonathan, and Jamison, Part of the MOAB JRS team.

Not much rest between races this week. Next weekend we have the Old Hickory Classic TT, Short Track, and XC. Game On.

Chasing Jim. Photo cred: Darryl Glascock IMBA/SORBA.

The Boy in the Effluent Water

JD and I went out for a trail ride after work Thursday. We were lucky enough to get a break from the high heat and humidity and wanted to take full advantage of the good fortune. We stopped by a pond to let him cool off and get a drink. That's when we saw the sign: "No dogs or animals in water. Absolutely no swimming. Effluent water."

What a waste of a perfectly good pond. Stupid rich people and their affluent water. We'll show them, won't we JD?

Then I decided to look up the word Effluent. That's when we left. Well played rich people, well played.

Bikepacking 101

The shop was having a Santa Cruz bike demo out at Chickasaw this past Sunday. The weather called for some rain chances, but more importantly, slightly less miserable temps making it a perfect weekend for some bike camping. The perfect plan: ride into work Saturday morning, work, ride out to Meriwether Lewis Campground (a free campground) via some old country roads and gravel, camp, get up and ride over to Chickasaw for the demo, demo, ride home.

So Saturday morning I rolled out all geared up and rode into work all set to head out for a weekend of bike camping adventures.... at home.

Home!? Yep home. Patrick hadn't ever bike camped before and had new untested equipment as well as a 20 year old bike we weren't sure was 100% (or even 22.5%) up to the task of loaded touring. I only have a tent and light sleeping 'blanket' remaining from getting all of our camping gear stolen last Labor Day weekend at LBL. Plus with H. working, I had animals that needed some attention and what better place to test out some gear than the back 20?

I had yet to test out a real camping setup on the new steed which doesn't allow the use of two of my custom frame bags. So some experimenting was needed, especially with several fall time bike camping adventures being planned. I was easily able to store the tent, footprint, rain fly, and stakes in the Revelate Designs Sling on the bars. Clothing, towel, and sleeping 'blanket' was stuffed into another dry sack and originally stowed underneath the saddle and to the seatpost via Backcountry Research Clutch straps. After a few miles of it rubbing my thighs, I swapped it to the top tube where a gas tank would ride and had a better experience. Two Backcountry Awesome straps carried my spare tubes and a Revelate Designs Feedbag hauled food, tools, and spare/emergency supplies. 

The weight distribution felt great while riding and performed flawlessly even off road. Definitely a good direction for Trans Georgia. I've got a few other ideas to try, but all in all the setup is pretty efficient, minimalist, and functional. The tent however, felt like a sweat lodge with the rain fly on it. Two panting dogs probably didn't help the situation much either. I opted to risk getting rained on and removed the rain fly for which I'm happy I chanced it. A cool breeze rolled in over night and I woke up to a great sunrise and cool temps inside a breezy tent.

The demo went well, albeit a little wet, but the trail held up for most of the crowd and the real rain didn't stay around too long nor take too much away from the fun. It was pretty welcomed really. It brought the humidity and temps down to a comfortable level and JD was able to really get in a good run, plus some play time with Larry.

Larry.

I'm grateful for being able to get out by bike this weekend, even if it was only out back. I got a lot of good miles in my legs, was able to test different configurations, and most of all, it has stirred up even more motivation to make 3 of my "it would be cool if" bike camping trips happen. Fall is going to be an interesting time. I'd better start saving for my Alpacka.

Sharpening the Knife

The annual Mousetail Challenge XC race was this past Sunday. Last year it was my first XC race aboard the new knife and I kinda hated it. I was still new to the wagon wheels and it felt sluggish and slow on the mostly uphill but twisty course compared to the snappy 26'ers.

I was also woefully out of race shape. Something that took me months to finally admit to myself. This year I've gotten to ride more. Not necessarily more miles or more hours, but more purposeful and Sunday it showed. I entered the woods 5th wheel and my plan was to race for third and hope for the best (the best being 1 and 2 taking themselves out and moving me up the podium). Half way up the first climb I had to pass the dude in front of me, he was woefully slow. I sat in behind 3rd for a bit as his pace was good, but any turn or downhill he was all over his brakes. Sorry Charlie, I didn't sign up for a Jeffy Nomentum ride.

I made a pass and quickly caught up to the 2nd place guy. That is when I realized my legs had something to say that I've not been able to for a couple of years now - "I can go faster than this."  I made my way around and was off chasing 1st. About 2 miles before the end of the first lap I caught and passed 1st place. I told myself it was mine to lose now so don't be stupid and found a groove that I hoped would stick. It stuck.

Daniel "two firsts this weekend" Medley out preparing for the State Championships.

The State Championships are in two weeks. I'm feeling pretty good. The miles since my reboot in Steamboat have been good to me. I'm back to pushing a solid gearing and having something in the legs. I've also been to a few Knife Wielding 101 courses this year and have learned how to stop worrying and to love the bomb. Hopefully things will line up right for me and I can improve upon my silver from last year. We shall see.

Before the Storms

It's been a long time since I've not wilted in the heat. The past 2 years haven't been so kind to me with riding and heat. The past few weeks have hit us with 100+ degree temps that seemed to hold us hostage until the recent wet weather set in. Dry and dusty trails, hot and melty pavement greeted us wherever we roamed. And roam we did.

It kicked off early morning the Saturday before the Fourth of July with a little 'Stand By Me'- esque exploration. Some trail here, some gravel there, a small jaunt on an old abandoned Civil War era train tracks. Our Breakfast Club ride has become a favorite weekday tradition of mine this summer and it never ceases to amaze me how much adventure we can find less than a mile from downtown.

With many of us having Wednesday off for the Holiday, a Southern Discomfort Gravel Grinder ride was put together by the usual gravel suspects to kick off the fireworks early. It would be a day of hill attacks and downhill sprints. A large crew assembled before the true heat of the day kicked in and we meandered our way around the gravel gold that is Hickman County. The economic times and the diminishing population of the small rural communities have hit some of the local general stores harder than others. We recently lost one of our favorite refueling stations along the way which made for a much hotter and harder ride than anticipated. One stop was all we were going to get and it came less than a third of the way through the route. Plan accordingly.

Whenever a group of riders greater than 3 get together, the chances of mechanical issues grows proportionally higher. There were several flats encountered along the way and even a tire failing beyond repair. So slowly but surely our group whittled away until we had four smaller groups each trying to make their way back to the cars. The first group had a hard time keeping pace and opted to head off and explore at their leisure. The second was hiding out in the shade of some trees waiting on a vehicle to pick them up. A third continued on the original route but waited at an old country church for stragglers and a chance to rest in the shade and refill empty water bottles from a spicket. The rest followed me as we raced back to the cars trying to get home before Fourth of July plans fell South. It was a long hot day in the saddle, but not one that ever put me into the ropes. It's good to be back.

Sunday brought with it the real heat. 104 degrees in the shade on Raccoon Mountain. It was hot. The ride started from a blacktop parking lot 10 miles from the top of Raccoon Mountain. We slogged in the heat finishing a water bottle before even reaching the top. It was going to be a long day.

I hear people rave about the 'Coon all the time. It seems as if a caravan from Nashville is heading down every weekend. I've often thought about going but just can't seem to make it past Monteagle. I mean the trails are fun, the views are great, but I just don't get the same wow factor as I do from some of the other mountain trails closer to home. But I gave it another go. Stepped outside my comfort zone and hit it up. I'm glad I did, though sad we parked in a hot, shade-free parking lot no where near a swimming hole. Note to self: Never ever break Summer Rules.