Wet Toes and Tombstone Tour

Word came in via New Neighbor Corey yesterday that the Godfather would be making an appearance in Rockvegas and was up for an adventure ride. As soon as I got home from work I dug out my old trusty DeLorme Gazetteer and started scouting potential gold. There is a region southwest of the farm that runs along the Duck River that I've been wanting to investigate but haven't ever had willing cohorts to venture "off the beaten path." The day was not to be wasted.

I showed them a few gravel roads close to the farm, then about 15 miles in we got our first taste of one of the many "unimproved roads" I'd plotted along the route. Before we headed down the lane, Stanley pulled his phone out and used one of his apps to see if the road really existed. He said it showed it not going through. I said my map showed it crossing a creek before connecting to the highway and asked if which he wanted to believe the phone or the map. As Corey and I consulted the map Stanley disappeared. Soon he was out of sight, already making his way down the lane, laughing most of the way. Stanley is the biggest kid I know.

So far the phone proved to be wrong and the map right. In fact, the map was accurate all the way up to the deep, wide creek crossing. Unable to find a shallow or dry path across, and no real sign of it continuing, we turned back and vowed to come back in warmer temps.

We made our way over and around towards the section of the map littered with unimproved roads, but unfortunately we were met time and time again with "Posted no Trespassing" signs. Ugh. Sign of the times.

We did, however, find many, many cemeteries along the route. One particular site had over 5 separately fenced cemetery plots. The oldest surrounded by a rock wall, others by old wrought iron fencing,  a raised rock bed plot underneath twin magnolia trees, and a small plot of 3 stones outside the fences tucked behind a large tree and small evergreen. We also met a new friend, a friendly Aussie-husky mix.

We wound our way along the Duck river until daylight was getting short and the headwind we'd been riding into started changing direction out of the Northwest, making it a headwind all the way home. Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Tailwinds - four things you'll never see. Our 4 county wet toes (yes I got my feet wet) and tombstone tour was coming to an end. Just as I thought it would be a boring ride home along familiar roads, Stanley noticed a stone in a field. It turned out to be a marker erected for a Revolutionary Soldier and his wife. A weathered monolith quietly standing guard in a solitary field in Marshall County. A silent reminder of all that is still out there to be rediscovered.

Thankful

Another year, another official day to be thankful. The official day that kicks off the madness that is "Black Friday", and now even "Brown Thursday". The crazy commercialization of the holidays. I'm so thankful H. and I aren't into shopping, or crowds, or frivolous spending. I'm thankful we both love country living, farm life and it's endless lists of chores, and that we both have hobbies/sports that we enjoy and keep us outside and active.

I'm thankful for my pond, my dogs, and their love of running single track with me as I ride. I'm thankful for the ability and health to continue to ride and race bikes. Thankful to the people of MOOTS Cycles for not only making dream bikes, but allowing me to represent them via their GrassMoots program. Also for their continued support and friendship. I hope to get back to the mothership this coming year for another family reunion.

The Godfather presenting the coveted Godfather Cup.

I'm also thankful for cycling bringing such varied and interesting people into my life that I now call friends. Especially my Smith County Mafia crew. I'm thankful for Steven and Ruthie for altering the day's plans to accommodate H.'s crazy work schedule. Thankful for their continued hard work to put on one of the best renegade events of the year, The Godfather Cup. Thankful for Stanley and his infectious laugh and love of exploring via bike. His eternal "wonder where that road goes" youthful exuberance. Thankful for all the friends they have introduced into my little world.

Nathan was worn out after the ride. He's lucky we didn't grab the sharpie. 

Also thankful for their shared love of pranking and joking. Life is unfair, painful, and sorrow-filled but a lot more tolerable and fun to experience with as much humor as you can pack in.

Thankful for my family. Growing up in a small town I saw them a lot. As college and young adult life took off, distances grew. Free time to travel home diminished. Now it's once or twice a year that I get to physically see them. Something for which I'm not thankful. I miss them. I miss the Sunday lunches at Grandma Hoffman's, the dual big family dinners at X-mas and Thanksgiving, the summertime family reunions, the booming "well hello there" greetings from Grandpa Spence and riding out to the farm with him, throwing horseshoes and picking onions with Grandpa Hoffman, 4 o'clock happy hours at Dad's. Social Media has made keeping in touch easier, making the many miles between us feel a lot less distant, and allowing rare treasures such as old WWII photos of my Grandfather's to be shared. I'm thankful of my family's love of picture taking and that these old photos have found new life in a digital age.

I'm thankful we were able to go visit my sister, sister-in-law, and niece out in Salem. I love them, especially that little blue-eyed wonder child. I wish we had more free-time and money to afford more frequent trips, but grateful for the moments we were able to share. I hope to get back out to see them again next year as well as visiting a few other friends scattered around the states (look out Montana, Colorado, & Minnesota).

So this Thanksgiving do something for this old kid (aka me), take a moment to enjoy what and who you have in your life and not what is on sale or when the stores open. What's in front of you and not what's on the tv. Take a moment to look around outside, to look up at the night sky, to enjoy that cup of coffee or tea across the table from loved ones. Take the time to listen to their stories, to breath in their lives. Those are the moments worthy of keeping and are far to fleeting. Happy Thanksgiving,

Recovery Day Stash

My day off was used as a sick day. Worse use of a sick day ever. The plan was to lay around and sleep as much of the day and sickness away as possible, only I was unable to sleep without being interrupted by coughing and snotting fits. To occupy my time, I stripped the Psychlo X down and started the post rainy, muddy race repairs. Since I didn't have anything better to do, I was able to take my time and get a really thorough cleaning in. Everything came off: brakes, cranks, cassette, wheels, chain, etc. Sand eradicated, mud removed, parts polished.

The two and a half week old team GXP bottom bracket had both bearings seized up. Dammit. Determined not to replace anything because of stupid engineering designs, I worked on freeing up the bearings. Degrease, scrub, degrease, scrub, dry, degrease, scrub, dry until finally all the surface rust had been removed and the races cleaned. Fresh application of some King grease and the bearings spun freely and smoothly again. An hour and a half of labor beats dropping another fifty bucks on a bottom bracket.

One of our fellow GrassMoots riders recently submitted a post about secret stash rides. It reminded me of the typical rides that churn up around here this time of year, namely the Godfather ride (2010, 2011a & 2011b, 2013). I look forward to this ride more than every other each year. Hidden gems are ridden, raced, and explored with some of the most amazing people I've been blessed to call friends. 

Hoping my body heals enough in time to be able to suffer though the ride, I needed to test out the PX to make sure everything was going to be right and ready for the weekend. Sickness be damned, I suited up in some warm clothes and headed out to my "secret stash" with the dogs for a quick shakedown ride.

We explored some little ridden paths and trails. The leaves and cold grey weather reminiscent of Godfather Gravel Rides past. The leaves and creeks reminding me of my favorite section of the GGR last year, the old horse trail along the river. I really hope the rain holds out and that section returns for the 2013 running of the GGR.

The bike was working as good as new and feeling at home in the woods. I, however, wasn't feeling up to much so after a bit I parked the bike and let the pups play in the creek. As they explored, I sat back and took in the scenery. I truly feel blessed to have such a secret stash available to me, be it the trails or friends. I'm one lucky dude.

Cannonball!

JD loves swimming almost as much as he loves running trails. One could say he's a bit obsessed. The 42 degree day didn't sway him either. He was all in. "Dock" diving and launching after sticks. This dog cracks me up.

Royal Pain in the Sinus

The week started off really well. Things were swinging back to the normal side after returning from New England with a satisfyingly refreshing outlook. Getting back out on the bike was something I looked forward to as opposed to feeling obligated. The upcoming round #2 of the MOAB Cup also added a bit of excitement to turning the pedals. 

I had a ton of errands to get done on my day off, several of which required waiting on others to complete jobs, making scheduling events tricky. I opted to improvise and use the time waiting as an excuse to get out and ride/explore areas not normally convenient to me. Several dry creek beds, deer trails, and urban alleyways offered plenty of ride stoke while waiting on the car mechanics. 

A "felt like a day off for once" day off followed by an early morning singletrack session kicked Wednesday off in the right direction. A "finally feels like winter" Weds night group ride and post ride cheer at McCreary's Irish Pub made the work week feel like a continuation of vacation. Then came Thursday. 

Hours spent working with a customer who had the day off work and wanted to try some different setups on some bikes. The day off because of illness? Perhaps. He was coughing, aching, sniffling, sneezing, why the hell did you bring this plague into the shop sick. No worries, I'd just be sure to wash my hands and wipe down the tools after all was said and done. A slight worry about catching the plague before the weekend, but the day wore on with no ill affects or signs of contagion. By Friday, thoughts of Typhoid Mary's visit had long since vanished.

Then came Saturday. Still no real issues, just a scratchy throat adding a minor nuisance to retail work. By Saturday night my sinuses were stuffed and constant draining down my throat has me choking and coughing all night. Very little sleep and ever increasing sinus pressure and itchy watery eyes. Ugh. I needed to be at the race venue to help finish setting up by 8am. Something that didn't happen until just after 9am thanks to the rough night. 

Several Advil cold and sinus tablets later and I was feeling almost human again with only the annoying sore and scratchy throat with which to contend. Despite the cold wind and rain followed by balmy humidity back to cold wind and rain weather pattern, ailments were far from the forefront and racer heckling, cheering, and jeering took place as normal. As my race time approached I felt more normal and had a good warm up. I was excited to race the new venue especially since it was a muddy mess with plenty of off camber goodness and hard turns. Finally real cross weather worthy of the hours of tedious bike cleaning and maintenance sure to follow. 

I felt good from the gun but quickly realized I couldn't go full gas. Even the steep and slick run up failed to get the heart rate to spike. I watched as the leaders opened the gap and tried to go along but the body said no. I rode as hard as I could to hold onto fourth place, upset my race wasn't going as expected but enjoying the hell out of the course, the conditions, and the crowd. 

Two nights of interrupted coughing, aching, sneezing, sniffling, stuffy, itching why the hell do sick people not stay home ailments and I'm desperately hoping to be over it before this weekend. Sunday welcomes the 2013 edition of the Godfather ride and I'll be damned if Typhoid Mary takes it away from me. 

So, kids, please remember if you are too sick to work you are probably too sick to shop. Fear not, come road race season I will be sure to return the favor to Typhoid Mary. 

The Storm

I'd almost forgotten about the Storm Eva Bandman Halloween CX race that went down in Louisville, KY the Sunday before our Salem trip. MOAB Cyclocross teammates Jeremy, Whitney, and I did the red-eye drive up way, way too damn early that Sunday morning.

Due to fog and a time change we ended up getting there just before Whitney's race took off. About 80 racers lined up in the cat4 race along side Whit. Nearly last row start position, no warm up, and no pre-ride, Whit raced his way up to 9th overall and 4th cat4!

For me, it was my first CX race on a real CX bike with gears, carbon tubulars, drop bars and canti brakes. For 9 years I've only ever had a single speed mountain bike at my service. 97 racers toed the line with me. I was second row from the back not having any OVCX points. I was so far behind the physical start line it took nearly 10 seconds to pass through it once we all took off. 

The start had a hard left turn just after the paved start straight away. I was nervous being surrounded by 97 others packed into a 10' wide swath of lane. A crash took out the group ahead of me. Another few seconds lost trying to thread through the carnage, but I'd made it and put in a surge to get a gap and try to catch back onto the field that was quickly getting out of sight. 

A few turns I was too nice and got doors shut on me. By the fourth one I'd realized I was better at turning with speed than those around me. I stopped worrying about upsetting people and held my lines. I quickly started making ground. CX racers corner like roadies, tape to tape catching the apex of the turn. For better or worse, I turn tight like on singletrack, inside turn to inside turn. Leaning the bike, no brake. That alone allowed me to make passes on groups of racers, not just one at a time. 

I was having a lot of fun. My brain shut off. I was focussing on reeling in the person in front of me and getting around. Then I moved focus to the next rider. Never looked back. Zone. 

Normally I have 30 conversations going on with myself in my head. Worries of all sorts. Distractions that lead to hesitations or playing it safe. None of that happened. For 45 minutes I just pushed my limits and let it ride. Focusing only on momentum and catching riders. 

By the final lap I'd clawed my way up to 15th and had 3 challengers on my wheel going into the steep hill just before the finish line. I punched it and held on to the finish, keeping them at bay. Euphoria. 

My only regret is I couldn't double up. All 3 classes I can race in happened at the time of my race. I'm also sad I didn't cat up to 2's before everyone in the 3's got too fast for me to podium on my ss mtb, I really wished I could have raced for a full hour.  A couple years back it was possible to be competitive in the 3's on an ss, not so much nowadays. I had enough points to cat up to 2 but I knew I'd just be in the way on my ss as they were all next level. Ah well, I'll just have to work hard to get the points to move up this season. 

Regardless of category, the OVCX race reignited my cx flame and a new drive to compete in the big fields vs the 10-15 racer local scene. Though the local scene is growing. The 4/5 field has been in the 40's regularly this year and I am told the last Cat3 race had 30+ racers as well. Hot damn, I think we've got a renewed cross scene. 

Next Sunday brings the 2nd race of the MOAB Cup down in Bell Buckle. Brand new series, brand new venue. I can't wait. We might even have a chance of some mud. Hells yeah. 

Swinging Back

With only a 4 day work week for me this week, things quickly got back to normal. Riding has resumed albeit we bailed on the cold and wet Weds night ride in favor of a cold and dry Thurs night ride. Which worked out better for me as I had managed to squeeze in an early morning cross ride before the rain on Weds. 

Having a few extra days off at home after Salem allowed me to focus on finishing the tack room build up (or at least all the wiring and most of the insulating). We also got the massive burn pile tended to, getting us caught up on chores needing completed before winter really sets in. Freeing me up to get out and off the farm a bit. Something I took full advantage of early, early Saturday morning before work.

Several of us met up at the new mountain bike trails at Percy Warner park. It's a little bit of Pisgah in our backyard. Pretty dreamy. 

Though not without its risks. One broken collarbone and one concussion for two of my friends out there already. Quickly making it a must visit trail. 

Rocks, berms, doubles, table tops, berms, drops, ramps, bridges, and flow. A little slice of heaven out the back door and just what the doctor ordered. I need to take 3 rides a week until symptoms clear up. Symptoms? Wishing I was on my cross bike most of the time. Maybe I ought to take 2 rides a day until further notice.