Dreamy new parts

Steve and I both ordered some custom bars from Madison at Seven Cycles . 15 degree sweep titanium...buttery smooth with the rigid fork...almost makes me want to swear off suspension forks.

We got a ride in last night at Horizons park with another guy we've been riding with as of late, Ryan. No pictures from the ride, nothing too spectacular, just a short late evening/night ride at a pretty tame trail.

Burnt...

Well, I can say that I was disappointed in my performance at Burn. 11 laps for 80-90 miles....weak. I got 7 laps in before about 9:30 Saturday night and was feeling pretty strong throughout the afternoon laps.

Le Mans style start

Steve taking off leading out for team Saddleblock B




As evening approached, and the sun got lower in the sky, my stomach started to feel really heavy, as if there was a brick or something in it. I struggled through a couple more laps after this but then decided to take a nap in the hopes that my stomach would feel better. At about 1:30 my wife woke me up and I still felt sick so I stayed in the tent. Again at about 3:30 I woke up, got dressed, but couldn't stop shivering. Finally got motivated to get back out on the bike at 6 or so in the AM and got in a couple more laps (total count at this point 9). Fueled by a steady diet of Pringles and Burn, I started to feel pretty good at this point. I went back out for two more laps, and oddly enough, actually rode the entire last lap with Mark Hendershot...which was especially cool, just because he is the man. Overall, the race was a good time, I learned a lot about the strength of my mental will (or lack thereof) and what not to do next time....stop for a break, it only makes things worse, and harder to get back on the bike. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think had I not made a few mistakes I made, I might have been able to break out 18-20 laps....next time.

Early AM Lap



Goofy happy to be done


Spent

Preparing for Burn

In preparing to do my first 24 hour solo race this year, I have to look back on my previous experiences with these kind of races...

My first 24 hour race was with a team of four at the 24hours of Mohican back in Ohio. I had only just begun riding the season before, but gathered up a few friends and put together a 4 man team, unfortunately I cannot find any of my pictures from that race. I loved the idea of being out there on the bike in the middle of the night and riding with like-minded individuals. The race was small, and the loop was long, so it was rare to actually see anyone out on the course. I do, however, remember being passed by Garth Prosser and Tinker Juarez...

My next experience was last year's Burn 24 hour race. I convinced one of my friends from back home to come down for the weekend and suffer through on a two man team with me. Jason and I each did 11 laps which was only good enough for 10th place (out of twelve....ouch). It was amazing though, I was fortunate to be out on a lap when the sun came up and the light was dancing across the lake, unforgetable.

This is one of my favorite photos from Burn last year


Early AM Sunday encouragement


My next experience was at the Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell last year. Steve and I had gotten to know each other quite a bit from working at http://www.pacelinebicycles.com together. We decided to just give the race a go, hadnt really trained at all, but decided to have fun with it. It took us over 10 hours to complete. Our goal this year is to be able to complete it in less than 7. Here are a few pictures from last year.

taking off up the parkway after Curtis Creek


A view from the top


a sight for sore eyes....


the aftermath




I am so anxious about this year's Burn; I have set lofty goals for myself. I'll have some pictures and a write up done next monday...

Barry

First Frame!!

I finally finished the drawing for my first frame build! It took much longer than I originally thought. There are so many things that go into designing a custom frame. A very complex balance between frame geometry, tubing and frame part choice, and of course aesthetics. Here is a pic of my working drawing and tube set.


eAs you can see my living room is being converted by this process, luckily I have a supportive wife. This frame is going to be a fixie mostly for commuting and grocery getting. My nex project will be a custom 29'er for my wife. I am also slowly working up Ideas for next years team bikes.

Tomorrow Ryan and I are heading up to do a couple of laps at Dark Mountain. I love that place! Hopefully I will get some ride pics posted from that and I keep updated on progress on the frame.

Heartbreak Ridge

This past wednesday Steve and I headed out to get in a long ride out of Old Fort. We headed up with the intention of doing Heartbreak and Kitsuma at least once. We were not able to complete our goal, more about that later....

We started off with the nine mile climb that is Curtis Creek road. The climb went incredibly fast, and we were both feeling pretty good. We stopped at the top for the obligatory Blue Ridge Parkway overlook pose-off.

We then headed down Heartbreak Ridge after a little hike-a-bike to the top. The Azaleas, Laurels, and Rhododendrons were in full bloom and were amazingly beautiful!

Our ride down heartbreak ridge was puntuated with stopping to clear the trail of windfall, but it was still fun even though the flow was broken.


We got to the intersection of Star Gap and continued down to head over to Mill Creek road. With about a mile left, I took a pretty good spill over a downed log and got a bunch of dirt/dust in my left eye. I then limped it down to the campsite to flush my eye out. We got everything out, or so we thought, and headed on our way. My eye was still bothering me, and by the time we got to the top of Mill Creek road I could hardly keep it open. To err on the side of caution we decided it best to head back to the car and call it a day. Still a pretty good ride with about 40 miles and 6000-8000 feet of climbing. Another great day in Pisgah!