zee Gaps!

Many of these were burnt through for the evening


Erich spying one of the goals for the day


Goal for the night: Climb two gaps of the Tour de Gaps ride. Mission accomplished in a different way. We had planned on following the course from Squirrel Spur over, but when we got to the top of the second gap (Willis Gap), we spied a gravel road off the parkway so we followed it for a while.


While on the gravel road, we got on this downhill and killed it. We were probably hitting about 30mph when we both hit some semi disguised braking ruts that nearly ended with us picking lots of gravel out of ourselves. Somehow were delivered to the end and tt ended up taking us the couple miles over to the top of the third gap (Orchard Gap). We refilled bottles at the little market on the Parkway before heading down. I snapped this photo at the top: Dirty legs from the gravel:


So we bombed down Orchard, turned around at the bottom and climbed back up to the Parkway.

Climbing Orchard


We then turned and took the Parkway all the way back over to Squirrel Spur and bombed back down to E's truck. The ride total of 33-34 miles isn't much, but when it includes nearly 4500 feet of climbing in that short of a ride...ouch.

NWS Crit

Last night was another installment of the NWS Crits at the Wilkes Speedway. 4 of the other PRP guys showed up, two of whom do not have kits yet, so we'll call them stealth pirates. After the 3-2-1-Go! everything was pretty tame, nothing too crazy going aside from a couple of surges. With about 7 to go, Stackhouse took off after we caught back up to the Prime winner from the previous lap. He stayed solo off the front until about 3 laps to go. The pack was closing in on him, and everyone was chomping at the bit to pull him back into the field. Just as we were closing in, I see a move to my left starting. Two BSG teammates were chatting/making eye contact. I had a mind-reading moment and realized they were going to attack. I shifted down and followed their attack. One guy either blew up or was just planning a lead out, but he sat up after about a quarter lap, so it was just the two of us. We were hauling, like in the 28-31mph range. I'm not even sure if we had a gap on the field at this point, everything was a blur the last two laps. Mostly a hypoxia induced blur, but a blur nonetheless. He pulled a little gap on me on the half lap, but I kept pulling hard to try to stay out front. With about 75 or so meters to go I heard the telltale clicking of gears behind me and had one of those, "crap!" moments. I was caught and passed by twelve riders having left nothing for a sprint at the end. From second to fourteenth in a matter of about 75 meters. meh.

MNRR

Monday Night Recovery Race. Rolled 9 deep. Rocked Petree, Summit, and Buena Vista. Rob was looking strong and won the sprint tonight, nice work Rob! A few noteables were missing tonight (Erich, Mitch, Duane and our long lost brother Curtis).

Recovery

This is the first year that I have ever focused on any form of actual "recovery" time. I've never been one to have th emindset of recovery on a ride, but this year, I have embraced the merits of recovery rides. I woke up this morning feeling a little sore from yesterday, and I knew with the expectation of 110 plus degree heat indicies for the day, earlier was better. I loaded up the cross bike and headed to scout another area for the fall ride I am planning. This ride is starting to look like it is actually going to link up. I snapped one photo today of a butterfly I saw along the route:

Hurt, Pain, and Agony

Earned it's name. I was able to muster a performance good enough for 27th, Erich in 16th. On the way up Frank Parkway and Oklahoma things quickly stretched out and there was one group ahead of the Mafia. We were being realistic and decided to let them go and join in on the second. Once we made it to the top of the big climb it was many miles of big rollers. We were on the Parkway for a little while rocking along at a good clip with about ten riders. As the ride continued, we picked up some stragglers from the lead group, dropped some of our group. All in all, the core of the riders consisted of Erich, another PRP guy (good to meet you Bryan), the Saddleblock boys (Kenneth, Scott, and Brad) and I. After about 40 miles, most all of us were hurting for water in the 90 degree heat, so we actually STOPPED at a rest stop. WHA? We made a three minute refill and were back on the road. After about another ten miles we were faced with the final hefty climb of the day in Mahogany Rock. At the base of the climb I was getting some cramps going in my Sartorius muslces and had to hang back a bit. I should have just manned up and kept the pace up to stick with Saddleblock and E, but I was in the pain cave and couldn't find my way out. Once back up to the Parkway and having worked through my cramps, I could see Saddleblock in the distance. My concerted efforts to bridge up to them were met with more misery and it was not to be. I finished the final 15ish miles or so relatively by myself in total survival mode. Rolling back down Oklahoma and Frank Pkwy I was close to 50mph again and came in with a finish time of 3:41. Erich attacked on the final climb on US21 and finished in 3:36 with the Saddleblock boys in between us. The gap between 15th and 27th: 5 minutes.

Overall this was one of the best supported rides I have been to with a great cause (The American Cancer Society). While I was riding, some of my thoughts drifted to those that I know that are in their fight with cancer. While thinking that hard rides are an accomplishment and a "feat of strength," I was reminded that the struggles that others face make my "hard ride" seem like a stroll in the park.

Cross Scouting

I took the Cross bike out last night to scout some more areas for the little shindig ride I want to do later this fall. I had to wait until it wasn't eighteen thousand degrees so I strapped on to the light and headed out. Along the way, I met this little guy.


He ran alongside me for a little bit, then ducked down into the creekbed. Cool little dude. Apparently Lisa's grandfather used to have one as a pet in Cleveland.

I probably pushed the cross bike about to its performance limits as far as off road riding goes, some of the stuff I rode would be much better suited to a mountain bike. I'll have to take someone else out on it to see what they think. A photo of some of the dirt that I was riding:


Post ride:

In the News

Just got an update that the 3 Peaks Cyclocross Race will be held September 25th. The website is still pending, but the route info has been posted here

Sounds pretty impressive, 50ish miles over 7k feet of climbing. End of September at 5300 feet should be nice and cool. I'm hoping this does not conflict with the to be rescheduled CLM100k. These two events combined with the Brown County Breakdown in early October should have me in fine shape!




I submitted my mess to be upgraded to a CAT 4 yesterday even though I only have 8 races under my belt. This morning I checked in on usacycling and found that they had allowed me to upgrade. Now, I have to decide whether or not I am man enough to roll in the 3/4 and 4/5 race in Wilkesboro next week. Hmm....

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!

Erich, Rob and I had some time today to check out the major climb of the Hurt Pain and Agony being held by the BMCC this weekend. From Traphill Elementary up Frank Parkway to Oklahoma Road and onto 21 is a nice hefty six mile climb with about 1700 feet of gain.
Oklahoma Road...where the sun keeps beating on our backs...

Our ride started around 3 o'clock, right in the hottest part of the day (as Rob asked for) and it was brutal. Somewhere in the mid 90's with high humidity and climbing completely exposed to the sun until the last mile or so on Oklahoma made for a very sweaty summit. Our main goal of the day was to check out this climb and Mahogany Rock Road which is a steep (but relatively) short climb that will be about 50 miles into Saturday's ride.





Once we made it up to the Parkway and started back towards Mahogany Rock we realized that we were running lower on time than we anticipated so we hopped onto 21. I was really struggling by this point after having sweated out so much on our climb.
E saluting the Eastern Continental Divide

Once back on Oklahoma, the descending began in earnest. Fun corners, some gravel (sketch) and one corner that definitely suprised E and I. Now, on Frank Parkway, the speed really got hairy. We were again in the neighborhood of 50mph, but on wide open road with great sight lines so it didn't seem so crazy. After having gotten back and loaded up there was some discussion about how the ride will be much better for us when it starts at 8AM and things are a bit more manageable heat-wise.

MNRR

Monday Night Recovery Race. E and I rolled from his place to get in a little bit of extra mileage, plus get a warm up before the rolling carnage ensued. The crew rolled strong tonight with eleven or so riders. New dude Trevor rocked strong and I think he had fun as well. Cisco (as always) was my nemesis for the evening. I would launch off the front on a climb but would always be reeled back in by him in the last 20 or so meters. Too strong, just too strong. Much fun had by all, and it was good to be back riding with the Mafia!

Drew showed up seriously ready to ride


E and Trevor


Most of the crew

Busy Week

Since, I've gotten back I've gotten in three rides, all on the road. Wednesday night with the Clemmons ride with Erich, Rob, and Mitch.

Thursday to Pilot with Erich and Rob. And today, the granddaddy, part of the Tour de Gaps.


Erich, Cisco, Mitch and I all headed up to Mt. Airy to hit up part of the Tour de Gaps course, just to get in some climbing before next week's Hurt, Pain, and Agony. After heading out of North Carolina

We got in about 42 miles, with the climb up Squirrel Spur. That climb was amazing, I can't wait to get out again and tag another of the gaps along with this one. Realistically the climb is just under 4 miles, and probably a bit more gain than Pilot, just spread out a bit more reasonably. After hanging low on the lower section of the climb, I tried to bridge back up to Cisco and Erich, which proved to be an exercise in futility.

Too strong

The climb begins

Everyone was riding strong today. After some deliberation at the Parkway, we headed back down and saw upwards of 50mph. Holy crap. On the way back to the cars we had our typical friendly banter and competition to try to outsprint each other. During an obligatory water stop, we refueled on some amazing homemade fudge. I'll totally have to remember where this gas station was, that piece of fudge probably consisted of about two pounds of butter somehow condensed into like 2 ounces...but it was amazing!

Oh, and here is Cisco's ubersecret Campy test front derailleur...you didn't see it here

Nebraska Riding Experiences

First off, I must say the riding in Nebraska was truly amazing. Simply from the fact that it is so different from here in North Carolina. Almost all of the riding was done on gravel roads, and I figured it would be that way, so I decided to take the cross bike.


I also got in some short singletrack and some doubletrack as well on Wildlife Management Areas.

Riding at sunrise and sunset was beautiful.

Yes it was cold enough that morning to justify the warmers, probably in the 40's



The area around Fort Robinson is essentially surrounded on three sides by steep buttes, so as I ventured to the limits of the area (at least the area accessible by bike) I felt more and more hemmed in.



The wildlife was amazing as well. I was lucky enough to see many white-tailed deer, pronghorn, buffalo, prairie dogs, and a whole bunch of other things as well.



On my last ride, a barely outran a storm. It was probably one of the most intense lightning storms I've seen.

Fort Robinson: Reflections on the Educational Experience

Since I've had a couple days to mull over the events from the past week, I decided to break up one massive blog entry into two still relatively massive posts. One is focused on the learning experiences, the other entirely on my riding while there.

I learned that at 85mph, the miles really peel off on a car



I leraned that some heroes are touted with massive monuments



Some choose a more subtle remembrance



And still others that are incredibly worthy are nearly (and sadly) forgotten by popular culture




And that some monuments are are just plain ridculous


I learned that too many turn a blind eye to blatant problems


Lakota food is amazing (especially the buffalo stew)



Also, 150 years ago, people were just as eager to leave Ohio as me


Obviously, there were many others as well (ruts worn into rock from the Oregon Trail)


And, lastly, getting caught in a storm in South Dakota is entertaining to say the least. Chris was almost blinded by opening the window to the car.