Boo: Revisited...

After a riveting discussion in the parking lot at Lewisville Square tonight with Mitch concerning the debate over Tubular vs Clincher, we headed out with the crew on the Williams Road loop. Exactly 4.7 miles into the ride, I hear a resounding "pwoooooosh" I threw my arms in the air in disbelief at my sad fortune. A flat...on a tubular. Hence the title, 'Boo: revisited..." Mitch pulled off with me, but with no way to do any fix (i.e. a spare tire) it was fruitless. I got out the cell (which I never normally take on a ride) and call for spousal backup. SuperLis and DogWonder showed up about a half hour later in the civicmobile to rescue me. While I waited, I took the time to draw in the dirt with my water bottle...



Passing me on their second lap, my cheers were met with looks of sympathy... alas, I shall not ride with thee, dear friends...

Craziness!

So, basically the next eight weeks or so are going to be total cycling pandemonium (sp?) for me. Below is the planned calendar...

Labor Day Weekend Sept 3rd-6th
NYC/Cambride, NY Tour of the Battenkill riding w/ Erich

Three Peaks Cyclocross Race Sept 25th

CLM 100k October 2nd

Brown County Breakdown October 10th

Pisgah gathering (Double Dare?) October 29th-31st

Swank? November 6th

Pepper this schedule with some of the SECCA cross races Tuesday nights, and the NWS cross races Wednesday night and you have a full schedule...and then some!

Boo

Boo Dog.

Tour de Gaps

Primay Goal: Accomplished. Secondary Goal: Left for another year. Knowing that I haven't been on many long rides since the Hurt, Pain, and Agony, I set my sights on doing two of the four gaps today. That was my primary goal, and I was able to muster that. My secondary goal, loftier goal, however you would like to refer to it, was to climb all four gaps. I knew that it wasn't probably exactly realistic, but still in the back of my mind I wanted it. Now, onto the ride.

Last night I mounted up the fatties and the clinchers. I was concerned about doing two (or four) hard descents on my tubulars, and also I didn't want to risk flatting and prematurely ending the ride. Maybe I could have made the finish a bit faster with the other wheels, maybe made another gap...but I don't think it would have ultimately mattered.

The rollout was pretty quick, and all of the sudden we were out of town, and out in the country. At about mile 12, there is one steep climb on Pedigo Ridge. I got launched off the back of the lead group. I knew that was coming, and that if I wanted to survive I needed to ride my own pace. On up Squirrel Spur. UP...Up. I saw Erich, Brian, and Mitch all descending, looking strong. I think E at this point was top fifteen-ish. Once we summited, we turned back around and got to descend all we had just climbed. So much fun! My intentions of doing two gaps were to do the first and the last. I felt pretty good after the first, and made relatively quick work of getting to Willis Gap. After some quick deliberation, I decided to head up this gap. At this point I was thinking, "Hmmm, maybe I can make all four." By the top my thinking was, "crap, I hope I can make it back to the finish."

Descending off of Willis' Gap was great. Good sight lines, not many, if any switchbacks. At the bottom, I stopped at the rest stop to get some refills and some fig newtons. Rolling out, and onto the infamous Old Schoolhouse. Holy smokes, that was so wrong. After having already done about 4500 feet of climbing to have this horrendous wall of a climb was brutal! After making it to the top, it became very evident the toll it had had on other riders. There were people walking their bikes, a few laying in the shade and one dude totally out laying in a ditch. I stopped and gave the guy some sportlegs capsules and gave him some words of encouragement. Miles of alone time got me to the bottom of the final gap, and of course, I opted out, my legs were already cooked.

The lower section of Pipers Gap heading back into Mt. Airy was the most flat section of pavement on the whole ride. It felt grand to just be able to spin along comfortably at 22-23 mph without killing myself. On THE final climb, about five miles from the finish, my legs had had enough and started cramping. I pulled over into the shade and started to stretch them out. After about thirty seconds things were mostly back under control, and I was blissful to know that no one had seen me at my low point...or so I thought. Just as I start to get ready to go again, I hear, "YEAH BARRY!" Erich. Having summited all four gaps, and he caught me...wow. just wow. So I hopped in with he, John, and Diana to finish off the ride. We rolled in in just under five hours. Erich 5th, John 6th, Diana 1st woman (7th overall). Brian and Mitch came in not too much longer finishing strong. Excellent showing today!

Salem Cross

Chancey Sirena and I hit a loop tonight of Salem Lake. As soon as we left the parking lot the skies opened up and totally drenched us. There was some concern as to whether or not we would be able to make the creek crossing on the way out. No problems on the way out, or the return crossing. By the end of the loop we obviously were totally covered in mud, the evidence included below speaks for itself in the form of triple mud butt. triple mud butt!

Exhale Race Weekend

The Warm-up


Much fun was had at North Wilkesboro Speedway this past weekend with the NWS Exhale Race Weekend. There were about ten races each day, and most every racer could race in at least two per day, some people were able to rock out on three a day. Erich and I both raced in the 4/5 combined <35 and the 4 races both Saturday and Sunday.

Race #1- 4/5 Combined: Erich, Brian, and I pretty much tried to control the race from the start. We were on the front for probably 20 of the 25 laps, with Brian and Erich doing a majority of the work. The bunch sprint at the end went decent for me, but I wasn't in the best position and managed 8th.

Race #2- 4: Right off the gun, the Clemmons Bike Shop guys took off, and controlled the race the entire time. The repeated attacks by Clemmons softened everyone's legs, but Erich and I agreed that the 4/5 from earlier felt more physically taxing. Erich had a massive lead out, and I thought he may hold it for the win on the last lap, he was killing it. I was about twelfth wheel going into the last corner and managed to get up to 6th by the finish. The margin between 3rd and 9th was so close, woulda been nice to have been on the podium but I probably missed it by about a meter. maybe less.
Finishing Sprint with me in the pain cave.


Race #3- 4/5 Combined: Huge field of over 40 riders. Super sketchy moves. One dude got dropped off the back instantly but on each lap he would work his way back in and wreak havoc as he was spewn forth from the pack. Another dude couldn't hold a straight line to save his life, I dubbed him Nick Nolte. Pinched in in the last corner before the sprint and I didn't even get to open the legs up, 24th. Ouch. By far my worst placing in a crit.
Sunday's 4/5 Combined





Race #4- 4: Again, a pretty large field. Some of the 3 and even 4 women were racing with us. One was almost taken out as she was fighting for position. Massive surges followed by slower than comfortable sessions. 30mph to 18mph and back up again. The final lap, E and I were in great position sitting maybe 5/6th wheels. Another massive surge started and the sprint lasted essentially a half lap. This strung things out a bit, I lost my position by still managed either 9th or 10th. And no, thankfully I did not get "chicked."

Chilling in the pits after racing. V. Sport rocked First Aid and kept everyone cool...the beer garden next door surely helped too!


Great racing weekend put on by the team, Pirate Race Productions. I am looking forward to the cross series kicking off in a couple weeks as well as the Three Peaks Cyclocross Race. It's going to be a great Fall!

Something New

O! Faithful readers, in your perusing of the site you may have ogled the new link in the "sponsors" column. You may have also noticed that I've always been the type of rider to "just ride." I've never really done any kind of real training, no intervals, maybe every once in a while find a hill I like and do it a number of times. But, I've never had any kind of regimented plan, no help...so basically I've been clueless. All that ended over the last few days. With the introduction of Jill's new exercise phys endeavors, I've found myself with a coach who knows what's what. She had a plan tonight for Erich and I to do some intervals. Having never done them, I found myself nervous at the outset of the ride. However, by the end of the intervals it felt sort of natural, at least when hypoxia set in. Below are the instructions before the ride:



And after the ride:


I'm really looking forward to the idea of working with Jill and Erich. They both are great friends and are excellent at motivating me. Erich eggs me on to dig deeper on rides, and now with both of their knowledge bases working together, I'm feeling more ready to tackle new challenges on the bike.

My last MNRR for a while

Unfortunately, it is back to school time. Again this semester I will be teaching as well as taking grad classes. 13 credits on top of teaching full time will be a definite stretch, but this way I will be able to graduate in May instead of August. Totally worth having next summer free!! Anyways, this MNRR will be one I will not soon forget. We had a great crew of 11, all put in some excellent work, the sprints were hard, the hills harder. A few shots from the night:




Of course, every memorable ride ends with time well spent on the front porch of a great friend. E and I spent time talking plans for Labor Day weekend, this winter and on into next spring. Battenkill anyone?

Welcome Home!

ROOOOOOCK!

Things quickly fell together this morning for a ride to warm me back up to NC. Chancey, Sirena, and Jim met Erich and I at Paceline for an East Bend/Baltimore/Wyo ride. Jim had already been riding and had other plans for later in the morning, so he peeled off before crossing the Yadkin. The four of us continued on across the river and up Taylor. While regrouping at the top, we had a big crew of cyclists going by on Flint Hill. OUr newly acquired carrot of about twenty or so riders were out front.

Some quick pulls and they were in sight. We zipped on past, and stopped in at the gast station in East Bend to refill bottles. On back Flint Hill and we were on Baltimore. We made quick work of the climbs on Baltimore and continued across Dinkins Bottom. We made the Bottom of Dinkins very uncomfortable. Err, well, we were uncomfortable. Either way. Once back to Courtney-Huntsville, Chancey and Sirena decided to head back towards town, but I just learned that their ride continued and they ended up with over 100 miles for the day...nice work. Erich and I continued on and hit Wyo. The ride back in on C-H, Shallowford and CC was rough in that there was a pretty stiff headwind. We saw more cyclists out, and made it our job to reel them in. It was a great ride, and a fun return to the Old North State.

Indiana!

Round three of the Tour de Midwest: Indiana! As I've noted in the past, Brad lives within two miles of Wapehani Mountain Bike park in Bloomington. We are able to ride a greenway for about a mile and a half, then road for about a half mile then we're on singletrack...nice! We hit up a short ride there when we got into town, then in the AM we made our mandatory trip to Brown County State Park. After our ride, the whole crew rolled over to the pool. A pool with waterslides should follow every single ride. seriously. even in the winter. maybe just with hot water.



I found out that I take my slip'n'slide action very seriously. My brother and I would shoot out of the end and slide about 5-10 feet on the grass. I ended up skidding onto the concrete sidewalk, which was less than ideal, but gave everyone a good laugh!

St. Charles

Lisa and I made a little side trip today to St. Charles to explore the old town and get some cool history/shopping done. First stop was a mandatory cafe stop at Picasso's Cafe. Note the Cinzano umbrella's, made me think of Breaking Away.

Afterwards we hit up somoe cool shops including a hot sauce shop...yes, an entire store dedicated to hot sauce:

Some more historic areas of town were explored, we visited with Daniel Boone for a bit and headed back to the bro's place.

As an aside, it seems that every place in the midwest/south has at one point used Daniel Boone as a claim to fame. I wonder if he ever visited half the places people claim he has been.

Midwest Tour Continued!

So, I got in a couple other rides in Ohio at West Branch. A 3.5-4 hour ride topped off by some super fun solo night riding, and a nice 3 hour group ride with some of the guys from Eddys (the shop I worked at). Heath was tearing it up and jinxed himself by having stated, "I've had a no dab ride thus far." Having a no dab ride on the rock trails at West Branch would be one of those unforgettable days. He made it until one of the last sections and had to make a couple small dabs. Impressive riding nonetheless. I snapped a few photos and shot and edited a couple little videos:

West Branch from Barry Stevenson on Vimeo.

After a couple more days in Ohio, Lis and I made our way to St. Louis to visit my brother and his family. I was able to get out yesterday to ride the trails at Castlewood State Park. They were a nice change of pace, with some cool overlooks over the Meramec River. No photos to share, unfortunately, the camera was MIA until about an hour ago. I think if my clothes weren't very literally hanging onto me, I would likely lose them off my back!

Sugarcreek Road Ride

On saturday I was able to manage the time to get in a 60 mile solo road ride. Some gravel, some country roads, and a couple roads that were a bit sketchy as far as fast traffic goes: