Good to see Sirena back on the bike after her crash. Not a whole lot to say about the ride aside from that it was awesome to get out with some of the Mafia and do a nice city loop. There were a couple good efforts put in, with a few sprints for good measure as well.
I hopped a ride to work this morning and rode the bike home. I took an alternate, indirect route home and ended up with about 25 miles of solo goodness. Nothing crazy, not too out of hand speed-wise, just fun. I stopped along the way to talk to Billy...plans are already lining up for a big ride 6 months in the future. (Brown County Breakdown 2010). I snapped a couple of photos along the way, and just generally enjoyed the day. I wish that I felt safer commuting to and from work, because the whole riding home from work definitely helped me decompress from spending 6 or so hours with 80 eighth graders.
After I arrived home, the matronly figure and I went to Sixth and Vine downtown...can you say wonderfully, awesomely, Ahi Tuna? Afterwards I made a quick run to the local outdoors shop. Lo and behold, I spy Duane there already spending the mad cash he made last night at the crit race. Dude's living like a thug now, spinners and all. Next up, gold grill that says, "ride" on his four front teeth.
Another race is in the books at Dixie Fairgrounds. Whit and I toed up along with one of my PRP teammates, Alex. There were around 15 or so in the field tonight, probably mostly due to the weather earlier in the day (cold, rainy). The race was for the most part pretty tame, by about halfway through the field dwindled to around 9 or 10 of us on the lead lap. Whit was taking some really long pulls on the front, and each time he tried to pull off, the Benisimo guy behind him refused to pull through and would swerve over behind Whit to not allow him to drop back. Awesome. On one of these rotations, I tried to head out around the outside to take a pull but the wind was so strong on the straights that by the time I wound up towards the front I had already expended quite a bit of energy and couldn't really help out. Alex took a turn on the front then with about three or so laps left and upped the ante a bit. We were all snaking through the turns and on the last lap the sprint finish (racing for nothing) I was able to take third and Whit fourth. Cool.
In the 4 race, Duane and Mitch rode extremely well finishing 3rd ($) and 7th respectively, most impressive guys!
The 4's getting ready to take off
Bert the Hurt in the chicane (sp?)
Mitch, rockin.
Duane is going to make it rain...in the money tonight!
I just submitted my final paper for this semester at App State. Yet another semester down in my mindless journey towards my master's degree. I now have a few weeks off before summer session starts, and I'm only taking one class. I should now have more time to actually ride my bike instead of working on papers while dreaming about riding my bike. The weather here in the Western Piedmont has been unreal as of late, 70's...sun...beautiful. After I get through my one summer class, I'll be heading to Nebraska for a week to study Native Americans at an old fort near Sioux country. While I am out there, I plan on making full use of my time and doing some mountain biking in the Black Hills, and possibly over into Wyoming. I'll make my way there and back by way of both of my brother's places in Indiana and Missouri. It's going to be excellent...especially the 26 hour drive home, solo, mostly non-stop. Energy drinks, red eyes, and hot chocolate anyone?
This will be my waking vision in Nebraska...far different than NC
My goal for the day was to hit Pilot, but with no takers on the ride, and the unexpected bit of wind and threat of storms, I opted to stick closer to home in case things got ugly earlier than expected. This was a non-point seeing as it is still absolutely beautiful out right now. Anyways, I had the plan still of doing some of the good climbs that I am lucky enough to live by...River Ridge, Kilmurray, Beroth, Vienna-Dozier, Shore, Bowens and Griffin all serve up climbs that are sustained above 10 percent. In the mileage I did, around 35, the GPS claims that I climbed just under 3800 feet, which seems high, but could be close with all of those hills. Things add up pretty quickly. Around 20 miles or so in, I decided to do a stupid time-trial-esque effort for the length of Vienna-Dozier and River Ridge. Aside from the one real climb, my speed didn't dip below 22mph, and most of the time it was around the 25-28mph mark. Needless to say, I was pretty well cooked after that effort, but still had some good climbs left to do. I turned back around once I got to the end of River Ridge to go back to the Water Treatment plant, because I saw something interesting happening there. I tried to capture video, but the little camera is less than adept at quality video recording. There was a Falcon (probably?) trying to catch smaller birds by diving in on them, it was circling way up in the sky, and then swooping down on them. Very cool. So, then I took off, and stopped in at CG Hill Park for a few minutes to just enjoy being outside, watch the geese, and relax. The ride was more for fun than for any real type of training, which is good, because I have no real idea how to train. A day on the bike is always good, no matter how you feel!
Azaleas are looking good here in the Western Piedmont
Last night Erich and myself decided to roll with the Clemmons shop ride. The loop took us around the backside of Tanglewood, I think most of the locals call it the Dock Davis loop. After three laps as a warm up, things heat up for the fourth. Erich and I attacked a bit towards the end to try to string things out since it hadn't heated up too bad. After we worked our way back into the little pack three took off, so we started to jockey to get out to the left to pass. Two riders tangled in front of me, with one going off the road and into a gravel parking lot to avoid going down. I safely negotiated around the group and sprinted up with E, we weren't able to manage to catch the three that jumped, but were able to finish the sprint in 4th and 5th, not too shabby.
Me and a Clemmons rider in the pack
After we got back to the shop, we decided we hadn't had enough, so we packed it up and headed over to Tanglewood for some night riding. We both had to hit the restroom, so we headed over to the newly re-opened campground. Through the mud we went and were almost halted in our tracks, which almost led to an unscheduled dismount, which almost led to some absolute hilarity. We put in a few good sprinting/hill climbing efforts in the park and paused to snap these photos.
City Loop tonight with Mitch and Erich. It was fast, painful, and extremely fun. We modified it a bit to include the loop by Tabor, then included the Broad/Forsyth/Buena Vista trio of climbs in the West End. Massive, heroic pulls by Erich left Mitch and I gasping, looking for any respite on Country Club. The pain is allayed in the back of my mind by reminding me that this will only serve to make me stronger, and the next race/ride easier.
Mitch "the wrench" wonders, have you paid your Mafia protection fees lately?
Erich "the breeze" caught unawares...and states, this will be the last time...
Post ride profiling of the new bike for "the Wrench"
felt a bit like being circled by a shark at this point.
Tonight, I did my first criterium race. I'd always been intimidated by these types of races (fast, flat, lots of turns around a tight course). I've always been a much stronger climber than anything else, so these races definitely do not play into my grimy hands. I got a short warm up, mostly because I lack the foresight to arrive early and register quickly. After a few laps to kind of get the lay of the land, I toed the line and got the obligatory Cat 5 pep talk which inevitably goes something like this, "What are you racing for tonight? A hat, that's it. No money, so be careful about sprinting for 60th place...blah, blah, blah." After the little discussion, we were given the "go." The race started off pretty harmless, with an easy enough pace to sit in extremely comfortably. I was thinking, no big deal here, the cornering wasn't as hard as I thought. I think having started off as a mountain biker definitely helped with the handling skills as some looked less than confident in the corners. The time started to peel away, and all of the sudden the director said, "Ten laps remaining!" The pace quickened. I took a turn on the front, then worked my way back slightly to get a rest, and noticed three others took off off the front. I figured, no big deal, we'll reel them back in. I sat in for about four more laps always in the front three or four of the pack and realized that we weren't pulling back the break. I looked around, anounced my intentions and stood up to sprint.
Suffering in my bridging attempt I started to bridge the gap and was feeling pretty decent. I thought for sure that someone from the pack would have come with me to help close the gap, but when I looked over my shoulder I found myself alone in no-man's-land. My fellow CLMer's were cheering for me at the start finish, but I couldn't go on in that situation so I dropped back into the pack and figured I would be racing for fourth. I worked back to the pack with about two laps left, but was feeling pretty cooked from my frivolous efforts on the front, so when it came time to sprint in the end, I didn't have much power on reserve. I finished somewhere around 8th. Overall, I was pleased with my effort, and I've got another bit of knowledge and experience to use in the next race. Hopefully, next Wednesday, myself along with some of the CLM will head out to do the Wednesday Night Crit in Wilkesboro...we shall see!
It's been a very busy week for me, with little time for any riding unfortunately. We took the eigth graders on a three day field trip to Wilmington, which was, as always, a ton of fun. We had a whirlwind tour of the area, hitting some historical sites, some museums, the aquarium, and downtown Wilmington. The history of the area has always intrigued me, I need to spend some time there without students, so I can truly explore. Myself along with three of my teacher counterparts decided to do a polar plunge into the ocean. Nice 50ish degree water was a wake up call late at night! In any case, here are some photos I took while there.
A house that Cornwallis commandeered during the Revolutionary War
The beach by Fort Fisher
Five of a Kind, Suckas!
The trip to Wilmington was tempered by the fact that I had picked up my new frame and fork from FedEx Tuesday night before I left. While I was spending time chaperoning youngin's my frame and fork and pieces/parts were lying at home all lonely and such. This morning I got a jump start on the build process, but will have to drop it off at Cycletherapy later on today to have it finished off (lacking some key tools).
Today, while Erich is racing in New York, and other CLMers are riding for charity, I'll be stuck inside working on a massive paper I have yet to start. It's due Monday. I've done nothing. I always pay for procrastination as today it will be 70 and sunny, perfect for a ride.
Not much to write tonight, spent, hungry again and ready to get some rest. I ended up off course and rode about 39 miles or so in a 35 mile race. Managed 37th out of 63 with the detour. Much fun! Highlight, bombing downhill on the gravel at probably nearly 30mph hitting braking bumps...so sketch, but so fun.
With the Boone Roubaix on the very near horizon, as in tomorrow, I wanted to get out and do an easy spin just to get the legs loosened up. I also had it in mind that I wanted to hit some gravel again as well. Perfect solution: hit some gravel forest service roads in Pisgah. I rode for about in the National Forest between the parkway and Mt. Mitchell. The roads that I spent much of my time on are included in the Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell mountain bike race held in July. The roads were dicey, but fun, on road tires. 25-30 mph on gravel that hasn't been driven on since October made for some hairy cornering, but it was all in good fun. 1 hour in the saddle on gravel with no flats makes me confident for my tires holding up for tomorrow's race.
Along the way, some views up towards the parkway would open up. On the way out, riding in the truck, I noticed that it seemed to be pretty hazy and smelled like smoke. On FS477, with a view up towards Green Knob, I discovered the source. Smoke was pouring from the ridge. I don't know if this was a prescribed burn, but with the helicopters flying around, I would guess that it was not intentionally set by the forest service. The whole area up around the parkway looks like a bomb went off with all of the limbs down. Hopefully this isn't a sign of the fire season to come.
As I mentally prepare for my first road race, I am trying to remind myself not to take things too seriously. I have an unfortunate tendency to underprepare physically and then have a total colon blow of a mind right before and during races. Knowing this subtle (not really) detail about myself, I decided to head to the forest again today. Ah, yes, the comfort that is retreatism. Anyways, I decided to hit some catch and release and wild water today, and also go for a hike. I was lucky enough to catch about 7 or 8 trout, the nicest of which is pictured below. After fishing for a while, I went back to the truck, ate some food and let the dog run around in the river for a bit. We then packed it up and headed over to another area to hike to Roaring Fork Falls. Along the old roadbed, we saw quite a few signs of bears in the area, not the least of which was a log that was totally obliterated in the search for grubs/termites. Another tell-tale sign: scat. Lots of scat. After the numerous olfactory diversions for Lorien, we ended up at the final destination. Dernrightpurty if I don't say so myself!
