Summertime....

Um, where did Spring go? Yesterday, the high was forecasted to be in the upper 80's, low 90's; so Paula and I decided to meet at 0900 to ride at the Cove. She will be racing at Douthat on May 3rd and needed to get in some climbing time. I am commited to doing house repairs and other crap until what seems like the next Century, but decided to go spend quality time in the great outdoors.

We set off on our ride shortly after 9 and headed up Four Gorges Trail. I do hate starting a ride this way, but it sure beats a mile of pavement followed by a quartermile fireroad climb, in otherwords SINGLETRACK > PAVEMENT. On 4G, there is of course an unexpected dip in the trail where I was brought quickly to a stop. The resulted in the soaking of both of my feet in the cool water beneath the stack of leaves. Oh well, at least it was warm today. After this brief interuption, I was able to find some rhythm again. Why it seems to take a while to get used to riding a certain bike I will never understand, but this happens to me everytime I switch between my bikes. I will definitely say that my SS has taught me how to stand up and ride. I found myself using this alot with Ritchey Sunday especially on some of the weird little ups and turns.

Once off of 4G, we made a right and continued on up the Brushy Mountain Fireroad. We didn't stop until reaching the Gauntlet trailhead. I was shocked that I was able to ride continuously to this point, and that I did so without ever using the granny gear. After a visit to a nearby tree, we headed down Gauntlet. I have never ridden this trail downhill, and the only other time I've been on it was climbing it the day before the Green Ridge Mountain Fire over a year ago. Well, the trail was rerouted at the top following the fire. It was the most fun a person should have on a bike. Fast, flowing - absolutely fun! The middle and bottom sections were rougher, but there was more than one place where you could let off the brakes and roll!!!

Upon reaching the bottom, we paused for a break. Of course we had stopped about midway to rest our hands. Mine were taking a beating from the trail. We took Horse Pen to Trough. This a flat trail that has a skinny bridge. Paula stopped, I think I halfway bumped her as I said, "move, I'll ride it." I made it, but halfway across I thought this is going to hurt if you mess up now. HA! At Trough, Paula was telling me about the split in the trail. Seems the downhillers have made a nice place to do there crazy jumps, and as it turns out we got to see one of them roar down the hill and fly over one of the jumps. It was pretty cool to see. Crazy, but cool. We did get to chat with the guy soon after. He was very nice.

Ok so Trough is likely very rideable, but I was getting tired and hot. I ended up walking a bit too much, but oh well. Riding back up the fireroad to Hi-dee-ho was cool too. Good way to recover a bit. Stopped to take some pictures of the fire damage. Mother Nature amazes me how it grows back despite alot of burned trees. Hi-dee-ho is a fun trail. I've ridden down it a few times. I've never done the switchbacks - I just don't trust myself enough. I was hard on the brakes again in the narrow sections. Once the trail widens a bit, I rolled on. Remembered to pull the front wheel up on the little jumps, so I got to fly a bit. Ritchey's full suspension worked marvelously. I didn't even realize I'd passed the trailhead to the connector because I was having so much fun.

For all of the climbing, this ride was the most enjoyable I've had at the Cove in a while. The lower trails just get trashed when they are wet, so they are rutted pretty bad in places. I get tired of splish splash mud too, so maybe I'll just have to continue going up to ride.

Ok well - there's more I could say, but I gotta get to bed. PEACE YA'LL. =)

Filthy Fireroad Fun

10.75 miles
1:11:13

9.1 mph avg speed ?!?!

One gear!

My goal originally was to ride from the boat dock to the Bennett Springs gate and back, but I was running short on time, so I rode the fireroad to Little Bell then took it and Schoolhouse back to the fireoad. Mud puddles galore, mud splattered everywhere! It was friggin awesome!!!

Also, learned that the Cove is a 1/2" from the top of the spillway and that the streams are running strong enough that the City has closed both tunnels for now! The water is actually lapping at the edge of the parking lot at the boat dock. As a long time City resident and survivor of water conservation several times; this pleases me immensely!

YAY!

Skinny Tires...

Today I got to sneak in an hour and a half of road time before having to get ready for my cousin's baby shower. I enjoyed what I did, but as I rode back into the backyard; I found myself wanting to keep riding. It is an absolutely perfect day!!! I had finally worked some of the soreness out of my quads and was having a pretty decent ride.

I don't mind riding road, but I swear drivers around here have little respect for us! Today was a tad frustrating because I had to stay within a 30 minute radius of my house because I was on call; so that meant I would have to tolerate cars to get in a decent ride. Traffic was unreal today - several times I had to wait at intersections for a painfully long time to get across.

I did manage to ride 21 miles in 1:26. I hope to ride again tomorrow before the rain comes! We'll see. It sure was nice to sleep past 4:15am this morning.

Updates on other stuff:

Ritchey - waiting on parts. I'm confident Brandon will take care of it as soon as he can.

Jeep - OBDII light is still on, I have the parts to fix it, I just don't know how. Will talk to Uncle about that in a bit. The door panel hasn't fallen off again though.

House - is trashed and if you know me, you know that I'm a tad type A over having things fairly neat. This is my diningroom. Those are my cabinets for my kitchen. And now my bigscreen TV has broken. I think that sums up my fun so far. =) HA HA HA, I am to the point where all I can do is laugh.

Broken

Again.
Frustrated.
Aggravated.
Angry.
Pained.
Confused.
Perplexed.

Suspension fork is trash again. I'm tired of spending good money for nothing. My hands, well actually my hands, wrists and elbows hurt now, but I was not going to let the POS Reba ruin my day.

I met up with Paula, Warren and Laura to ride this morning. Warren left us Chickys to fend for ourselves, and I will say we did alright!!! We rode 17.5 miles! The words above are the "clean" few that I've used today. I totally enjoyed my day with the Chickys. Araminta and Tuckaway are awesome. It would have been better had I had full use out of my suspension, but each rut, log, root, rock or bump made me painfully aware of the current disrepair of my bike. I did however throw away any hesitation and sucked up the painful bumps as I flew down Songbird trying to catch Paula and Clarence. I was right on her heels too. MUH HA HA HA - there are some things that I can do well on a bike.

Anyway, it was a fun day in the end and a resolution is being worked out for the bike. It looks as though I will be without my geared bike for several weeks though.... The Fat Tire Frenzy might be in jeopardy now. No way would I consider racing a SS there; the MTX races nearly did me in. More to come about Ritchey soon.

FRIDAY!!!

After what seemed like the longest week on Earth, I was rewarded with a easy work day - it was actually slow! Not many patients, so we sat around listening to the new SteveFM radio station. Pretty good mixture of music - we really enjoyed it. After nearly straining my neck muscles falling asleep at the computer, I decided to head on home. Why? Because really, I had better things to do than sit there any longer. I went to work at 630a, so I was supposed to get off at 3p. I left at 2:30p. By 3:45, I was on my bike headed out the fireroad from the boat dock. A pretty good accomplishment for me since the last two days have found me pretty fatigued with a sore throat, achy muscles and a congested head.

I survived the gym last night with a notable lack of strength at times, so what was I doing riding my bike today? I guess I've lost my mind or my determination to become a stronger, faster rider has taken over. Despite the snot and congestion, I was going to ride. My original plan was to ride from gate-to-gate from the boatdock to Bennett Springs Road. I wanted to ride it as quickly as I could without stopping. The distance as I discovered today is about 7.1 miles. Today it took me 38 minutes and 41 seconds to get there. Maybe I'll use this to track my progress. I noticed on my way out that there didn't seem to be an abundance of fresh mud or standing water; so I decided to get in some singletrack on the way back.

Of course, I started off with Songbird, which wasn't nearly as muddy as the last time I was out; but there is a huge mess about 3/10 mile up the trail where several trees have falled and completely blocked the trail. A path has formed around the downfall, but I'm hoping that someone will clear the trail. I enjoyed Songbird today, and the "new" water spots along it. I say "new" because it's been habitually dry here practically the entire time I've been riding a mtb, so these spots are new to me. =) I was able to make good progress as expected on the downhill side of things - my fork is still not quite right. Not sure what to do with it at this point. I guess I'll make a few phone calls this weekend. Anyway, Songbird was a blast as usual.

Next I rode Little Bell and had equal amounts of fun. Schoolhouse would be my last singletrack today. The water crossings were all rideable, but had plenty of running water in them. Someone has been out recently and cut the "duck!" tree down as well as removed the huge log pile that is right in the middle of the trail. Can't say I'll miss either feature. The "duck!" tree was right at my head height and I never bothered to try riding those logs. I stopped at the picnic table to take a few pictures of the water. Again, I've not seen the water this high in a long time. Had a bit of shock-shock on one of the big dips - ow my hands. Uneventful ride otherwise.

Got back on the fireroad to head back to my car. Rode it as quickly as I could. I tried to stand on the climbs rather than going to an easier gear. This was halfway successful. I was zooming down a hill and looked up to see another mtb - it was Chas. We exchanged "heys" and continued on without stopping. Soon after this I was rounding one of the bends at a pretty good clip getting ready to climb again, and had to get on the brakes pretty quick as some folks were walking their dog on one of those long leashes. I apologized for running up on them so fast. They smiled and waved, so all was good.

I totally enjoyed my unplanned and unexpected ride. It was fun way to spend a Friday afternoon. Got some good exercise and collected some good mud splatter! =)

14.79 miles
1:29:50

6 Hours of Warrior Creek

2009 is rapidly becoming a highly amusing and enjoyable ride! Pun intended! The Bedford MTX Series was fun, but the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek race was awesome. I teamed up with Gina G and Paula S to form "Team Two With, One Without." That would be two with gears, one without OR two with husbands, one without. We also had #135 which we figured out was true too. We had one 35 year old on our team (ME).

Anyway this post could get incredibly long, so feel free to skip to the end for pictures and links to other blogs if that's what you're interested in; but stick around if you want and I'll try to be informative and entertaining. I was fortunate enough to have Friday off, so I traveled down to Wilkesboro along with Josh and Gina to pre-ride the course. After battling the 30-40mph winds on the drive down 81 and 77; we were ready to get out of the cars. We met up with Josh's teammate Trevor and headed out to Warrior Creek Campground.

During our preride, we discovered some of the best trails ever! I totally enjoyed them. I've never ridden somewhere with so many berms!!! Instead of switchbacks, they have these super fun bermed turns. You swoop from left to right to left as you descend the hills. Rollercoaster quality!!! You could literally feel yourself picking up speed in them! BMCC has done an exceptional job planning and building these trails. They are sweet and were in good shape despite some very muddy sections. It is an absolutely great place to ride. The scenery along the way was quite nice as well. You often had scenic vistas overlooking the lake as well as some creative use of left over garbage. It's funny the things you notice while riding. After much delight and several breaks, we were muddy and tired. The loop we took measured anywhere from 9.8-10.3 miles, so we were confused at how they arrived at a 11-mile course. We would discover the other mile Saturday upon registration.

The other mile came in on the first lap where all the racers went up the hill and through campground roads to try to separate the approximately 200 racers before hitting singletrack. From all accounts this road section was as enjoyable as the trails that followed. I will describe the trail as we prerode and how the laps were.

Paula led off for our team, followed by Gina. I figured I was the slowest of the three of us and if I didn't get a second lap it wouldn't be a big deal. They are faster, so strategically putting them in a position to get two laps in was better off for the team. Finally, my turn came. I felt really good when I first started off. Got down the slippery hill and across the bridge safely then got tossed off on the climb and crazy tree roots. Got back on and started up again. Soon after, I lost my balance on more tree roots (no momentum), my shorts got hung up on the front of the saddle and jerked me down to the left. Ugh! I was panicking for some reason - I guess I wanted to do so good and not let my teammates down. My heart was racing and I was all freaked out. I had to keep telling myself to calm down and ride my own pace.

Finally, after a bit of smooth singletrack and a climb up some doubletrack, I settled down some. As I said before the single track is just fun!!! The flats and descents I handled pretty well. A few of the berms freaked me out during the race. Some of the climbs I did very well on. Others I struggled terribly. I was happy that I could ride up and around some of the turns without falling over. Some of my troubles began around mile 4 when I approached one of the bridges, I felt my shock bang together rather hard - no rebound, just clank. Another time, bang! I was getting mad as I just had it fixed. As I approached the only stream crossing, it hit hard enough to sting my hands. I got off and flipped the bike over, adjusted it so it would have little if any rebound (turned it to the turtle). This turned out to be helpful in someways, but I was getting the hell beat out of me now.

Anyway, I passed the course marshals halfway through and felt a bit more energized. I passed this solo male and pulled away from him. Of course, he was probably on his 2nd or 3rd lap by now. I got passed by a few people, but did catch back up to a couple. Never could pass them or stay with them long. I was getting killed on the climbs. I ended up walking up this one section of switchbacks and really didn't feel bad about it as there were some dudes walking them too. I rode the first rock garden, but the second I panicked about my fork and ended up walking it. I was proud of myself for crossing the skinny.

As I neared the end of my lap I was hoping like crazy that Gina would get a 2nd lap. I nearly wrecked in the mud on the way back to the start/finish line. I did feel very accomplished once I got to our pit area. I also felt like I was going to puke. I was happy to be done with my lap and I have no idea how long it took as on one of the rough hits, my GPS cut itself off. =(

After I recovered a bit, I tinkered with my bike some; but realizing I wouldn't have time for a second lap, I went to change clothes. I returned a short while later and was hoping like crazy that Paula would get back in time for Gina to get a second lap. Sure enough she did. She probably thought I was crazy standing there yelling for her; but we had no idea if we were racing anyone else. Gina was flying when she went out for her second lap. Of course we cheered upon her return as well.

I loved this format of racing, and I can't wait to ride some more. I need to work on my cardio more. I can tell my strength has improved. I credit my bike "saving" skills to the Bedford MTX/mud Series. I am so glad that I did this race! A few years ago you wouldn't have found me doing such craziness. As bad as I think I did, I keep reminding myself that I went out and road a good lap and a few years ago I would have never been that quick or willing to ride unfamiliar terrain without a lot of hesitation. I so want to do this race again next year and hope to do it as a Duo-female team! I haven't seen official results yet, so I'm not sure how I stacked up against my teammates; and I'm curious to see how we did overall and compared to Duo-female teams. =)

I must confess that I did get frustrated with myself during the lap and my language went from bad to terrible towards the end of the lap. Hee hee. I'm guess that once I work up my carido some that I will be able to stay more positive during the races.

PICTURES...

6 Hours of Warrior Creek album 1
6 Hours of Warrior Creek album 2
6 Hours of Warrior Creek album 3

OTHER BLOGS about the race

Chip

Warren

Paula

Laura

Josh