12 Hours of Canal Loop
Saturday was the much anticipated Canal Loop 12 hour race. Attendance was down a bit this year but the fun levels were up. I was planning on showing up race day this year instead of camping and camping after the race. I arrived to find our ez-up already erected on pit row right next to Steven & Ruthie's huge Rocky Top EZ up. Jeff, Keith and I were gonna pit together which promised to be great since Jeff and Keith are like the odd couple.



























Keith is neat and tidy and particular about how things are set up. Jeff not so much. He doesn't need a table he can pit from a box on the ground...and often does.The race starts LeMans style with a nice 100 yrd dash to the bikes, always fun in bike shoes on pavement. I get to my bike and on the trail in short order just ahead of mid pack and right behind Keith, Jeff and Steven. Dustin was behind me for a while until I encouraged him to pass.

I was working a little too hard on the hills and having a hard time keeping the heart rate low. By the time we get to the halfway point the trail begins to flatten and my heart rate drops to a comfortable pace. I continued on alone until the end of the first lap where I pass Jeff and Steven working on Jeffs tire in the pit. I grabbed some new bottles and offered to help. They had it under control and I continued on. Steven later passed me and we played leap frog for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent alone occasionally playing leapfrog with Gary and Steven. I caught and rode with Keith for a little while until and longer than normal pit stop for me separated us and I never saw him again. I was tracking my lap times with a Garmin Edge 305 gps bike computer. I started a little fast with 1:06 laps and settled into 1:13-16 minute laps.

Lap 8 left me feeling pretty rough. A kid, trying to be helpful, squirted water on my back and right into my shorts breaking down the chamois butter I had applied and leaving my rump raw and sore. The rigid fork was beating me to death but I was actually not taking the beating that I had expected. I was still able to fly down the roughest of hills with only minimal pain in my neck back and arms. At the end of lap 8 I notice somebody sitting in my chair. It was my wife. She and a friend drove all the way up to help out. I was leading the single speed class at this time by a couple minutes on Gary and about 5 minutes on Jeff. I spent way too much time in the pit getting my light mounted bottles ready and a reapplication of butt grease to ease the pain. Finally, I got all my stuff together and headed out of the pit for lap 9.

I was feeling fantastic. There was only a couple hours left to race. I was confident that 10 laps would win the single speed class and that I could now safely turn it on, i'd been holding back all day, and ride hard for 2 +/- hours and podium if not win the single speed class. I hammered through the hills trying to catch Gary. I caught him just before The halfway point in the lap. I was really screwing up. I didn't drink a drop through the halfway point. I realized this and tipped up my water a couple times quick and my Infinate bottle once then promptly forgot to drink anymore. Toward the end of the lap I began to slow down. I roughly crossed the "tootsy roll" section and my brain was rattled. My stomach was turning and I was gonna barf. I battled on to the finish line crashing just after my pit on some loose roughed up trail. I hadn't realized that I didn't drink anything. I crossed the line jumped off the bike and rand to the woods where I chummed the place up good.

Race complete...for me. I was several minutes in the lead but could not go on. Gary rolled passed me and I told him I was bowing out. A few minutes later I saw Jeff and told him the same. I grew sicker and sicker puking in the weeds several times while trying to clean up and change. My wife offered me a ride home and I graciously accepted. Hated to leave but to stay would have been misery.

Jeff went on to catch and pass Gary taking the top spot on the single speed podium and Gary with 2nd. I was initially bumped out of third because I only got credit for 8 laps. The 4th place guy did 9 laps but finished after me. I don't really care about 3rd place I just wanted credit for 9 laps. My Garmin confirms my 9 laps and later so did the race director Justin. Lap info from Garmin HERE

Keith finished lap 10 in time to go out for 11 but thought he missed the cut off so he had to settle for and awesome 3rd place pro spot. And Dustin aka SuperD set the course record even after 2 flats with 11 laps in 12 hours missing the cut off to do another lap by mere seconds. Steven rocked 9 laps also and his wife Ruthie showed true grit completing 7 laps even after getting sick around lap 5.

Even though I got sick this was a good race for me. My nutrition, while I was drinking it, was on point. I may need to bump up the electrolite a bit but it kept me going all day. I didn't eat anything only drank. One bottle of Infinate and one bottle of water each lap. It was easy to drink and never left me bloated, full or sick which plagued me last year and most of this year at races lasting 8 hours or more.

A coulple of other notes from the race. I ditched my fancy light weight hydro Magura Marta SL's for Avid BB7 Mechanical disk brakes with Ultimate levers. They are awesome. The Marta's were great but they seem to have lost some power over the years or I require more power now than in the past. Either way riding a rigid bike down a rough hill with and having to reef on the brake levers really beats you to death. The new brakes have true one finger brakes allowing me to loosen my grip on the bars a bit making it easier to soak up the bumps.

Steve "wood n wave" Wilson built me a new front wheel to match my rear. Stans Arch rim laced to a American Classic hubs, single speed rear hub. I've been riding the rear since late March. He builds a good wheel. It's my 5th wheel he's built for me and I've yet to have to true any of them.

Last but not least was a new front tire. Continental Race King 29er 2.2. High volume tire with low fast rolling knobs. Set it up tubeless on the Arch rim with just yellow rim tape, valve stem and some Stans. For the last couple months I've been riding with a 2.1 tire with a tube and taking a beating. Nothing smooths out the trail like a fat tubeless tire...or a suspension fork.

I've had some good riding this week despite the rain. I stayed up late on Saturday watching ufc100 and need the extra sleep Sunday morning so I decided not to ride to work. Monday morning it was really foggy so I didn't ride to work that day either. So my mileage has slipped a bit but I still squeezed in some awesome solo road rides and a super fun and a super fast MTB Ride.

Yesterday I got up early and changed out my tires, on the Mooto X Slider, and Stans-ed them up. I've been running Crow's front and rear but after my N/S trail ride last week I ended up with a slight tear in the sidewall of my rear tire, not enough to leak air but enough to cause a bubble to form. I decided to move the Crow on the front to the rear and put a meatier tire on the front for better grip in the corners. I also dropped 2 teeth on the rear cog giving me 32x18 gearing which is perfect for Lock 4.

Yesterday I picked up Neighbor Dan and we headed for Lock 4 to meet up with Dustin (Super D) Greer and Kaylee. We started out riding together as a group ride with Kaylee leading us out with a awesome pace. After about 3/4 of a lap Dustin decided to cut back out to the trail head and run one race pace lap to get ready for the race this weekend. Didn't have time to do any more than that. We rode together down the road to where the race was to start and started the clock. He took off I was planning to follow, so as to not get in his way with my silly one gear bike. The pace was crushing. My heart rate was pegged from the get go, before we settled into a "just manageable" pace for me and a slow pace for dustin who wasn't feeling it. Dustin not feeling good allowed me to hang on and kept me pushing hard in the corners. I was grateful for the fresh knobby tire on the front. The Crow on the rear would occasionally slip on the hard corners. I've always considered myself to be pushing hard on through the turns but following Dustin really had me pushing just that much harder giving me some confidence. We finished well under 40 minutes (don't remember the actual time but it was high 30's) which is pretty fast....I think. It's funny cuz there is a sign at the trail head stating that if you rode the trail under 38 minutes(might have even said 40) that you missed part of the trail. Dustin and Kaylee headed out and I rode back into the trail to find Dan and ride with him a bit.

Thinking about riding to the group ride tonight, rumor has it the pace had been crazy fast.

Busy week so far. Got some cool new bike bits from Paragon Machine Works. Customer service was fantastic. I had stripped one of the slider bolts on the Moots. It was a softer steel and my 5mm hex wrench wallowed the hex head out leaving the bolt securely fastened to the dropout. I hit it with a hacksaw and turned the hex head into a big ol'flat head screw driver head and managed to get it out, though not without drawing blood first.
Anywho, my boy J5 had a similar issue and was telling me about some Ti replacements that he purchased that are not likely to strip. I called Paragon. The guy apologized for the problem and offered me free replacements. I paid extra for the upgrade to the Ti bolts and he even threw in some fancy new thumb screws and 2 day shipping for my trouble.

I've been racking up the miles this week. Rode to work Sunday and Monday. 45 minutes to work and 2 hours to get home, took the scenic route. Took Tuesday off. Wednesday i rode the the super cool Mooto X Slider from the north welcome station down the north/south trail at LBL and back. 62 miles total. 7 hours 48 minutes including about 30 minutes of trail work and a 10 minute break at the golden pond. Pretty tough ride with only the iPod for company. Also rode 30 miles on the road bike this morning bringing me to just over 15 hours saddle time for the week(if you include my trail work which was just hopping off the bike and throwing limbs).

Notes from the week:
-"The Chronic" will always be in the play list rotation when doing long solo rides.
-you appreciate a company more after you've had a problem and they take good care of you. It's like even though their part might have failed I'll be more likely to buy their product over another company who's product may have never failed. Strange.
-tick bites itch more than mosquito bites
- I'm not allergic to ALL bees.
- the more you ride the more you eat, and since food is human fuel are you saving any money riding a bike? I mean I'm eating thousands of calories a day.
-gummi bears rock!
-quesadilla is spelled with a "QU" and should never contain bologna.
- I need to stop wearing my wedding band cuz it keeps falling off and since it's Ti, much like the Mooto X, it cannot be sized.
-riding to work allows me lots of ride time without dipping into too much Wifey time, after all it's all about the balance.
- If pacing behind an Amish buggy don't be surprised when you get spackled with horse shit.
-66 Days until Metallica comes to Nashvegas. Lamb of God is opening up. Rock on.

That is all.

Cohutta 100 2009 is in the bag. Over and done with? maybe, but the pain is still fresh in the ol' brain. The goal was actually 10 hours this year, last year it took me 12:01 after a monumental bonk.

The weekend started off Friday with rounding up the fellas. Keith, and I met Jeff and Scott in Nashville for the carpool to Cleavland Tn, just outside of Chattanooga. Jeffy scored us a free night in the same cabin we crashed in last year. The cabin is sweet and less than 30 minutes from the start of the race. We headed to the Ocoee White Water Center where the race was to start, to drop our drop bags and get checked in. There are 6 aid stations along the 100 mile race route. We were allowed to send 3 one gallon ziplock bags full of whatever we could cram in them, ahead to any 3 of the 6 aid stations. After signing in we grabbed some pizza and headed for the cabin where we met up with Matt. We were all pretty tired and hit the sack nice and early.

The next day we were all up and eating breakfast by 5:45 on race day. We headed to the race slightly behind schedule. By the time Keith and I toed the line we only had a minute fourty seconds to start time. They blew the horn and we were off up the first of many big climbs of the day. Scott took off like a bat out of hell, like Scott does, Keith and I just settled in comfortable with our dead last place start. We set a pace that would bring us to the line at our 10 hour goal and were determined to stick with it.

We stayed on pace hitting all of the aid stations for food and to top off fluids. I had just bought some new steel bottle cages and accidentally bought 2 road bike cages which are pretty flimsy compared to a regular mountain cage. As a result I chucked water bottles left and right going down the hills. I finally stopped and bent my cages into shape and managed to hold on to them for the rest of the day.

About mile 70 my minor stomach issues started to become a real problem and by mile 75 I was down right sick. I sent Keith on his merry way while set out to suffer alone. I really don't have much to say about the rest of the ride other than it was pretty miserable and very slow.

I finished just 10:55 just over an hour better than last years 12:01. Keith finished under 10 hours putting an hour on me in just over 20 miles, pretty impressive. I felt slightly better than last year. Everybody from our group rode well. Scotty tore it up finishing under 9 hours. Jeffy and Matt had great times in the 60 mile course also.

After the race we got to hang out with Super Bad Josh Tostado. Super cool guy and amazing athlete.

Great weekend of riding and playing. The trip there and back are as much a part of the race as the bike ride it's self.

Can't wait till next years race.

March 29th Chickasaw Trace Classic Race Report. It was a chilly one and a SERC race this year. Chickasaw Trace is about a 8 mile trail, about 9 for the race after the ridiculous long start, that is extremely flat on one side and hilly on the other side. Single speeder do 2 laps. Picking the right gear is always torture for me at this course. Gear to high and suffer the hills, too low and suffer on the flats. I just picked 32X19, my usual local trail gear, and ran with it. Last years champ (Thad) decided to sit this year out due to a cold/sinus thing he had going on.

We toed the line and off we went. I grabbed the hole shot before being passed by Adam D. and Troy T. I settled in behind them thinking the pace would drop once we hit the woods. Not the case. Adam D. just kept pushing. This was not going along like any XC race I've done before. We hit the hilly side first and the guys put a small gap on me that I quickly bridged. Adam D. was crushing it. That's pretty much how the whole race went. I would decide that I could no longer hang with the crushing pace and drop back. Then I'd start feeling awesome and catch back up.

About 1.5 miles from the finish line we cross a huge flat field into the wind. I'm riding inches from Troy T.'s wheel drafting into the painful wind. I had already decided that holding onto 3rd place was great considering how these guys are riding. I was ok with that. But at the last minute as we neared the end of the field with the trail in sight again, I decided to pass and go for the win. I was slightly rested from the draft and I knew I would have an advantage. I jumped out of the saddle and sprinted around Troy T. then Adam D. and hauled arse for the woods.

Into the woods I figured out that I wasn't as close to the end as I thought so I needed to keep the pace up for a long time if I wanted to finish in first. I had a good gap. I would tire and Troy T. would almost bridge, as he had passed Adam also, then I'd hammer again. Up the last climb before the flat field finish, I hammered and never looked back again. I put my head down and spun to the point of almost barfing, holding Troy T. off till the finish. I think he actually crashed on the last climb so my massive effort at the end wasn't really necessary.

Chickasaw Trace Classic Results: Here

Pics: Here

Training/Riding News-I've had several good long rides under my belt lately getting ready for my second attempt at the Cohutta 100, just days away. Last week Keith, Super D, and I decided on riding a road Century on Saturday. Funny, I've never ridden 100 miles on the road bike only off road on the mountain bike. We had an awesome day. The weather started chilly but warmed steadily through the ride. We really took it easy as we were looking for saddle time and not overall speedy time. I felt kinda crappy till about mile 60 when Dustin and I decided to battle on a climb. That hill climb really got the blood flowing and I started feeling good again. At mile 65 we ended up at Keith's house and refilled our bottles before setting out for the last 35 mile loop.

Refueled and refreshed Dustin and I started sprinting hills again. At about mile 75-80 we started sprinting for signs and mailboxes. At about mile 80-85 Keith started stepping up and sprinting them with us. We were 85 miles into a 100 mile ride and absolutely killing these sprint like little kids. We were all feeling good and by now Keith was killing both Dustin and I on the sprints. We ended up back at Keiths with 98 miles on the computers. We couldn't stop with 98 miles so we did laps around Keiths neighborhood until we rolled over 100.

This was an awesome and much needed ride by me to test the legs and ticker. It really built up the confidence going into a huge race that beat me down last year(Cohutta 100). Last year I managed to finish but not well. I lost my will to live at about mile 65. Hoping for sub 10 this year.

Bike News-The day after the Chickasaw race the new frame, a shiny Mooto-X, showed up on my door step. I shredded the packaging like a kid would some crappy wrapping paper at Christmas. It exceeded my expectations. It is absolutely an amazing frame. Handmade 3/2.5 Ti straight gauge tubes, double pass welds and an amazing bead blasted finish. I threw the parts on that I had acquired over the last few months and rode the bike. Haven't even stopped to take a picture until last night. After several weeks and several rides on several different trails I'm still in awe. I knew it would be a better machine than my Karate Monkey was but I didn't realize it would be better in every way. Lighter, better handling, better climbing, better descending, easier to maneuver over logs and rocks and it's stiffer. You mash on it and it goes without stopping to flex.

I'll let the pics to the talking.

2 Days in the Dirt
Been taking it easy for the last week or so nursing a sore knee. I didn't ride at all Friday and Saturday. Sunday I woke up early and drove to Keith's for the carpool to Monty Bell. The plan was a big ride hitting all that Monty Bell had to offer.

We arrived right on time meeting the large group of eager-to-ride bad asses. We hit the trail at a good clip. After a little warm up on the red and blue, we headed over to the hard stuff in the yellow and green throwing in the goat path for good measure. After a couple hours we regrouped in the parking lot and several of us decided to call it a day in favor of food!

Monday the plan was to pick up J5 and head to Lock 4 for a few laps. On the way to pick him up I texted Super D(aka Dustin the Pro or DtheP) and pretty much invited myself & Thad over to try out his trail we've heard so much about. I talked over the new plan with Thad, over some horse droppings, and after a few shovels full of poo and some food for his horses we hit the road.

Dustin's trail did not disappoint! It was 4 good miles of trail with a ton of jumps, skinny's, drops, rocks, roots, nearly impossible climbs, and some tight corners. I think I even saw a teeter totter in there somewhere...seriously. We rode the first lap without stopping to play much. Riding it on a single speed really works you over. We rode it again stopping to play a little more on the obstacles and take a few pics. The 3rd and final lap was a long one stopping to flat out session some of the obstacles in the way. I even stood in a sink hole with a snake while Dustin jumped over me. After the 3rd lap we decided to call it a day and get some vittles at the local KFC/Taco Bell.

Photo Cred to Thadieus J5 Hoffman. He took the lions share of photo's yesterday and I just stole them all from his blog....found HERE




































We arrived back at the farm and I noticed some missed calls on my phone. I checked my messages and received news of the Moots. It's ready to ship! On the way home I made a call to Moots Headquarters in Steamboat Springs, Co, and after speaking with Jon I found out that I would have my new, super sweet, hand built, double pass welded, bead blasted, lifetime warrantied , straight gauge 3al/2.5v Titanium 29er Mooto X w/Sliders by Friday, just in time for the first XC race of the year Chickasaw Trace Columbia, Tn. I knew we were getting close as last week we were sent multi-page 2 year contracts and bio's to be filled out, signed and sent back.

Guess I need a new blog titile.

Adam

Saturday was the 3rd and final snake of the year. Sad to see it go but I couldn't imagine doing it every month. The weather could not have been better. Friday the Go-Go-Gadget Tundra was loaded with eager riders, Me, Keith(KRS1), Dustin (Super D), and Thad(J5), all hoping to lay the smack down the following day, knowing full well it would be our last chance till January to battle this trail and it's evil demons. We battled our way through rush hour traffic rocking out and telling awful poo stories, like guys do, and just having a good time.

We arrived a little later than usual and headed strait to the parking lot to drop off J5, the consummate camper boy. We didn't hang out as long as usual as the rest of us were pretty beat down. We met up with Jeffy at the hotel, toasted with a frothy beverage and called it a night.

The weather was great early in the morning with a thick mist hanging in the air and high 50 temps. We decided to drive ourselves to the start early and come back for the truck post race. As a result most of the Mid TN crew were able to start at the front of the pack instead of the usual mid to back of the pack start.

We rolled off the line at a good clip. The start is pretty flat for about 2 miles before hitting the first of the brutal climbs. I was spinning an easier gear this round but it didn't seem to slow me down on the flat much. I was rolling pretty hard and feeling phenomenal, tucked in right behind Keith. We rode together till about halfway up the single track. I pulled ahead slightly which made me think that I might be going too hard too soon. I pushed the thought out of my head and just kept the pace going all the way to the top.

Cresting the top, I gave a quick shout out to the volunteers and proceeded to let it all hang out down the fire road. It's funny you spend 30 minutes or more climbing this monster and 2 minutes getting to the bottom. Climbed the next short hill a little slower than the first, busted a hard left back to the single track and right into a nice steep pine needle covered climb. Steep and short and it led to the first hellafied gangsta single track decent. With nobody in front of me, for the first time ever, I let it all hang out...again, blowing through the nasty rut and down the the flat shady bottom. The whole time I kept thinking of the early demise of Poor Ol' Johnny Black Death Cash, and how her death was likely caused from just such shenanigans.

On to the short peanut butter climbs leading to the 2nd big climb o' the day and they were actually dry and ridable. Sweet!!! Usually there is a line of walking suffering human beings playing leap-frog-hike-a-bike but not today, today we were riding it. The not-so-peanut butter climbs lead to some long and steep, lung busting, single track climbing which I managed with minimal dismounts this time. When the climbing was all done I was rewarded with the best downhill of the day. It's long, steep, fairly smooth with banked corners and water bars for airing it out. I decided to pump the rollers rather than jump them and risk a flat or worse.

Out of the woods and up to the parking lot/halfway point and the sag. I traded out water bottles, gave Becky a shout out and big thanks for providing support for all of us, and started chasing Thad. Dickman, megaphone in hand was heckling him as he climbed the next few switchbacks leading out of the parking lot and up the 3rd major climb for the day. I was just barely cranking the pedals over at this point and not real sure why. Then I realized that I was having so much fun on the last decent that I never allowed myself to recover before starting the next climb. Wood N' Wave Steve Wilson is always reminding me to do this and I got all wrapped up and forgot.

I slowed the pace just enough to keep from blowing up and continued to grind my way up the single track climb. Catching Thad, which would have been a huge and rare accomplishment, would have to wait for another day. Nearing the top of the climbs I felt the beginnings of a calf cramp coming on. I popped some electrolyte caps and kept on going. Bombing the next downhill was exhilarating. It's rough, rocky, and super flowy. not a single person in front of me and I was once again able to let it hang out. Sweet, starting near the front really pays off.

Crossed the last creek crossing for the day and started up the dirt road to the last aid station of the day and I threw down some electrolyte powder that Matt gave me a month ago, and almost gaged on it. It helped but sure was hard to get down. I settled into a good climbing pace and motored on up to the top. I had a quick conversation with a fella on a Mooto X who was kind enough to inform me that we were on pace for sub 3:45. Holy shit. I caught a glimpse of Thad again and gave him a big woo hoo then jumped out of the saddle to try and catch up to him. Bad move. Both legs went into cramp mode instantly. Back to the saddle again for me all of the way to the top of the climb.

I bypassed the aid station, with a quick shout out to the support folks, and entered the section of trail that i fear most. I have a history of brutal bonks on this section of the snake. It's incredibly rocky and brutal, especially on a rigid single speed. I pushed the negativity away and just motored on. I rolled up on Thad who was feeling great but way over geared for this section of the trail thanks to the early demise of Johnny Black Death Cash(rest in peace) and hub issues on the Ti bike. I know the feeling. It's so hard to keep momentum through this rough stuff without the perfect gear.

I shared with him the good news of that we were both headed for unknown, to us, territory of 3:45. Not sure he believed me. I kept the pace going despite the occasional cramp and made my way to The Wall. The wall is a steep mother of a climb that is a hike-a-bike for the likes of me. Normally, I can't even walk up it without stopping for air but today i was determined to walk with a purpose and not stop. I mounted the bike and attempted to ride some of the huge rocks on the ridge with minimal success. Pretty soon I was cramping so bad I had ot get off the bike and walk on flat sections. My legs were toast. I peddled as much as I could and walked as fast as I could when I had to walk.

By now the tower was in sight and I put my head down and peddled hard for the gravel road decent. I put my head down, tucked in tight and bombed away down the 2 mile mountain road to the finish line.

It was awesome watching my friends all cross the line, busting out personal bests left and right. The whole Go Go Gadget Tundra crew plus Jeffy put up new personal best times. Dustins wasn't actually his fastest but considering he was riding a 32lb behemoth and had a flat it was a victory anyway.

Jeff (Jeffy), Matt (Xtanker), Greg (Old Greg), Steven Myers & Wife Ruthie, and Andrew all busted their best times.

This was my second SNG Series so 6 races total with times being all over the place.
2008
Jan- 5:52 (ish) That really is a 5 its not a typo.
Feb-4:28 (ish)
Mar-4:30(ish)

2009
Jan-4:21(ish)
Feb-4:4x(ish) i was so disappointed i didn't even check the result somebody told me my time.
Mar-3:34 That really is a 3 not a typo

Anywho, this post is growing long winded so I'll stop now. Looking forward to a great race season.

4 days till the Snake Creek Gap Grand Finally! I've been on 2 mountain bike rides since the last race, almost a month ago. I have been hitting the trainer/rollers and occasionally the road quite hard though. Hopefully, my increase in road bike riding will make up for my lack of mountain biking. The weather has been pretty crappy. Mostly wet coupled with massive freeze/thaw has made most of the local trails unridable, at least on the days that I would be able to ride. All that road riding has led to some much needed weight loss. Despite eating more food than usual, I've somehow managed to lose 9 pounds in the 3.5 weeks since the last snake. More controlled cardio exercise and healthier food choices, though not always, have really helped shuck the pounds.

I've also had the chance to do several days of trail work at LBL. After nearly 600 man(and women) hours the Canal Loop has been cleared. The trail remains closed though until the Forest Service can figure out how to drop some of the hangers that are threatening to fall on the trail. I can't even describe the damage that the ice storm caused up there. Almost every tree was damaged in some way. The tree's that managed to stay upright lost their tops or most of their limbs. The skyline looks like a bomb went off in the woods, just a mess of toothpicks sticking up out of the ground. Wood N Wave Steve Wilson has been busting his ass out there lugging a chainsaw, cutting reroutes, organizing work days, politicking to get trail workers in the woods, and just being an overall champion of the LBL trail system. He'll be joining us too for the SCG Grand Finally, it should be a much needed break for him.

In happy news. My little hommie KRS1, aka Keith Schaper hooked me up with a smoking deal on a road bike from his old place of business. I was chatting it up with him telling him I was having a hard time finding a decent bike to fit into my price range. When he told me he would call the old bike shop where worked back in the day(Sheels), I hardly gave it another though. A few minutes later I checked my voice mail and he had already called and left me a message about a smoking deal on a new 07 Trek 5000 (just happened to be my size)that had been sitting on the shop floor for over a year. Anywho, it was such a good deal that I called the shop later that day and bought the bike site unseen and they even hooked me up with a deal on shipping. I sound like a sucker who thinks he just got one over on a used car salesman, when in fact he got the shaft.

Moots Mooto X Slider should be here in a few weeks! Pics when it gets here.

A lot going on lately.  Last week we had a nice long conference call with the Moots people.  I guess this whole Moots/Swiftwick thing is really taking off now.  It was pretty cool.  I've  always known that moots is a fine product but it was great finding out what makes it so great.  We found out a lot of stuff about titanium tubing, mitering, welding, and finishing that I never knew before. We also found out that our frames should be here in late march.

In other news, LBL is a freaking mess.  Every so often a tornado comes threw and wrecks a section of a local trail.  It's usually an isolated event that only affects a small area of trail (after all tornado's just aren't that big) and requires a few chain saws and a few man hours to clean up.  The entire trail loo

ks like a tornado rolled through the entire trail system.  The trees that weren't uprooted were snapped near the top or just lost most of their limbs.  It looks like a ware zone.  

Keith and I drove up monday afternoon for a few hours work.  We helped finish off the barkley side of the canal loop.  250+ man hours to clear 6 miles of trail.  We actually worked on a section that wasn't too bad compared to what was cleaned up already and what was to come on the KY side of the loop.  We actually felt like we were making progress and reaching a mile stone which kept our sprits up all day.  The sad fact is there is 35+ miles of trail to go and even when com

plete LBL will never be the same place, good or bad, it will never look the same. 

 Steve found this nice "skinny" suspended about 8 feet above some thick gooey mud and decided 

to walk it.  I won't post the pic of him laying on his face but I will tell ya it went well until the end.

Tuesday, Jeff, K

eith and I drove down to Columbia for a few laps of one of our favorite trails.  Our only goal was 

at least 4 laps at any p

ace, with little stopping.  We had a great time, 

the trail was perfect...almost as was the weather.  Our fist lap was an easy pace

 which is what you might expect for a ride of 35 miles or so but after that 

the pace was quickened to a near XC like pace, where it stayed for the last 3 laps.  I felt great and rode surprisingly strong finishing with plenty gas in the tank.  It makes me wonder what's up with my sub par finishes at the Snake Creek Gap lately.  I have been treating myself better for the last couple weeks, riding more and eating less.  I hope to feel this good march 7th.

Wednesday it was back to LBL for some more trail work.  The going was tough.  The forest service provided us with a sawyer so even though there was more work to do we still managed to clear about 1 1/4 miles of trail in about 4 hours.  I'm gonna try to get back up there friday before work for a couple of hours if i can.  I'd rather ride but I'm  happy to sacrifice some ride time for trail work until we get the loop cleared.  It's the least I can do for Steve (Wilson) who is an asset to the local, and beyond, cycling community.  His business, Wood N' Wave bike shop, relies heavily on the traffic generated by that trail and the park in general.  He hasn't said anything but he's gotta be hurting because of it.

Snake Round #2: Complete-by the skin o' my teeth.

Hard living combined with a lack of riding culminated last Saturday to provide me with one of the hardest snakes I've had to date. Despite my rough day in the saddle and piss poor performance I managed to have one of the best times i've had in a while(by best time i mean fun not actual race time).

The trip started Friday afternoon, just like last month only earlier and better prepared. Keith and I met up with Jeffy, J5, and Dustin (BAMF). Dan managed to score us a warhead (5gal keg) of the sponsorships finest Yazoo Dos Perros, which we were transporting down in the Go Go Gadget Tundra. I usually drive cuz the Tundra holds 5 peeps and with gear, 2 bikes in the bed and up to 4 on a borrowed rack.

We stopped off at pizza hut and marveled in awe as BAMF Dustin and KRS1 Keith pollished off a medium pie each without blinking an eye. I did my best but left 3 slices for later. We dropped Thad + beer off at the parking lot for camping purposes and hte rest of us headed to the hotel no tell. Keith and Jeff hopped in the truck and drove back to the parking lot while Dustin and I mounted bikes for a short urban jaunt around the hard streets of Dalton before riding up to the parking lot.

We climbed up to the parking lot (race finishline, camping/parking spot) where the fire was blazing and folks were enjoying the Dos. I hung around and helped with the beers while Dustin set out for a few trips up the mountain on his trusty Remedy. Good times were had by all and the keg was floated in a jiff. I ate the rest of my pizza then we all headed back down the hill to the hotel and were in bed at a reasonable hour.

The next day the race started out pretty good for me. Despite my tossing and turning all night and heart burn from my late night pizza, I was feeling good and holding myself to a reasonable pace. I made sure to stay behind Keith who usually starts slower than me and finished stronger, and before, me. Shortly before the halfway point I hopped off the trusty Karate Monkey for a hike-a-bike up a short steep section. I took about 2 steps and that's where I knew it was gonna be a long day for me. I didn't feel good at all anymore. I made my way to the half way point letting Keith and Scott, who was riding with us, go. I stopped at the parking lot and hung out for about 10 minutes trying to shake the nausia.. I started feeling better so I set back out again and felt pretty good till the last aid station that signifies 8 miles of hell to go.

Stopped at the aid station and topped off my bottles. The rest was misery, about 2+ hours of pain and suffering. Slow turtle like pace getting passed by 30 + folks. I left everything I had on those last miles and finished with an empty tank. I was greeted by friends with smiles and coke (thanks Jose) which really brought me back to life. I felt better and was able to enjoy the rest of the trip.

We had an awesome crew of Mid-TN folks in attendance. Some just for the party and support, The Neumeyers, who did a fantastic job. Some who had never ridden the snake, Squish, and some veterans who took some serious chunks of time off from the last time. J5 and Keith finished sub 4, and both set personal bests. ScraffyZ(Rick) finished on a rigid single speed and knocked off over 30 minutes. There were a lot of other great local riders who finished strong too.

That's about all I have to say about that.

The last few weeks I've been scouring the internet reading reviews and shopping for bike parts for my upcoming hoopty bike build. I also visited my favorite bike shop and placed an order for some other sweet goodies. A couple of days ago the USPS lady showed up toting the fork that I purchased from On-One. I decided to order the fork from the factory rather than from a retailer. The exchange rate that we currently enjoy with the folks from England means that I get the fork for about a 100-150 dollar saving over purchasing it in the US.

The On-One Carbon Fiber (or as Old Greg calls is plastic) fork is reasonably light, but not so light that it has a rider weight limit, which is good for me, cuz with gear, i'm usually teetering on the max weight limit for most uber light bike stuff. I digress i'm not a weight weenie anyway. The main reasons I chose this fork was the offset or rake is 47mm which speeds up the steering on a 29er over traditional geometry forks ranging from 38-42ish. And I'm hoping to reduce some of the trail vibration that reaches my paws. I'll also be riding a Ti frame with Ti handle bars which should smooth out the trail also.

There seem to be 2 schools of thought on 29er front end geometry. One school uses a super steep head angle, 72-73 degrees and a shorter offset/rake of 38-42mm. The other school uses a slacker head angle 70-72 and longer offset (Fisher bikes famous G2 geometry uses 69.3 (they use a little steeper angle on the larger frames) head angles and 51mm fork offsets). My new frame will have a 71.5 head angle, the same as my Karate Monkey. The Karate monkey fork had 42mm of offset, so I'm hoping to increase the speed of the steering a bit, hopefully it won't be twitchy.

Also, picked up a new XT crank online at Chain Reaction Cycles, again the exchange rate swayed my decision. I considered other cranks on the market but this is my 4th XT crank, it's reasonably light, stiff, reliable and just works.

Ergon Grips. Again I considered other grips, but I've owned 2 other sets and know that they work. They take the edge off of the trail and have a handy little bar end (bigger on this one than my others and made of magnesium instead of aluminum, big deal). They work, for me YMMV. I went with the small size this time. My first pair was small on my 1x1 and I picked up lage's when I built the KM. I think I prefer the small size, or lady's size, thank's ergon for de-masculating me (is that a word?).

Wood N' Wave Steve ordered me other parts i'll need to finish up the build. CK headset, XTR BB (I like to keep a spare around cuz I tend to go through these). And something I've never tried before, a WTB Silverado saddle. I've used the Speed V(on the Cross Check now), Pure V Camo(on the 1x1 and curently on the KM), and Rocket V(on my old Hifi), I liked all of them. My least favorite being the Speed V.

I'll use my Magura Marta's and AC single speed wheels that I have collecting dust in my garage to add to the build. Also, I plan to purchase a Moots stem, handle bar, and seatpost after the sale of the sexyest bike in the world....the Karate Monkey.

BTW anybody need a KM? I'll be offloading in in 4-6 weeks.

It's almost time for Snake Creek Gap round #2. SCG #1 went very well. We had some real good times with some real good folks. Most people had better than expected results despite mechs and weather/trail conditions. I had a personal best by about 8 minutes. Jeffy killed it again. KRS rocked it for his first time out stomping me by a full 12 minutes. J5 pulled an awesome time despite several flats. Scott, despite not riding since November, managed a strong finish. ScraffyZ and several others from the Nashvegas area finished their first time out too.








Snake isn't so much a race as it is a battle to finish and survive. It's hard. Really hard. It's fun. Really fun. It hurts bad. Really bad. I'm stoked that there are still 2 more to go. The trail is fun and tough. It leaves you with nothing in the tank. The folks who put this on are top notch. It's probably the funnest race of the year and a lot of that has to do with how it's run. They had volunteers all over this 34 mile trail cheering, taking photo's, lending a hand at the aid stations, and offering encouragement as you roll on by. Oh yeah, serving chili and pasta salad at the finsih line. BTW: Photo cred to the folks at Northwest Georgia SORBA










Hopefully, round #2 will be a little dryer. The forecast for snake round 1, on Friday, was sunny Friday and Sunny Saturday and 50 degrees. We ended up getting rainy Friday and Saturday 30's, and overcast something fierce, as illustrated in the above pictures. The forecast for this weekends race is the same, sunny and 50's. I'm bringing my rain and cold weather gear this time.