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.

Flew to Disneyland for Christmas this year. We had a great time riding thrill rides and not so thrill rides with the inlaws, nephews and niece. We spent 6 days in Anaheim which made for about 9 days of no riding for me. Our hotel was suppose to have a gym. Turns out that their idea of a gym is one broken recumbent, one busted eliptical, and a treadmill that turns off by itself. I opted for the treadmill cuz it was the only working piece of equipment that they had.

After not riding for a while it was mandatory that I meet with Keith on Sunday for some Monty Bell single track. We met up around 1 for the ride down, which takes about an hour. I was worried we wouldn't have enough light to get in a "good" ride. Turns out i was wrong. My legs felt ok but i just didn't have any get up and go. I was pretty wore out after just a couple of hours. This was good cuz Keith had spent the last few days beating himself up on hills and wasn't really feeling a strong long ride anyway.

That night I set my bike up with Snake Creek Gap gearing 32x21, about 3 more teeth in the back than i normally ride. It's a pretty easy gear to spin here in middle tn.

The next day I met up with Kelly, Cooper, Scott and Jeremy for a N/S trail ride. We decided the shuttle was gonna be more trouble than it was worth so we were planning a out and back ride of 30-40 miles depending how we were feeling. We got about 12 miles out and jeremy was begining to cramp a bit so he was gonna turn around and ride back. Scott went with him and the rest of us decided to ride the full North/South trail and have them drive down and pick us up when they were done.

The trail conditions made for a slow trek to the south end and the further south we made it the worse the trail. The creek crossing were deep and the fall lines were slick. Windfall was bad but not as bad as it could have been. We ended up having several flats and several stops to tweak bikes. At about 25 miles we crossed a fire road, and decided to call it quits. We didn't have enough daylight left to finish the trail. We called Scott and gave him some directions and we hit the gravel for about 3 miles of fast paced gravel grinding.

When we found Scott and Jeremy they were waiting with a cooler full of beer and some rock blasting from the minivan. What a way to end a ride. Overall it was a very tough 25+/- due to the nasty trail conditions and my lack of riding lately. I'm not sure if the easier gear helped me or hurt me. I think it actually made climbing more difficult. All year long i've been focused on sitting and climbing and have become pretty strong in that area but yesterday sitting and climbing seemed too much of a chore. Standing and turning the cranks was useless cuz each pedal stroke only propelled me about 44" or so. Perhaps the thousands of miles I walked at Disney last week, combined with my treadmill run took it's toll on my legs. Hopefully my legs will shape up before Saturday and can bet back to my Pre-Disney self.

Nothing exciting lately. Too nasty to ride trail lately. Cold enough for ice to form on the trail over night but not cold enough to keep it frozen. The wife and I have been hitting up the gym lately as we really haven't had much time together lately. I've been working weekends and she's been busting her ass with school. Speaking of the wife she just finished up a very rough semester with a 3.8 which absolutely rocks. 9 A's and 1 B I think. I'm a proud husband, but next semester is gonna be just as rough for her with another whopping class load. It usually means more ride time for me, which is great, but less family time, which sucks.

Speaking of the gym. I've been tearing it up on the spin bike lately. How gay is that? It's a pretty good workout but the cushy saddle hurts my ass after about 45 minutes. I have learned some sweet spin bike skills lately. In fact i'm quite the spin bike handler. I can ride with no hands and everything. You might say that i'm the Hans Ray of the spin bike.

I just changed the title today and hope to change it again real soon so stay tuned more to follow.

Adam

It's been 3 days since my last ride. I made a feeble effort today by fixing up the cross-check back to commuter mode, slimmer tires, fenders and panniers. I even went so far as to pack up for work and load the bike. My enthusiasm was quickly stifled when I stepped outside for a test ride, and the wind just about blew me over. I don't mind cold and I don't mind wet. I do mind a 17kt sustained NW wind with gusts to 30, especially when i work NW of here. I decided to call it a day.

With all of this not riding going on lately i've had some time on my hands to do some crap around the house. I even updated my blog...Twice, I fixed up the cross check a bit, finished up some laundry, I even took the time to do NMB Cribs. I can hear myself getting fatter.


It's now time to head to work for real and once again I'll be driving the Go Go Gadget Tunundra. I haven't been riding to work for the last couple of months for some reason. Mostly because my wife really worries and BAD. I work shift work which mean I have to either ride to work in the dark or ride home in the dark. Not a bid deal except I almost got hit last year and made the mistake of telling my wife about it.

My "near miss" (that's what we call it in Air Traffic, it should be called a "near hit") was all my fault. I was new to commuting and was choosing the quickest route and not the safest route. I was riding home at night with minimal lighting on a shoulderless unlit country road. It's a wonder i didn't get killed.

Picked up some sweet new kicks from Steve at Wood N' Wave a couple of days ago. TopGun and I headed up that way for some sweet trail riding. We stopped by the shop on the way so that i might pick up some shoes. I decided not to wear the shoes though. We were planning on a 40 mile ride and I though I might try the new kicks out on a shorter ride just in case i didn't like them. The weather was suppose to be in the mid 50's and cloudy. It felt a little colder to me but overall it was fine.

We rode from the North Welcome Station down the North/South trail to Sugar Bay and back. We really kept a nice pace the whole way. We totaled 40 miles and could have easily finished under 4 hours if not for some minor issues. Josh had some derailleur problems and later he had to take a phone call. The pace was good, not vomit inducing fast but not boring and slow. The trail was in great shape despite fears of the dreaded Freeze/Thaw that we deal with around here.

It's funny cuz i'm pretty sure the climbs were much longer last year. Perhaps it was my conditioning last year? So either my conditioning was not as good or we had some kind of a geological event causing all of the hills on the North/South trail to shrink. Pretty sure it was the former but hey I'm no geologist.

I was pretty wiped out after the ride. I had worked a midnight shift the night before and was suffering from a lack of sleep. It's funny though It never seems to affect my riding. In fact some of my best races were after working a midnight shift. I was also feeling malnourished after the ride, so i broke down and ate some meat. Not good meat either, I'm talking Mexican Food dripping with gooey white cheese and covered with sour cream and guacamole. HELL YEAH. Now I feel like crap. My inards hate me right now.

Anywho, with the cold weather sinking in I decided to brake down and get some "proper" gear. I swung by the Army Surplus store near Ft. Campbell and picked up 3 pair of BDU pants and I even found some sweet wool pants. I cut them up and made them into some pretty cool knickers. The wool pant came out well but they are extremely warm. I rode the BDU's on the North/South trail ride with Josh. They performed very well with some sexy boy tight britches under them. I like the extra pockets, their good for cliff bars and such.

I also picked up some toe warms from the bike shop and, my favorite piece of gear....wait for it. Swiftwick Twelve Merino's. I was introduced to Swiftwick socks about 2 years ago when they were part of the NMB team kit. I bought 3 pair and those same 3 pair have been in the regular rotation ever since. They're looking a little rough now but they function like they should. I picked up a few more pair when I joined Yazoo then I got a free pair at DSG. They're like a little piece of heaven for my feet. I can't wait to try out the 12's.

Just got back yesterday from a trip to Mulberry Gap, or as I like to call it, heaven. If I live a good life then hopefully I'll end up there when I'm dead.


I met up with the boys, Jeff & Thad, at Thads Hippie pad. A quick bite to eat, some coffee and 2 pisses later we hit the road. 234 miles and 32 food stops later and we made it to the bunkhouse with plenty of daylight to get a good ride on. We were greeted by our hosts Ginni & Dianne who treated us more like friends than customers.

We stowed our stuff and jumped on the bike to squeeze in our ride. Thad set the pace since he knew where he was going, and a brutal pace it was. Jeff & I were sucking wind at the top of the first big climb. We were both "feeling" the last food stop, which happened to be taco bell. We rode Pinhotti 2 out and then back for a total of about 16-17 miles. 3 mile climb to get up followed by one of the longest and most fun decents I've been on.

Back to the bunk house for some hot showers and some good home cookin'. I mean real good home cookin'. Diner was fantastic, we sat around a hot stove swapping stories and drinking beers and playing with dogs. Good times. I didn't even want to got to bed but I was pretty spent.

The next day after a fantastic breakfast we met up with Andrew, another one of the hosts, who we invited to ride with us. Andrew has only been biking for a short time but he's clearly in the right place and rode like a champ. Jeff were feeling better this time Thad was a little under the weather, but an under the weather Thad is still stronger and faster than a healthy Adam so the pace was not quite as brutal.

We rode to Bear Creek and did the loop there then rode Pinhotti 1 to the end then to Pinhotti 2 then back to the bunkhouse. We settled up and said our goodbye's and headed home. An excenllent end to and excellent trip. I can't wait till the next trip. I'll be heading back there as soon as I get the opertunity.

Yesterday I picked up Josh and we set out for Montgomery Bell State Parks for some single track action. Josh had just built up a single speed but decided to bring this geared bike(EX-9) too just in case. We hit the road heading south toward Dickson and the road was nice and dry and the ground was not too wet at all. About 10 miles from Monty Bell we decided that there hadn't been as much rain as we thought the night before. Josh had never been to Chickasaw Trace in Columbia so the decided to continue south and ride there instead.



We get to the trail head and get geared up. Josh locks his fancy EX 9 to the rack and truck just in case. We don't get a mile for the truck when his chain starts jumping off the rear cog. The tensioner isn't keeping the tension tight enough. We decide to head back and get his geared bike. We get back and realized the Josh forgot to bring his key. Looks like he's riding single speed. We pulled a link off of the chain and zip tied the tensioner to the chain stay pulling all of the slack out of the chain. Worked like a charm.

We rode one really fun lap then decided to switch bikes. I couldn't ride it. The gear was too tall me and the seat was too low and seatpost too short putting too much pressure on my knees. We swapped back and finished the second lap with smiles on our faces. We load up and head back to clarksville chatting about the ride.

It was a great day. Not too hot, not too cold. The trail was damp but not muddy or slick. Can't wait for the next one.