SCG II - the reckoning

Snake Creek Gap, the second. And one thing is for certain, 3 men will go, only 2 shall return. John Hughson will die on that mountain. Well, that sounds more dramatic and makes you much more likely to come back for the recap, but I guess it would be sad if the little guy didn't make it. Especially if he had the keys.

So, goal for the second edition is just to shave 10 minutes or so off last months stroll through North Georgia. And the weather is looking like it's gonna be pah-reeeeem-ohh. This should be just what the Dr. ordered.

I've got a question

I've been thinking about this lately and can't quite figure it out. Winter = base miles right and also strength training. So this is the time of year that some people are doing squats and maybe even pushing a little bigger gear than normal at slower rpms. This makes me wonder why one of the guys I've done some road rides with, who has a powertap, is pretty strict about not pushing too much wattage. Why isn't it okay to push extra watts this time of year if it's okay to squat and push big gears? I can understand not wanting to get your heart rate or too high or too much intensity but I don't understand why this guy doesn't want to go over 350 watts or whatever. I've personally dumbed everything down this winter. I'm not wearing a heart rate monitor, no power tap, no logging of miles, nothing, I'm just riding my bike those one or two days a week when I get a chance. This is a big difference from last year. If i was on my bike then my hr monitor was on and I was writing in my journal afterward. I think I might have overthought things.

sincerely,

clueless about power

My wife and I have a big announcement

We adopted a doggie.

What a difference a week makes

Last week at this time I was a single man with two cats living downtown, now I am single man with two cats living downtown and I think I have insomnia. Maybe I need that giant demon butterfly from the commercials to come crap on my head or whatever it does to make you sleep.

Criminy I am getting old. I used to wonder "how can you not just sleep???" (I wondered this passionately, hence the 3 ?), I still wonder, but have no answers, well, I have ideas as to the cause I guess. I think it could be overtraining. I am becoming too awesome too fast and my brain is trying to keep up with my rapidly developing awesome powers, it just cant comprehend it and needs extra time to take it all in.

But really, it is amazing, at times, from one week to another how much things shift. Lets hope momentum continues for the positive.

I didn't die but I sure do hurt

Did three hours at cave run with schworm today. It hurt. First time I've ridden my mountain bike since July. I officially ride a mountain bike like a roadie now, like worse than Mandrola. The ground was kind of messed up on a lot of the trail from stupid horses. It was like trying to ride on freezer burnt ice cream. I walked a lot. there was one section of trail that was pretty good, I think it might have been buckskin. With over 3 hours of riding we only got about 20 miles in. That's how slow I was rolling.

I really love Steely Dan

Who else has written a song about Kings Richard and John?

Thats all, I have to go hop back in the custom van and listen to my other 8-tracks now.

ironic facial hair strikes again

I may not know how to be tuff but I sure know how to look tuff

An open letter to the roadies

Dear Roadies,

We mountain bikers have noticed something. Lets start here; maybe it is because many of us mtbers have accepted the fact that we are setting aside great amounts of time to play, er, exercise (as we tell parents, sig others and anyone else we blow off to spin some cranks for hours each day). We do this because it is fun, a release. When we see one another on the trail, we usually greet each other and have even been known to, gasp, stop to chat. I know, this is crazy stuff. Its funny, I guess because we are engaged in the same activity we feel a kinship, even if we dont know each other.

So anyway, many of us do also ride the road, which brings me to my point. When you see another person (solo or in pack formation) lift his/her hand and move it back and forth or up and down (some motion of that sort), it is a greeting known as a "wave". This may also be followed with a verbal from of greeting such as "nice day" or "howdy".

I have found natural instinct for the roadie is to stare, mouth agape, like a hick in the big city for the first time. Rather than stare like a yokel, try waving back. Really, you're just riding a bike and truth be told, you're not that special, not that being special is any reason for not being civil (I know your mom would not agree with the latter, but she would also probably be upset to know you're not being nice while your out playing on your toy). I realize this "waving" could waste precious calories, and maybe even disrupt airflow, so if this is a concern, try the "head nod." Quick, easy and you dont even have to remove hands from bars - you're craning your neck anyway, might as well return a greeting.

With every other car trying to flatten us, a little civility within our own group just seems, well, civil. Try it, it just might make you feel good.

Love,

Your Knobby Little Buddies
(that probably drop your sorry butts anyway)
Oops, sorry.

dust off the old record book

I got in a 5 hour ride today counting the two stops we made. 76 miles in total. It's the first time I've ever broken 70 miles. Awesome. Luckily I had a couple tug boats to get me through it, Alec Sim and Royden Kern. I guess I need to get the riding in now before the semester starts to get super busy.

Snake Creek Gap TT

Well, that wasn't so bad. Pretty good actually. After being off the bike 5 weeks in November, 2 of those post-surgery doing nothing at all, and not exactly killing myself in December, I'm pleased.

The conditions were far better than last years slop, when Garth and I first tried this little devil of a trail, with partly sunny 50+ degrees and perfectly tacky soil. Also having raced the course before, it was much easier knowing what I was in for this time.

Not really feeling the long-winded writing bug right now, I'll say it was a great weekend; Good beer supplied by Yazoo, Snake Creek Saturday and we hit some reallly nice trail a top Chattanooga on Sunday (Racoon mtn). I'm glad John Curtlo Jonnycakes Birthdayboy Hughson got to join us. Lookin forward to Feb., I hope we are as lucky with the weather then as we were this past weekend.

Hawk vs Duck

Hawk wins.

As I came around the golf course trail this morning, I disturbed a hawk havin some breakfast. The large bird took off clutching another large bird, a nice juicy mallard. I dunno, somethin seems wrong about pickin on a duck, especially by another bird. They seem like the chubby kid in school who tells jokes, kinda fun to have around, pretty harmless, cute in his own way. But, never the less, impressive to see the hawk flying around with a meal about as big as he.

I'm sure the duck would not agree, but it was a great morning and a kick-butt ride. I still feel super slow and this weekend's race should prove that out. But man that scalpel, well lets just say it's only limiting factor is its engine. The ground was frozen perfectly, like summer hard-pack minus the dust. Traces of white dotting the trail and woods, tires makin that "crunch-crunch" sound in the softer areas, all made me forget from time to time that it was all of 15-20 degrees. As much as I love a perfect 70 degree day, there is something to be said for that slap in the face feeling of a winter morning ride. Lets hope I feel the same at 5 am tomorrow morning.