Before there were good trails and mountain biking was fun...

...there was Ceasar's Creek. Lets just say, comparing Ohio trails to Ohio trails, Mohican's the Brown Gargantua, CC would be the Green one that just wants to eat people. Plenty of mileage and ups n downs, but no flow, tons of ruts and even stinky, sloppy mud despite being bone dry mid-August. And I hate to loose to that troglodyte from Cleveland (I believe the official tally when we've squared off, year to date, is him; 2 wins, me; 25,000), but man I hate CC even more and was willing to roll over on this one. I just did it for the Benjamins.

I felt tired and had zero motivation to race knowing there was no redeeming quality to the next 2+ hours other than it would end, so I wanted to dictate the pace from the gun. I took the hole shot only to get passed when I slipped in some deep and funky smelling mud a couple miles in. Brad Wilhelm came shootin by and proceeded to light it up like it was a race or sumpin. Oh yeah, I guess it was, but thats not the point. The point is he was goin harder than I wanted to. Did I also mention it was hot? Center of the sun hot? Welp, it was. After hanging on Brad's wheel for a bit, I pulled aside and let Jean Shorts and Ben go around cuz I had no desire to try to keep that high a pace.

So, within a couple miles Brad had already blown it all out and I rolled by him. A lap later we rolled by Nano who had taken a wrong turn (despite only having to follow us. I love the Beaner) and was now hanging out trail side but jumped in for the rest of the ride.

Next (last) lap, I was considering the big ol DNF, cursing my current 3rd place hoping a buncha people would pass so I could be all "well, i'm out of the money, might as well put my butt on ice" but then the opposite happens and I catch Ben, (who was suffering a case of vacation legs) and I passed him to move into second. I had to finish now.

Jean Shorts was still impressing himself wayyyy off the front while I set back and rolled at a comfortable pace for second place. I'll make another trip to Ohio to make things right, just not to Ceasars.

Vote Mo in 08

McCain? Obama? Who cares, vote Mo in '08 and know your vote will count. I got a giant animal to feed, help a brother win some support via the wave3 fat cat contest. You'll be invited to the after-party, milk and catnip will be provided.
http://wave3nation.wave3.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=2112131&item_index=1&all=1&sort=NULL

or click the title

Brand new!

The all new Camelbak Hamster Bottle® System



This is just a prototype, but look for the product launch at the Louisville USGP.

Dust, sweat and pointy insects

I'm glad the weekend is over. I mean, wow, if it coulda happened, it was happenin last weekend. Not that it was a bad weekend, but it will be nice to sit here and get some down time. I mean, I'm not comin in here 40 hours a week to work, its recovery time.

So after not touchin the bike on vacation, the legs have been a bit slow to come around this week, I wasn't sure how Sunday was gonna work out. The weather was awesome though. Waverly can be like a broiler when it gets hot, so the relief in temps was especially welcome.

Rustys start line design, well, it looked like he was chasin his dog Hank around with some yellow tape attached to his butt, it ensured there was plenty of bumbin and bar rubbin. Despite that, I managed to get into the woods first. However, not 20 yards in, some bug with a pointy butt flew into my helmet and commenced to the stinging. I think at some point the little jerk was using my helmet to leverage himself to try to crack my skull with his stinger, man it hurt. I tried pokin it with my fingers through the vents, but he was crafty and was avoidin the poke every time like the hillbilly fleas livin on the dog on the old Warner Bros cartoons. I had to pop the helmet off (while trying to maintain pace) smoosh him and throw the lid back on. It felt like I had a hot match on my head the rest of the ride. But luckily it didnt swell up to twice it's normal size, otherwise people may have thought I was Mayor Jerry.

So while all this was goin on, Ben and I (surprise) separated ourselves from the pack. I wasn't feelin it. I just couldn't get the engines to really fire. I tried to attack a couple times, but just couldnt keep a high pace after the attack. Well, until lap 3. The legs didn't feel super strong, but I was giving all I had up Montanas and only getting a slight gap on Ben. As I was nearing the top, I saw RJ run down to meet Ben with a bottle. I happened to look back just as he was giving him a push up to the top and I got pissed. Not that I have never been pushed, or resented Ben for it, but man, if he was getting help up that hill while I was suffering alone, I was determined to make the rest of the race miserable for us both.

I dug deep on the next little up to Big Ring Ridge and then wound the 44x11 out. The next lap and some change went pretty much the same – paranoid Ben was catchin back on while I tried to keep the pace up. Some cramps set in the last time up to Big Ring, but I knew the worst of it was behind me from that point on and all I had to do was keep it upright and I managed to do just that. Good to keep the streak alive and arrive at the line un-bloodied for a change. Also, i would be remiss if I didn't throw out a special thanks to Sarah for handing up my bottles, (while snapping pics no less), like a champ and generally taking everything in stride. Youre the best.

So ending the day in a Beer and Benadryl induced stooper (note, many savings on beer can be had with the addition of just one of these little tablets. You may not be able to move, open your eyes or close your mouth after the second frosty one, but hey, you cant argue with the savings), it's nice to get back in the office for some shut-eye. Just wake me up when it's time to go-go.

KY mtbing's bad boy

I just checked out the point series updates. Looks about right. I was bound to get disqualified. I just can't handle rules. My momma raised a mad man. You ain't man enough to open this cage. Click on the title of this entry and you'll see.

WoW

Rowbears recap, it was like he had a camera on my shoulder. 'Cept I crashed on the first lap. And I was thinkin about my phone charger on lap 3.

Rode yesterday for the first time since the race. Its amazing what a week of beer, wine and fried fish will do for your form. Watch out Waverly!

And on that note, a vacation recap; best one ever. Pics to come for all you facebook losers.