Life and Times of an Industry Bike Racer

South bound and down

2010-02-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

When we were approached by Bent's Cycling in Lakeland Florida to consider a trip South for the 12 hours of Santos, there really wasn't much to consider. The weather here in Chattanooga has been anything but typical for us for several months. We have had snow and ice and very cold temperatures most of the winter. So when we heard that it was going to be sunny and 65 degrees in Florida, Mike V and I were figuring out all the details as quickly as possible. We never really looked at this event as an opportunity to race. It was more of a chance to meet with the shop owner and employees at Bent's Cycling. They have recently signed on as an Authorized Lynskey Performance dealer and we wanted to get to know them a little better.

After work on Thursday, we loaded up some bikes we had at the shop and hit the road. We stopped in Macon, GA that night for a little shut eye to break the trip up. It was a slow start on Friday morning but we found the closest Cracker Barrel and had some much needed coffee and breakfast. More driving followed and it seemed that each mile we covered the weather only became better. We hit the Santos Trails mid day on Friday and found the exceptional spot Bent's had saved for us…right past the Start/Finish line and directly next the transition area. This would prove to be a key element in the race. So after some hellos and how are ya's, we geared up and went out for a little test run on the course to assess any necessary bike changes and get a feel for the course. Shorts and short sleeves were the order of the day and it felt amazing. It has been quite some time since I last rode in summer gear.

After we finished our lap, more of the Bent's crew had arrived. We also ran into the Piney Flats race team from East Tennessee. What a great surprise! We hung out in the lot for a while talking bikes and racing and what tire pressure and gear choice are you running, you know the usual. Then some folk from The Great Bicycle Shop in Tallahassee showed up. They are also a dealer of ours so it was a full blown Lynskey party at that point. We all loaded up and went out for a pre-race dinner and some more socializing. What a great group of people. It was a chill evening as we sat around the tents and campers, had a few beers and talked some more shop. It was a great way to wrap up an evening.

The following morning it was business as usual. Sorting gear, setting up the pits, filling bottles, making playlists and all the pre-race preparations you can imagine. I have to mention that Mitch from Mitchell's Coffee House and a Bent's Cycling team member made the most amazing cup of coffee for us that I think I have had in a very long time. That stuff was so good. There was a mass Le Mans start that was going to take place so we tried to strategically place our bikes up the road where we could find them and grabbed a place in the line up. A few pre-race jitters (maybe it was the coffee) and some conversation with some competition and then we were off. Running up the fireroad was not too bad other than the mass chaos and rummaging through a pile of bikes looking for the one you brought. The first lap was pretty crazy and there were several bottleneck sections, but it went pretty smooth overall. By the third lap, the course was flowing nicely and people had started to spread out so you could really get some nice flow on the trails. I think Mike and I were running 3 laps then changing bottles on the 4th. This seemed to work pretty well. He and I rode together and also apart for most of the daytime laps. At about the 7th hour, someone said that you guys (MikeV and I) were in 2nd & 3rd. We were both totally shocked.

We laughed on the way down that we were in Spring Break mode not necessarily in race mode. This was great news for us. But that also meant there was a lot to lose as well. Mike V hit the gas and took off and turned out 2 killer laps that carried us into the darkness. I was just motoring along and trying to stay consistent. I came though on my 11th lap and found out that Mike had put some time in on me and I was sitting nicely in 3rd. When I came though transition the next time, one of the guys in our pits told me that Mike V was only about 4 minutes ahead of me, which was all I needed to hear. I hit the gas and went all out on the last 2 laps. He had just enough time on me to roll in for a solid 2nd place finish and I held onto my 3rd. What a great day after all. Not really expecting too much had paid off. That along with a little in-house rivalry always makes things interesting.

After the race, most of us were pretty worn out and we hung around at the pits for a bit. After the awards ceremony, everyone was ready for some sleep. We woke up early and packed up the mass of gear and bikes we brought down, said our good byes and went to breakfast. We had a wonderful time and want to thank everyone for the hospitality and kindness. Many thanks to Bent's Cycling for taking care of us. Thanks to The Great Bicycle Shop for support and conversation. Thanks to the Piney Flats crew for being there and showing off some of your killer new Lynskey bikes. And last but certainly not least, thanks to the Gone Riding crew for putting on a spectacular event. And of course, many thanks to OMBA for building and maintaining some really sweet trails. Florida had way more to offer than I could have ever imagined. We will see you guys again next year!

Post-Snake Creek and More Winter Weather

2010-01-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

It has taken me nearly a week to shake off the personal pain and frustration that went down at the first round of the Snake Creek Gap Time Trial. I know that many people were dissatisfied with their results and times posted, but I have been in a daze. I have not gone over the 4 hour mark in a really long time and I rolled in somewhere slightly under 4:15. You may wonder what the hell was I doing out there? Well a funny thing happened...Let's start with the fact the temps at the start were just a hair over 20 degrees with high winds and snow flurries. Usually I make the decision to under dress for this race despite the conditions since I know I will be warming up fast on the trail. As always, about 2 miles into the start, there is a decent sized creek that you have to cross through. This year it was a bit wider than normal and it was well below freezing outside. I rolled up to it and stopped to get a good look at it. Then backed up and tried to go at it with some speed and lift my feet up with hopes to make it through and not get my feet too wet. Needless to say, that is not how it worked out and I made it about half way in then ran out of speed and wound up walking to the other side. I instantly knew that was going to have an effect on the outcome of the day. As I rolled on, I just tried to put the fact that my feet were soaked out of my mind. The first half of the trail went pretty well. I never put in too hard of an effort, but my main focus was just to keep pedaling and catch the folks that were in front of me. I would roll up on someone, ask to pass and then sit back down and churn the pedals. I went through the first aid station and realized that my bottles were frozen solid along with my shoes and socks. Ice was forming in my pedals from where the water was seeping through my shoes. I eventually lost complete feeling in my feet and then my hands. I remember thinking to myself that I dressed down because I would get warm...it never happened.

I tried to stay focused and keep pedaling. That was all I could think about. Around mile 30 or so, I was hauling ass on one of the few downhill sections and rolled my front tire off the rim and launched myself over the bars and crashed hard. It appeared that my valve stem got damaged and the front tire leaked air for a while, but since I had been climbing, it was not very noticeable. Well it became pretty clear that something was wrong on the descents. So with frozen hands, I had to pull off a busted valve stem and proceed to install a new tube to get back on the move. I fumbled with this mechanical for what seemed like forever, but was nearly 10 to 15 minutes. During this time, a heard of guys that started behind me caught up and went on by. This was the nail in the coffin for me. I was cold, shivering and could not feel my extremities. So I pulled it together and just cruised my way back to the finish line. I was truly grateful to be finished that day. I know the Snake Creek course is always difficult, even when you are prepared, but this day was something else. I am glad to have this one behind me and will be taking the necessary steps to be ready for the next one. I can only hope it is warmer next month.

I thought I was done with this blogging thing

2009-12-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

I have been considering dropping out of the blog world because I have felt anti-social and borderline redundant. Not to mention the massive time gaps between entries that seem similar to an annual highlight reel. While all this is true, there are several new opportunities on the horizon for 2010 and hopefully they will help bring the key pecking magic back. Or at least give me something new to ramble about.

It has been a hard winter around my place. A few late season injuries kept me out of the racing scene and it has been all downhill from there. After returning home from Durango and the SSWC, I had one last 12hr race to hit then it was going to be a quick turn towards cyclocross season. Well at the last 12hr event, I crashed on a muddy downhill on the first lap and hyper-extended my wrist trying to save myself after the bike just shot out from under me at full speed. I hit the ground with my hip first, then on the wrist, then continued to slide down the hill in the slick, orange Georgia clay. I was totally stunned and just jumped back on the bike without thinking. I was trying to shake it off and get back into the groove but each bump and root just caused more and more pain in my wrist, not to mention that my entire left butt cheek was hanging in the wind. Finally after a couple more laps, I had to pull myself out of the race since I could no longer take any descents without out nearly coming to a stop. Oh well, we had a good time for the rest of the race and I worked on my social skills since that was all I had to offer that day.

After a few weeks of healing up, the next event took place. This one was a totally out of the blue kind of thing and those are the ones you have to watch out for. A shoelace in the chainring caused a crash that broke 2 ribs and bruised 2 more...there went cross season, It took nearly 3 weeks before I could actually take a deep enough breath to even consider getting back on the bike. I started out easy by commuting to the bike foundry and then slowly started picking up the efforts. Once I could do a push-up I felt it was time to get back to business and try to salvage some of the off season. That was just a couple of weeks ago, but at least the time off the bike has me feeling like riding all the time again. I have not taken much time off the bike over the last few seasons and sometimes a forced hand is better than you can imagine.

After a lovely Christmas at home, for the first time in 12 years, I took a little time for myself. A few fellas loaded up and went down to Dalton for a recon mission on the Snake Creek Gap course. What an adventure...that place keeps you on your toes the entire time. Totally relentless and unforgiving. You think, well it's only 34 miles, that is not bad at all. Then you try to think about all the other places that you have ridden that were harder or even longer, but somehow, it doesn't seem to help. But that is the fun in it. Then on Sunday a ton of Knoxville peeps came down to Raccoon Mountain and we had a lovely time there. I got to see a couple of people I have not seen in a while, rode with some people I never have before and we all met up for beers after. What a wonderful weekend.

Now with the first Snake Creek Gap TT on for this Saturday, I can only hope for the best and have a good time. I never have high expectations for the January installment, more of a will to compete and a reason to train this time of year. I will be on a new team for 2010 and have a few new sponsors as well, so there is much to look forward to this year. While I will be keeping the 12hr format as my primary focus, there will be a stage race and a few 100 milers in there too...just too keep things interesting. Many thanks to my new home with the Motor Mile Racing team out of Chattanooga, Lynskey Performance, Industry Nine and Maxxis. I look forward to seeing you all out there and cheers to great riding in 2010!

On the road again

2009-09-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well so far the travels have been better than expected. It is pretty awesome when you just let things happen and have no real expectations. I have had a loose itinerary and a few places I wanted to stop but nothing more put together than that. I have known that Thursday starts the Durango experience that will be the SSWC09, but the rest has been open. I made it to Hayes Kansas on Monday night after about 15 hours of driving and that was an experience all in itself. I feel for the folk that live in Kansas. I am sure it can be nice, but from first impression, I will not be looking to stick around for any period of time in the future.

Tuesday morning I left for Colorado and got a call from my pals at VeloNews to see if I still wanted to swing by and have a ride and a visit. We set up an appointment for Tuesday morning and I kept driving. Well as it turned out, while I was fishing through my maps I found a few bits of info about Estes Park that I still had from 2003. So that was it, I was going to Rocky Mountain National Park for the night. The plan was to get as high up in elevation and start riding in an effort to get acclimated to the altitude. So as I was passing through Boulder around lunch time I called Kevin back and asked his recommendation for lunch. Well as luck had it, he and David met us for lunch on Pearl Street. That was a great surprise and then we were off to RMNP via Lyons. When in Lyons, we stopped and picked up some Dale's Pale Ale to help with a night of camping.

The night in the park was killer. We grabbed a primitive spot and I suited up for a few hours of altitude training. I know I started around 9000ft and rode up to nearly 11000ft. It hurt like hell. No matter how hard I wanted to go, I just could only creep along. There were times that I would feel good then go hard, then have to settle down again. I played this little game for about 2 hours. By the time I made it back to the camp spot, it was time for the hammock and some down time. I wound up sleeping in the hammock all night and to wake up looking at the Rockies was so sweet.

We cruised back into Boulder to meet up with the new tech editor at VeloNews. Zack was a great guy to meet and we spent about an hour talking about the Lynskey brand and the three bikes I brought along on the trip. He shot some photos and then Kevin, Nathan, David and I hit the bikes for nearly two hours ripping up some road, gravel and greenways. It was awesome. I love it that these guys are retarded for cyclocross. You could just tell they were fired up about cross season.

From there we rolled down to Golden for a quick stop at Spot Brand to see Frank. I have been working with these guys for some time and many of them I have talked to on the phone or emailed a hundred times, so it was nice to meet them all in person. We talked shop and took the nickle tour and then we had to hit the road. Time to drive down to Monument for a little R&R and staying with friends. So far that has been amazing. I got out today for a nice ride from the house and hit the lower base of the mountains and am still trying to get used to this this air. I feel like I am recovering quicker, but still not there yet. I am off to Durango in the morning to meet up with the Endless Bike Co. crew. The Run What You Brung show will b going down tomorrow night and that should be a blast. I will shoot some video and photos and try to post them no later than Friday morning. More to come soon.

Where have you been?

2009-09-12T17:27:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since I spilled off on the blog and I am pretty sure that many of you have completely bailed on me. It is not like there was nothing to report on in my life, but it seems more like I have been doing the exact same thing nearly every week that it has become borderline redundant. As I sit here on the eve of departure, I thought it would be right to pick back up where I left off so many months ago...
All is well and life is good. I really mean it. Work is great, riding has been great and life has been amazing. I truly feel blessed and fortunate. I have been looking forward to this day for some time. Tomorrow I hit the road to embark on a two week adventure. Durango here we come. SSWC09 is next weekend and along the way, I plan on visiting some of the cycling industry's finest. Stories, news and videos will be posted regularly throughout the next two weeks. Tales from the road that should be too good to be true are anticipated. Next guaranteed stop will be Thursday night in Durango. Thanks to Tom @ Norse Cycles, we will be hanging out with some top custom builders and racers at the Run What You Brung, custom bike show. More info here. The plan is to drive straight to Fort Collins and start working our way South. More to come from the road.

I went to a party and there was a bike race...?

2009-05-27T17:36:00.001-07:00

Tsali...It is hard not to bring up the name and not begin to think about all the good time that have been had there. Well in classic fashion, this trip was nothing short of a good time. I bailed the bike foundry a bit later than anticipated, but the bike world needed some extra love that day so I hung around. The biggest bitch with rolling solo to such an event is the lack of opportunity to get a decent spot let alone a spot at the campground unless you arrive a day or so early, especially on a holiday weekend. Good news for me my mate Sam did just that...arrived on Wednesday to guarantee the choice spot in the woods that weekend. Camp spot 10 is the shit and you should all know it. And yes, it was ours. I made in through the valley around 8ish and met up with the video squad of Craig and Allie who were there to shoot the race. Rumors of Bishop were abound and he and Silvey went on a B double E Run. I made quick work of tent city and worked straight into chill mode with the video crew. The boys returned soon enough and we started the weekend off right. A few Fat Tires in a can, which is the bee's knees IMO, but being in the metals fabrication business I think aluminum is the perfect vessel for coldies and that is about it. The evening rolled on for hours and there was no shortage of complete amateur comedic relief.

The morning came quicker than expected, as usual. Some light breakfast and a morning Coors got things started off in the right direction. We sat around the camp spot and finalized the last few bike details and picked right up where we left off the night before. After we staged our bikes up the long ass gravel road it became real that it was nearly go time. I want to segway into this next part by saying that I hate to run...seriously, hate it. Like, I only run when the cops are coming and when we have to do a La Mans start. Well that went just as expected, sketchy, crowded and awkward. So when I hit the bike, I went off like mad. It was part adrenaline and part get me the hell out of here...I want single track. Since I cannot remember when the last time I was at Tsali and did not pre-ride the course, I had no clue when the road stopped and the trail began. The pace was solid right from the start and I felt really good for the first few hours and started to slow down a bit due to some wicked leg cramps that came out of nowhere. I totally underestimated the humidity and heat because it felt quite nice out. I made a longer than usual stop after the 5th lap to re-group and change my kit...I noticed that my jersey was really salty thus explaining the cramps. So I sat down in the creek by our camp spot for a few minutes and changes jerseys, grabbed some food and went back out on the course. I was rolling along pretty good not having any idea where I was on the leader board and at this point did not really care. I was just out to do as many laps as I could without totally destroying myself. When one of the fella's I was racing came by me like mad and I was sure that he had lapped me while I was chilling in the creek. That just sealed the deal for me because I was not moving that fast and had no real desire to do so at that point. So I turned a couple more laps and called it a day. For some reason, I lost a lap after the results were posted, but no big deal to me, I was out of the running by that point anyway. I made my way back to the camp spot and hung out for a few more hours before calling it a night. It was a great trip and I always have a blast at Tsali. It is everything it is cracked up to be and more. Now for a few weeks off before my shortest race of the season at Raccoon Mountain. It is too close to home to not participate.

Dirt Sweat & Gears Recap

2009-05-11T06:03:00.001-07:00

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words...then this shot should sum up the entire 12 hours race then. Even with 9 seasons of mountain bike racing under my belt, I have never ridden in conditions like this. I think that my first 24 hour race at Snowshoe, WV was probably the worse mud and rain I had seen until this weekend. Half way into the 2nd lap the trails were nearly impossible to ride, even on the down hills. You could ride the field section after the start finish, then a small open area along the trail where my pit was located, then back to pushing. At one point, I would have to use a stick or my glove to scrape off as much mud as I could, then walk about 300 yards, then repeat the process again. I stopped and hung out for a while after my 2nd lap and was hoping for it to rain harder or just dry up and neither was the case, so I called it a day and socialized. I feel very fortunate to be in a position to race for money, but this weekend was one of the times that I was grateful to not need the cash that bad. When the most laps completed in 12 hour event was 5, you should get the idea. It has been the season of rain so far this year, no real complaints because we really need the rain, but it would be great to have a race where it missed us. The SSUSA event is up for debate at the moment, but the following weekend is the 12 hours of Tsali which I am already registered for...hopefully that will be a dry day, but no matter, I am sure that it cannot be worse than what we rode in at DSG. For a complete breakdow, some cool videos and photos check out Cycling Dirt...if their coverage doesn't get the message across, then you just don't get it. Thanks to Clay and Grant for putting on the event and all the racers and sponsors for making it awesome as always.

Guess Who's Back...Back Again...Jamie's Back, Tell Your Friends

2009-05-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since the last post that I was thinking about abandoning this blog for good, but something just keeps me coming back. Mainly for my friends and family that I do not get to see that often, but also as a reminder of what has been going on and an exercise in communication. So with that disclaimer officially noted, here we go. Not sure where to start exactly...How about with the fun stuff first. Since my last post, there have been several bike races and a sustained internal injury. At the second Snake Creek Gap TT in February, I wound up puking about 10 miles into the race and could not hold it back. So there I was on the side of the trail just going to town and yelling at my shoes. While I was putting in a solid effort, it was not enough to cause that level of sickness. So I bailed out at the half way point very disappointed and felt defeated and confused. In bike racing, we have all gone to the point that you thought you were going to be sick, but rarely does it actually happen. So after that weekend, I made a few calls to some local bike racers/doctors that I know and told them what was going on and if they knew someone who could check me out. Of course they did...so I went straight to the GI specialist and we came to the realization that I had herniated my stomach and also had an small ulcer. So the hernia was pushing into my liver and gall bladder, which caused the gall bladder to excrete too much acid and then the heavy physical stress of mountain bike racing all added up to some torn up insides. I had to make some serious changes to my diet, eliminating all the wonderfully bad foods like coffee, milk/dairy, red meat and spicy foods and take daily medication from now on. I just went in for my follow up appointment and I am feeling much better and everything looks good. So my efforts were not in vain, but my physical duress trigger will always be there.

I made a trip down to Athens Ga with Mike V for the first of the Dirty Spokes events at Heritage Park. This was the first time that I raced in Athens and at a Dirty Spokes event. This was the first in a 4 race series that started with a 6 hour race. It was rainy and a chilly 38 degrees when we rolled out and it never got much better. I cranked out 5 laps and came in 5th, which was not as well as I hoped. I ran into a bunch of people that I had not seen a while and even hung out with the Terrapin Brewing Team for some post race support. We loaded up the car and made the trip home just in time for dinner.

I spent the next few weeks hitting up our Tuesday night and Thursday night rides and added one long day each weekend just to keep it fresh. It has been great since Tuesday has become the game of finding the hardest road route possible and then racing each other up and down the mountain. Great fun but hard on the system. On Saturdays I have been riding to Raccoon Mountain from my house which is a decent 50 miles depending on which way you go over Lookout Mountain. Even then it has been hard to get the distance that I feel I need. So I made a decision to use the month of May as my trial by fire into better endurance shape for the rest of the season.

It started last weekend at the 2nd Dirty Spokes 12 hour event at Ft. Yargo SP in Winder, GA. I have never been here before either, but I heard that it was a fun, fast course. Once again, Mike V and I hit the road. Similar to our last trip to GA, the weather was terrible and it rained like crazy all the way down. We woke up to some decent sunshine, but that lasted long enough to start the race and get a few laps in. Then the sky opened up and it poured, big time. So for the next few laps it was a mess and only got worse. I hated to call it a day after the 7 hour mark, but I really felt like we were destroying the course and I was tired of being muddy. You could not wear glasses because they would fog up from the humidity, so you had to take your chances and try to limit the amount of fine sand that you got into your eyes. I am still digging out sand from my eyes days later. All in all it was a good time and it was too bad that the sun did not remain because the few early laps were awesome and fast, but that was very short lived. Once again, it was nice to see all the folks that showed up at the race. We packed up and hit the road.

This weekend is the Dirt, Sweat & Gears 12 hour event which I hope will have better trail conditions, but it is not looking good so far. I will have a full race report next week. Following the DSG will be the SSUSA event and then the 12 hours of Tsali on the 23rd. This is going to be the make it or break it month for me, so either I will get this 12 hour thing or I will keep trying until I do. I really like the format and have been enjoying the new trails, but it seems like the only way to "train" yourself for a 12 hour race is to just suit up and go around as many times as you possibly can. See you Fayetteville this weekend!

Gratitude...It's like that ya'll

2009-02-25T07:28:00.000-08:00

Today is Gratitude Wednesday and I would like to start by thanking Jason at Edge Composites for all the killer stuff this year. First off, the 38mm carbon clinchers are just awesome, plain and simple. I have been riding these wheels for a few months now and I am still impressed each time I ride them. From daily riding, to serious training to actual commuting, I have not taken them off my Helix since they arrived. Totally sick...and well worth the money. Skip the silliness of having a "training" wheelset and a "race-day" set, the Edge stuff is solid and built to be ridden all the time. So thanks again. It is amazing the fun you can have with your fellow Industry peers especially at an authentic Bavarian restaurant after a few liters of beer and some ass paddling by a random chick followed up by a ride in the back of a pick-up truck down the Las Vegas Strip. Enough about that, but you should have been there.

On the second part of my gratitude list is my friend Paolo from Prologo saddles. Once again, another great person and someone who is way more passionate about something I have given little thought to over the years. While I always understood the benefits of a quality saddle, I usually went with something tried and true and just repeated. For years I ran the Flight and now I wish I had met Paolo years ago. They really think through all the details and design features when coming up with a new saddle. I have a Scratch on my road bike and a Vertigo Ti on the mountain bike...I am all about them too. Each has it's own unique feel, but at their suggestion I went with this setup. I have switched and will never look back. And don't just take my word for it, check out their elite pro list on their site and tell me you have not heard of any of those guys.

Drama Free Friday

2009-02-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Work:

All is well on the bicycle fabrication front. In all honesty, considering the current economy, we have been jamming. The shop is booked up for months, we have new component prototypes coming out every couple of days as well as a few new frame models in the works. It has been a steady stream of yanking the first prototype whatever out of the shop, shooting product photos, writing product info and sending that shit to anyone and everyone that may be interested. My current mentality has been send something to anyone and repeat until they respond or ask me to stop sending them stuff. Either way my mission is complete. One of the coolest products we are rolling out is this bad boy here. Geared or Single, 29 or 26 and either one will be under $1400 for the frame. We are also working on some new titanium handlebars that some of you have seen...still not too sure where we stand with those so I will save that for another day.

Ride:

The weather has been really cold in the mornings and a little warmer in the afternoons, but it is still winter in the South. Not as bad as many other places, but to me weather is all relative to where you are. 10 degrees may be horribly cold to some and not that bad to others so I try not to complain and just put on more clothes. The commutes have been very refreshing to say the least. I hope that the daily grinds/intervals to and from the office have some reward come early March. I have been trying to do my homework for Snake Creek but with it being a one shot deal for me this time, I am trying not to feel too much self created pressure. If I can have a good day on the bike in March and beat my fastest time, from last year then I will be cool with that. You always want to podium, but it is going to be a long year for me so there is no reason to beat myself up this early in the season. Looks like the new Krystal kits are in, need to go and pick mine up next week. Speaking of kits, I have been on the kit designing warpath lately. I just rocked out two designs a couple of weeks ago and just got the word that another one will be coming my way. The one for the Pisgah Brew Crew is bad ass...they were kind enough to provide some design direction and I just made sure that everything worked and fit correctly. I think Jut sent everything off for production so in a few weeks, the green and white brew crew will be in full effect. Give them a shout if you want to order one...I am sure they will have extra's for sale. Well that is all for me today...I need to get back to my Drama Free Friday.

WTF? Snake Creek Nearly Killed Me

2009-02-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks have been something of a blur but I will run a quick highlight reel in verbal form. After some debate and borderline harassment, I decided not to go to the Icycle at Fontana Dam. As usual, everyone said it was a blast and that I missed a killer time and so on. However, I did wind up spending the weekend in Chatty and to sweeten the pot for missing the race, Ivory and Cynthia came down for an over-nighter. They rolled in around 2 and Ivory and I went out for a little ride around the neighborhood via Stringers then over to Lookout. We returned to the house to find what appeared to be lost sisters...the ladies hit it off like champs. We grabbed a quick shower and went out for some food then it was off to see the Pine Box Boys. This is where everything gets shaky. First off, we drove over to the venue that none of us had ever been to...which also happened to be attached to the liquor store. Now I have driven and ridden by this place countess times, just never thought to actually stop in. We walked in to the bar and were immediately engulfed with smoke...I think we may have been the only 3 people in there that were not chain smoking. After we glanced around trying to figure out where the band would play, someone from near the bar yelled, "if you are here to see the band, come over and see me first". So we did...payed the man the 6 dollar cover and received a nice wristband as proof of purchase, then shown to the door behind the back of the bar...yep that's right folks, Chatty has it's own little speakeasy with live entertainment. After only a few short minutes in the back room some visual observation pointed out that you can go next door to the liquor store, pick up your favorite spirits and return with it in its nice packaged brown sack and proceed to stroll around the bar and take rips as needed. It really made it all the more disappointing that I forgot my camera. The band was awesome and to be honest, it was one on the latest nights that I have had in a really long time. Thanks Pine Box Boys for showing me that you can mix all of your favorite death metal influences and roll them into one wild ass bluegrass band with some serious attitude.

The following morning, the Boro crew packed up and headed North so I proceeded to suit up for another ride to Raccoon Mountain from North Chatt. This time Micah and I made the initial jaunt and by the time we made it to the top of Raccoon Mtn. Jason had driven up and met us at the East Overlook. So the 3 of us began our lap and eventually ran into all kinds of people we knew which caused everyone to pick up the pace significantly. We tore through all of the single track on Raccoon, said farewell to those who drove and made our way back down the mountain towards home. It is always nice to start from the house and pick out where you are going visually and then look back towards home as you return.

This was pretty much the end of any real time on the bike for the next week...which turned out to be a major mistake...the weather got really cold and bitter with mix precip here and there. It totally sucked all the life out of me and no matter how much I wanted to ride, I just could not make it happen. We had the 2nd Snake Creek coming up at the end of the week and it just did not seem to phase me. The Pisgah Brew Crew cruised in late Friday night and we just chilled out and caught up for a spell before we hit the sack for some much needed rest. Saturday came early and with a quick breakfast and coffee we hit the road for the drive to Dalton. After registration, I quickly suited up and barely made it on the last van to the start of the 34. To my great surprise, Diamond Dave Kennedy pokes his head in and asks if this van was going to the start...I yelled, Diamond Dave and we had a Nashville reunion all the way to the race start. I found the trailed that transported my ride, rolled up to the start and jumped in on one of the early waves. This is where things start to go wrong. I promised myself not to get too into the race until the half way point. Well for some reason, I just could not get the bike moving as fast as I wanted to and it seemed much more difficult to do so than usual. So my first thought was I need to put more into my pedal stroke to try and wake my legs up so I could warm up faster. I wound up having to stop to strip off some extra layers and then back on the bike I went...giving it hell the entire time still waiting for my legs to come around. Towards the end of the first technical climb, I pulled over and began puking my guts out...what the hell was going on? I regrouped and got back on the bike, feeling much better than before....but I still could not get the bike to faster. At the end of the last climb before the half way point, I was totally cooked...I was sweating like crazy and I knew that it would be a death march to the finish. The 2nd half of this race is basically all climbing and it is some tough, technical climbing at that. So I chose to call it a day. I never like to pull myself out of a race, but this was only going to get worse for me. I sat around and waited for the rest of the Yazoo and Pisgah Crews to come through the half way point and then bummed a ride back to the start. It was a sad day for me, but the beauty of bike racing is there is always another race. And there is one more shot at Snake Creek in early March. After the rest of the gang came though the finish, we went out for some dinner and then had the first low key night I have ever had with the Brew Crew. It was uncanny. So all that means is March is going to be full on for sure. Sunday started off with some breakfast at the local neighborhood spot, Aretha's. As usual, it took forever, but the food was great. A quick stop by my house and then on to Raccoon Mtn. I was the acting tour guide since everyone except Jut had never been there before. I made sure that we hit all the stuff that is off the perimeter trail to give them the full effect. I cannot say how much I love this trail ad I think that everyone else would agree. It was an awesome weekend and in a few short weeks, we will be doing it all over again. I cannot wait.

While digging around on the internet, I came across this little gem. While I have no love for Hutchinson tires, I did really like the way they shot this...enjoy.

It's Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

Weekly Re-cap

2009-01-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

The work week is nearly over and it has been balls to the wall all week long. I have been meaning to sit down and bang out some banter, but all I have been able to do is start a collection of draft files that start out similar, but all trail off into nowhere within a few sentences. Well today I am going to commit and regardless of how poorly this comes out, I am going to finish this post. To start it all off, last Saturday, Sharpie came into town like a bat out of hell. He dropped the wife and kid off on the mountain, grabbed a longtime friend of his and hauled ass to my place. We hung out for a spell and then made our way to Raccoon Mountain for a ride...insert photos here...oh yeah, I cannot figure out where I put them. We rode all the inner and outer loops at Raccoon since Sharpie had never been there and Britt was only familiar with the perimeter loop and some of the inner stuff. We were snowed on most of the time and the trail was frozen solid...it was surreal but so sweet. After our ride we hit a new local Mexican joint and spent the evening laughing so hard that I cried at least three times. Sharpie just does that to me...every time.

Sunday morning, I woke up and tried to gorge myself on as much food as I could with out getting sick. Knocked back a couple of cups of coffee and then rode down to St. Elmo to pick up Mike V. for our ride to Raccoon Mountain. We left his place and worked our way up and through Lookout Mountain before making our way over to Raccoon. It started out really cold and cloudy and about the time we made it to the visitor center the sun came out and offered a nice change to the latter few hours. Strangely enough I felt really warm the rest of the day despite the deceivingly cold temps. We rolled back towards the house after meeting back at the east overlook and just kicked around on our way back. We split ways with plans to meet up for some serious post ride chow at the local pizza joint. After 5 hours on the single speed, all I can say is hell yes...that was the answer...fresh pie rocks!.

Not much happened other than the daily grind until Thursday night when I met my friend Matt at Booker T for a few laps in the dark. It has been a long time since I have been there and it was pretty much what I expected. The trails are decent, but so short that by the time you get into a rhythm you are back where you started. I think that I have been spoiled by Raccoon Mountain.
Friday I finished up my SSWC09 entry form and mailed that baby off to Durango. I hope the Durango boys get a kick out of my project...I know I had some fun making it. Later on I met up with Sam and Micha for some pints and socializing. Looks like there are some new trails that Sam found and we are going to work those into our loop to Raccoon Mtn. on Sunday. That should extend the ride by about an hour for around a solid 6 hours on the mountain bike. We have opted for a long road ride today instead of back to back days on the mtb...works for me.

Straight from the Hood

2009-01-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend has come and gone so quickly, it hardly seems fair. As I sit in the office this morning looking out the window, we have sunshine and chilly temps which is crazy considering the cold, rainy wet weather we had all weekend. I met up with my new neighbors, the Simril's, for an early morning ride on Saturday. We planned on riding from North Chatt to Raccoon Mountain and back via downtown, Lookout Mountain and Elder Mountain. The weather looked bleak from the start. I was sitting on my front porch all bundled up putting on my shoes and it started to rain. That was really hard on the motivation factor. I rolled up the street to meet my morning accomplices and the rain just kept coming. By the time we made it through downtown, the rain had stopped and we we all shedding our jackets in preparation for the climb up Lookout. We cut off the road to pick up the Guild Trail to avoid car traffic. We hit the road again and bombed down into Tiftonia and worked our way through the backroads to get to Elder Mtn. Road. Then the nice climb up the road to the top of Raccoon Mountain.

We hit the singletrack and found the trails to be in way better shape than expected. While it was difficult to find the right amount of clothes to wear, the ride was spectacular. Slightly wet and slippery, but lots of fun because everything was hooking up really well. After a modified lap around the perimeter with some re-routing for fun factor, we made it back to the East Overlook. Then the rain came again. This time it poured as we bombed back down the montain. Totally soaked by the time we hit the base, it made me all the more focused to get up and over Lookout again to haul ass back to the house. As we were crossing the Walnut Street Bridge, we ran into Jim and he followed us back up Forrest to squeeze one more climb in before we called it a day. This new route is going to be very useful for training purposes, several long climbs, some road sections to warm up on and lots of technical singletrack to mix things up, all from the front door. Once the time changes, this route will be doable after work, so look out Tuesday night crew, this one is getting added to the list.

No Excuses for 2009

2009-01-07T04:09:00.000-08:00

We rang in the New Year in classic college fashion starting with a short track urban race, followed by a well funded keg party (thanks SORBA) and wrapped it up with a full on dance party. I like how this is beginning already. The first Snake Creek Gap has come and gone and I missed out this time. With some work obligations and a lingering cold, there was no way I could convince myself that was a good idea, but the great thing is there are 2 more. The rain and cold temps would have crushed me for sure, or at least take the last bit that the trail did not squeeze out. I checked out the times and all I can say is damn, ya'll. Even with the weather there were some amazing times laid down, especially in January. Looks like this is going to be a hard core year...again. I look forward to giving it a go and kicking it with all of great people that somehow think that racing uphill for 34 miles in the wet and cold in early winter is a good idea. What can we say right?

My riding has been pretty sad over the last few weeks to say the least. The holidays and a wicked bad virus set me back big time. I wound up losing about 6 pounds in a couple of days...probably not a bad thing, but that was not how I wanted to go about it. I am not much for the supermodel diet of vomiting and not eating for several days at a time. But I am finally feeling good enough to start riding with intention again and that feels really good. Now if I can get the weather to work with me. Pouring rain has kept me indoors for several days. It should only take a couple of weeks to be ready to rock. I hope to see you out on the bike.

Rock and Roll Tribute

2008-11-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

While I was messing around in the shop today I had an idea. Sometimes that can be a good thing and other times not so much. It all started when I was presented with a request for a unique graphics package for a bike we are sending to the UK. This guy, which is also his name, wanted something different on his PRO29...well I am still working on guy's graphics but I did manage to work this little beauty up and give it a test on a scrap tube. I hope the God of Thunder is proud. I think that I may need to do an entire KISS Live tribute and put all 4 members faces' on the top tube of my next bike. I think that it will be a solid representation to go along with my speakers in the Wingnut. Now I am seriously fired up about next season. Snake Creek Gap is just a little over a month away.

Day Late and a few Dollars Short

2008-11-17T08:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it has taken me a week to fully recover from the Asheville extravaganza/Swank 65 adventure. First and foremost, many thanks to my hosts, Jut and Ty for having me and Sam. It sure was way nicer than sleeping in the freezing cold, even though I barely made the start. It all kicked off on Friday night as Sam and I left Chatty around 8pm and made our way to Asheville. We arrived to band practice and a scattered group of people hanging out at the Crow's Nest. Saturday morning, I met my Aunt, Uncle and cousins at Early Girl for breakfast. It was crazy that they were in Asheville for a wedding and I was there for a bike race. So we made the best of it and hung out for a little while. Then Jut and I went to Bent Creek to ride. We met up with a fella that Jut knows who rides a high-mountain bike. I cannot even begin to tell you how freaking awesome this was. This dude kicked some serious ass on this 6foot tall bike with a 140mm Fox fork and purple I-9's with disc brakes. To simply put it, he crushed us on the descents....believe it. Even after a week, I still cannot believe what I witnessed that day.

Later on in the evening, we wound up heading to Jack of the Wood to catch some live bluegrass thanks to High Windy. I have not been to that venue in quite a while and it was a pleasant as I remember. The band was stellar and I ran into several pals from around the way. Slohio Rob was in effect along with Freddy, Libby and Emmy. And there was even an Elliot sighting. Most everyone left before the band ended and we should have too, but we stuck it out until they wrapped it up. After a brisk night ride back to the Crow's Nest, we arrived to meet the band for a third set at the house. I finally nodded off in a quite corner on Jut's floor.

I woke up to Sam asking if we still planned on racing...well of course we were. The only problem was we got up almost 2 hours late. I grabbed all my stuff and crammed it into my car and hit the road to Brevard like a maniac. The entire drive I was pretty sure that I was going to miss the start and just have to suffer for no reason at all. When we pulled into the campground, I had about 8 minutes to suit up, fill bottles and register...holy shit!!! I somehow made it to the start with about a minute to spare and I looked over to see Justin standing there in his street clothes. Damn, he just arrived and then we were off. No time to even think about anything other than racing. I barely remember the running portion of the start and then I grabbed my bike and followed the pack. It wasn't until we hit the first climb that I had a clue what or where I was going. The race was pretty much status quoe in my opinion. I have ridden that area for many years, and while I liked the start a little better than last year, there was nothing to great about it. I did not stop for more than 30 seconds at any stop and mainly it was just long enough to grab some water and shove a Coke in my pocket. I drank 2 cokes and ate 3 bars...a total sugar buzz the whole race. Right before we hit the Farlow Gap climb, I pounded my Coke and got a second wind. I made the whole climb, unlike last year, which made me pretty stoked. I wound up passing several SS and geared guys going down Farlow...there is nothing more awesome than passing people on a super technical decent on a rigid bike. However, it did take a toll. I hit one section and got launched off the bike. Stabbed my right butt cheek with my saddle and tore a hole in my shorts...I could have done without that. But it just gave me a shot of adrenaline and I made it to the creek crossing and then hit the single track on a mission. I was pretty much over the event at that point. When I hit the last stop, I grabbed one more Coke and counted down the last 1o miles with a steady rhythm on the pedals. Once I made it to the final road climb, I went all out just to get it over with. I passed a few more people on the climb and was pretty much home free when we got to the last creek crossing. I rolled in just under 4:20 and 32nd overall which was 40+ minutes faster than last year. Considering I barely made it, I was cool with my results.

We hung out for a free beer and hamburger and watched some more people roll in. The weather was way better than last year and it was great to see so many friends in Pisgah. I am not too sure that I will be doing the Swank 65 next year, but many thanks to Todd for hosting a killer time in the woods.

Asheville Bound

2008-11-07T14:04:00.001-08:00

Since the last time I stopped by blogger land much has come and gone. The 12hrs of the Hill of Truth went pretty well. We finished in 3 place in the money category, so we walked away a touch richer and none the wiser. A 3 man team competing in the 4 man category is not such a huge feat, but more like an intential disadvantage. We all rode strong, but later in the day you could begin to see what a little more rest between laps could do. Although it was a hot lap fest for sure, I think we held our own quite well. It was awesome to hang out with the Knoxville crew and many thanks and congrats to 10 years of racing at Haw Ridge. I will always look to make this a regular late season stop. The trail is great and the good times are inevitable. That is an event where if you do not have fun, then you can only balme yourself. I hope to see you there next year.

I am about to pack up for a trip to Asheville for the SWANK 65. Yes, it's that time of year again. Early Fall has a way of sparking up all the desires of mountain bike racing. It is funny how you can start counting down the days to the next season as soon as fall arrives. The horrid summer heat is gone and the days get shorter, so now is the time to charge up the lights and start looking forward to Tuesday nights again. I just received an email from Conrad and the registration for the Snake Creek Gap Series is open for business. I am looking to redeem myself this time around. I had one good day out of three, so I am hoping for a little more consistancy from the bird legs this year, see above image. I cannot wait to hang out with my Asheville pals and hope that the trails are extra sweet on Sunday.

Back in the Saddle Again

2008-10-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have left the world of blogging to the professionals lately as I have had very little to mention other that the day to day workings of life. I have spent a few weeks working in the machine shop learning the titanium fabrication trade and while it is a complex arena, I have held my own quite well. For the sake of quality and safety, my duties have been somewhat limited but necessary. I can successfully drill a hole in just about anything. I also learned how to set up mitering jigs and run other machinery as well. Not sure where that will take me in the future, but I have a whole new appreciation of the fine steeds I ride the shit out of on a regular basis. My hat is off to the fine fabricators of titanium.

Tomorrow I embark on a trip to Knoxville for the 12hrs of the Hill of Truth. I am having high expectations for our crew this year. We took 2nd in the Open Pro category last year and I think that we have a solid shot at first this year. I guess it will all depend on the level of competition that shows up. We are going with a 3 man crew to minimize our down time and hopefully keep us from getting lethargic due to the waiting game. There is a healthy purse on the line which is always a motivator in my book. To stray from the smack talking fiasco that is usually left to Dicky, we will just show up and give the locals utter hell and see how we fair in the end. The event is always fun and it will be good to see my friend T-Gaines and his whole K-town crew. I wish everyone the best of luck and I will be the guy screaming "on your left!!"

Interbike Pre-Show Breakdown

2008-09-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

I have been messing around the shop this week. With Interbike right around the corner and the last few items trickling in, I am now looking to have some fun in Vegas. I think that I am going to work in a daily show update on the blog with pictures, video and a quick run down of what happened. Monday we will be traveling, setting up the booth and building bikes. Tuesday is Dirt Demo and I plan on going out to Bootleg Canyon to hang out with some of my West Coast crew. Wednesday the show starts and later that night we will be hanging out with the Alpha Q boys at CrossVegas. Thursday will be more show action followed up with the Crit Series Final and I expect to kick it with Willo and Sulli that night. Friday should be a welcomed day as the show wraps up and we pack our items back into our boxes and ship them home. Saturday morning will come quick with the red eye flight back to Chatty. Sunday morning I will get up way before the sun to pack my bags and head down to the Cohuttas for the Black Bear Rampage, being hosted by Scott's in Cleveland. So there it is folks, the week before it happens...check back through out the week and see what is going on in Vegas. I will keep it PG rated, well at least I hope so.

What Can I Say?

2008-09-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have pounded away at the keys for anything other than work. I have been swamped with bicycle trade show details as well as the 2009 Lynskey Product lineup. While I have been surrounded by bikes, I have not spent a ton of time riding them. I have sent all materials to Germany for Eurobike and my guys are there now drinking mass amounts of high-quality German beer with our distributor and hopefully attending the show and selling some bikes while they are there. I am a bit jealous, but with Interbike on the horizon, I am glad to be here in the states right now. The Interbike shipment is being picked up on Tuesday, so I will finally be in the clear for a few days to regroup and get focused for the bicycle circus in Las Vegas.

I kicked off my return to the bike on Monday after a long weekend of moving in to my new house in North Chatt. It feels great to have a home again with enough space for company, racer friends and plenty of bicycles. Jason and I went out for a ride with no apprehensions or objectives and wound up doing over 80 miles and hit two of the local mountains. The term trial by fire crossed my mind a time or two, but it was what I needed to get back on the horse. Now I cannot wait to ride some more and get my fitness back up to where it needs to be for a killer Fall mountain bike season. I have been traveling and lounging with the best of them in an attempt to enjoy the summer months like I used to in college. Lots of low key sunshine and water sports like cannonballs, water slides and sun burns. All that is behind me now and I am excited about the turning of the leaves and epic mountain bike rides. Hope to see you out on the trail...you know I will be there.

Summer Time is Fun Time

2008-06-23T09:16:00.001-07:00

It is official, no summertime racing for me. It has finally hit the too warm for me point and I am now taking my "winter off". I plan to ride a ton still, just not feeling very competitive. There may be a few appearances at some local 12hr events, but it will strictly be for fun. I have a wedding to attend in Mid July so the ORAMM is out. Kinda bummed but that further enables me to chill this summer. A steady plan of commuting, road biking and some epics on the mountain bike preferably at trails near the river is what I have planned. I spent this Sunday working the SORBA Outdoor Expo and followed that up with a killer late-afternoon boating extravaganza. Dr. Mark was kind enough to invite a few of us out to his pad for some water sports after the Expo. What a perfect way to wrap up a lazy work weekend.

I ordered the misses a new scooter for her birthday. I was trying to be all sneaky and get it here and then have my guys custom paint it for her. But her persistence and detective work, blew my cover and I had to spill the beans. I was trying to be strong, but if I was not careful, she would have bought herself one and I would end up with 2, so I filled her in that I already ordered it and it should be here soon. So if you are in Chattaboogie and you get passed by a crazy brunette on a tangerine Buddy, that was Mrs. P.

Back in the Saddle Again

2008-06-16T07:53:00.001-07:00

The weekend is over and the new work week has been rolling along. The weather is warm and humid here in the deep South. The best plan is an early breakfast and early ride with all efforts to return home before 1PM. I have been riding to work as much as possible. I drove in to the office on Tuesday and actually felt a bit of disappointment. It was more like I missed out on something, so I rode in today and will probably do so for the rest of the week. What started out a once a week has turned into nearly everyday. For that I am happy and satisfied. Not only am I saving money, nearly 10 bucks a day, but I am also getting at least 2.5 hours of riding in, plus anything else I do after I get back on my side of town. Looks like my next bike project will be commuter oriented...I have a few steeds in the basement that will work beautifully and my road bike is working well now, but something a little more comfortable my be just the ticket. Fancy pants commuter style coming soon.

New Sponsors

2008-06-11T07:44:00.001-07:00

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my 2 new sponsors...White Brothers Forks and Dedicated Athlete. I look forward to representing their products with pride and professionalism. So the days of bikes being thrown and fights taking place in the singletrack, jonny mac style are over...as Pisgah Bruce so eloquently puts it, "I might be serious". In all seriousness, I am grateful for their support.

The heat and humidity has slowed the training significantly, so to make up for it, I have started commuting to work on the bike. I have been wanting to do this ever since I first moved here, but for a small town, the roads are pretty sketchy. At least where I have to go. The first or last part depending on the direction is all nice greenway travel, but the roads through the industrial sections are much more dangerous. I have yet to feel threatened, but I do have to pay very close attention to the traffic. I am hoping that the daily travelers in those congested areas will get used to seeing me and start paying attention. A fella can hope right?

Summertime is Here

2008-06-06T10:44:00.001-07:00

Work:
This week the boss man was out of the office on vacation with his family, so us flying monkeys have been forced to fend for ourselves and try to knock out as much stuff as possible before his return. While it has been quiet and peaceful, I do miss the excitement he brings to the foundry. I received confirmation that our Dirt Rag review is scheduled for the July issue...looking forward to hear Andy's thoughts on his ride. I am building a sexy new bike for Sugar Cycles, a new dealer, that I am going to shoot for a Velonews Ad. Should have a sneak peak photo up on Monday. We are working on some killer new stuff for 2009 and it looks like my bike is on the selling block so I am going to be in the market for a new ride...something to think about for a few days. I have been wanting to build a belt drive 29er SS, so looks like here is my chance. I think that I am going to take the summer off from racing anyway and just kick around on the road bike. Maybe even pick up some type of water sport while it it crazy hot out. I actually hate the summer time...it was only cool when I was in school, or out of school for that matter. But it is all part of our yearly trip around the sun.

Ride:
The past few days on the road bike have been rough to say the least. I have been consumed by the heat and feeling slow and sluggish. I guess this happens, but it is not something that I am used to, yet. After much thought and deliberation, I am going to bag the Disc Burner 12hr race this weekend for a more low key trip to the Whitewater Center for a repeat of the Big Frog 65 ride followed by some time in the river, then an over night camping escapade. I think this will be the new summer style for myself...pick trails to ride that are really close to water. Ride, Swim, Chill...my version of a triathlon.

On a separate note, I have a new mountain bike project in the works. My old school school steel Yeti is back from paint and is glorious. It will be built up as a 2x8 with some old school XTR stuff that I have. Seeking out some new cranks and maybe a suspension fork. This is the last steel Yeti ever made in Durango as far as anyone knows...I bought this from a former Yeti employee back in 2001 and he had it made in 1997 with the last of the steel tubing that was lying around the shop. It was once powder coated red and is now metallic pearl white with a sexy metallic black panel...I have been hanging onto the decals for many years and was actually surprised they worked with the clear coat. I will post the complete build ASAP. This will be my off-road cruiser bike unless someone wants to put it to better use, then I am open to offers. This is the best riding mountain bike I have ever been on.

Burn Baby Burn

2008-05-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Holiday weekends are always great. It's like a surprise day off that usually turns into an elaborate travel adventure and this year was no different. After work on Friday, I came home and began sorting all of my riding and camping gear that we would need for the extended weekend that would consist of a 24hr race followed by some socializing in Asheville with JutRut and Ty. It was going to be a full on family trip with Mrs. Pills and our four legged fuzzy son Gunnar. By the time I had everything packed into the car, it was nearly 10PM and I decided to take a short nap and leave early in the morning. 3:30AM came way too soon. We made some coffee and hit the road shortly after 4. The trip to NC was great, all the holiday traffic had made it to their destination and the roads were very easy to travel. We made it to the Dark Mountain Trails around 9:30 with time to set up camp and register. This year I was racing with a 5 man team, a first for me...have done many 4 man teams, but never a 5. Also, it has been a few years since the last time I competed in the Burn event. And without saying, this is still a well organized and most of all FUN event. The trails are not very challenging, but are tons of fun.

The race went well for us...we finished in 7th out of 25 teams which was respectable but nothing to write home about. My only goal was to turn some decent lap times and not be too far off the fastest times. Being the only rigid single speed on our geared full suspension team was a hoot. I was only a minute or so off of Jason which was fine with me...I was consistently in the 38 to 40 minute range with 1 lap at 41 minutes due to some heavy night traffic. I never feel good about being that guy that makes bad passes for a few shaved seconds. So in this instance, I followed a pretty quick female rider down the 2nd big decent with the brakes on...once we were in a safe spot, I quickly passed and went all out to pick up the lost time, with no avail.

The funny thing that I noticed most of all in this race was the hot laps are a thing of the past for me. Back in the day, I could bust out some fast lap times and felt pretty good about it, but usually fell short sometime in the early morning with the usual stomach cramps or something like that. This year, the team event almost seemed easy for me. I think that hitting the throttle for 35 to 40 minutes just got me warmed up, then I had to stop. We did one round of double laps and I actually had warmed up and started to feel good. I did get passed once during my second lap by someone who obviously was sitting around waiting their turn because I was not going slow and they came around me pretty quick. So I did the logical thing and latched onto his wheel and blasted the speakers even louder just to make sure he knew he did not drop me. I went back out a few more times and was the last to go out for one more right before the cut off time at noon. It was a lap for glory rather than purpose, but I did not want to miss out. It was actually a really nice lap, there were very few riders out on the course and the trail was in perfect condition.

All in all it was a really good time. The dog behaved better than I expected and the wife had a pretty good time hanging out with other bike widows from Chattanooga. Many thanks to Krystal's and the Scenic City Velo gang for adding me to their race roster. It was nice to be a hired gun even though we did not podium. But I will say, the competition was solid. I shot the breeze with the Dickman for while and even got heckled by him a time or two, but what's new there. We packed up and began the drive to Asheville shortly after the race was over.

We cut through the mountains between Boone and Old Fort to get to Asheville and this was absolutely gorgeous country. Curvy mountain roads and beautiful scenery were coupled with blue skies and puffy white clouds. Mrs. P took the wheel and I nodded off for a little while and caught up on my beauty rest. When we arrived at the Crow's Nest, we were greeted by Ty. We hung out for a little while then JutRut made it home. He was scoping a new pumptrack in the Asheville area...looks like another venue for the Enduro de Ocho...more to come on that. We decided to hang out at the Nest and grill out for the evening. After some killer chow, we checked out a graffiti and b-boy documentary then called it a night.

We woke up early and had some breakfast. Jut was going out for an all day ride from North Mills to Bent Creek and back, which would have been way more than I could enjoy, especially after a 24hr event. Bennett came over and he and Jut rolled out, Des and I took off and Ty slept in. We drove up to Craggy Gardens via the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiked around a bit to stretch the legs. We cruised back into town, stopped for lunch at Greenlife, then hit the road back to Chatty.
The weather has been pretty wet since we have been home, so the riding has been nil. Going to Nashie this weekend to hang out with the family and have a relaxing weekend. Thinking about driving back up to Knoxville for the Disc Burner 12hr event the following weekend...anyone interested in going, please drop a line.

The End of an Era

2008-05-21T09:22:00.001-07:00

The Tuesday Night Gang was out in full force and represented big time last night. Due to the events that ensued, it was only fitting that we were all there to be a part. It started out like any normal Tuesday ride, meeting at Jason's, Me riding over to his place, Bishop calling to tell us that he is just now leaving Signal Mountain, Little E is the first there/last ready to roll and Sam is going to meet us somewhere mid-ride. Not knocking out merry band of misfits, just a simple observation put to the test of the course of several months. Sam has not been riding with us much because he is all serious and racing the road bikes with the domestic pros this year and Bishop has been at school in NC racing bikes with the young mountain ninjas. But on this one evening, the band was back together.

We start through town and head out to Lookout Mountain, pick up the lower truck trail and take the first left turn that climbs practically straight up to the upper truck trail via this super technical hiking trail that is covered in mid sized rocks and roots. I have descended this several times in the dark and it is sketchy at best, but going up this was balls out. I watched Jason and Bishop pull away on their geared bikes while I slowly turned the pedals over and did all I could do to control my torque to prevent from spinning out. It was that strange, painful type of climb that you are more in shock that you are still in the upright position and moving forward than the fact that your heart rate is through the roof. As Bishop topped out the climb and hit the road section, The Park Ranger was there to greet him. Jason popped out and found himself part of the conversation. I stopped early and figured out what was going on and ducked back into the woods. Situation was worked out and we were able to descend the sick climb we just came up. Many thanks to our new ranger friend...he made his point and we will respect that fact since he did not slap up with a buck fifty fine and confiscate our rides until our court date for trespassing.

After we rode for another hour or two, we all agreed that the only logical thing to do after being evicted from our secret training grounds, is to step it up and begin riding to Raccoon Mountain, turn several laps then return home...with the time change we should be able to get 4 hours in easily with a warm up and cool down on the road after some sick single track...we begin next week. Just goes to show you, when you find something good, take full advantage because there will always be someone out there trying to Wreck My Flow. Laying low until the Burn 24.

Making It Happen

2008-05-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Ever had one of those days where you literally had to force every situation to get your ride on? That was the way things went on Saturday. I woke up early to ride at Raccoon Mountain...mind you it has been at least 6 weeks since I have been up there, so I was really looking forward to it. It was going to be the warm up to a full weekend of riding. I packed up my bike and my gear and made my way up the mountain. When I pulled in the lot was empty...first tracks on Saturday morning, how sweet. Unfortunately, the weekend has a tendency to cause this trail to become quiet crowded, so this was making me really stoked. Right as I was suiting up, a fellow local and guy I have met several time pulls up and we start talking. He was supposed to meet some mutual friends and they were not at the meeting spot, so he made his own agenda and at that moment, I realize I forgot my helmet. We agreed to ride together at a casual pace to reduce the chances of injury and just enjoy some time riding in the woods.

Near the midway point I receive a random phone call from one of our mutual friends that missed the meeting spot earlier on..."Hey, I noticed your car in the lot, where are you?" We figured our route and eventually all met up on the trail. From there, things began to unravel. After a few short minutes of floating through singletrack, a ppppssssssstttt sounds comes from a few feet behind me...flat!!! and Tim stopped to change his rear tube. Problem fixed and we are back on the bikes again. A few miles later all hell broke loose and Wade clips a tree with his bar and he gets ejected and thrown to the dirt. He is wincing in pain and eventually has to be helped up off the ground. Moose and I cut through the trails to get back to the lot in the fastest way possible, grab a car and head back to meet our injured rider. Total bummer...I was the moron without a helmet and chose to ride anyway and someone winds up getting hurt. No fault here, but strange how that worked out. Moose hooked me up with his helmet and Tim and I rode for about an hour more just to wipe away the bad juju.

Sunday morning, I woke up and milled around the house making breakfast and loading up gear. Called Big J and drove up to Sewanee to meet Ivory and Brandon for some more mountain biking. The weather was unusually cool and the chance of rain was pretty high, but after Saturday's episode, I was going to ride no matter what. We all kicked it around at a nice pace for most of the Perimeter Trail and then it finally started raining. This trail has all of these really cool rocky climbs that you have to put some trials moves in to clean them...hard anyway, but even harder when wet. Not the smoothest day I have had on the bike in a while, but it is such an awesome trail that who really cares. We eventually found our way back to the picnic shelter and hung out there while it poured down some cold rain. No matter what, it is always nice to hang out with your crew after a killer ride in the woods.

Tonight it is on and in full effect. Bishop is back in town for a few days before heading out to Colorado for a summer of part-time work and full-time fun. Makes want to go back to college big time...anyway, we are getting the Tuesday night crew back together for as many hours in the dark as we can muster the strength to ride. This weekend is the Burn 24hr and tonight should prove to be a nice kick off to a ton of bike riding over the next few days.

Blog Vacation is Over

2008-05-16T20:04:00.001-07:00

I have taken a vacation from the electronic world and it is nice to be back. Much has happened and the plan is to bring some of it up of the next few days so as not to overload the first new post in a while. All has been pretty much business as usual. Work and riding have both been consistent and steady. The next big event is the Burn 24hr Challenge next weekend, so I am going to stick around the city and ride locally. The wife and I spent last weekend camping in the Big Frog Wilderness and the Dirt, Sweat & Gears was the weekend prior. Looking forward to spending some time at home over the next few days. I plan on turning some laps at Raccoon Mountain tomorrow, hopefully with Big J. Sunday I am meeting Ivory at Monteagle for a mid-day off-road tour on the Perimeter Trail. Just registered for a chance at Hell Ride...I could use some of s mojo right about now.

Pre-DSG

2008-05-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

This week I have been busting some serious ass at the ol'e bicycle foundry. Mainly churning the marketing machine of web and print media. It has been a race to the dead line on evey project I touched this week. Many significant accomplishments and goals met. Now it is time to realse the angst on the race track. The plan is to head North around 1PM tomorrow...best of luck to the SSUSA cats...I will come and cheer you on at the 2nd event...dolla preems, ya'll? Squeeze in a lap in before dark and begin the pre-race prep routine. Recieved calls from Ohio Rob, JutRut and a text from the Rev...sounds like it is going to be a great event. All the gear is packed. Food is in the crate. The PRO29 is ready to ride. All we need now is for the rain to blow on by and we will have another amazing day on the bike in Tennessee. I look forward to seeing all my friends and meeting a bunch of new ones.

A full race report to follow.

sixfifty B Ya'll

2008-04-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

"Time Flies" they say, well I say they are correct. It has been a pretty chill week since Cohutta and it feels really good. I have been putting in miles all winter long and am happy to be in a rest mode right before the Dirt, Sweat and Gears race on Saturday. Unfortunately there seems to be a HUGE chance that I am going to miss the SSUSA event...I may just jump in the minute I get there and hope for the best...at least that is my current plan. Last week was business as usual, Tuesday and Thursday night rides, work and life. The weather did not cooperate and spoiled the misses and my plan to camp out at Thunder Rock for a little more riding and some hiking with the dog. Looking back, we should have gone anyway, but we had a great time hanging out at the pad. It has been a while since we have relaxed at home. Time well spent.

Work is back in effect and I finally finished the 650b bike today. It has taken me way too long to get this project finalized. but it came out so bad ass. I am going to test this rig tomorrow, tune it up and ship of off for testing. I can only hope they are as equally pleased as they were with the PRO29. I think it is going to be sick. I am looking forward to 12 hours of doing laps in TN on my bike. Hope all goes well this year. Rode myself into the flu by on the 3rd lap and I spent the next 3 hours trying to sleep in the back of my truck. Totally wrecked and immobile. Looking for some redemption this year. I plan on resting up some more this week with an easy night tomorrow.

Yazoo Invades Cohutta

2008-04-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sitting here Monday night and thinking about the weekend's activities is just getting me fired up about the race season. While the entire race experience is great and traveling around is fun. It's hanging out with all of the friends that you meet along the way that truly make the experience something you will remember. When you combine Yazoo crew members with other racing folks you are guaranteed a good time. So, here is the brief rundown of the events that transpired.

On Thursday, Jut Rut was coming down to Chatty from Nashville after a quick stop at MOAB in the 'boro to visit the Rigid Kitten and pick up some parts. The Rev was on his way in from Dallas and had been driving most of the day. I arrived home after work and within a few minutes Jut pulls up with a roof full of bikes, which is not unusual, but there was a blast from the past on top that I have to mention. Many years ago, Justin and I had the flu and wound up being too ill to race at Chickasaw, so we decided to round up every loose bike part we could find and build a chopper. Thanks to an article in Dirt Rag, we had all the basic info we needed along with a plethora of random gear. After we coupled two old ass Manitou forks together and hammered a raked rigid fork into that, we had all the front end you could ever need. A few hours later we were riding around the neighborhood on the new chopper bike. Anyway, over the years the chopper has had many sighting, but the last little while it has been garaged. It was nice to see that it is on its way to reside in Asheville. Let the good times roll.

I went to work on Friday and the boys packed up and drove out the Thunder Rock to ride some trails before the race and get registered. Jason and I made the working guys plan and met up around 7 and drove straight out to the Whitewater Center to sign in and pick up our race packet. Right as we pull in, Garth is packing up his ride and we stop and chat for a little while. As I'm signing in I run into Announcer Bruce and Sandra Vanderkitten. We shoot the breeze for a few minutes and then it was time to make our way to the Sourmash Lodge. When we pulled up everyone was already settling in and wrapping up dinner. Ohio Rob, Chip, The Rev, Dave, Sharpie and Jut had already warmed the place up and showed Big J and I around. What a sweet place we had for the weekend. We hung out for a few hours and as the crew slowly vanished one by one, I figured it was time for bed. About 3 in the morning, the sky opened up and it began to pour rain. It was enough to wake me up and it kind of made me laugh. It was only proper that we get dumped on before the race. I rolled back over and tried to get a few more hours of sleep.

5:30 came quicker than I wanted and of course it was still raining. We were all sitting around having breakfast and the rain was the only subject of conversation. How long will it last? How much will it effect the course? Damn, I did not bring any cold weather clothes. Oh well. Jason and I drove down to the start/finish and suited up. As we were riding up to the start, Bruce announced that we were starting in 45 seconds...crap, I was all the way at the back of the entire pack. As we rolled out the traffic was pretty bad at first, so I made a few early moves to get out in front of the slower traffic. As I was climbing the first hill I hear, "Hey Pillsbury"!, it was Dougie. We talked for a while as we made our way to the single track. Once we hit the first turn, the traffic was piling up so I made a few more moves and broke out in front of a bunch of slower riders. I was in no real hurry, but I wanted to keep my flow going because the rain made the climbs a bit slick. Once I made it to the first fire road, I was feeling great and decided just to keep a good groove going and not work too hard. All I wanted to do was ride easy, climb everything and have fun without getting passed by anyone. Around mile 37, I had to take a nature break and a guy came around me on a geared bike so I did not think anything of it at first. Then I remember not wanting to get passed, so I picked up the pace and caught him right away. We talked for a second and he mentioned that he loved the speakers...I said thanks and rode up the hill. For most of the ride from that point on I was riding solo. I would look up the road for someone and use them as motivation to pass, then off to lonely land again. When I finally hit the last single track I was totally stoked. I cranked up the tunes and picked off several more riders on the last single track climb before bombing down Thunder Rock. My hands were pretty numb by that point and I was so covered in mud that I pretty much just let go of the levers, opened it up and hoped for the best. When I rounded the last turn and crossed the bridge, all that was left was a mile or so of road. As I crossed the finish line, all I wanted was a Coke and dip in the river. For not really racing, I wound up in 2nd to Pisgah Bruce. Which is fine with me, but I regret not knowing he was racing because I may have been motivated to ride a little harder, oh well. I had a great time and the 65 mile course was way more fun than the 100 that I pre-rode 2 weeks ago. So all in all, it was a good day. I will be back next year and register earlier so that I can be sure to get into the 100.

2 Aussies, 1 Georgia Cup Race & 4 Hill Repeats

2008-04-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

It is only fitting that the weekend is over and I am watching the wind pick up and the storms are blowing in...damn. There was talk all week of potential weather changes so last week was full of bike riding just in case. Looking back, I made the right choice. Monday I finally built up my new road bike. It has been sitting in my office for several weeks but I never had the time or desire to build it because I knew it would distract my mountain biking. Well I could not wait anymore. So Tuesday was the first test ride and it was not disappointing by any measure. It was much snappier, descended better and climbed easier than my Serotta, sorry Ben. But I do have to say that the two bikes are not to be compared on the same level anyway. Big Black is the Cadillac equivalent of a road bike and the R320, yet to be named but leaning towards "Shiny Steve", is the Porsche. We ran along the East side of Lookout Mountain for quite some time before turning right and working our way up a pretty nasty climb to the top of Lookout. This was an area that I had not seen before and it was sweet. It only takes a short while before you are out of town and in the country and riding along some beautiful countryside. I look forward to getting back out there soon. On Thursday we rode the local "Tuesday Night" loop and had a blast. We cruised out through Red Bank and out to Falling Water. This is also some beautiful country. While I love living in the city, the more time I spend riding in the country the more drawn I am to it. Since Chatty is so tiny anyway, you can easily have the best of both worlds, so I will stay in North Chatt for now.

The weekend turned out to be great. Thanks to Sharpie, the wife and I played host parents to domestic pros Willo and Sully for this weekend's Georgia Cup race. We had a blast hanging out and learning some new Aussie slang and adding y's to all of out words. For example, Chattanooga is now Chatty and Nashville is now Nashy. Plus my laptop is my lappy, sunglasses are sunnies and the list could go on for days. We laughed a bunch and told funny stories about each other and many of our mutual friends. I rolled down to the Time Trial with them early Saturday morning and later to the criterium that was downtown. The boys raced well, but there were only 3 Jittery Joe's rides and a few other squads brought a much bigger roster along so it made it hard to expect too much. We went out for some food and more laughs after the crit and wound up getting home pretty late.

I woke up early on Sunday for some hill repeats on Lookout Mountain with Big J while the boys went way out in the country for their road race. After 4 trips up and down the mountain, I was spent and glad to make my way back to the house. The crew rolled back in around 4:30 and we all sat around for some dinner before Sully drove back to Athens and Willo back to Nashy. Look for these guys and the entire Jittery Joe's squad at the Tour de Georgia next week and I'm sure they will kick some ass on their home turf.

Death March Round 1

2008-04-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

This Sunday was the first of 2 pre-death march rides before the Cohutta 100 or 65. The upgrade is still yet to be determined. Big J and I rolled out at 5:45 so we could make our ritual stop at Cracker Barrel for some pancakes and what ever else I could cram in. Being the first ones in the lot was quite surprising, but we were not feeling to eager at that point. A few minutes later, Tab and Jamie pulled up and a short time after Davey Boy rolled in too. This was the first time I have ridden with these guys, except for Jason of course. We started off and the weather was not too nice...misty with slight spurts of rain was how things kicked off. The weather was supposed to be in the high 60's and sunny. It did not seem like we were ever going to see the sun.

The death march began with some of the single track that I am familiar with and we were cruising along nicely. When we came to the first forest service road, we made a quick stop for some adjustments and food organization before we started climbing. We must have been working our way up that road (FS221, I think) for several hours. At one point, I asked when we were going to get off the gravel and everyone looked at me like I was obviously confused. They proceed to fill me in on the fact that we were going to be on a series of fire roads all freakin' day. We continued up to the top of the first major section of the climb and Big J and I took a break for a few minutes to eat and regroup.

We began the decent which made me happy. The best part was trying to see how fast you could go into the blind corners and not become some redneck's hood ornament. The traffic was minimal but all it takes is one car to come around the corner on the inside. Fortunately, no incidents t0 report and when we made it to the bottom, there were several miles of flats. This was the part that I just tuned out. Single speeds and flat roads are not too fun, yet it was nice to spin the legs...little did I know that would be the last time. I was once again informed of some not so pleasant news...the flats were the indicator that we were going to have to climb back out of the valley. I think that I must have known this and decided not to acknowledge it. A few more miles up the road and the pitch continued to increase. Just when I thought we were near the top, we went back down for a while. And this crap went on for at least another hour until finally we started marching up and up and up. At mile 67.9 I was over the entire thing. I did not want any more of this. No more fire road, no more mountain bike and sure as hell no more single speed. But we still had more to go, how nice. I sucked it up as always and marched on. When we hit the last climb I had just enough in the legs to crest the hill and bomb down the last section of road back to the lot.

I felt terrible pretty much all day. I think that the vacation to the beach was killer for my mind and soul, but it wreaked havoc on my fitness. I will be riding all week long trying to get some kind of form back. One more pre-death march this weekend and then the real deal next weekend. After a pre-ride, I don't care if I get in the 100 or not. It's not that I am not up for the challenge, it's more that riding on gravel roads for 90% of a mountain bike race is not really a mountain bike race. This will be a fitness geeks wet dream...nothing technical at all about this one. We finished up the day with 72.4 miles, 7:05 and 11,200 ft of climbing and that was not the entire course. The boredom will be more epic than the race itself...that may just be my opinion.

Back from the Beach

2008-04-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Returning to work after 6 days off was a total madhouse and the primary reason I have been absent from the web world. My trip to Florida was long overdue for my mind and spirit. Just hanging out at the beach and then finding some little joint with killer seafood with a seat outside was the daily objective. It was my first extended beach trip in years. There will be many more to come...can't stop thinking about the islands. Typically most of my vacation time is spent traveling to ride or race which usually is anything but relaxing. I have no complaints, but this trip was different in a good way. I wound up not riding very much due to what is now known as "the wicked bad sunburn", but I did make it down the Liberty Trail for a ride that fit my vacation lifestyle...laid back. It is a new rails to trails project that opened while we were in Sarasota. It is always great to see cities embrace greenways and bike lanes. Hopefully in the years to come, we will be able to tour safely around the country by bike.

Riding has been scarce but I think that the rest I have had will do wonders. Big J and I went out in the rain on Thursday night just out of spite for a few hours. It's the rainy season in Tennessee so you have to suck it up and get wet. Thanks to the annual celebration of getting older, I received a new set of rollers from my folks...many thanks ya'll. I will utilize these babies when the rain becomes overwhelming. On that note, if you are reading this and would want a hand-me-down set of rollers, post a comment on this here blog...only requirement is the post must include 1 or 2 sentences on why you think you should have them...best one wins. Freddy was kind enough to pass them along to me, so I feel it is only right to do the same.

Tomorrow we are heading out for a pre-ride of the Cohutta 100. Meeting at the white water center at 7:30, rolling out at 8. It should be a good time. Currently I am registered for the 65 with hopes and prayers of being bumped up to the 100. Extra positions are supposed to be opened, but no word yet. I think that there are a few others hoping for the same thing...either way I am cool. This is a killer area to ride your bike and hang with your friends, that is all that matters anyway. Jut has hooked up a cabin for us to reside in for a few days and that is enough reason right there for me.

Thank You Easter Bunny

2008-03-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend marked the first trip back to Nashville since Christmas and I have to say that I am no longer attached to the Music City. Not to say that it is not a great place to be, but I spent so many years there and it was awesome to watch it grow. And while I miss my friends there, so many have moved or are planning on moving that it makes it that much easier for me. After a trip through the old neighborhood, I felt a bit sad but it passed quickly. I did get to spend some time with my family and my in-laws which was great. It had been a while. I did not get to ride this weekend so I have to bust ass this week before I leave for vacation. The wife and I are going to spend just under a week in southern Florida doing a whole lot of nothing. I have never been one to have what I would call a low key vacation of sitting on the beach and chilling out. I am the type that finds ways to pack as much adventure into each day and then comes home needing a vacation from my vacation...not this time. It does come at a bad time as far as training goes, but the opportunity is there and I have to take it. The Spring time equals crazy time at work and I have been warned to bring the laptop and the mobile with me on vacation. I am going to bring my road bike and do some flat landing while I am down there. That will be a nice change...no hills or mountains to climb for a week. Weird.

I am working on the 650B bike this week and will have some photos of the complete bike by Wednesday. I really like this bike. Well, I like any bike really, but this one is sweet. Just launched a new sales campaign today, so if you are in the market for a new rig, we can hook you up. Ad in VeloNews this month as well...Spring is going to be busy. Glad I am going on vacation. Some sun and warmer temps will hopefully set the spirits right and I can come home feeling great. Just in time for the Cohutta 100...that is going to hurt.

B is for Birthday, Burkhalter and Bikes

2008-03-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have been on Spring Break, but this year I am going to have one vicariously though Bishop. We made it out on Tuesday night for several hours of sweet singletrack and it was long overdue. I have not been on the 29er since the last Snake Creek Gap. I have been on the road quite a bit more than I usually like, but the rain has made that call, not me. It was a welcomed change and it hurt pretty good too. I am loving the time change as we now have 2.5 to 3 hours of daylight post work to ride, then the lights come on. I remember last Spring riding laps at Raccoon until 9:30pm...but with more daylight come hotter temps. I hope we have a long Spring.

Today is my birthday and I want to say thanks to the Yazoo Crew for the emails wishing me a happy day. Since it is Thursday, we are riding the road bikes tonight and have decided that Burkhalter Gap is on the intended route...I am very stoked about this climb. It has made itself famous from the the Tour de Georgia and is the finishing climb in the 3 State 3 Mountain Ride each year. What a present, a small box of suffering and some cake when I get home. I am at the office today and the weather is awesome, too bad I have a ton of work to do and am going on vacation next week, so I must focus. All I can think about is riding today...and being a little older.

Recovery Process Complete

2008-03-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

The rain is finally gone for now. The trails can only be in terrible shape with the amount of precipitation we have had lately. Sunday proved to be the most promising ride day of the weekend. One phone call from Big J and an early road ride was in effect. We started out towards the W road for a stout first climb of the day. This is an amazing euro-esque climb with several tight switch backs at the apex of the climb. The rock ledge walls in the turns coupled with the natural running water flowing off of rocks from inside each turn make you feel like you are not in Chattanooga. Once we crested the top of the W road, we began the long rolling hills along the ridge of Signal Mountain towards the Sequatchie Valley.

The green farm land sandwiched between two mountain ridges is something of true beauty. Calm, peaceful and great terrain for riding. We stopped at a local market for some saturated fats and Gatorade before we began the climb up Suck Creek Mountain. The long gradual ascent was pleasant but difficult. There were a few cyclists going the other direction and seeing them coming down the mountain reminded me of what was to come. We topped the hill and began flying back down the mountain into town. We rolled back into North Chatt in just under 3.5 hours. I feel ready to wick up the training intensity again and am looking forward to our plans for the coming week. The weather is going to be nice, so I plan on riding a bunch.

Bike Test Round 1 : Rained Out

2008-03-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today the weather got the better of us. Andy and I planned on taking his fresh new tester our for it's inaugural ride this morning, but all we were able to do is watch it rain during breakfast. When it was still pouring after breakfast, we new we were not getting out on the bikes. Aretha's was kind enough to have the weather channel on so we could see that the storm cell was going to be around all day. Bummer. He decided to make an early departure back to PA. I hope that he can return in the Spring for the Dirt, Sweat and Gears event.

Although I just got to know Andy at Interbike, I am glad that we have had this opportunity to get to know each other better. A totally down to Earth guy with a great passion for cycling, like so many of the cool people that I know. When you can share stories about life experiences and an uncompromising love for the bicycle, you know you have a friend for life. Keep your eyes peeled for a Lynskey related story in the upcoming pages of Dirt Rag.

Dirt Rag Day

2008-03-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Work:
Today is Dirt Rag Day at Lynskey Performance. Andy Bruno is coming down to check out our facility and pick up his test bike. A super sweet custom level 3 29er, fully pimped with XTR, Industry Nine Wheels (thanks Brandi) and a new Fox F-29 fork (thanks Neil). I am actually jealous even though it is geared. This is going to be a serious performer. I have a few last minutes parts to hang and it will ready to test ride. Tomorrow morning we will turn a few laps at Raccoon Mountain and that will hopefully convince him to stay for one more day and check out the Tanasi system.

Ride:
Last night marked my first bike ride in over a week. Not since Snake Creek have I touched a bike. After the hard first few days of Death Flu, I have been making myself rest and completely heal. I think I am there, finally. Big J and I went out for an hour and a half easy road ride just to jump start some bike love. I am glad I took the time off, it made all the difference. Now I can begin training again, the Cohutta 100 is coming soon. We talked about starting some recon rides out there over the next few weekends to get in the mood.

Bishop will be home for Spring Break, so we will have the Tuesday night reunion ride. Now that the time has changed, the ride possibilities are endless. It will be nice to get back to the 4 hour mtb rides after work a couple of times a week. Now we can take full advantage of Raccoon Mtn.

Down the Rabbit Hole

2008-03-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

I have been out of pocket for the past few days and there are too many reasons to list.
In short,
the last Snake Creek was better suited for hanging out rather than racing.
Sidewall punctures and Stan's do not work well together.
Death Flu is no joke.
Karma is king!
Good Pals are hard to find
Cameras capture your soul.
I am back...

Beer, Burgers and Cyclists

2008-02-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

Work:
We had our Scenic City Velo event last night and I would like to think that it was a resounding success. I know that I had fun and it was great to get the chance to meet so many local riders. I have to thank everyone for showing up and many thanks to Big River Brewery for the beers and Krystals for the food. We had all of our show bikes on display and all of the killer new Planet X bikes we are distributing. Lookout US, I have tons of inexpensive bikes for every dicipline you can imagine. Of course, if you want the top of the line stuff, we make all of that too. It is going to be awesome to now have something for everyone, regardless of budget.

Ride:
I have been riding the rollers all week due to the cold weather and the need to keep it low key. The final installment of the Snake Creek Gap TT series is Saturday and I have my work cut out for me. I am 4 minutes off the SS leader and the weather sucks which means the course will be rough. So it will be a tall order, but I am going to try and kill it tomorrow. Several of the Yazoo crew are coming down tonight and while the flu has knocked others out, we will make sure our presence is known tomorrow. I will have a full report tomorrow night. Wish me luck, unless I ma racing you tomorrow, and in that case, I will see you there.

Chillin the Most

2008-02-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

Work:
After a few days off, getting back to the grind was a chore. I had two days to make closure on several custom orders that have been sitting open and RC sent his fit data in while I was gone. Now we can move forward with the 650B project I mentioned some time ago. David has nearly finished with the tandem jig and that is one serious piece of equipment. Not sure if I can post photos of that one yet, due to some potential competitor espionage. I will save that entire rant for another day. I have mentioned this to a select few, but I have to be careful. Desperation causes people to do crazy stuff, even in the bike scene.

We are planning a social gathering with the Scenic City Velo race team and club next week. That is going to be fun...I always love a party. We will have our handmade show bikes on display and if I can get my R320 built in time, that will be on display as well. I am going to build it up with Chorus but I cannot make up my mind on the wheelset. I would not think twice about getting a new I9 road set, but I don't want to push my luck or my wallet, at least right now. There are a handful of pimpy wheels at the shop and I will probably run some 202 tubies for the time being while I make up my mind. I am looking forward to a new road bike. I love my custom road bike from the guys in upstate NY that starts with the letter S, but it doesn't look good from my job standpoint. How's that for bad ass, I "have" to build a $8000 road bike for work purposes. I need to call my accountant and see if I can write off race fees, bike parts and gear as well. If it is possible, I will have an entire entry on that subject.

Ride:
Thursday and Friday were pretty low key. An indoor roller party was as exciting as it got. I woke up early this morning and made my way to Raccoon Mtn for 3 hours at threshold. It started off pretty crappy because my breakfast was trying to escape my body. The weather was cold and with 90% humidity, the air was thick. I was sure that the trail was going to be messy and slick from the recent rain, but despite a few select sections, the trail was hooking up beautifully. It was perfect conditions to turn 2 laps as fast as I could. I reinstated the speakers today and I forgot how awesome they are for a solo ride, or any ride really. The first lap went well and I easily rocked out a sub 1.5 hour lap with all the outers and inners along with the perimeter. The second one was a little tougher. I was pretty cold and sweaty so it made me have to work hard to warm back up and by the time I was comfortable again, I was more than halfway through the second lap. I wrapped up the lap and went back to the car for a few minutes to warm up.

Suck Creek and Bear Creek Bikes were hosting a dirt demo at Raccoon so I decided rather than driving to Laurel Point, I would suck it up and jump back on the bike and ride over to check it out. It was about a 15 minute ride to that portion of the trail and right as I rolled up, Moose was wandering around the trail head. We hung out for a few minutes and then went up to the lot to check out the fleet that was there for the punishing. Lots of cool bikes and the only one I rode was an IBEX 650B full-suspension rig. While I liked the 650 wheels, I cannot dig on full-suspension. I keep trying, but I just don't like the squish. Full rigid is the way for me. I like riding the razors edge, what can I say. I will always keep giving it a whirl for kicks, but I have yet to find one that I would throw cash at. The search continues.

Knocked Down, but Not Out

2008-02-21T07:47:00.001-08:00

The trip to NC was fantastic to say the least. After bailing early from work and making some sweet time to Knoxville, I met up with Jut Rut and Ty in Asheville in under 3 hours. We made our way to the Industry Nine facility to take a look around and talk shop. When we rolled in the back door, my eyes met the glorious site of a wall filled with beautifully colored hubs and spokes.

Jeff took us around for the nickel tour. He showed us the various stopgaps in the wheelset manufacturing process and the machinery arsenal required to make such fresh hubs and spokes.
Coming from a custom production environment, it was hard not to nerd out on all of the super cool machining and fabrication tools they have. These guys put a ton of time into their wheels and the quality is amazing. After a few minutes of mental math going through all the steps and various processes, it takes around 12 hours of machine time alone, to fabricate 1 wheelset. From prawls, to hub bodies, spokes and all the little inner workings, 12 hours of machine time folks. They should charge more than they do if you ask me. Plus they come in all kinds of sweet colors.

After all the sweet chat about machines and hubs and tolerances and work stuff, the tour officially ended and Friday began. The pit bike was fired up and we headed out back to witness how I9 throws down. They are in the process of building a new pump track, but a few sweet jumps were there for the launching. We hung out for a little while longer and tried to work out the details for Saturday's festivities. The funny part was Jeff and I were both at MTSU at the same time and frequented several of the same haunts back in the day. Birds of a feather do flock together. Thanks to all the super rad folks at I9, you guys make the bike scene even better.

When I drove up to the Crow's Nest for the first time, I could not believe how bad ass that place is. I will pay rent and not even live there, just for the opportunity to hang out for the weekends. It has all the characteristics anyone would want in a home. Open floor plan, double porches and a vibe that makes you want to read a Walden novel, yet all within the city. Asheville is cool like that. The second tour of the day began and it proved to be even sweeter than the outside suggested. When your house has a name, you have to represent. My hat's off to Jut and Ty for the hook on this pad. If I vanish for a few days, your best bet is to look here.

The weekend itself was balls out. We rode hard on Saturday in Pisgah only to find to the upper sections of the trails we damaged by windfall. So all the climbing we had been doing was in vain. Ride a little while then jump a downed tree and repeat. We decided to bail and hit Bent Creek on the way back to town. This place was a load of fun. I have ridden here many times over the years, but never as a destination, only because it was there. I have always gone to Asheville for the death marches to make me stronger on all fronts. But I have to say, Bent Creek was a blast. We had so much fun riding that place. It wound up being just what I was looking for to wrap up a great day on the bike. Back to the Nest for some wonderful pasta dinner.

Next day was a struggle to say the least. The weather was cold and wet, not fully raining but the humidity made everything wet. It should have been snowing. An easy day to blow off a ride for sure, but that would be unacceptable. So we pony up and meet Matt J at Biowheels and rolled out to Black Mountain. This is where thing got a little ugly at first. I knew I did not have the clothes for the weather and the conditions. Bishop came over from campus and Bennett met us in the Kitsuma lot. I am familiar with this area from ORAMM, but we were going to do a modified version and it started by climbing straight up Rattlesnake Gap, Trail. Incline, whatever. That shit was sweet. Being the only single speed and only non suspended bike, I was in for one hell of a day.

All my boys were on squishy geared bikes, except for Bishop, but he had a sick Fox fork. It made no matter. I would not be me if I let those details matter. The climb to the Heartbreak Ridge decent was unreal. The wet rocks that covered the climb made it a game of torque for what seemed like forever. I think that may be one of the best climbs that I have ever done. It was hard, yet doable and it was a ball-buster but kind of fun all at the same time. The decent down Heartbreak sent me back to July 2007. A rigid bike just careless wants to fall of a mountain. It is your job to tell it where to go. All finesse and will power...a beautiful thing to me. That trail gives it to you, the whole way down. In the freezing cold rain, I thought about how hot it was in July and just tried to see how long I could lay off the brakes. Pure bliss.

We hit the bottom and started climbing old 70, I think. It was also part of ORAMM and seemed very familiar. I finally got my second wind and we flew up to the top with little effort. Even after all the riding we had already done. At the top we came back to the car and it officially started to rain. I think that it had been raining for a while but we were in the deep forest and it blocked much of the immediate moisture. A stop for pizza in Black Mountain was the perfect end to a killer day. That is the very reason why you need to buck up and hit the trails any chance you get.

I picked up the flu bug on this adventure or at least I beat myself down enough to be vulnerable. I had two days of necessary recovery and had to take some time off. It is rare that I do that, but it was obviously necessary, my body went on strike. I worked up the strength to get out on the bike Wednesday night for a slow grind to the top of Lookout and bombed down the other side on some single track that I heard about near a college at the top. It was super sweet and very technical. I don't know if these trails are legal but I am going to find out. I hope not. Climbing up that would be insane. It's Thursday night and it started raining right after work. I was hoping that it would hold off all day and it kind of did. Now I am subject to an incarcerated workout on the rollers. With a race next weekend, you do what you gotta do. Last Snake next weekend

NC Bound Sucka's

2008-02-15T05:32:00.000-08:00

This entire week has been the build up to today. I have been riding some, Tuesday night fo sho, and a little time on the rollers, but nothing more than that. I have been saving myself for a weekend in Pisgah. I cannot wait to go off on that place. So looking forward to it. Plus it will be my first trip up since Jut moved up there. Going to hang with Bishop this weekend too. It will be a little cycling family reunion. How nice.

First stop is the Industry 9 HQ for a factory tour and hang out session with Jeff and Brandi. These guys could easily be some of the coolest folks in the industry, I may be a bit biased, but what the hell. They have been there for all of my strange and immediate requests and have never bitched or turned me down...and that is just the work side of things.

Just picked up my new ride yesterday, a 2008 Pro29 with a shapelier down tube and fatter rear stays than my previous custom models. Going to test this shiny new rig out in Pisgah. This is one of my favorite parts of my job...here is a new super spendy bike, build it up and beat the shit out of it. Have I died and gone to heaven? This will be the next prototype ride I build once we work out some of the drive train tweaks.

Jut informed me that there is a velodrome in Asheville...looks like Darth Vader will be coming along for the ride. Hopefully we can test this baby out as well...or at least do sprints through town later tonight. I will try and keep on top of the blog while I am gone, otherwise it will be a recap of the entire weekend with photos on Sunday night.

Portland to Cleveland, It's always about the bike.

2008-02-08T17:19:00.000-08:00

Work:
The work week is over...not much to report...lots of the same. Worked out many of the details on Project Dirt Rag and received some kind props for doing so. Thanks Andy.

Show Bikes are being seen...how lovely. Now you can see them too. Enjoy.

Show links : twentynineinches.com cyclelicio.us

Ride:
During the week, riding has been one big solo mission. Kinda like it was when I first moved here. Nice but relatively low-key, just out riding to be riding...kinda like it should be.

I have had too many balls in the air and have not been able to commit to plans of any kind. We had to cancel the trip to the ATL at the last minute, but are still having company on Sunday. Wife is having back pains from pilates and massages are not helping. Now to plan B. Drugs and Rest...maybe a visit to the chiropractor. I feel bad for her...reminds me of when I broke my clavicle and jacked my shoulder up. I was pretty useless for a couple of weeks. Then pissed off that I was missing some killer early Spring riding. Oh well. She will be fine, she's a trooper. This situation has much to do with the inability to make plans. I figured that I would be hanging around the pad this weekend playing nurse. Not the case, like I said my wife is a trooper. "Since company would be in town on Sunday, I should ride on Saturday"...really?, sounds like a plan to me. A trip to the video store, 3 chick films, pharmacy drive-thru and she had a full Saturday planned.

I received a phone call from Jon McLovin on Friday night and he graciously invited me to a road ride in Cleveland, no not that Cleveland. Cleveland to Benton to Reliance and up Chilhowie....some stuff I had never seen and had no idea where he was talking about. Out 64E way out in the country. I was apprehensive, especially on the road bike and with Jon...but all I could say was, "Yes, I'd love to. I think that is just what I need".

We rolled out from his place around 10:30am on Saturday morning. Way later than what I have been used to the past few weekends which was nice. Me, Jon and Matt. 2 locals and 1 sacrificial lamb. The weather was perfect, about 58 and sunny, but there was a enigmatic head wind going on, similar to the infamous Eastside Headwind in Nashville. No matter which direction you went, the headwind found us and gave us 25+mph blasts. Restiance training at it finest. I was just along for the ride and that was great. No concern for directions, all I had to do was pedal up and down the mountains all day. I wish that I had the camera several times today, but these guys were not too keen on stopping and the pace did not warrant many photo op's.

It was a great ride. I had the chance to see some more beautiful Tennessee rivers, streams and mountains. What a blast. We rocked it out for the first 3.5 -4 hours and then we split up. Jon and I rolled on to add a bit more time in saddle. All I can say is ouch. I have never deemed myself a roadie, but damn, those are some strong fellas and they made me hurt...for that I am grateful...80 miles later, it was what I needed. I was right all along. I will be out there again very soon, if they will have me back. Apparently there is a serious ball buster ride out to Ft. Mountain from Cleveland...sounds painful...count me in! Going to chill with family tomorrow and get ready for Tuesday Night Live.

Brown Frown and Riding Downtown

2008-02-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

Work:
All show bikes have finally arrived in Portland, now I can finally rest a little easier. A bit of rough housing on UPS's part required me to send some new decals and all the necessary application tools with the boss man. It makes it hard to respect the men and women in brown with stunts like this. You think that with the cost of shipping these days, the least they could do is not beat the shit out of the packages you have entrusted to them. Oh well, I guess that since they only get paid something like 30 bucks and hour, they don't need to be concerned about the contents of the packages they handle. God forbid you actually place a fragile or do not bend sticker on the package, that must mean destroy as much as possible while in transit. Many thanks to UPS. Enough about that.

Otherwise all is well around the shop. We are as busy as bees and with Spring nowhere near, I am very excited about our output this year. We should easily beat last year's numbers before we even get to Interbike. Once I get the go ahead, I will be blasting the world wide web with the killer photos I shot of the show bikes. If you are in Portland this weekend, drop a few quid on the show and check out some bike porn and meet some of the best small builders in the industry. Oh yeah, and we will be there too. Make sure to stop by and ask Mark 10 stupid questions about your other bikes. He loves that stuff...just kidding. That is the only down fall of "public" shows. While you must be engaging and interested, the questions people ask are insane. My best goes out to all exhibitors.

Ride:
Since the last Snake, I have been resting a bit and trying to finally shake this damn cold. I went out last night for a couple of hours in the hood. Just wound up doing hill repeats to keep from getting bored. The weather was really strange...tornado weather actually. Something like 71 and super windy. I just made it home in time before the bottom dropped out of the sky. We had some serious rain and hail. No damage my way, but it seemed pretty bad for some further North.

Dinner with my father-in-law was just canceled and now I am free to hit the road bike tonight for a few more hours. Thinking about marching up Lookout a couple of times tonight to punish myself and get all of the race junk out of my legs. I am traveling to Atlanta for the weekend to see my brother-in-law's band play. It is going to be a ton of fun. We will be staying with my wife's cousin in Buckhead and he is an absolute blast to party with. So I will be riding as much as possible this week and then take the weekend off.

The new team direction has been defined to some extent. We will be rocking it as usual, just under a new name. Yazoo Racing it is and I will be pounding away at the keys building a new site over the next few weeks. I think that we are going to host an open forum via the blog avenue until we have the site built. The cool thing about this will be that each team member can actively participate in the blog and add whatever they want. It is going to be the best year yet for the Yazoo Crew.

What happened?

2008-02-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

Last week absolutely flew by and all I could do was hang on for the ride. I spent the first few days building show bikes for the handmade show and then transitioned back into regular details. I spent one night on the rollers and one night out on the road bike. Roller night was boring as usual, but Thursday night Jason and I hit the road in the rain for 2.5 hours of self loathing and punishment. I really need to blow off some steam and I had been fighting a cold all week.

After a lap in the neighborhood, we decided to climb Lookout Mt from the Scenic Hwy side. As we started through town, the rain started to pick up. I think we both wanted to turn around but neither wanted to say it. We rolled to the base and started up the mountain. By the time we made it to the top, the rain had turned to snow. That was actually pretty nice, but the trip back down the mountain was sketchy at best. All went well and we just cruised back to the Northside. It was what I needed at the end of a long week with a race looming on Saturday.

On Friday morning I woke up feeling terrible. Not to sure that the ride the evening before was such a good idea. On one hand, it was great to put some hurt into the legs the night before, but the rainy cold weather put the hurt on my chest cold. I went into work late and spent an hour or so getting my work load in order. I knocked out a ton of stuff that I had been neglecting because of the bike show. It was nice to wrap up this work week.

Saturday morning I woke up early and started getting all my bike stuff together for the race. By not riding much last week, all my gear was in good shape and in order. I rolled down the street and picked up Jason. After a quick breakfast at Aretha's, we drove down to Dalton. I was not feeling like racing at all. A belly full of pancakes and chest full of funk was not the recipe for racing I usually like.

By the time we finally made it to the starting line all I wanted to do was get on the trail. I jumped in on one of the first 5 waves that rolled out. Jason and I were finding our tempo and quickly caught the slower folks of the first few waves. It was nice being out on the course in muddy conditions earlier than most. There were only a few ruts by the time we made it to the top of the first climb. The corners were a blast, but completely sketchy. I felt like I was listing like a ship as I would start on the inside of the turn and slide all the way to the outside while still pedaling the whole time. It was fun.

The halfway point came quick this time. I quickly changed bottles and rolled back onto the trail. Less than 10 minutes into the second half, I spun out on a steep rocky section and rammed my left knee cap right into my stem. I think I fell over clipped in and everything. I remember a guy asking me if I was alright, but I could barely hear him. I thought that I was going to throw up it hurt so bad. Much like hitting your funny bone really hard, nothing really funny about it. After several years of single speed racing, this has happened before, but it never gets better. As I was regaining my composure, my main race target comes flying by. I shake it off and jump back on my bike. I keep his wheel for the next few miles then we hit some traffic and I was trying not to think about my knee and my cold and just stay focused on moving forward.

I hit the last section and I am pretty much over the entire race. I decided to just sit down and start spinning as solid and smooth as I could without getting to worked up. Near the top of the final climb I look back and see a pink rigid bike back down the trail. Pink bikes usually mean single speeds, so I started to ramp it up a bit but I was not feeling it at all. He caught up with me on the last part before the the road finish and rode my wheel all the way down the hill. Right at the last minute I realize that this is going to be a sprint finish. I make a break for it and he pimped me by half a wheel at the finish. Too bad for me, he started in the wave behind me, so we didn't need to sprint, but I am glad we did. That was fun. While I was trying not to puke earlier on, he had time to catch up and finally beat me to the line.

We were the first two single speeds back and I shaved 14 minutes off of my January time. I think that I had some bottled up frustration and stress from a long work week and lots of rain. I merged all my riding time into one day and it worked out pretty well. I will start my speed work this month and am looking forward to dropping some more time. The last Snake Creek is the best anyway, might as well throw down a killer time and have something to celebrate.

We have a new direction for the Yazoo Race team and there will be much more on that front as Jut and I finalize the details. New kits will be coming soon.

We glide when we ride...

2008-01-27T18:37:00.001-08:00

This weekend was packed full of bike riding and very little else. I defied the weather and made two great days of it. I am testing a new rigid fork for the guys across the pond and could not wait to try it out. After some last minute planning, I met the Murfreesboro crew around 11Am on Saturday up on Monteagle. I have only ridden the Sewanee trails a few times over the years. It is always nice to do these rides with people who know their way around. The trail was super fun. Just enough moisture on the ground to make the technical sections even tougher than I remembered. There were several sections that required some major finesse as well as torque management on the single speed. Steep rocky sections would be followed with a creek crossing or some other wetness and I had to fight spinning out.

The outer rim section of the perimeter loop is amazing. You ride along the top of the mountain weaving in and out of these rock paths with just enough line available to give you enough confidence to go for it and hope nothing goes wrong. One wrong move and you are falling to your death, well you would probably hope to die if you did fall. We spent several hours in the woods all the while hoping that it was going to warm up...it never did. The pond was frozen, the ground was frozen and my the end of the ride, my toes were frozen. But it was great to meet up with the guys and get a solid ride in. Many of those fellas are hitting up the Icycle in NC next weekend so it was great to hang out with them before hand. I will be down in North Georgia hoping to shave some time off of my last Snake Creek time.

Sunday morning, Jason and I got up way before the sun rise and made the ritual trip to Cracker Barrel before a long day on the bike. We were some of the very few at breakfast that morning. It was nice. The shortest in and out visit that I can remember. No time warp phenomeon this day. We started at the pump station at the base of Raccoon Mountain and began our climb around 7:30AM.

The sun was just beginning to come up over the ridge. It gave a false sense of warmth which I appreciated. By the time we made it to the top of the mountain, I had warmed up significantly. The ground was still frozen so the trail was in great shape for the first few hours. We made a complete loop and hit all of the inside sections that do not get as much traffic as the perimeter trail. We ran into one person on the first loop.

After a quick snack stop at the overlook parking lot, we began a modified second loop that covered much of the same terrain as the first, but backwards to mix it up. By this time, the freeze thaw effect had begun and there were a few sections that were a little sloppy, but not too bad or damaging. We rode until the sun was high in the sky and decided that we had enough. After getting back to the car and checking the time, it was 12:45PM. We were having so much fun that we were out for an hour or so longer than we had planned. On the way back down the mountain, there were a ton of folks that were heading up with bikes in tow...I hope they did not completely trash the trails due to sleeping in.

After a full weekend on the new fork, I have to say that I like it more than the Rock Solid. The bigger and beefier drop outs seem to provide a stiffer front end and way better tracking. It is a bit heavier, 100 g's but that is relatively insignificant to me. I am looking forward to racing it this coming weekend to truly get a feel for what it can handle. So far so good...thanks to my mates in the shed.

Where it's at

2008-01-24T03:43:00.001-08:00

First off, here is a photo of a Lynskey Rando bike that Gary B. of bikeradar.com is riding and reviewing. I absolutely love this bike. Nice comfortable all-day geometry with room for fatties and fenders. I defiantly want one of these...how many times have I said that since working there. We are dope for folks who have money to spend on their addiction. My father says it best, "Cycling is cheaper than golf and easily 100 times better for you". Although he is not a doctor, I have yet to finad few that disagree. Opinions are welcome.

Work:
As parts begin to arrive, the pressure goes up and the clock spins faster, at least in my world. A few issues on the design and fabrication front have set us back a little, but it has been great to problem solve these issues with some finest builders around. Building a prototype is a mixed bag of what you know will work and what you hope will work. No matter how it looks on paper, it always comes out a bit different. Now multiply that by 3, subtract several weeks, add a loose array of components that do not want to work and you have a pretty good idea of where I am right now. But don't get me wrong, this is a ton of fun. This has been similar to the Vegas experience but slightly smaller in scale. We are taking a similar bike load to this show, but I have very little booth design and presentation materials to create. Don Walker, I thank you for that.

We are very excited to be a part of the NAHBS this year. While it was a last minute decision, I hope that we are well received by the industry folks as well as the public. That is one of the really cool things about this show, anyone who wants to purchase a ticket can go to the show. At Interbike, only industry, dealers or media are allowed. After speaking with Chris D, at Chris King yesterday, my hat's off to those guys. They are taking the responsibility of allowing and managing any exhibiting builder to send all of their show materials to them and they will deliver it to the convention center. Then send it back to you from their shop after the show. That is cooler than a fan. CD said the Portland is totally jazzed on the show and people cannot wait. There are going to be some amazing bikes and parts there, so if you are in the Portland area in early February, stop by for some serious bike porn.

I am pleased to announce that Andy from Dirt Rag will be testing one of our custom 29er's. The exact design and details have yet to be determined. This is exciting for me because I have been trying to get them on one of our bikes for nearly a year now. After the DSG race last year, Maurice and I spoke, but they have a ton of people that want their bikes in their magazine. Which is great. I think highly of their publication and the readers it caters to. It will be awesome to get their thoughts and impressions of our bikes.

Ride:
Jason and I kept the Tuesday night ride tradition alive and went out for a 2 hour tour of North Chatt. The weather was crappy and it was misting a mixed precip the entire time. No other riders to been seen that night. We kept the pace mild and just enjoyed the fact that we were on the bike. Going to get out on the mountain bike tonight for a few hours in the dark. Trying to get hyped up for the next installment of Snake Creek Gap. I am hoping to hook up with Jon McL for another long day at the Tanasi on Saturday. Thinking about an early AM ride at Raccoon Mtn on Sunday and then keep it low key all next week, except on Tuesday of course. My plan is to do some road miles next week to keep the legs loose and then light it up next Saturday in Georgia. I look forward to seeing the Yazoo Crew, or at least those who are not attending the Icycle in NC.

It's been a while...

2008-01-21T16:40:00.000-08:00

Work:
The work scene has been super busy the last few days. So busy that getting a chance to post any news has been a chore. The show bikes are coming along nicely and all of the parts should be here on Thursday. Looks like I am going to have some bikes to build this weekend. I have to photograph all the show bikes before they are shipped on Monday. A few bikes are not going to be back from paint until Friday...cutting it close, but that is how we roll. The time line sucks but it keeps getting easier all the time. The boss man has spent the past few days in the UK visiting some of our friends across the pond. I am sure he is having a great time. I am jealous of that for sure...but I would want to be riding and not working, so I guess I am better off staying stateside and organizing the Handmade Show. I will hold out until Eurobike.

Ride:
With the workload being at the current level and the weather being very cold, I have felt lethargic and not to interested in the bike. Or at least riding it. I have been feeling like I need to rest and catch up on some recovery time. I managed to get out for a few hours with my financial adviser for a "meeting" at Raccoon Mtn yesterday afternoon. He was in Chattanooga for an earlier meeting and we have been needing to get together anyway. Nothing like professional meetings on the bike. It makes those type of necessities way sweeter. Talking about grown up stuff while still acting like a kid. That is the balance we all need in life.

The best part about hanging with Tracy is that I owe him my gratitude for selling me my first real race bike. So it appears that he has been advising me on many levels for a while now. Several years ago I was getting interested in mountain biking again. I spent some time on the bike back in college, but nothing too serious and mainly used it as transportation around campus and to and from the bars. After school was over, I was hanging around with a bunch of racer types and they insisted that I get a new bike. At that time in life, I was certainly not in the market for anything new, so the guys asked around to see if anyone had anything for sale that they could let go at a bro deal price.

So Tracy stepped up and offered me a 1992 Yeti PROFRO with an XT 7 speed groupo on it. Built by Frank the Welder and made in Durango, the real deal Yeti years. The rest is history my friends. I spent so much time on that bike...long after he spent a ton of time on that bike as well. It fit beautifully and had a killer battleship gray color that I still love today. That bike became my first single speed and I actually raced it in 2005 at the SSWC in PA. It is now my city bike and still gets some love, but nothing like it used to. I have to say that it is the only bike that I actually have an attachment to. I rode my first race on it, won my first race on it, did my first SS race on it. Oh the memories.

I am hoping that our Tuesday night action will continue, but the weather is not looking very promising. It is going to be touch and go today. If we do make it out, it will be a frigid and wet experience, but that is nothing new. I am keeping my eye on the weather to see if there is going to be an opportunity to visit the Cherohala Skyway on Saturday. It seemed to be the magic ride before that last Snake Creep Gap, so I am going to try it again. After 80 miles and 11,000ft of climbing, a 34 mile, 7,000ft day does not seem so bad.

Snowing In Chattaboogie

2008-01-16T18:32:00.001-08:00

Check it ya'll, it's snowing here. The first good snow since we moved here last January. I'm sure it will not last long, but it is nice to see. Winter mainly consists of cold temps with sucky cold rain. I was unsure how far that global warming phenomenon had gone. People go nuts around here when it snows, if that is what you call it. Folks rush to the grocery to buy all of the bread and milk they can get their hands on. The last thing I would want if I was snowed in would be a milk sandwich. Southerners are a bit strange like that, but they do hold the door for you at public places. I do like that.

I found this cool photo of my boy Gunnar. He loves to mountain bike...and raise utter hell. From a cold weekend at Mulberry Gap. I love that place. We had so much fun. I think that everyone should stop by and ride that section of the Pinhoti Trail. Plus they make some of the best fried chicken I have had. That may be the best meal you can eat after a long day on the bike. Just my opinion. Desiree had a good weekend there too. Nice photo of her rocking down the singletrack.

Bikes in Shows and Showing Off on Bikes

2008-01-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Work:
With the Handmade show on the horizon, I have been balls to the wall at the shop. I have been ordering parts, deciding on paint schemes, ordering more parts, coordinating with the shop which bikes we want built and to what spec all while doing my normal 30+ daily tasks. There is a saying around here, "If you are bored, you may need medication". This week is proving that statement to be true, yet false. I am not bored by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I still may need medication.

I spent some quality time on the phone with my friend Brandi at I9 this week. I dropped the whole NAHBS thing on him just as rapidly as Mark did to me, but he was totally cool about it. On all of the show bikes and test bikes that leave this office, I try like hell to make sure that they are spec'd with I9's. They look and ride the best and I want everyone else out there to love them too, plus they are a great company. But they usually have a slight back order going on due to their custom wheel building. So to call them up and have a set shipped right out is rare. But not for me...I guess I am one of the lucky ones on the cool kid list. Like my boy Beck puts it, Hell Yes!
Two sets coming to me...one for show the other for go.

I will be scrambling all week long to get the last bit if stuff worked out before my Jan. 28th shipping deadline. On that fateful Monday, I must make sure everything is built, painted, built up, photographed and then boxed and shipped. I definitely need medication. I did manage to get our latest 29er cruiser posted on twentynineinces.com...many thanks to my man Guitar Ted for the love and the post. This is easily my personal favorite...or at least the bike I would most likely want to ride if I rode a geared bike. More on the bike show craziness to come in the following days. The term "train wreck" keeps popping into my mind. Stay tuned.

I had a nice visit with a local police officer today. We are building/donating a R420 to him to ride in the Police Unity Tour in May. I am very pleased and proud to be working on this project. They will ride from here to Virginia, then pick up with a bunch of other officers to complete the ride to Washington, DC. The frame is getting a killer paint job and all of the parts are being donated by various industry folks. Considering all of the crazy stuff I have done in my life, if feels pretty good to help out the guys I have spent so much time running from. When the bike returns from paint, I will post some pictures.

Ride:
This week I have gained some new found focus for training. I was pretty pissed and bummed out by not getting into the worlds and that set me back a few days. But now I am back. I am working on my revised racing schedule and think that not having to worry about Napa is going to be better. My focus is now on wrapping up the Snake series and looking forward to the Cohutta 100. Garth P. has made mention of the Mohican 100 and the timing looks pretty good. So a couple of hungies on the books with the SSUSA mixed in should keep me on my toes for the Spring. A light sprinkling of SERC races will keep me from getting bored until the big ones come.

Tuesday night was bittersweet. Jason is still banged up from last week's crash, but insisted that we still ride to keep the traditional alive. Plus it was Bishop's last night in town, so we went out on the road bikes. Road bikes at night in 25 degree weather is not very fun in my book, but we managed to have a good time anyway. We rode down to do the local North Chatt loop a few times and ran into an "organized" training ride, so we jumped on the tail of the train for giggles. As we made our way towards the middle of the pack, we decided to stir things up. At the first climb of the loop, we attacked. The beauty of roadies is they are so predictable. Of course, everyone counter attacks and we just keep digging in to pull away. We backed off at the top of the big climb and there were several folks who held our wheels, then we attacked again. This went on for 2 more laps until the 3 of us were the only ones still attacking on the last and final climb. I think that we successfully screwed up everyone's training ride. While that was not our entire plan, it was fun. That may be the only way I will ever like road biking. Some people take stuff way to seriously.

So long Bishop, it was nice riding with you one more time before you roll out to Asheville. Look up my boy Jut Rut, I guarantee you will not be sorry, well maybe. I am looking forward to a visit in the next few weeks. Know that Jason and I will be killing it here and with the addition of Jon McL. it is only going to get more balls out. Good luck on the collegiate circuit...that is where all the fast ninjas are. But remember, old guys can ride forever...ninjas cannot.

The more the merrier!

2008-01-13T14:16:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Cornfed for finding this sweet photo of your boy in action. Thanks to the photographer and the race promoters for such an awesome day. I am counting the days until I return to Snake Creek Gap.

Work:
The week's end was closure to a few projects that have been lingering in my court for quite some time now. The most important on this list was making contact with a well know cycling media personality and organizing a custom bike build for test and review. Now that I have that ball rolling, I can mix that project into the tempest that is my work load. I will offer more details on that subject as they develop...it's hush hush right now. j/k. In exchange of one monkey for another, Boss Man drops the NAHBS on me late Thursday afternoon. We have less than 1 month to prepare and build what we need for the show. From bikes and parts to graphics and shipping, we all have our hands full or fuller. We rocked out a plan and had our marching orders within an hour...we are going to blow this show up...just a sample of what we have planned.

Ride:
This is Bishop's last weekend in town before he rolls out to WNC. We were hanging out at my pad on Friday night after work trying to decide where to ride. All we could agree on was wanting to go out and rock the trails one more time on an epic ride. Then out of the blue Bishop gets a call from friend and former Krystals team mate Jon McLaughlin. Within a few minutes we had a meeting time and place for a day of mountain biking. The Tanasi it is.

Saturday we rolled out at 7:30am and had an uneventful trip to and through Cleveland, TN which is all you could ask for. We arrived at the Thunder Rock campground to frigid temps and damp air. That is the rough part about being down in the dense Tennessee valleys along the rivers, it is easily 15 to 20 degrees cooler. When you begin climbing and work your way to the top of some of these mountains, it gets warm fast. We took off pretty quick because the thought of climbing to warm up started to sound pretty good. As we found a quick pace up the fire road it became clear that it was going to be a power day on the bike. Which was fine with me since I had a pretty chill week due to the rain.

Throughout the day while zipping up and down some of Tennessee's finest single track, we only ran into a few other riders. Early on in the day we ran into a few guys climbing a section we were descending. And later we ran into a couple of ladies that we riding strong. The last few times I have been out there I have seen some black bear. Jon, Bishop and I talked about bears and each of our experiences seeing them out there. After a while I was hoping to see some bears after we talked about them while climbing up a long section of single track. Never happened. They should be sleeping right now anyway. They will be freaking people out all Spring, Summer and Fall...they need to rest up for that. I would say that we had an amazing day on the trail. That may have been the fastest I have ever ridden those trails. Jon knows that place so well that we had a hard 4 hour day at tempo and only left the single track a few times. It took me a while to get settled in to my pace, but once I was there it felt great. I went all out several times throughout the day just to test the legs. All is working well. I cannot wait to get back out there. Maybe even before the next Snake? More photos of the day are here.

Later that night I went out to dinner with the wife, her co-worker and his wife. Couples dating...what a rush. Actually, Will and Andrea were great to hang out with. A liberal couple from Cali, one a History professor and the other a creative copy-writer, a solid intellectual couple. We had no shortage of conversation and I think we all had a good time. It is always nice to hang with some left coast liberals, there is a major shortage of them down here in the deep South. What is they say about birds of a feather? New friends are good...both on and off the bike.

Rainy Days Chattaboogie Style

2008-01-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Work:
The last few days have been full-on balls out around the shop. We have a new part-time co-conspirator in the office and he has brought a wealth of organizational efforts to the place. A strange system of project tasks and logs and due dates and completion dates...I will be the first to admit that during the past year, I have completely lost my sense of organization. I think that it is still there but I really don't care about using it. I am feeling that the new "system" is going to be great, even I can appreciate change.

A couple of new bikes came back from paint this week. I was really stoked about this one. R420 with House of Kolor Kameleon Flames on Pearl White with brushed stays...I have my eye on one of these. This would certainly grow my appetite for the road miles I need to put in. A fancy road bike with super sweet parts is always a blast. You feel so much better about hauling some serious ass. You know the bike was built for it, so you give it hell. The hardest decision for me would be how to paint it...need something totally unique, but not gross and too pretentious since I am not a roadie by any sense of the imagination. Now taking suggestions...bowling ball Impalas is the first thing that comes to mind, a little love to the ATL.

Ride:
My ride time this week has been quite limited by the multi-day rain festival going on here. Mostly sucky roller time, but we did get to skirt the weather long enough to get out on Tuesday night. Me, Titsworth, Bishop and Jason rolled out a little late because I drove off from work and left my bike at the shop. I realized what I had done after I was nearly home and the traffic heading East is horrible at 5:30pm. So I called my boy Dave Cash and he was on his way out the door, but he went back in the shop, grabbed my bike and met me at the base of Lookout Mtn for the drop. My thanks to you Dave Cash, with a name like that you've got to be money.

We had a killer first half of the ride...skipped Stringer's and went straight to Lookout. Tempo was high all the way to the base. I think that everyone was ready to go and I took forever, so they were making me pay. Following 3 guys with gears through town and down fire roads on a single speed kinda sucks. I have realized the limitations on certain sections of terrain, but you have to find areas to make it up. But to maintain a gear that you can climb well in and for a long time is rarely the same gear you want for motoring down double track and gravel. The geared fellas have the upper hand here. You can only spin so hard before your can is bouncing off the saddle. I will figure this out.

While we participating in the fore mentioned fire road decent, Jason and Bishop were pushing each harder and harder down the trail at full speed. Then Jason hit a leaf covered mini boulder and it sent his wheel to the left and he over corrected and went airborne at 25+. He found himself wrapped around a tree with his bike way off the trail. We helped him out and he insisted on walking down the trail for a little while to shake it off. He wound up with a mild concussion, broke his helmet and is all jacked up today. Hope he heals up well and is ready to ride on Saturday.

We are having a going away ride for Bishop on Saturday at the Tanasi, we think. It will depend on the weather. Bishop is moving up to Black Mountain, NC to race at Warren Wilson College for his last few years of school. He will be missed, but it seems all my killer training partners are moving to Western NC. My only concern is introducing Jut Rut and Bishop. Together, they could form some anti-jamie racing coalition based out of Asheville.

Yazoo Crew goes down to the Snake

2008-01-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

The weekend that we have all been looking forward to around the Chattanooga area has finally come and gone. The first installment of the Snake Creek Gap Off-road Time Trial was today and I think we had 11 registered Yazoo riders in the 34 mile SS class today. My thanks go out to the race organizers for dealing with us and allowing our shenanigans and starting all together. It makes it fun for us and we appreciate your patience.

Jason came by and picked me up around 7:15am for the 40 minute drive to Dalton, GA. We arrived in plenty of time to get a full dose of Bruce on the mic before we tried to load up for the caravan to the start. With a super overloaded school bus, we had to drive ourselves to the start which was about 35 minutes away. We arrived at the start and organized our crew and rolled out 13 deep.

I wanted to start strong and see how I felt around the half way point. Simple plan and easy to maintain, remember it's January. This race was my litmus test for the season. I need something to start basing other races off of. Sounds trite, but as long as I know I have climbed something bigger, steeper, longer than the one I am on at the moment, I have additional confidence that I can clean it. It seems to work more times than not, so I am sticking to it. Anyway, I had a pretty good day of racing for January. I was 1o minutes off the amazingly fast Dougie Fresh from the ATL, so I have some work to do this month to see about shaving some additional time off. I know of several places that I could have hit it harder if I was not worried about cramping up. Which happened anyway, about the last mile of single track before the final decent and my legs went haywire. I was pushing on a not so steep section just to do a different motion with the legs. It worked and I avoided the pirate-like fate of the "double peg leg" but just barely. Must drink more water. It was chilly all day so I never felt thirsty even though I pounded three bottles today on the trail.

The Snake was just as I remembered it, steep, rocky and exhausting. The final few miles are the hardest in my and many others opinion. After a long day of climbing, the last section is super technical and almost entirely uphill. A few rollers are tucked in just to give you a false sense of completion then more uphill work must be done. At the very top of the final climb is a water tower that has become my beacon of hope. When you can see the tower, you have a quick decent on a fire road then a bombing downhill on the road that leads you to the finish.

After the race we hung around the lot for an hour or so until the rest of our crew made it in and had a chance to chill. The times were posted and most everyone had a better day than their best time last year, so we are all improving. Going to chill out today and ride the rollers this evening to spin out the leg funk. Looking forward to some more Tuesday and Thursday night rides between now and the next Snake in Feb. Thanks to all of the Yazoo crew for making the trip down to North Georgia and thanks to Jason for the ride there and back.

Finally, I received my too bad so sad email from the SSWC08 folks...looks like I will not be competing in Napa this year. Ever since 2005 it seems the event keeps getting weirder...soon it will be like doctors and lawyers riding Harley's and ruining it for the true hardcore. But Good Luck to all of those who did manage to send a supersonic email at whatever time it was for you at 12AM PST.

Recovery Ride, Petty Theft and a New Year

2008-01-01T16:16:00.001-08:00

The last few days have run together and now it's 2008. Wow...I came home from the skyway ride and my wife's best friend from ATL was in town. She has recently returned to civilization from a complete solo thru-hike on the AT. After 6 months of walking and a move to Georgia, she was getting back into cycling and really loving it. An accident on I-75 left her car totaled and her Rocky Mountain crushed between her car and the concrete median. Fortunately everyone was fine and no injuries were sustained. But she had an issue and need a new bike, so that is where I come in. My friend and co-worker Jack had a bike that he wanted to sell and it seemed like it would work for Dana. Jack brought the bike in an I took it home for her to check out. So, on Sunday, Desiree, Dana and I rode.

We had breakfast early, it was rainy and cold outside. Being unsure about the weather outcome, we opted for a city ride through town and out the greenway. The main goal was to get Dana out on the bike and make sure that the size was going to work and that she was happy with the way it rode. We cruised down the hill to the Walnut Street Bridge and rolled up to Bluff View to pick up the greenway. We just had a really casual ride and talked the whole way. It was quite chilly and overcast but the rain was gone.

I got a call from Ivory and he was coming down to ride Raccoon Mountain. After a quick assessment of ETA, the ladies and I busted a move back to the pad in N. Chatt to pick up Gunnar and grab some helmets. We jumped in my ride and headed to Raccoon. We met up at the Power Station and Ivory gave me a New Year's present, which was really nice. A framed photo of the crew at a race. That was awesome, thanks again. We rode around for a couple of hours and it was really nice out. The sun finally came out and the trail was so great.

Everyone had a nice time and it was great to ride with my wife. I always like riding with her...she helps me remember not to take it all too seriously. Gunnar loves to ride as much as he likes to eat and he was trying to lead as always. It was fun to watch him give Ivory a hard time on the trail. At the end of the day, we had all worn ourselves out and Dana loved the bike and took it home. The best line of the day came from her as she was checking out her new ride, "This bike is so bad ass, I think I'm jealous of myself." I believe we have another happy Lynskey owner out there. More photos here.

I worked on Monday and it was a relatively uneventful last day of the year at the shop. We finished some painted frames and shipped a couple of pallets to the UK. I had made dinner reservations on Sunday and everything was all dialed in for New 's Years Eve. All I needed to do was wrap up a few loose ends before the end of the day and cruise home to hang with the wife. At 5:15 I jumped into my car and started it up to the sound of a motor boat...totally freaked out at this point I shut it off. It sounded like I had a hole in my muffler. so I looked under the car to find that someone had climbed under my car and sawed off my catalytic converted and stole it. I still cannot believe that it happened. What the hell? Who steals a car part? Our shop is in one of the crappiest parts of Chattanooga, but come on? Sawing off a catalytic converter...that is crazy. A strange swing for karma that day...but while driving home I laughed a few times while trying to process the theft. I did have some fun in the city revving up the motor and hearing the straight header sound of the engine echoing off the buildings on Frasier...how can you not laugh at that. Someone really need a car part, I suppose. Now I need one too.

Des and I went to a killer little tapas restaurant later that night which really hit the spot. The place reminded us of a spot we visited in Vancouver. We spent much of the evening talking about the various events of the past year and what we hoped to accomplish in the year to come. It was a really nice evening, one I think we both needed. We watched the ball drop in Times Square on the tv. Followed by the Family Guy until 3am, having to register for the SSWC at 3am kinda sucked, but now we wait to see if I am in. 7 to 10 days may not come soon enough. I slept in until 8:30 and chilled around the pad most of the morning. The family and I walked to downtown and stopped for a cup of coffee to warm up before making the trip back up the hill to the house.
Bring on the OCHO!

Ignorance is Bliss

2007-12-30T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ride:
After work on Friday, I spent most of the evening organizing gear and checking the weather because it had rained all day long. We set the departure time for 5:30AM to head out to Tellico Plains. Morning came quickly since I was up until midnight getting prepared. Bishop arrived at the pad first, followed shortly by Jason. We packed up Jason's ride and were on the road before 6. The first stop was at the Cracker Barrel for a serious breakfast and some coffee.

We arrived at Tellico Plains, TN and made a quick stop at the local market for a few last minute preparations before the death march began. Another mile or so down the road was a nice little roadside parking area right by the river. Thanks to all of the recent rain, the river was moving nicely, which was further solidified by the numerous amount of kayakers at the base of the mountain. While I suited up, I was thinking of all of the possible scenarios concerning weather changes and food requirements along the trip. We each made our final choices and decided to go for it. The river side parking area was right at 900ft elevation.

The first few miles were mild and rolling. By mile 2 the first climb began and it did not stop for quite a while. The next 3 miles went up and then the next few went up even more. The roads were wet and the visibility was even worse. I snapped a quick photo at the first elevation sign I came to along the way...2000ft. As I continued up the climb, I came to the 3000ft mark, followed by the 4000ft sign. It was so foggy that I was worried that cars that passed us could even see us. I had about 15 to 20 feet of visibility at the most. Within the next mile, I finally rode up to the cloud line. At one point, the clouds were whipping upwards like smoke as they crashed into the side of the mountain. I took this photo as I rode because it was so awesome looking. With about 1000ft of climbing left to do, I could see that the sun was waiting for us at the top. As I marched on, we finally made it to the top of the Cherohala Skyway. The view was unreal. We chilled out and took a few pictures to further document the event and zipped up the jackets, put on the stocking caps and began the long decent.

As I started down the mountain I began to freeze. Trying not to think about cold and more about the fact that I was not climbing was the current goal. I came to a 9% grade sign and was stoked. We were going to fly down the mountain. Once I made the next few turns, I started working back into the cloud line only to find sketchy, wet roads. Ones that were not too good for descending at speed. The need to focus on the wet road made me forget about the fact that the cold air was running through me. This went on for the next several miles and I finally found a small line in the road that seemed to be the most dry. Near the bottom of the mountain was this killer mountain inn that was kind enough to let us stop in for some water. We hung out and enjoyed the sunshine for a few minutes and proceeded to head the rest of the way down the mountain to the river.

From the river it was 11 miles of climbing back to the top of the skyway. This was a long steady climb that had about three kickers along the way. It did not seem to take very long, but I know that I tried to space out for a little while along the way and enjoy the scenery. I was having some serious negotiations going on with my legs as they began to go on strike. I was telling myself that if I make it to the top I can easily make it back to the car. That seemed easier said than done. By the time I made it back to the top, all I could think about was bombing the hill back down and trying to carry as much momentum as I could to cancel out the last few miles of rollers. I went all out on the way back just hoping that had enough in the tank to carry me through. As we pacelined down the mountain, we hit the cloud line again to find some more wet streets. I don't think that anyone cared about that anymore, it was all about getting back to kill the food that we had in the car. We came down the last pass along to see the river again. A few nice cool down miles along the river allowed me to finally realize that I had actually pulled this off.

All in all, this was an amazing ride. It had all of the elements that a killer ride brings. A sense of apprehension that turns into an overwhelming sense of accomplishment when you are finished. I had a good day on the bike, albeit a road bike, with some great friends. I will defiantly return to the skyway several more times this coming season. I believe in the power this ride can give you. To take to survival approach this time only makes me look forward to the time when I can kill it. After one warm up ride and then the skyway ride, I think I need to spend more time on the road bike.
More photos of the ride here.

Slow Ride

2007-12-28T12:21:00.000-08:00

Work:
Things are a little slow around the shop today. I think that it is the calm before the storm. The great thing about not having 20 things on your plate is you get to rummage through the stack of papers that have been pushed to the back corner of your desk...only to realize that there are 10 more things you have forgot to finish. I guess that is the way it is. I am feeling fortunate to have the opportunity to work some amazing people, not only my work peeps, but the various individuals that we call customers. Each person I work with is uniquely different yet we all have the love for bicycles in our hearts and minds. For that I am grateful. Looking forward to a few more days off and then the New Year.

During this slow day, we have been thinking about our preparations for next year. What bike shows to attend. Interbike for sure, but what about Eurobike? With our international dealer base growing rapidly, I think we should attend. It is a selfish goal for sure, but why not. What about the North American Handmade Show? We would be considered a large builder at that show, but we do make all of our bikes by hand and everything is made here in the US, Chattanooga to be exact. I have been thinking about the perfect bike to crush that show, but I think I am going to save it for the Single Speed Worlds. It will be the envy of all. The only problem with such object is that it demands a level of riding that is sometimes hard to live up to.

Ride:
Before I go into details, I would like to state that Chattanooga is a bad ass place to road ride, even when you suck. Last night's road ride was an eye-opening experience on two levels. The fact that I have not ridden a geared bike in many, many moons was the first of my problems. I think that I have completely lost the ability to know what gear to be in and when to shift. The second issue I ran into was the intense level of elevation gain that exists on a relatively short loop right outside my front door. Merry those issues with two hard core racing locals and you will get your ass handed to you. I really wish that I had a heart rate monitor on just to have some idea of how much I suffered. Now I have something to look forward to over the next few months. My new goal is three hours on this loop. This is my new Snake Creek Gap training route and I cannot wait to see how it stacks up.

The most unforgiving part of last night was the thought that kept running through my mind as I felt horrible up each long climb...Am I ready for this Cherohala Skyway trip? I know that I can make it and that the ride will be amazing, but I now realize that it is going to hurt...big time. Well what does not kill you, makes you stronger...that's what they say, whoever they are. I am basically doing this ride because I have never ridden the skyway and Snake Creek Gap is next weekend. I plan on taking my small camera to capture some of the views along the way and a couple of shots of me to verify my suffering. Pictures and a post to follow tomorrow night upon my return...peace be with me and also with you.

So Long Nashville, I'm out!

2007-12-27T12:18:00.001-08:00

I made it through Christmas and am now looking forward to the New Year...the "Ocho" as we have now named it. I foresee many good things coming in the Ocho. 2007 was a trying year for me on many levels, while I made some profound accomplishments, I also struggled big time. The move to Chattanooga was filled with optimism but the decline in the housing market forced me to renovate, remodel and stage my old house in Nashville...paying a mortgage for a year while not living in a house really sucks. But we are now free from that burden and should be able to live much easier in the Ocho. While I have no real plans on purchasing a home in Chatt, I do dig my rent house and it has been nice to not worry about the regular financial inconveniences that owning a home brings. Just when you have saved enough money for that sweet new single speed or whatever, your roof needs to be replaced, or your furnace goes out. The list is endless. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing more American than owning a home, but I do remember the joys of the college years and beyond of not worrying about anything other than the rent.

While I am living on easy street this year, the fleet will find some friends along the way, that is for sure. While my eyes are currently on a killer new full-suspension bike, my mind reminds me of how much I hate the noise and unpredictable ride characteristics of such bike. I love rigid, hardtail single speeds and that is about it. Maybe a new fixie commuter or the like. Or maybe a new XBOX 360...my younger brother-in-law has one and I know that it will not help my riding at all, but damn, Guitar Hero is an awesome game. Over Christmas, we spent two straight days playing and I am now a rock god...if only cycling was so easy. Actually, thank god it is not.

Work:
Just returned to the office today and it is always hard getting focused again after a long weekend plus a few more days off. It was nice to hear some great words from those who received new bikes for Christmas or whatever it was that they celebrated. As this year winds down, we find ourselves preparing for the next. Big things on the rise for us this year. Now we hope to meet the demand while still having the time to create new products.

Ride:
On Saturday I drove up to Raccoon Mountain for a couple of laps of pure bliss. I barely missed my boy Ivory who came down from the 'boro which was a bummer. We had a few house guests on Saturday so I had to get the ride in early. Next ride took place on Monday at Montgomery Bell. That trail is finally starting to grow on me. It used to be so tight and twisty that you rarely had a chance to gain any speed before you were forced to make a hairpin turn. Now, the new sections have a really nice flow. I will say this about Chattanooga, after a year of riding here, anything in Nashville is easy...no way I can move back there.

Tonight I am going to roll out the road bike for few hours in preparation for this weekend's death march on the skyway. I have some apprehensions but I am looking forward to the challenge. If it was an 81 mile mtb ride, then honestly I would feel better, but I rarely ride my road bike except on the rollers. The weather should be unpredictable along with my riding, so it will be an adventure for sure.

Are we done yet?

2007-12-21T11:51:00.000-08:00

This week has absolutely flown by. Not sure if the holiday mess has turned things up or if I have hit what is known to some of us as the Cracker Barrel time warp. I will clarify that for those who may not know what a Cracker Barrel time warp is. First, the Cracker Barrel is a southern-ish glorified Denny's with more random crap than a swap meet fixed to the walls of the inside of the restaurant. It seems like what should take no more than 45 minutes to be seated, order and eat somehow always takes 2 hours which they manage to make seem like 30 minutes. Maybe it is actually a time warp, still not sure...more details to come.

Work:
The work scene has been rocking this week. From the final few Christmas bikes making it out the door to some new products, we have been crushing it around here. We had the pleasure of a visit from the True Temper/Alpha Q boys this week. Looks like we getting another order of carbon road and cross forks as well as some steel tubing...that's right folk, steel tubing. We are going to build a few prototypes next week and I cannot wait to ride one. Not sure what I am going to have built, but I will have a few days to think about it over the holidays. Ben and Bert are great guys and we are very excited to get to work with them on a regular basis.

We are looking forward to hosting the Dirt Rag crew sometime in the next couple of months. No official plans have been made yet, but we are looking to have them down to Chattaboogie for some bike riding, custom fitting and of course some misbehaving. Maybe even a test bike for review...I will keep my fingers crossed. I will take any open bets for which lucky member of the Dirt Rag posse will get the bike to test.

Had an awesome phone conversation with my pal Brandi at Industry Nine this week. We are going to have them build us a custom 650B/27.5 wheelset for a custom bike we are going to be building for RC @ Mountain Bike Action. I am looking forward to this project for many reasons. This will be my first interaction with RC and our first 650B that will go out past the prototype stage. I am beginning to like the idea of a 27.5" wheel. But for me the 29er works well, so I am not sold just yet. I can totally see the merit of a full-suspension 650B bike. Now I want one of those. Anyone out there what to hook a brother up, just drop a line. That is about all I have on the work front at this time. More to come after the holidays.

Ride:

This week's riding schedule has been pathetic at best. Other than our Tuesday night ride, which was awesome, but freezing cold, I have made 2 solid efforts on the rollers this week and that is all. Thursday was on the books for this week, but the weather was rainy and cold, plus I went to dinner with Ben from Alpha Q. We will try again next week for sure. I plan on riding Raccoon Mountain tomorrow morning, then more obligations, then off to Nashville for Christmas. Thinking about bringing the road bike for a trip up to Joelton just like the good ole days. I need to spend some time on the road bike considering that we are doing an 81 mile training ride up the Cherohala Skyway next weekend. I think that I have ridden my road bike about 4 times since moving to Chattanooga a year ago. Not counting the rollers of course. There is way too much awesome mountain biking here to waste good riding time on the road.

The Holidaze are here

2007-12-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

It seems that the holidays have taken over and I am now on auto-pilot. I just show up where I am supposed to, eat whatever is presented to me and open whatever someone gives me. Not a bad thing, just has become somewhat mindless. I have a large extended family and my wife has one that is even larger...she is one of 50+ grandchildren...that is math that I can not do. It has seriously cut into my riding time, at least on the weekends. Lately I have been shopping, shipping, driving and visiting instead of riding. We have been keeping the night riding alive and that has been great.

Speaking of night riding, it appears that this week will be adding Thursday night to the mix. I knew it was a good idea, now we will have to see it through. Tomorrow is Tuesday and that means I bail out of the office like Fred Flintstone when the whistle blows, race home in traffic to meet up with the fellas at 6PM. Get home around 10 or so, eat, shower and sleep. Nice and simple, just like I like it. Now I get to pull the same routine on Thursday as well. I am already very excited.

Going to make up on some serious riding time while I am home for Christmas...a few days off will certainly help make that happen.

It's all about Tuesday nights

2007-12-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

Work:
Shop life has been pretty cool this week. We have tons going on as usual, but the sense of urgency is in the air. There are several frames that are going out as Christmas presents and each has required something special. I really love the idea of getting or giving a custom bike to someone as a present...I have been the fortunate recipient and it is sweet. Mine was a birthday present, theirs will be Christmas presents...hooray for presents. Hooray for bikes as presents. I am working on getting some new photos posted of recent bikes, but they keep coming in and going out so fast, it has been hard to catch them all. Efficient machine we run. An amazing custom tri bike and a twisted tube custom will be back from paint tomorrow... both are presents...photos to come.

Ride:
About 6 weeks ago, the first Tuesday night ride of the winter season took place. By now it has become one of the week's finest pleasures...something that I look forward to as much as the weekend. What started out as a whim has become a necessity. The route keeps getting longer and more varied, yet more difficult. As a new climb is incorporated, the following week it becomes a fixture. At this rate, we should be pulling 4 to 5 hours of balls out riding come Spring. And that will just be on Tuesday night. A mixed bag of city roads, single track, double track and fire roads keep it interesting. That is the beauty of Chattanooga...lots of great riding right out your door, well at least mine. I have hurt myself and my pride all during a few hours in the dark early in the week. Long grueling climbs, technical single track, a trip through the city and plenty of leaves have made the ride different each time. I love it so much that I am proposing that we add Thursday to the roster and double up during the week. Throw in the normal weekend adventures coupled with some mid week roller sessions and I should make a solid showing in the Spring. I can hope anyway.

Tricycles and a Farewell Ride

2007-12-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

The week has begun again and the weekend seemed to blow by...AS USUAL. But with each passing week, new stuff is created, old stuff is torn up and irony always finds it's way into the picture. It started late Thursday when I was taking pictures of a titanium tricycle...yep, I said it, titanium tricycle. A kid out there is getting a titanium tricycle for Christmas this year. I wish him or her well and I am a bit jealous. We are going to brush it and etch their name in it...I cannot believe they give me money for this. Happy Holidays y'all.

Friday was equally swell in the fact that I was able to take the time to photograph our new Mazak CNC machines. These things are unreal...we cannot even begin to think about what we can do with these. It's like having the ability to make just about anything you want out of steel, aluminum or titanium, or whatever else for that matter. Within a few weeks we have already begun designing and developing all of own small parts like cable stops, brake saddles and headtubes. 2008 is going to be very exciting for product development. We have several sweet new products coming and I will keep you posted as they develop.

On the other side of life...
I woke up early on Saturday morning to let the dog out because he would not stop pacing. Nothing like waking up to impatience. It was still dark and while standing on the deck, I realize that I cannot see more than 10 feet. There was so much fog and mist, the dog disappeared instantly. I walked back in the house, turned on the coffee pot and opened the laptop....straight to weather.com. Normally I would have went back to bed, but today was Justin's Farewell Ride at Franklin State Forest.

I had been looking forward this ride for several days. Jut and I talked on Wednesday and thought it would be killer to meet up between Nashvegas and Chattaboogie. The trip up Monteagle mountain was somewhat surreal due to the fog and mist. It seemed like it was going to rain the entire drive, but it was actually stranger that it did not.

I was the first to the cabin, shortly to follow were the Murfreesboro crew. We hung out in the parking lot for about 30 minutes before the Nashvegas boys arrived. The trail was in great shape but completely covered in leaves...completely. It was a full on day of high speed, flat track cornering and hidden gems that nearly knocked your fillings loose. But the gems caused many, many tire changes...it was like a flat tire repair clinic at your local shop. On one stop we had 4 out 11 people changing flats. The leaves caused me to make some poor line choices and I am very lucky to have missed out on the clinic. I did have two funky line choice that caused injury. Once to me and once to Thad...for which I am very sorry. We had a traffic jam at a technical climb and the 29er gave me some hell for picking the line I did and I had to dab. Which in turn caused Thad to dab, but he slipped and caught his ankle in between some rocks and fell. I did not realize that any of this had happened. I was back on the bike and heading down the trail when this went down. Shortly after, I launched off a root and was diving into the trail and the left turn was not possible with the air and momentum I had going, so I knew I was going down. Nice to have leave sfor falling, but not so good for steering. One hurt ankle, one shredded pair of bibs, one more ride with the Yazoo Crew, and one more day living the life. All in all, it was an great day of riding and a killer day to hang out with your friends. I look forward to another farewell ride.

Good things come to those who wait

2007-12-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to get an open line of communication established for some time now and here it is. Finally I might add. While encouraging many folks to use the wonders of the web, I have avoided this avenue like the plague. Not because I did not think it would be useful, amusing or strictly a complete waste of time, but what would I even be able to bring to the blog table. I spend much of my time each day pounding away on the keys promoting bicycle frames and all things Lynskey Performance, the last thing I usually want to do after work is more work. Not to mention, there are many racer friends of mine out there that keep us all up-to-date on the latest race happenings and recaps on their blogs. The end result is still unclear, but I hope to bridge the gap between bicycle racing and the development, design, R&D and promotion of bicycles. I expect there to be a mixed bag of race oriented chatter and some musings about the in's and out's of working in the bike industry. All we can do is see how it goes.