Got a bummer of an email last night. Seems that Ken and Vicky have decided to suspend the promotion of 24 Hours of Pisgah this year. They want to have more time to do the stuff they enjoy and hang out with family. I wish them the best and hope that maybe next year or sometime in the near future they'll get the race going again. The race was a kick ass event. It was my first solo 24 hour event and while I didn't do well it got me totally hooked.
Now it looks like I've got a HUGE whole in my schedule for September. Looks like Shenandoah!!!!Maybe, if I've got the money, I'll give the 24Hours of Conyers a shot in October. We'll have to see.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
frustrated but don't know why
OK. I don't know why this bothers me but it does. They have the results from Razorback up and I am conspicuosly absent from the list. Granted I didn't do much but still, I'd like to see how I compared to some of the others. Oh well, guess it's not a big deal and I'll get over it. I think I will call them though and make sure I wasn't DQed unknowingly.
Monday, February 19, 2007
12 Hours of Razorback
Did the Razorback this past Saturday. The race was fun as hell. The course was awesome. Having said that I need to admit that it was also waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy harder than I imagined it would be going in. Anybody(me) who was thinking that it was going to be a flat Florida course was going to be sadly mistaken. I had ridden it when I lived In Orlando but I think that over the 6 or 7 years since I'd been there I started believing it was easier than it is. It's a course that is perfect for power riders. There isn't any substained climbs to get a rhythym on. It's mostly big steep drop offs that are quickly followed by a steep short climb. By steep I mean straight the hell up. I perfected my spiderman ablities to climb vertical walls with my bike over my shoulder this weekend.
Anyway,I got there Friday afternoon. Got my camp set up and went out on a pre-ride. Quckly figured out that the race was going to be harder than I thought. Which was cool because like I said the course was also really fun. After I got back in I made a few pb&j's,lubed up my bike and walked around the area for a bit. That's when I noticed "Camp Solo" set up right off the course. Damn. I was set up a little bit off the course. Not a huge amount but I was going to have to come off the course to get new bottles and stuff. I made a mental note to check for that kind of stuff at future races. While I'm talking about mistakes, another one was not having any support crew for the race. I tried to set one up but everybody had other commitments. My friends in Orlando all had to work and the gf was back in Asheville. It wasnt huge deal because lets face it, I'm slow and not going to be winning any of these but it does make life much easier. Oh yeah. Sunny Florida my ass!!!! Yes it was warmer than Asheville. No, it was nowhere near as cold as the Northern states. That said..cold is cold!!! It got down into the 30's that night. I was wrapped up in 3 sleeping bags in my tent. I woke up to frost on my car. It did warm up a good bit though and I ended up doing the whole race with nothing more weather gear wise than arm and knee warmers and a vest.
Race day started bright and early. I woke up set up my bottles and stuff. Got my gel flasks ready. Went over to the start/finish area where they had coffee,instant oatmeal,bagels,fruit and donuts. I think it's telling that the fruit lasted longer than the donuts. Went back to my tent area and did some warm up excercises and sretched. There was a ton of people signing up for the race still so it got started a few minutes late. Went and racked my bike and attended the riders meeting. fter that it was time to head to the field for the torture..oops I meant run. The start of the run was about 10 miles from the gbikes. OK..maybe a 1/4 of a mile but it felt like 10. Whoever decided the racers should run before racing for 6/12/24 hours is an evil individual. The race gt started and away we went. I was back towards the back of the pack because well....I don't run...I hate it..it kills my knees. What I do cn barely be called jogging. Got on the course and started riding. Had a blast. I got passed. A lot. But overall the race was fun as hell. I was shooting for 5 laps and got 4. I know that isn't a lot but like i said..I'm slow. Plus, I'm still figuring out the pacing and nutrition of these things. I could've pushed myself harder than i did. I went out without a hrm and was always worried about burning myself out. I think I worried to much and didn't go hard enough. I think in the future i'll go ahead and wear the hrm so I know.
I will go back next year. It was to mch fun to miss. Goneriding puts on good events and the course is way fun. All the steep drop offs and walls plus a good bit of tight,twisty singletrack. Anyway, I really reccomend the race to people looking for a fun early season event. It definitely helped me in my quest to get the hang of these things. Next up: Burn. I sent them my money yesterday. Hope everybody had a great weekend. Later yall.
Anyway,I got there Friday afternoon. Got my camp set up and went out on a pre-ride. Quckly figured out that the race was going to be harder than I thought. Which was cool because like I said the course was also really fun. After I got back in I made a few pb&j's,lubed up my bike and walked around the area for a bit. That's when I noticed "Camp Solo" set up right off the course. Damn. I was set up a little bit off the course. Not a huge amount but I was going to have to come off the course to get new bottles and stuff. I made a mental note to check for that kind of stuff at future races. While I'm talking about mistakes, another one was not having any support crew for the race. I tried to set one up but everybody had other commitments. My friends in Orlando all had to work and the gf was back in Asheville. It wasnt huge deal because lets face it, I'm slow and not going to be winning any of these but it does make life much easier. Oh yeah. Sunny Florida my ass!!!! Yes it was warmer than Asheville. No, it was nowhere near as cold as the Northern states. That said..cold is cold!!! It got down into the 30's that night. I was wrapped up in 3 sleeping bags in my tent. I woke up to frost on my car. It did warm up a good bit though and I ended up doing the whole race with nothing more weather gear wise than arm and knee warmers and a vest.
Race day started bright and early. I woke up set up my bottles and stuff. Got my gel flasks ready. Went over to the start/finish area where they had coffee,instant oatmeal,bagels,fruit and donuts. I think it's telling that the fruit lasted longer than the donuts. Went back to my tent area and did some warm up excercises and sretched. There was a ton of people signing up for the race still so it got started a few minutes late. Went and racked my bike and attended the riders meeting. fter that it was time to head to the field for the torture..oops I meant run. The start of the run was about 10 miles from the gbikes. OK..maybe a 1/4 of a mile but it felt like 10. Whoever decided the racers should run before racing for 6/12/24 hours is an evil individual. The race gt started and away we went. I was back towards the back of the pack because well....I don't run...I hate it..it kills my knees. What I do cn barely be called jogging. Got on the course and started riding. Had a blast. I got passed. A lot. But overall the race was fun as hell. I was shooting for 5 laps and got 4. I know that isn't a lot but like i said..I'm slow. Plus, I'm still figuring out the pacing and nutrition of these things. I could've pushed myself harder than i did. I went out without a hrm and was always worried about burning myself out. I think I worried to much and didn't go hard enough. I think in the future i'll go ahead and wear the hrm so I know.
I will go back next year. It was to mch fun to miss. Goneriding puts on good events and the course is way fun. All the steep drop offs and walls plus a good bit of tight,twisty singletrack. Anyway, I really reccomend the race to people looking for a fun early season event. It definitely helped me in my quest to get the hang of these things. Next up: Burn. I sent them my money yesterday. Hope everybody had a great weekend. Later yall.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
T-Minus 2 Days
OK. Heading down to Orlando today. I'm starting to get a little nervous about the race. I don't know why. I've trained well, I'm down to 156 pds which means I'm pretty much right where I want to be weight wise. My goal is to be 145 pds by the end of May for Burn. My long rides are going well. So, I really don't know why I'm nervous. Maybe cuz it's the 1st race of the season. I'm sure it'll go away when I hit the first few pedal strokes. We'll see. Gotta get going. I need some more coffee before that drive. Hopefully, I'll be able to update and give a race report while in Orlando. Later yall.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
T-Minus 4 days
WOOHOO! Last day of work before the start of vacation. I'll be hearing that damn Go-Go's song in my head all day now. Yesterday was my last hard day on the bike before this weekend. I did some more hillclimb intervals, tryin to get my legs used to powering up short,steep climbs. Today is going to be an easy ride followed by laundry and packing. I've decided to put off leaving until Thursday so tomorrow I'll be able to get out and do a long,easy ride in bent creek. I should probaby be resting but this race is more about getting ready for the ORAMM century with Peter and training for Burn than anything else. Oh, and fun. Ah well, hpe everybody has a great day.
Monday, February 12, 2007
T-Minus 5 Days
Alrighty. I'm back to post about that ride from 2 weeks ago. LOL. It was long and cold. That's what I remember anyway. Spent last night getting stuff together for Saturday. I'm heading out on Wednesday for orlando and I don't want to forget anything so I'm already obsessing. Amanda and I are going out on the 13th for Valentines. That way we skip the crowds and I get to head out a day early. I'm super excited for the race and for the trip in general. I haven't seen one of my best friends in over a year and it's been about 6 months since I've seen the other one. Plus the fact that it's supposed to be in the 70's down there had me a little giddy as well. Hope everybody had a great weekend. I'll try and be better about posting. Later folks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
