one step closer

We picked up my super-bad-ass pink & black wheels from Hodge at Addictive Cycles today. They are hot and mean lookin'! ...THANK YOU SCOTT HODGE!

Pics to come...and hopefully the entire bike will be done next week. Eddie and I are leaving tomorrow to race for 13 hours in Florida. Right now we are going self supported. Should be fun!

Good luck to everyone going to SM100 this weekend, drink an extra beer (or 12) for us ;)

Just another Tuesday at the office

OR NOT. Being a student and/or being self employed does have some advantages :)


Eddie's talkin smack. Something about Harvey and Dauset? I don't know....whatever.
(j/k Harvey ;)

Warm-up, nice views

Classic North GA singletrack, better keep your eyes on the trail!

Aaah....the overlook

My Kerkove-sytle photo attempt (not so good, I know).

MMMMM...Rapid-aide. I'm LOVING this stuff!!

Showing off the SIX and the new Salsa Pro-moto bar, nice stuff.

Note to self:

Cut extra steerer tube length off.

I had an uplanned knee + steerer tube meeting yesterday which resulted in the steerer tube taking a nice chunk out of my knee..gross.

While we are talking about yesterday....I will just go ahead and say it..it kicked my ass. Eddie and I had both been itching to go up to the mountains and ride somewhere other than the Fools Gold route area. We packed up and headed to Ellijay to ride the Pinhoti trail system. I've ridden these trails countless times, but yesterday it hurt. I hope it was my gearing, and not that I've lost any fitness I've gained this year. I think I may have actually popped a blood vessel on one of the steep pitches. Did I mention there were some steep pitches?

It's a good thing I'm not going to Shenandoah, because after yesterday's ride..I'm not sure I would finish Shenandoah in any respectable time. That's right, I'm not going. Unfortunately, we are not in any financial (and I'm obviously not in any physical) condition to go race it this year. I swear, I'm going next year!!!

Instead, I've got some local Dicky-unapproved lap races on my schedule (AND FIREWATER 50!!) in September to hopefully build some endurance and fitness back in my well rested legs. They are all relatively close to home and much cheaper to race. Unfortunately, that has to be the deciding factor in the rest of my racing this year. It's actually been since before 24 hour Nationals that I've done any structured training. Then again, that was the highlight of my year and I didn't really have any racing goals beyond that. Right now, I'm just going to try to enjoy the last several races of the year because I am in no rush to begin the offseason boredom of base and cross-training. Well, I am excited about the beer festival season that is coming up, though!! :)

Fools Gold Recap & Interviews on MTBCAST.com

Check Episode 87.

AJC Article

I've been published in the Georgia State University paper, but this time I got to help Carolyn O'Neil Out with her column in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution. Check it out.

I was back on the MTB today after the icky road ride yesterday. What fun. Races are coming!

BTW--I finally tried the Rapid-aide, the electrolyte drink from the Fools Gold. I heard mixed reviews. I actually didn't mind it, it was a nice change from other sweet sports drinks. I'm also thinking it could me made into a mojito...little liquor, little electrolyte, garnish with a mint sprig..how about that? :)

Lung burning ride

..but not in a good way.

Eddie and I went on a road ride today in our 'hood. Bad idea. Right out of the gate my lungs were BURNING. It felt like January in Michigan or something. Weird feeling. I finally realized that it was the poor air quality that was causing the burning..ick. We rode for a little while, but mostly spent time hanging out at AVX down the street talking to Rich. Well, on a positive note, my legs felt great even though the lungs didn't. I'm really ready to race again.

One more thing, I'm totally overwhelmed with the kind words and emails that have been flowing in about the Fools Gold race. I'm so amazed that I'm actually getting excited again about the ideas for 2008. It will be HUGE! Eddie and I have some great ideas and have already been in talks with some sponsor-types. One thing, though: I am definitely racing next year.

Phew

I'm really glad the Fools Gold race is over. It is WAAAAAYY more stressful to organize and run an event like this than it is to race it. And way less fun, too :) I was actually jealous of all the pain and suffering the racers were going through...the cramping, the tears, the vomiting, and the total and utter exhaustion. Sweet stuff.

I am still in a daze. The last week has been full of craziness...including bear sightings, bee stings, and not much sleep.

Thanks to so many people that helped make this happen....among them...the racers, the volunteers, and the sponsors..especially Vassago Cycles, 55nine Performance, Sweetwater Beer, Dedicated Athlete, Terrapin Beer, Northstar Bicycles, BURN Energy Drink, Twin Six, and Mtbcast.com.

Eddie O talks Fools Gold on mtbcast.com

Check out Episode 86 on mtbcast.com

Sufferfest & Party

Just because you're not racing or volunteering doesn't mean you can't come enjoy the fun and cheer on the racers...

Cheering locations:

Cooper Gap (there is a campsite there, if you want to camp Friday and/or Saturday night too). Racers will be climbing the gravel road to this point at:6:35 am (100 milers)7:00 am (50 milers)11am-2pm (100 milers again)

Camp Wahsega (Race HQ):

50 milers will start finishing around 11:30

100 milers will pass through around 11am

100 milers will start finishing around 3:00pm

There is lots of great riding right around there, so bring your bike.

Don't forget, Sweetwater and Terrapin will be flowing...

Fools pic post

Jackson (aka Hot Breath Harry) is real anxious to get to the mountains
I travel light

Eddie's photo skills at work

Eddie is finally cool, he's wearing the 6. OK, he hasn't reached ultimate cool status yet, though, since he's not yet riding big boy wheels.

Classic winding gravel road in north Georgia....lovely

I'm beating Eddie in the sprint up to Coopers Gap!

Finally, a breather. This is the section between the Jones Creek trail and the Bull Mountain trail.

Jones Creek singletrack

Rules

Some local fools pre-riding

Darren, the SORBA fool helping to saw some big trees out for you

Singlespeeding Fool?

If you are one, you are in for a treat. I may do a more detailed write up on the course..but for now, I think the perfect word to sum it up is "yeeooowwwwch" :)

Eddie and I cleared some more trail yesterday, and the hope was that we could FINALLY ride the whole 50 mile route in one piece today. We've ridden all the parts but never all together, something always seems to foil our plans. Anyway, things were going well until we hit the Jones Creek trail. There were even more small trees down, lots of deadfall in the way on that trail as well as Bull Mt. and Bare Hare. We still got in about 40+ miles including all the trail work on the way but we were unable to ride the entire route as planned due to the interruptions.

The course has some of everything....grueling gravel road (not too much, thank goodness), plush singletrack, rough singletrack, a good amount of doubletrack, long descents (for Georgia, at least), creek crossings, rocks, roots, steep pitches, and even a couple hike-a-bike sections (short, so not too bad). There's also a few recovery sections of gradual downhill for the SSers to spin their little legs off...but, again, not too many of these.

This is going to be a tough hundie for sure. I'll be impressed if anyone breaks 9 hours. Not to say it can't be done..but I'll be impressed none the less. The course conditions are currently super dry.

Hopefully some of our pix came out and I can post a few tomorrow.

See many of you fools next weekend!

Did someone say pink wheels are fast?

Then now I have no excuse to not be fast.



Full rigid baby!

Yes, now Ernie will have a new friend :-)

mmmm...Bubbalicious

The sponsors I need to thank in a big way: Vassago Cycles and WTB.

Sexy Sexy Jabberwocky!!!

HUGE HUGE HUGE THANKS to Vassago Cycles and WTB for this. They are amazing!!!!! I'm on cloud nine, if you couldn't tell by now :-)

Details:

16" Vassago Jabberwocky frame in Bubbalicious powdercoat

Vassago Pitchfork

WTB Laserdisc 29" rims

WTB LaserDisc lite and LaserDisc Single Duty hubs

Ride report coming ASAP!!! Must find a local wheelbuilder first...Hodge?

Wrecked

I had a bunch of titles in mind for this one...but really, this is how I feel. Completely and utterly wrecked. I think I need another recovery week. No, I didn't race Wilderness 101, though maybe I should have done that instead.

No, what I did today was a seemingly easy road century. Funny enough, I've never participated in one of these orgainzed sagged century deals. Now I know why, and I will never do one again. There are plenty of more fun ways to torture yourself. 100 miles on the road in Georgia, in August with no shade is not my idea of good pain. It was reported to have reached a high of 125* on the blacktop, with an avg temp of 91* and I believe it. There were times I was struggling to breathe because I was feeling suffocated by the heat. I think I'll spend the rest of my summer on the mountain bike, in the North GA mountains. Unfortunately, though, now I think I need a few more days of rest instead of getting back into regular training.

Thanks to Mike Livingston and Eddie for dragging my butt back to the finish. I was deep in the hurt bag!

More pix from the crew (thanks)