TEAM ED RACING

Probably no need to come here anymore........

2011-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

..........'cause TEAM ED RACING blog is part of the Zoo's website (Bike Zoo that is). It's been there awhile but I haven't been into posting much just riding the hell out of some bicycles!! Anywhoo, anything and everything will be there and won't really be all that different. If anything now that I have a interweb enabled phone-type picture-taking device there probably will be posts and pics from the car ride home if not sooner depending on how many Dos Equis happen at Papa's and Beer. So, go there www.bikezoo.com and you will see the Team Ed section. Giddyup.

The Big One!

2010-09-04T04:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for no great updates and/or tales of riding and racing. Been focused alot on the Big One- Shenandoah Mountain 100!! Ed survived North Georgia despite the rain and "fool's gold" laden mud, which turned into a 50 miler instead of 100. Even the pros were worried about survival when most people's brake pads were gone after only 30-ish miles of riding! Since it was two 50 mile laps, and clearly dangerous conditions they shortened the race to one lap. From talking to Ed a good training ride and more importantly no crashes or any significant bike problems because the important race is Sunday! Literally am loading the car to go right now a travel north to wonderful Virginia. No rain, not hot- should be fantastic (it always is)! Stories, pics, etc. next week sometime. GO TEAM ED!!!!!!!!!

A few pics from O-HI-O!

2010-08-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

Ran out of time this AM, but here are a few from the race a couple of weeks ago. Mystery guest is Stephen Huddle, former K-town resident, dweller of Cincy now (race was very close for him) and FINISHER of the continental divide race!!!!!!! Holy crap. That is the biggest mountain bike race ever and he did it- awesome!

No report from Ed yet- I'm sure he is fine and there will be a great story or two!

Winner winner chicken dinner! (again!!)

2010-08-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

Went to O-HI-O and threw it down on the beautiful, twisty and oh so flat singletrack outside of Yellow Springs, Ohio at John Bryan State Park. Found this race by accident and it proved to be fantastic. Well run, great trails, great food, super nice people and only 25 bucks!! Bonus was that it was only 25 minutes from where Ed's dad lives (yes, he has a dad that is old, but very much alive and kickin'!) Ended up with just under 7 hours of racing, and 91 miles!! (yes, that would be a 13 mile an hour average!) All that work was good enough for first in the SS class and 2nd fastest total time of all the solo guys. Ed rocked the SS class as well and rode 6 hours and ended up 5th!! Other bonus was the weather was perfect- cool in the morning, maybe 80 during the day- and dry trails!!

Be thinking about Ed- he's at the Fool's Gold 100 today in North Georgia. Go ED!!!!!!!!!!!!

No blogging, but LOTS goin' on!

2010-07-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

Been awhile for lots of reasons the main one being that my family sold our house and bought a new one that we are just now getting ready to move into, so sitting at the computer to do this hasn't been in the front of my brain for sure. But riding has. House stuff happened and then we went to the beach- Gulf coast style and luckily didn't have to swim in oil. House we got was over the top and we had a blast, but the best part was the singletrack. Yes, real-deal twisty fun trails within riding distance of the beach house. I had heard there might be trails and took my chances taking the 1x9 29er mountain bike instead of a road bike and was totally delighted. Rode 4 days and most of those were of the 3 hour variety- largely in the woods. I have some great pics but because of moving all of my crap is everywhere and I can't find the charger for the camera- soon come.

Of course Ed is riding and we even made it to yet another race earlier in July, the Iron Mountain 100k put on by our good friend Chris Scott of Shenandoah fame. Race started in Damascus, VA with a few fast miles on the VA creeper, then into the woods for some fantastic and technical singletrackin!! Because they didn't want people racing all the way back into town the actual mileage was closer to 55 miles but it was still great to go race since for me it had been since the end of May. Doesn't hurt that I won the single speed class and was 12th overall!!!!!! Also, even though he has gotten better, Ed got lost on the course but with his ride back into town on the highway still did the same mileage. There was a questionable spot for finding your way because another friend of ours from Kentucky messed up a potential top 3 spot with the "road crossing" at check 3 ( he still got 5th! ). Great day in the woods and great company seeing as how some of the TVB boyz were in attendance as well- Burgess, Talley, Ross, and "Don" all showed and had a great time.

After that was super fired up for ORAMM and a shot at kicking "dicky's" butt, but was totally shocked that with 2 weeks still to go the event had sold out-no exceptions. E-mailed the race director and even though I've given him my money for the Swank a couple of times and given him ORAMM money and didn't show- he wouldn't let me come. Bummed, but procrastination has come to haunt me over the years and this time got me for sure. Good thing is that I learned something and signed up for Shenandoah yesterday instead of my normal week before, because if I couldn't get in that race I might be depressed for a whole entire year (except I bet Chris would let me in cause he is a MUCH cooler guy). Anyway, Ed fired up a 6 hour race last weekend for something to do (since we couldn't get into ORAMM!!) up near Blacksburg, VA. Should have known it might be interesting when we pulled the course info from someones Garmin data and it said the loop was 4.5 miles with 800 something feet of elevation gain per lap!! Needless to say it was steep in spots, but VERY technical and not the most fun course Ed had ever done, but you never know- that's racin' sometimes the courses are good, sometimes only so-so but it always fun to be in the woods, plus he said it was put on by a bunch of college kids from VA tech. so it was laid-back and fun atmosphere- not like some of the bigger races where there are increasingly bigger crowds (I presume like ORAMM but we didn't get a chance to go).

Looks like there is another 6 hour race up in Ohio next weekend and its on a SUNDAY which is great for me, so we will probably go check it out. Wilderness 101 was so close to happening for me, but we are moving into the new house this weekend so that seems like a good reason to stay home!

Lumber-freakin'-JACK

2010-06-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

ED has been at it again. This time round 3 of the NUE 100 mile series in Michigan and ED's first attempt at the SS for a hundie!! Of course it was no problem as he finished with a time of 10 hours and 30 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Freakin' stud-boy. I've told him that he could do it and in some ways riding a SS is easier- lots more coasting and when you're pedaling you are moving on, getting climbs over with faster. To prove that the apple dosen't fall far from the tree, Elizabeth (daughter of ED) went back for another go at the Lumberjack and finished ahead of HIM at 10 hours!!! She was on the podium, but I have limited knowledge of all the details as of right now. Very cool stuff.

Go ED go!

2010-06-18T03:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend ED traveled to Chattanooga for the Cysco Cycles 6 hour race at Booker T. trails in the 'noog. Hot, hot, and hotter lately (still better than cold and snowy!) made for classic Ed- 5 laps, then some car time sittin' in the A.C. with a bit of "recovery". Turns out, he went so fast on those first 5 he was easily keeping up with the other SS racer- yes he's back on the Al stumpy SS-style (the one with the cool ass zebra stripes). Break done, he rode two more laps much to the dismay of said other SS racer and easily won- by two laps over someone more than half his age and supposedly a "pro" riding for Lynskey!!! I'm starting to think that Ed needs the hook-up, especially because if he likes something he will tell everyone about it and if keeps beating people that are "sponsored" he is most definitely worthy. Next stop for Ed is this weekend in Michigan at the Lumberjack 100, round 3 of the NUE series and will be his first hundie on a SS- go ED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes things just work out.....

2010-06-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

So, if you haven't figured out by now me n' ol' ED like to do long, dumb mountain bike races. Well, round two of the NUE series was at Mohican in Ohio last weekend and because of scheduling conflicts, etc. Team Ed was not in attendance. I found myself working as a wrench for one of the rest stops at the Tour de Cure, which ended up being alot of fun. Some familiar faces and alot of new ones and its always fun to "save the day/ride" for someone by doing something that is simple but keeps them on the road. Big plus was post-ride food was provided by Moe's!!
Ed found himself at the 8-hour race at Haw Ridge put on by our good friend/mountain bike endurance racing freak of nature dholmes. Ed true to his outstanding form, shunned the geared plastic wunderbike in favor of the Al single-speeder and ended up 2nd in the ss class!! Hot and humid, and a great course for Haw and luckily the rain didn't come till most of the racers were done. Come to find out Ohio, specifically race day, had torrential rain, wind and hail so it sounds like we were in the right places to at least not have another Cohutta-type bike-trashing experience. Hopefully, Ed won't have rain at the Lumberjack.........
Sure would like to hit the Stoopid 50 this weekend but it sure is a long drive for a 50 mile race. We'll see.

Hey Seuss!

2010-06-04T05:03:00.001-07:00

And I don't mean the good doctor, I mean it only in the most biblical of senses. I swore up and down that after the last solo 12 hour race at haw ridge (a long time ago) combined with my first big loop event, that the lap thing may never happen again. Part of my love for hundies, especially SM100 is the big loop format- gotta keep goin, no reason to stop. The multiple laps give you a chance to a) get bored and b) quit easier. Not into to quitting, but mentally tougher for me to keep going in the same circle. Anyway, due to scheduling conflicts it started looking bad for another shot at the Mohican 100 in Ohio, so given that I (and ed somewhat) was a fired-up after Cohutta there needed to be something long and painful to fill in the gap. Since I am always looking at race calendars just to see if there is something interesting that we haven't done and because I know a very flexible schedule is the way to succeed in life, finding the 12 hour race at Tsali seemed to be the perfect fit. Only a 2 hour drive, and for me a trail system while very fun, somewhere that I had not ridden in several years which the idea was, would keep the boredom at bay. Thankfully a long-time friend from the neighborhood was going and had done this race before so he could answer all my little questions regarding rules, the start, etc. Plus, he got over there early and got a great campsite and had a giant pile of firewood. Drove over Friday night through a few showers, but it didn't look like it had rained all day, so the hope was trail conditions would be o.k. Nice thing was no pre-dawn start (11 am) bad thing was it rained some before sunrise and a little more before the race started. Oh well, at least once it stopped that looked to be it on the rain, not like at Cohutta where you knew it was coming to kill you at some point later in the day! Silly ass greg lemond start, running up a gravel road for 1/4 mile, then on the bikes to start the 11 mile loop- up county line road (gravel, climbing 3 miles) then around on the right loop (singletrack!). Shaggy of SCO/bike zoo was there also doing 12 hour solo SS, and we hooked up immediately and seemed to be perfectly matched pace-wise. Our pace seemed a little ambitious given we had to ride all day and that it was muddy, but it was hard to go slow- the trail is very fast in many spots, so we just let it rip. Talkin', jumpin' making motorcycle sounds- we were having a blast and I'm pretty sure we were running first and second for those first few laps. We each had small spills, and going into lap 4 finally eased off the gas a bit to try and settle into a more reasonable pace. Bad thing for Shaggy was when he crashed, he caused some cramps and he never was right again- it would have been really fun to have ridden with him all day. Somewhere along the day the 6 hour folks finished- Sean, also of SCO/bike zoo- who got 5th place! and our own ED- who rode SS (no separate class) to 15th overall!!!! He was coming off being sick and was smart about doing 6 instead of 12 and rode the SS just cause (he's a badass). This was good because once they got cleaned up they were around our pit area and helped keep me motivated- funny how doing this makes you tired at some point! Only dumb rule for this race was they had a mandatory time for you to have your light, so I rode two laps with my light but didn't need it at all- not that those few ounces mattered but I'm just saying........ Seemed to be in third, but the guy behind me had some kick left, and I was just riding to at least do a hundred miles (9 laps) and then decided to actually get a real night lap in where I used my light and went out for number 10. Had time to start an 11th lap but it would not have changed my position, so I easily stopped at 10:20 pm for a grand total of 110 miles off-road (new most ever mtb mileage in one day for me) and 1 billion calories burned. Crazy thing was to ride that many miles and it was only good for 4th in SS, but that was 6th overall solo. Fast people out there everywhere! Great event (Gone Riding puts this on) trails got super fun as the day went on and they dried out a bit and I got yet another ultra under my belt- eye on the prize come labor day weekend!

Cohutta Race Report

2010-05-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

I know, I know seems a little late to be speaking of that race still but I feel obligated to a least make a stab at a real race report even though it is mostly just for Tarik. He was the inspiration for the whole SS thing and continues with the best race reports/recaps ever.

Everyone knew it was going to rain in large quantities it was just a matter of when. Drive down Friday afternoon saw sunny skies and warm temps. Set up camp and checked in with ease, ate dinner and at some point the drops started hitting the tent. Thought alot about whether to race if it was full-on raining at the start and decided to wait and see. Morning brought wet ground but no rain as the pre-dawn ritual of eating/drinking/getting your crap together to ride in the woods all day started. Got to the start and still no rain- this was good. First trail is Brush Creek known for being soft after rains, however we were greeted to wet but firm trail surface- thank goodness! Rolled on and back to the WWC and more trail then rest stop #1 before the gravel/dirt suffer-fest started. Things were looking good, peeps of sunshine even, but I knew it was coming sooner or later. I hoped to make it to the mid-point of the race, which is also the highest elevation as well, before all hell broke loose. Climbed and climbed forever, started getting foggy but still no rain. Rolled through rest stop #3 pretty quick, with one more climb to the top before VERY long downhill. First funny person I met up with was some geared fool who when I caught said "where is the f-ing top?!" I just laughed as I passed and said "soon come" and thought " if you looked at the elevation profile at all (dumbass) you would realize there was one more UP before actually being at the top" Oh well. He caught up just as the big dh was getting ready to start as I was getting the jacket on because the rain had to be coming soon and the dh long enough that if I got wet and cold I would have died for sure! He rolled up and it literally started with light rain and some thunder and he actually said " I can't believe its f-ing raining! Do you think they'll call it (off)?" Again laughter from me and all I could think was "No, it's not a baseball game..." Then as I pedaled off thought " did this guy not look at the weather, they have predicted doom and gloom all WEEK and we should feel lucky to have ridden for 5 HOURS with NO RAIN (moron)!" More laughter, big downhill started, VERY fast fire road and then it really came. Hard rain and wind almost instantly and even though I was off the top of the ridge proper, still at pretty high elevation. Sideways rain, wind blowing me across the dirt road, can't see anything- it was fantastic and truly epic weather. Down forever and finally to safer elevations but rain continues. Rode on and up the climbs back towards the WWC and really started getting tired at the 80 mile mark. Just kept pedalling and knew at least that the last 10 were on singletrack and at least that would be fun. Last real climb up the trails, Alex from K-town caught and passed me with the "I'm almost done and happy buzz even though I've been riding all day" At first I was disappointed because I really wanted to be the first one back from K-town, but I was so tired that I didn't care. He also said " oh by the way, you just got passed by a 60 year old dude with a broken collarbone" What? I guess it was the guy that had just gone past before Alex that was climbing strong and muttered "what up dawg?" when he passed me. Crap. Got to the singletrack and it was in terrible shape- monsoon rains and lots of traffic made what was normally fun, an exercise in just staying upright. Finally got to Thunder rock, the last downhill and it was still fun- knowing I was almost done and in somewhat better shape. Safely down and then up the side of the highway into a 20mph headwind to finish- Ouch! Finished in 8 hours and 50 min. only 9 min. slower than last year which was under PERFECT conditions. Pretty darn happy with that and was very glad to get into dry clothes and sit in my car with the heat on! Waited for ED in the car and shot that video as he was finishing ( 11 and 1/2 hours!) and then we waited for T-flo, hoping he was o.k. and sure enough he finally came in and true to team ed tradition (mostly ed) he missed a turn near the end and probably did an extra 10 miles still finishing in just over 12 hours- well done T-flo! Eventually a real shower at the campground and since cooking at the very wet campsite didn't seem like a fun idea, we drove to Ducktown and had some thickburgers because that is all there is in Ducktown and they were SO good! Drank a few beers back at camp and finally went to bed (there was a brief respite from the rain around dinner). Got comfy in the tent and then the REAL rain came- harder than the hard rain we raced in. All. Night. Long. Hats off to the MSR hubba as I stayed dry all night- best tent ever! Of course, Sunday morning the sun was out and it was beautiful.

Next up 12 hours of Tsali, a week from Saturday.

Check it out!

2010-04-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

Before anymore stories of Cohutta are told if you know or care about ED check out today's edition of knoxnews.com and you will be inspired to keep doing dumb things aboard bicycles for many years to come!

Cohutta 100

2010-04-30T04:59:00.000-07:00

Big day in the woods, half under good conditions, half under way worse. The epic rains came as predicted and I was so glad to be past the half-way point when they did. ED did 11 and a half hours-ish, T-flo 12 hours-ish (probably rode 110 miles since he missed a turn near the end!), and me 10 min. under the 9 hour mark. Plastic SS bike sooo good, and sooo trashed. There are good stories- probably tell some soon. Until then, a few pics.

Co-freakin-hutta 100!

2010-04-27T05:44:00.001-07:00

For now a short video of ED finishing- there is cursing. You have been warned.

Been forever

2010-04-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

So what. Mainly that means lots o' riding. Finally spring has sprung so no more snow, booties, giant gloves and the like. Warm temps, not much rain, and no question the most perfect dirt that East TN has seen in years!!! Been to the Bahamas for R and R, but right back to it with big dumb rides most notably at Tanasi, mostly getting ready for Cohutta which is only one week away now! Team Ed racing season officially started yesterday with the very local Ocho 8 hour race at Panther Creek State Park. The results are posted yet but Ed texted and said he did 7 laps in 6:50, so it sounds like he is kicking it just like always- Way to roll it ED!!

Dirty South Tuesday night beat-downs have started as well, with the first being what I expected but maybe with a different cast of characters than I would have thought. Bhann strong as always, jason is always ready but I haven't seen him alot, JoelM from work was in there and is VERY strong as was evidenced by everyone when he beat them down at Knoxiecross, and Sean a very accomplished XC racer and up and coming endurance racer too. Good fun and very fast!

Time to rest and eat and drink lots of water this week and see if the winter riding pays off on Saturday. BTW, lest I forget Duncan is in the almost great white north or maybe just New Jersey, but at any rate is racing and flying the Team ED colors and hopefully giving those yankees the beat down! Go Keith!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

2010-03-02T05:43:00.000-08:00

Knoxiecross has been happening, but I've been too busy training- doing longish rides then getting back for the little man's b-ball games on Sundays. Well, after catching good-natured grief for not showing up to any, I figured I'd jump in the last round especially since it was at Morningside park, site of the very first Knoxiecross. Best part was that Saturday night I stayed up until 2 and had many beers, so the morning brought doubts about going but again I didn't feel like hearing it so off I went, running late of course and with half a lap warm-up it was ON! Got in the masters group with the geared plastic wonderbike and after so rubbing with the Hammer and some karate on the first dismount/run-up, I was ready to race. Myself and Sean E. quickly got a gap on the 2nd lap and from there it was me and him and eventually I slowly creeped away from him ( he had just raced the 4's, so very strong to jump right in the masters ). It felt good to win something and I wished I didn't have to leave so I could have shown those SS boys how its done!! Ha- don't know if anything would have been left, plus friend/co-worker/cross phenom Joel M. is crazy strong and stomped it down real good. Reminds me of J.T.- if JM rode half as much as he did he would crush the Pro 1/2's as well. Good stuff, maybe next year I'll do more of them. Hats of to the TVB crew, they were "tail-gating" drinking, cooking and cheering like mad and made it a great atmosphere!!

Finally......

2010-02-26T03:41:00.000-08:00

......mountain biking (mostly) singletrack-style!!! Had all day to go ride- nowhere to be, nothing to worry about except that it was freaking snowing again!! Looked at the radar and southern East TN looked clear-cold, but clear so off to Tanasi I went. Great alternate drive, because of rock slide you have to use highway 68, and time to trail was pretty much exactly the same. A few flurries but then the sun was out and the trail conditions were fantastic. Largely dry and fast and FUN! So nice to ride the new bike on some real trails and just be out in the woods. AHHHHH!!!

More winter fun?!?!

2010-02-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

Yes, the winter that would never end or at least it sure is making riding outdoors more interesting. Two Thursdays ago found that the Park had much more snow than anywhere near town. Stayed warm and it sure was purty!

Oh my my, oh hell yes, honey put on......

2010-02-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

......your plastic SS party dress. Yeah thats it. Pics are weird cause I sent them from photobucket while the computer was fried. Anyway, its super bitchin', stupid-light (18lbs.) and yes I'll be kicking your ass aboard this fine machine at a hundred mile mountain bike race real soon (I hope- always fun to trash talk a little!) The other bike was fantastic and this one does everything better. Can't wait for warm, dry, fast single-trackin'.

2010-02-16T18:24:00.001-08:00

2010-02-16T18:23:00.001-08:00

The winter that would never end

2010-02-09T03:33:00.000-08:00

Or at least not give a slight warm-up for a day or two. Still cold, still grey, snow, rain, etc.- be nice to have something near 60 and sunshine. Its really gonna make spring extry good and continuing to ride outdoors must be making me more hardcore (even if its in my own mind).

A few pics from last Thursdays jaunt through the Smokies. That is the best thing about winter and riding in the park- nobody is up there so you have the roads to ourself, especially compared to summer.

BTW people- the plastic wonder mountain-style bike is DONE! Pics soon. You know you want to see it. Real bad.

Team Ed NEEDS one

2010-02-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

A very good customer at the shop just got his sprinter back, equipped with just enough to make some serious road trips much more fun and comfortable. We need one bad- we will accept any donations but I think the secret may lie in selling Krispy Kreme donuts at local storefronts.

Get on the Train

2010-02-03T05:02:00.000-08:00

Of course I rode last Thursday- it was in the 50's and the sun was out. There were even times when I would be climbing sans covering on me arms! Yes, I suck for getting the 2nd best day of Jan. to ride but I'm o.k. with that. No pics 'cause it was mostly a pain-fest- SS Mtn.-style bike, out n back (not quite all the way) on Richard Mtn./ P.diddy Branch for a little over 40, in right at 4 hours. It's time to get ready for Cohutta!!

Walk in the woods

2010-01-27T05:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you gotta hike. With the national park so close, and a better than 50 percent chance of rain last Thursday, went up a hiked an out and back that I had never done before. Chestnut Top trail near the Wye was the perfect rainy day hike and is probably the best looking trail in the area that is illegal to ride. Oh well. Of course by the end of the hike the weather became beautiful thereby rendering the weather predictors totally worthless. Always good to be outside, especially in the woods.

Back to it

2010-01-22T05:18:00.000-08:00

Been a bit since the last post, so a quick update. Round about middle o' December crashed on a night ride at Chuck Norris and landed strange, bruising the left knee but more importantly twisting it as well. Tried to ride a little but it didn't seem right. Got Doc. b to check it- no structural damage, so I just had to rest it. Timing ended up being good with the holidays and all, so lots of extra sleeping and just hanging out for a couple of weeks and now its (been) good to go.

Meanwhile ED has not stopped- ride, ride, ride looking forward to what 2010 events have in store. Luckily, neither one of us has died since the temps here didn't get out of the 30's and were more like teens and 20's most of the first two weeks of the new year and riding has been happenin' fo sure.

Still haven't built the plastic wonderbike yet- had initially planned on moving current parts over and riding it some, then getting all new stuff for racin', but now I'm just gonna get all new stuff and build it right the first time. Not a big hurry, weather has been sucky for off-roading- frozen dirt good but only for as long as you can feel your fingers and toes OR its raining. The exception being the other day where we caught some good Big South Fork action.

Anywhoo, looks like the first racing might be 12 hours of Santos at the Ocala area trails in FLORIDA on Feb. 20th. That sounds way warmer than wondering around Pisgah for 36 hours straight and freezing to death. Southern cross got postponed due to weather and is actually tomorrow, but it ain't happening for either of us. Lots more catching up to do, but later.

Winter already!

2009-12-11T05:47:00.001-08:00

Out riding in the Smokies last Sunday early A.M. Cold start but beautiful with the snow from Saturday still lingering in the trees and on the gravel roads. Thinking that getting a jump on riding when its freakin' cold might help at Southern Cross and even has me thinking about the Pisgah 36..........

Just when you thought it was over....

2009-12-01T05:19:00.000-08:00

....the season continued at the 6-hours of Lock 4 mountain bike race in middle TN a couple of weeks ago. ED went on the new plastic 29er and threw it down! There wasn't an old man class so he jumped in with the sport guys, many of whom he could have been their dad, and cruised for a 3rd place finish! He had time to do another lap (6 laps in 5 hours) but it wouldn't have changed his place. Daughter of ED "little bit" went and caused trouble in the expert women's class getting 3rd and being in the $$!! (They did the same number of laps and he is still faster than her!) Also, dholmes traveled along and rode to an awesome 2nd place in the SS class and was also in the $$!! Sweet!

The worst part about this time of year is that racing options (unless its cross) are pretty limited and I know that after the Swank (for me) and Lock 4 (for ED) we were both fired up and wanted another event to do, something, anything at least 4 or 5 hours and not a billion miles of driving to get to. So, a couple of weeks ago I spent two hours on the computer looking for this "event" and the only things I could find were a 6-hour race on Long Island, NY and a 42 mile race on the other side of San Antonio, TX. Oh well........southern cross will be the next thing and the start of the 2010 season-we can't wait!

By the way, this came yesterday and I will be kicking people's asses aboard this beautiful bicycle next year.

Kicking it Swank Style!

2009-11-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was the 11th annual Swank 65 (k) in Pisgah. Did this event for the first time two years ago and it was super awesome because 1. its Pisgah, 2. the weather for the first weekend in Nov. was pretty dang good, 3. i traveled with Ed, Larry, and wife of Larry, 4. rode myself into 2nd place SS, and 16th overall without realizing it. Time goes by, blah, blah, this year has been the year to do more stupid-long endurance type events for me ever and this seemed a fitting way to end the "season". Sure, if something pops up it could happen but for me any serious racing is most likely done (Ed did do the 6-hour race at Lock 4 yesterday-more on that later). Some good K-town folk signed up- Googe who is always crazy strong, Shawn from Harper's , and Ben whose genes allow him to ride any type of bike anywhere, anytime. Left early in the AM Sunday and with 40 being closed detoured through Newport and Hot Springs to dump out on the North side of Asheville. Ended up only taking about 20 minutes longer travel time which was good. Got to the Fish hatchery area, got ready, and lined the bikes up for the LeMans start. Ran (stupid) then got to pedalling, nice gradual uphill singletrack to start, except that I was in the dreaded "train". Found myself with Shawn and we started passing when able but knowing there was a good section of doubletrack at the top of the climb. The course did an awesome job of singletrack, forest road, back and forth highlighting the fish hatchery trails all of which are good. I could tell that Shawn was going good-climbing well and descending superbly (full-suspension, great knowledge of Pisgah, and of course skill help alot). I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to beat him, and that there weren't separate classes-OPEN men, so we were all against each other. Anyway, we basically climbed up to Butter Gap together but he got me on the downhill. Then it was the not so steep but all singletrack up Longbranch and by the second time up to Glouchester and the rest stop I had caught up again. Then the infamous steep forest climb to Farlow where the descent off Farlow was more about survival with a little riding thrown in. Stayed in front of Shawn's group up the climb and caught a guy who at the time was the second place single-speeder. We rode together out to Farlow and then the crazy stuff started-rocky, steep, leaf-covered goodness, scary but ridable I made it farther than I thought I would but as soon as I started walking, I heard the tires coming and I knew it was Shawn. Just had to keep going, not get hurt and when back on the bike ride hard. Made my way down staying in contact with the SS guy and another dude on a FS rig untill it really opened up and they were gone (SS guy come to find out was running a 32-18 29er!!) At the last rest stop someone said I was top 15 and that made me very pleased, so I quit worrying about Shawn or anyone else and just wanted to maintain that position and if I caught anyone in the process so be it. Flat, rolling trail/forest road to the base of the last forest road climb one I know well from riding over there and is the perfect grade for me not too steep, not too gradual and the last chance to make time and/or make sure no one catches me. Pretty much went into the "red zone" and after racing for over 3 hours this effort was hurting but I knew where the top was and that it was mostly downhill singletrack to the finish. Caught SS guy and FS guy about half-way up the climb said "hey" and just kept truckin'. Later the ss guy told me he tried to tack on but didn't have anything left. Made it up, then navigated the singletrack back to the start/finish without killing myself and ended up coming in just over 4 hours and almost 9 minutes. Only a handfull of minutes behind Shawn and good for 13th place out of 138 finishers!! Very pleased, very tired but my helper for the day (ED came over but didn't race) had a tasty recovery beverage ready for me at the finish!! Googe came in about 20 minutes later, and Ben rode incredible for right at 5 hours! Great day of racing (thanks to Shawn!!) Weather was unbelievably good-sunny and topped out at around 70!! Burgers, beer, won a 29er tire and then Ed and I fired up Papa's and Beer before driving back to K-town!! Thanks to my partner in crime ED for traveling with me-again a great day on the bike (second best of the year-Shenandoah being the best day on the bike this year!!) Looking very forward to doing more of all this in 2010!

12 hours of the Hill 'o Mud

2009-11-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

The 11th annual 12 hour race at Haw Ridge happened Saturday (halloween-style) and of course as is the trend for most of this year it rained and rained alot overnight Friday and through the better part of the day for the race. As many of you know Haw is really fun when its dry and really sucky when wet. The first few laps were probably the best because it was raining and keeping things wet and managable. Team Asswipe' -myself , Jason S., Googe, and the "Hammer" raced single-speeds in the Open class. We decided doing two laps in a row each would make sense and mean less times getting cleaned up-once dirty stay dirty longer. Matt went first and cranked it, Jason second, myself third and the hammer cleaning up. All I know is that my laps (5th and 6th) were merely an exercise in staying upright. Not sure if I would consider myself as "racing" but we participated and had fun despite the conditions. Matt had decided to leave to go to the football game anyway and I got the call to go trick or treating, so I think we knew going in that the weather and other events of the day would influence how much "racing" would happen. Still though it was really fun. A big part of this event is hanging out and my teammates are people that I truly enjoy the company of-big thanks to them for rallying to make the team happen. Also, the support crew of the Hann's and Basile's was unbelievable!! I should know by now that these folks bring the "A" game every time and they, along with the camper, made the day so much better than it would have been. Awesome food, and a hot post-laps shower!! Big thanks to JB for putting on this event. The weather wasn't very good, but the vibe was great as always. I know its a tremendous amount of work to make it happen and I hope the Knoxville cycling community appreciates your hard work.

Next stop, Swank 65-Pisgah-style on Sunday!

ED's new weapon

2009-10-29T06:34:00.001-07:00

It lives. It hung as a frame/fork for a few weeks, but he (I) could'nt stand it any longer. It had to be built. Just so happens it is in time for the 12 hours of Haw. We'll see what the weather brings- chance of rain in the forecast but we hope for the best! At any rate this bike is superbadasssweetdaddyjones- it's pretty light too..........

Those old dudes in the hundred mile series better watch out and they better not get fat and lazy over the winter cause IT has already started.........

Fall Fun Continued

2009-10-26T05:16:00.001-07:00

Me and Ed kicked it a couple of weeks ago, Big South Fork style. Trails were of course perfect, some colors starting to do their thing, lovely Hoptoberfest courtesy of New Belgium, and 45 miles (mostly singletrack) of single-speeding goodness!

On another note, ED, super-stud boy went to the Ocho 8-hour race at Panther Creek last weekend and easily won the single-speed class AND had the second fastest time overall of everyone!! What a ride!! Next up the fall cornerstone race- 12 hour at Haw. Looks like Ed is flying solo, and I have a fast single-speed team lined up. Should be a fun day!

More Fall Fun (I promised)

2009-10-21T06:09:00.001-07:00

Pisgah-style mountain biking from about three weeks ago. Colors just starting to change, beautiful day, and 45 miles of solo, single-speeding glory!

Fall Fun

2009-10-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

The often seen East TN plastic cow!

Still not sick of those cool-ass black jerseys!

Lots o' good rides been happening, some cooler temps. colors changing and just good old fashioned fun. These are from a ride with ED and young D-rock and few weeks ago as I am way behind on blogging. Starting to catch up and there are lots of pictures to be posted, so stay tuned.

More on the best race of the year....

2009-10-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

The pictures told the story of Shenandoah Mountain 100- awesome day, perfectly run event, great legs, super bike, and lots of laughs (afterwards). Even though Ed and I were it from K-town this year we went and represented better than ever. VIP campsite (by accident) our best Shenandoah race times ever, and hanging with the Kentucky crew made it a truly wonderful experience. Even though the year isn't over it would hard to top this- Durango probably would have come close but that is another (still kicking myself) story.............
Anyhoo, Ed did a 10:45 bettering his previous best by over an hour, and I rocked the SS for my best time ever of 9:13, over an hour faster as well and crushing my last years SS time of 10:55!!
Ed ended up 6th in the 50+ for the NUE series!!!!!!!!!!! We are still fired up and this just serves for motivation to go even better next year.

Meanwhile, we have still been riding lots with a few events still possible this fall. There is an 8 hour race at Panther Creek this week and of course the 12 hour at Haw is on Halloween. I have signed up for the Swank over in Pisgah which is a great event as well. Fall ride pictures abound-maybe in a few days..........

You knew it was coming....

2009-09-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

Still kicking it

2009-08-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

Anyone who visits Team Ed Racing probably has noticed the "big dumb ride" list on the sidebar and also may have noticed no race reports in quite some time. The big dumb rides have been happening, especially for Ed, just not in an organized and pay for them mode- more in the "preparation" ( I hate to say training ) mode. Sometimes time gets crunched, other things come up and the reality for myself is not taking 80 Saturdays off a year.....

Anyway, kicking myself for not going to ORAMM and at least making Dicky sweat a little for now though everything focuses on the best event ever the Shenandoah Mountain 100. After a two year lay-off and now the owner of "adult-sized" mountain bike wheels, I'm pretty excited about going just to see what can happen. ED is flying and freakin' skinny and is very ready to head to north Georgia for Fool's Gold this weekend, so by Monday or Tuesday there will finally be some type of racing report and I'm sure a good story.

In the mean time a few more from Italy......

Riding in Italy....

2009-07-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

...doesn't suck. But first I had to have my road pedals installed. After the tennis shoe ride I looked at what was around tool-wise. Broken multi-tool and some type of snips.

This combo provided just enough leverage to get the mountain pedals off and of course install the road pedals (because they don't have to be THAT tight) and I could now be in full-on euro roadie mode.

G $ loose in Toscana

2009-07-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

After we did Rome up right, we headed north on the Autostrada in the beemer 3-series and found that driving around 90-100 miles per hour was about right. Still some going slower and many going way faster. Thankfully unlike here people don't think its their God-given right to drive slow in the fast lane and not move out of the way. If you get in the fast lane you had better be going fast, or you better get the hell back in the slow lane quickly. Anyway, 2 hours later we exited the freeway and drove about 45 minutes on beautiful backroads to arrive at our home for a week San Giovanni d'Asso. Not a big place as the Tuscan hill towns go, but it had a store, cafe, restaurant, the classic Italian "general store"-a place with everything from appliances to toys to clothing, to batteries- all jammed in with no place to walk and in no order whatsoever- and was centrally located to many popular hill towns. The cycle I had arranged to use was already at the villa when we got there Saturday afternoon so I was eager to ride Sunday morning first thing. Only problem was the pedals on the bike-shimano spd mountain! I brought road shoes (white ones of course) and my speedplays. Couldn't believe I was in Italy with a Colnago that had mountain bike pedals AND Ultegra-no Campy in sight!! After unsuccessfully trying to use a 6mm on the backside of the spds-breaking my multi-tool in the process, I figured that I would go cruise Sunday am with tennis shoes and look for real wrenches Sunday afternoon or even Monday if nothing was open.

After a glorious ride on the best roads that I have ever seen, we loaded up and went to Arrezo about an hour northeast since on the first Sunday of the month there was an antique street market in town. Great things to look at and purchase along with great and classic European street scenes.

After the bottle of wine with lunch, I needed a pick-me-up and this may have been the best espresso of the week (it was all damn good).

Bike riding pictures are coming next, I promise.

Team Ed d' ITALIA!!

2009-07-16T04:50:00.000-07:00

Probably noticed the lack of posting for several weeks. My first time going to Europe happened so the week before (I always save things to the last minute), two weeks gone, and now finally ready to tell about the best vacation that I have ever been a part of.

First of all this trip was born out of wanting to do something special seeing as how my lovely wife is turning the big 4-0 this summer and I suggested something really good, more than just the traditional family beach trip. We started out with loose plans to visit the 4-corners, desert SW, rockies, Grand Canyon something like that trip, but at my suggestion I told her we should "throw down for real". Overseas was the answer with Italy, specifically Tuscany, being our final destination. Knowing the fam. was going and there would be alot to see and do, I knew that riding wasn't a number one prority, but that if I didn't ride at least once in one of the countries were road biking is King, it would be even worse than going to Durango and not mountain biking (which I have done and will be made up for in September!). Luckily, I knew that my family likes to sleep in, especially on vacation and that the sun comes up at 5:30 over there so riding and not interfering with everyone elses day was very possible.

Then the bike question. There are plenty of ways to rent bicycles in Italy and it ended up being easy to find something more than suitable. Our home for a week in Tuscany was about 35-40 miles south of Siena and fairly big town and the google search gave me a great bike shop that rented bikes, and would bring it and pick it up from the villa. Perfect. In the mean time, a long-time fabulous customer of the shop's knew of my trip because I had asked him questions, knowing he has been there several times, offered my his travel bike which was an older Tammaso, that he has SandS couplings installed on. So, Italian bike that fit me AND fit inside checkable luggage. He insisted that I take it and I will never forget this unbelievably kind gesture. I had to decide though, now I had two bikes at my disposal and I wanted traveling to be as smooth as possible and I just had a feeling that the car we were renting might not be big enough for another suitcase, plus rolling one more bag around the airport didn't sound fun either.

I must have known something. (more on that later)

Flew out of k-town to Detroit rock city, then to Rome. Spent three incredible days right in the middle of it all, did Vatican City, Colusseum, ate dinner at the steps of the Pantheon-pretty incredible to be among so much ancient human history. Took a few bicycle related shots from Rome-things that catch your eye as you walk around.

Bianchi on the streets of Rome.

Bike sharing bicycles neatly lined up ready to go. (came back through later in the day and they were ALL gone and being used)

Night time street scene near where we stayed, this is right at foot of the "Spanish steps".

MUCH much more to come, namely Tuscany, but that will have to wait until another day.

Ciao!

You know, just kicking it

2009-06-24T05:45:00.000-07:00

Riding has been happening of course, but most note-worthy right now is that once again Team Ed took the show on the road to Michigan to contest stop #3 of the NUE 100-mile series last weekend. Once again Ed is such a stud, finishing 11th in the Masters at barely over 10 hours, dholmes rolling the SS super-fast for 7th at 8 and 1/2 hours, and daughter of ED, "little bit" rode SS in open women (on the TEAM ED ss Seven) for 10th place at 10 and 1/2 hours!!! Superbadasssweetdaddyjones!!!!!!!!!! More details as they arrive.

Favorite place, favorite ride

2009-06-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday saw myself and A.J. heading to the mountains of western N.C.-him for a week summer camp near Black Mtn. and me for some type of single-speed, leg-shearing extravaganza. Drop off went smooth, got to hang out, eat lunch and sit by the lake for a couple of hours then it was on to some riding. I had some ideas and with flying solo and not having to be anywhere, I decided to do something I haven't done in awhile. Drove to North Mills River and parked, rode up FR1206 to Yellow Gap, where a funny thing happened. I noticed someone parked there but since I was in head down mode to get up the first little grunt off the road to begin the Laurel Mtn. trail, I didn't look closely at the person getting ready to start their ride. As soon as I got into the woods I heard "hey Gary!" and I was like WTF, I'm in Pisgah and someone knows me? Stopped and hear comes Carlton, a grad-assistant with the UT outdoor program, complete with full-rigid single-speed! He was there to spend a few days camping and riding and said he hadn't ridden in Pisgah before and was planning Laurel Mtn. loop (from the guidebook). I told him that was what I was doing and that he should join me. So, off we went up,up,up and chatted some-I only know him from some dealings at the shop and enjoyed the hard effort to get up to the top.

Once at the top I told him to be careful in that Pilot Rock is the rockiest, steepest, rideable trail in the area. We did stop partway down to enjoy the view and the blooms!

Made it down without any problems, went down 1206, then into Pilot Cove/Slate Rock loop. Hiked some, rode some and made the push up the next ridge to another great viewing area.

Down the next trail, back to 1206 then up to Yellow Gap. I gave Carlton my map of Pisgah, told him all the riding he could ever want was right here and to have fun. Bombed down 1206, but because I'm a moron and didn't think that was quite enough riding, I took a left just before where I had parked and rode up FR5000 towards Trace Ridge. Went up and did a short loop off of the road then back down to end up with 4 1/2 hours of riding for the day! Then it was on to Papa's and Beer-"Dos Equis senor?" "Si, muy grande, por favor!"

Laying the smack down

2009-06-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Its coming up on a week since the 12 hour race at Panther Creek (Disc Burner) but words must be said. In the open class "jasons chili" featuring faithful Team Ed members rode their happy single-speeding butts to FIRST place overall. Not only that but KeithD. laid down the fastest lap of the day of anyone with 39 minutes flat!! Superbadasssweetdaddyjones! Jason, "The Hammer", and Bhann rounded out the team-loaded for sure-not loaded like the fast TVB guy, but quite possibly the best 12 hour team that could be assembled. ED rode his single speed in the 6-hour ss class and probably was racing against people half his age came in third-only a few minutes out of second. All this only a week after doing 100 at the Mohican AND being sick all week! Stud-boy for sure! Sounded like a quality event made possible by dholmes and "little bit" (daughter of ED). Great course, plenty of beer, and quality racing in every class-keep up the good work dave!

On another note, the Tuesday speedway smackdown at the Queen has fired up again due in large part to a motion by "The Hammer" and me being able to attend now that baseball for the boy is over. Guest appearances abound but none better than Clark-O (BTW he raced with a team at Panther Creek too-HE's BA-ACK!!)

Even the roadies have decided that some time in the dirt might actually do them some good!

These freakin guys are killing some road racing lately. I just wish the club wasn't paying entry fees back or they would be sporting the beautiful BLACK jersey at crits and what-not.

Finish this up already

2009-06-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

The last quarter of the race was highs and lows. Tired legs but an "extra" rest stop as everyone passed by number three again somewhere between four and five. Quick through this one as I figured number five rest stop was supposedly at the 90 mile mark (no need to stop 10 miles from the finsih!). Just after passing rest stop five we went into the woods for the final bit of singletrack. I believe we were in the Mohican state park at this point as the trails were definitely groomed and well-used. Fun up and down, twisty trails rejuvenated the legs partly because of fun, partly because the end was oh so close. Wound around the ridge and began catching some of the 60 milers. They were courteous enough to jump out of the way so I could keep my roll on and I knew that soon the trail would come oh so close to where we had set up camp. I clicked the computer to "mileage" just to see and realized that it read 96 miles just past our tents and thought "oh shit" we are going to go all the way around this F-ing campground just to get 100 in. Sure enough, through the upper reaches of the campground and up this crazy hike-a-bike on what looked like a trail that had been cut the day before, back out the ridge aways, then finally around the outer reaches of the campground to come into the finish area. Crossing the finsih line in these all day events is always good, but even better when they call your name over the speakers then hand you a pint glass. Luckily the beer was close by and I had two in me before I fully realized that I was done. 9 hours, 23 minutes for myself, 9 hours 13 minutes for dholmes, and 10 hours, 27 minutes for the legend ED!

The post-race food was awesome-unlike Cohutta-although the beer ran out pretty quick. Luckily I always have my own. Once we were all settled, cleaned up and such we went down to the pizza place again as they had an adjoining sports bar so we could watch the NBA playoffs. Two pitchers of yellow beer, bacon and cheese fries and a big ride in we were feeling large and in charge. (Cleveland sucked it up and lost of course, much to the locals dismay) Next morning we loaded up, hit the Mickey D's by the interstate for a quick b-fast and the worst excuse for coffee ever. Drove for awhile until almost TN border where fuel was needed both for the race squirrel and ourselves. Killed the hell out of some Subway and came on home. Damn this stuff is fun!

Mohican continued

2009-06-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

On from rest stop one, more great singletrack connected by some cool backroads-alot of the one laners are still gravel. I remember someone talking about being on private property to make this giant loop happen and wondered if those trails would be any good. The first real sense of that was heading down a road that said "no outlet" and quickly became someones driveway. Rest stop number two was at someones house basically in the garage!! Good country folk (Ohio-style) as the garage was filled with stuffed deer heads, who built some awesome singletrack on their land. I had caught up with dholmes before this stop (he had crashed) and when we entered the woods I was telling him I thought we had just entered the "dirty south" ride. Looked alot like bhanns work-flowing trail and the sense that you better not stray too far for fear of ending up on the wrong side of the property line! Trail dumped out on the road which lead to more seasoned mountain-bike trail and rest stop number four. I quickly got some stuff and headed off into what would be the longest time mileage wise between stops-24 miles. Endured a flat gravel road by the river, then the worst of the day a flat "trail" which was a rail trail that went on forever! Single-speed hell as I could pedal at about 13 miles an hour and I have never wanted to go uphill so bad in my life. Finally it ended and the course made its way through some more private property that again had amazing singletrack.
(we'll wrap this up later)

More Mohican

2009-06-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

So, around 5 in the morning thought about getting up with the actual being 5:30. Lots of fog, but the sun was trying to come up and would soon warm up the 50 degree morning. Ate some food, got dressed and we proceeded to ride into town for the race start. No reason to drive as the finish was in the campground and to get to the start only required a couple of mile spin down a greenway to downtown Loudonville. Folks were fired up, the road was blocked off with lots of police escort as the start left town, straight up a hill (for a $250 preem) then out of town to the first of the woods.
The start was fine except unlike Cohutta they started the 100 and the 60 at the same time so that there were upwards of 350 people on the road to begin and when that first hill came the sound of shifters and chains clanging was incredible. Of course going to easier gears means people slow down and I was forced to weave through all kinds of people as I stood up. I was trying to be careful but I clipped someones handlebar and he did the weave and shouted "good thing I didn't panic!" I had to giggle because here we were at the start of a multiple hour day and this guy was probably going to have much more to worry about than some skinny single-speeder barely bumping him. Drama averted, the pavement turned onto a grass doubletrack and then we went into the woods for the first of what was to be many, many more times that day. The first singletrack was fun with lots of up and down and of course the forever train of people that happens when there are this many racers and singletrack so close to the start. In and out of the woods then the real trail started with a 20 mile continuous section of trail through the Mohican state forest. Beautiful trails, perfect dirt, up and down but nothing crazy and the train stayed together. It's pretty neat having that many people in front and behind and everyone is staying smooth and going fast. Rode all this trail which seemed to last forever until rest stop number one at 20ish miles. Quick topping off of water and rolled on. More later, gots to go sell some bicycles.

Mohican 100 Race report part one

2009-06-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

So, Friday evening none of us wanted whatever unexciting food we brought for dinner, so luckily for us there was a pizza place on the main road right next to the entrance for the campground. Went in and realized the buffet was the way to go (carbo-loading) for me and Dave, while Ed got a large pizza with the plan being half now and half before bed. Went back to the tents and while the weather forecast for Saturday called for no rain, the once sunny skies were looking ominous right around sunset. A little breeze whipped up and sure enough some light rain followed as well as many explitives from the mouth of Ed. Last year it rained something like 3 inches overnight which left the trails quite slippery and Ed didn't like the thought of that happening again. Light rain though, then it stopped, then once in my tent it started and sounded pretty steady. Did some reading and then slept great-must not have rained to hard because there were these under the bikes in the morning-

Oh yeah, the racoons ate the pizza and opened Ed's cooler and ate his bagels. More later......

I'm just saying....

2009-06-03T04:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you don't feel like sitting at the computer and doing this. Hell yes we have been riding but just now am I feeling the inspiration flow from the fingers to the keyboard. By now everyone knows that Dirt Sweat and Gears was a disaster. Torrential rains all week left the place a giant mud pit and many, including ED didn't even do one entire lap because the conditions were so bad. Sounds like there was plenty of beer and those that had made the trip at least got to party like rock stars!

Ed's been killing himself regularly during the week by riding more and more-crazy long climb-fests. I really have just tried to maintain what I left Cohutta with in the hopes it would be enough to go do Mohican.

Well, it all fell into place for me to join ED and dholmes for the trip to Ohio to do the next NUE 100 miler. We left K-town and drove through rain near the KY border but soon drove into sunshine and beautiful weather but despite what Ed had told me about how hilly it was and how good the singletrack was, I still had my doubts. Sure enough, about an hour past Columbus when we got off the interstate it got hilly-nothing long but it was shaping up to look like the course would be alot of UP and DOWN. Got to the campground early afternoon and did the tent thing and stayed with the theme of eating all day.

More later........

Best Day Ever

2009-05-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

This week good friend, former Knoxville resident, and all-around super bad-ass single-speed guru Tarik Saleh was in town. He let me know before his arrival that work related conference-type science things were bringing him back for the first time in three years and that bicycle-type riding would and must happen. I figured just to visit would be great as this guy is one of the best people to come around these parts and that he was the reason that I became so fond of this single-speed obsession that I still enjoy to this day. Time allowed him to come by the shop on Tuesday and catching up and much laughter commenced as well as the beginnings of a Thursday ride plan. I told him that I was off for the day and that whatever work-related things should be blown off in the interest of riding. With the recent onset of East Tennessee monsoon season it looked as though we would default to a fixie road ride as he brought the venerable Bike Friday folding fixie travel bike with him anyway.

However, I had secured a borrowed mountain bike that would fit and was a single-speed just in case mountain biking were to happen and when he called Wednesday and said he was going to blow off attending any of the talks I knew we had to go. Nowhere in town would do as the trails just don't handle rain, especially this much, very well with Norris being the exception but if you go there you might as well road ride instead. So, Big South Fork was the answer as I believed that the Grand Gap/John Muir loop would have to drain well and would provide a very scenic and super fun loop. It just so happened that The Hammer and Keith D. were available so off we went and while others sat around and bitched and moaned about the rain we went a little farther north and ended up totally scoring!!!!!! Trails were perfect and the sun was even out for most of the day. Lots of laughs, lots of ripping, beers were had and not only that after we all dispersed in K-town for our early evening activities we reconvened at the Sunsphere bar and had many drinks, many laughs, and many good photo ops. Look for those at the home of blog gold-Moscaline sometime real soon. To Tarik-very good to see you, great ride, my stomach still hurts from laughing so much, and I can't wait till Durango!

Other stuff out there

2009-05-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

Recovery from Cohutta was way better than expected. One thing that helped was hanging with A.J. and going to a Smokies baseball game and enjoying hot dogs, popcorn, and large cups of yellow beer. Spun around Monday morning just to make sure the legs still worked and with Thursday approaching, realized that the legs were pretty damn good all things considered. I already knew that riding may not happen because my best pal in the world "Smithboy" was coming up to the mountains with his merry gang of flat-landers to do their annual hike and overnight at Mt. LeConte. Their plan was to hike up Thursday (my day off) and spend the night at the lodge and come back down on Friday. I figured that this was a perfect opportunity to do something different but still have some movement. Met up with the crew on Thursday morning and hiked up Alum Cave trail mostly with the group and then back down on my own. Makes one realize how great the Park is and how close it is and that all of us should take advantage of it and never, ever take it for granted.

Cohutta Conclusion

2009-05-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Big, long downhill ended too quickly but before long arrived at checkpoint #4 got water, heed and salty chips and kept moving. Eventually the flat single speed hell part started (or so I thought) that Dholmes spoke of from last year. Pedal, pedal, pedal-coast, coast, coast-repeat. This was also the first real open section of the course and the sun was strong but again I like being hot so much more than cold, it didn't bother me a bit. A little rolling up and down and then the REAL flat section began and it seeemed to last for-freakin-ever. Along the way I caught up to someone who looked familiar from way earlier in the day and sure enough it was one of the super-fast women from earlier Betsy Shogren-wife of East Coast mountain bike legend Gunnar. She had looked so strong earlier but now not so good, so we chatted for a minute and she told me that she started the day with a bad head cold and had considered not racing at all so it seemed that was catching up to her. As I slowly started to pull away, I thought I wouldn't have gotten out of my tent if I had a cold, she is definitely hard core (she ended up 4th in pro women!!). On the flat hell went and finally some signage indicated that Sylco campground was close which meant the climbing to get back towards the WWC would have to be coming soon. Sure enough right turn on FR 221 and climb, climb, climb. Nice, smooth dirt road and in the shade made this not so bad and it actually felt good to not be on the flats. Got to another checkpoint and couldn't believe I was at 5 already and sooned realized it wasn't 5 but one of the 65mile race checkpoints as the 2 courses had converged recently. So, for me this was checkpoint 4.5 and there was an extremely jolly volunteer who offered up "ice towels" for my neck which were fantastic to really wake me up and get a quick re-charge. Kept rolling and eventually the road got gravelly and loose as the rest of the forest roads had been really fun and fast, this part was sucky but I knew downhill to the last bit of singletrack was coming soon enough. Got to checkpoint 5 and was asked by someone if I wanted water poured on my head and I was like "sure". Well, he poured and didn't stop when a normal person would have a I thought, "shit I am gonna drown at a rest stop in a 100 mile mountain bike race!!" He stopped when I started gasping for air, I told everyone thanks and kept rolling. I remembered from 5 to 6 was only 10 miles and the singletrack would finally come and this would soon be over. Got to 6, though about off-loading anything I might not need anymore but just kept moving-good on water and food-only 10 miles left! Started West Fork trail and hoped to just ride it all and not walk and somehow did but by the time I got to Quartz loop I felt bad and good ole flat, fun Quartz loop was an ugly display of slower than slow mountain biking. Good little downhill on the last part gave me a recharge and rolled down Bypass and to Chestnut Mtn. fairly good. Finally got to Thunder Rock and was so happy I thought I would cry, but also realized that crashing now would really suck because even if it wasn't bad I still might not want to get up. Rolled fairly quick anyway, caught a couple of people who were happy to move over and near the bottom caught one more rider who was going pretty fast. I figured his pace was perfect, I'll follow and soon be to the road. Well, he decided to take a hand off of his handlebar going around one of the last turns and nearly crashed big time. His bike went sideways and somehow he got his hand back on and didn't die. Made it to the bridge and actually considered that I was real close to going 9 hours!! I had set my goal that 10 would be fine and 9 was possible if things were going good and I couldn't believe it. Spun my brains out down the highway, crossed the bridge and looked at the clock as I went across-8 hours 42 minutes. Very happy to be done, someone handed me the "finisher" coffee mug and I rode back over to the car. Hammered poo- I just sat on the ground for a few and was thankful to be done. Soon I remembered I had beer and a purty new mug to drink out of.....

I knew Dholmes was ahead of me all day but didn't see him around at first. When I found him he told me about his day and that he improved his time by like 20 minutes but only moved up one place in the overall. Still, 8th singlespeeder and 7:51 is incredible-such a stud and he didn't even look like he had done anything...

Next our thoughts were of Ed and knowing he has been a riding fool, knew he would easily be finished in 10 hours like predicted. No sooner had we begun speculating than here he came up through the parking lot yelling at us and came in with a time of 9 hours and 19 minutes!!!!!!!!

I just hope when I'm approaching 60 years old that I can still do this at all much less haul ass like our man ED!!!

Still out were Daughter of ED, "little bit" and new friend Stephen. Ed was sure that "little bit" might have succombed to the heat and that she hasn't done this before- not even a road century. But sure enough, because she is an extremely gifted athelete, probably somewhat stubborn (wonder where that could come from!) and just plain a bad-ass she came rolling in just over 11 hours and has even had a slight detour from the suggested route (wonder where that could come from!!). Awesome ride! We ended up gathering for the awards ceremony and some of the very average post-race food and Stephen rolled in looking tired but overall pretty damn good. I had found from talking to him the day before he hadn't really done a ride exactly like this but has ridden alot and even hiked the AT, so to just keep going is never a problem for someone with the right mentality.

Finally loaded up to head back to K-town but had to do some tailgating at the Shake Shack just before Cleveland and that was the secret to getting me and the others back home-MMMMM, milkshakes!!

More Hot Cohoota Action!

2009-05-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

Everyone had talked about the expected summertime temps. for race day on Saturday-mid 80's and there seemed to be concern about hydration and what not. I kept thinking bring it, because I like warm way better than cold. Of course though being that we had to get up at 5 AM and were starting down by the river the morning was cool for sure. Everyone got up, drove to the WWC ate, got dressed and rolled up to the start. The announcer really didn't give a pre-race pep talk as much as he just called the pros and other heavy-hitters to the front of the pack. The start went off smooth and immediately was fast up the highway. This is when one gear and a slight uphill are both good because there is only so fast one can go. Up into the first singletrack of Brush Creek and the natural train formed-not at the super stupid fast front but with people that were moving efficiently and knew how to ride. Loop around, back to WWC up on more trail, did my favorite-River View-even though we went the wrong direction, and up to the 1st rest stop around 18 miles in. Quick water and snack and back rolling and thus the gravel/dirt road extravaganza began.

Rode through beautiful canopy, down, up creek crossing more up, then down and eventually started what seemed to be the first decent length, but gradual climb. Looked around since I was with a group and realized the pro women had caught me and so I thought that I would ride with them for awhile as they surely would be keeping a great pace. This worked for awhile until we did some descending and the road went flat and they did the big-ring, group roadie thing and were out of sight pretty quick. Hooked up with another SS guy who was from Birmingham and we chatted as we rode because the terrain was easy spinning at this point-pedal, coast, pedal, coast then the first real climb of the day came. A few miles into this one my rear tire felt soft and I began thinking, stupid new wheels, stupid tubeless but I remembered that air could get "burped" out so I stopped, hit some CO2 and kept rolling. Seemed to work as I had someone at the next rest stop (#2) check it with a floor pump and it was holding. Another quick stop and quickly resumed pedaling. A few miles later though a weird thing started happening-my legs were feeling really tired. Not a good sign being 40 miles into 100 and knowing there was alot of climbing left on the course. Just went into conservation mode for awhile and hoped checkpoint 3 which was about the halfway point would come soon and then if I could get to the big, long downhill from around 60 to 75 miles that would give lots of recovery time.

#3 came and I started hitting the HEED drink and that seemed to help my legs to come back around. Big downhill finally came and I caught a couple of people which always makes you feel good. I told one guy, that these were the "free" miles-no need for much braking!! And despite a few small uphills this downhill went on forever and for a dirt road was pretty damn fun.

I'll finish later, gots to go work on bikes..........

Co-freakin-hutta!

2009-04-29T03:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Team Ed began its 2009 campaign of the NUE hundred-mile mountain bike race series in what is as local as it gets for this series with the race being held at the Ocoee Whitewater Center. For those that don't know, the big single loop (which is the best format ever because it really makes you commit to the full distance) starts with a run up the highway, then Brush Creek, down Boyd Gap, Old Copper Rd back to the WWC, up Bear Paw, Riverview, then this crazy gravel/dirt road extravaganza that takes you into Georgia for awhile or a long while, up to near the top of the Cohutta mountains, back into TN, in from the backside (the best way) to the WWC trails, up West Fork, Quartz loop, Bypass, Chestnut Mtn., back over and down Thunder Rock, up the highway to finish-WHEW indeed.

The week before started well enough for me and Ed, he was still riding some, bike was in great shape, I chose to put a bunch of new parts on (usually a bad idea right before a big event) new fancy, stupid-light wheels which required new tires (of course) and going tubeless for the first time. New chain, chainring and cog (it was time), new BB (it was way past time) and I chose to not really ride feeling like rest was important. As the weekend got closer I started thinking about accommodations because you basically had to be there the night before anyway to pick up race packets and thought camping-would have to get there early Friday cause Thunder Rock would fill up fast or cabin or Ocoee Inn. Luckily I found Stephen on knoxvillecycling message board and his plan was to attend Cohutta and get there early on Friday. He called and said it would be no problem to have myself and if anyone else showed up hang out at his campsite. This was good as everything seemed to be falling into place for a good day-lighter, blingier bike, needed rest (still waiting to get busy at work), lodging, and most important the weather was looking perfect-no rain, maybe gonna be hot by the afternoon but after this winter and riding at temps below 20 more than once, heat is a good thing!

Left work early Friday and got to the campground, met Stephen, watched an installment of the Redneck Summer Games- ropeless rock climbing, and the best event "how big of a fire can we build that escapes the fire ring an threatens to scorch the whole campground" impressive stuff and luckily no lives were lost. Daughter of ED and DHolmes showed next and were happy to find us and have a place to pitch a tent. Ed got there a little after 9 and is always perfectly happy to sleep in the back of the Element.

Did some reading, trying to relax, slept good.

More later.............

Winner, winner chicken dinner!!

2009-04-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

As mentioned the other day, Ed texted "I won!" and finally at work on Monday we got to hear the rest of the story AND see the hardware. In classic Ed fashion it rained 3 inches the day before the race-think last year-but it sounded like the trails were good except for some mud holes here and there. Fun, fast flowing singletrack without any major big climbs made for a fast course said Ed-its so hard not to go all Dr. Seuss-and by doing 6 laps over the 9 something mile course faster than all of the other 50+ guys he got to bring home this:

Good stuff for sure, hell Ed's time would have been good for 3rd in the 19-29 class! Sounds like a quality event with good organization and post-ride meal included with entry fee. D. Holmes went with Ed and looks to have had a great ride as well finishing 4th and of course going up against the fastest of the fast.

BTW the trophy needed some modifications expertly handled by Harkleroadster to make it more personal:

Oh yeah, Cohutta is just around the corner. Looks like Ed is firing on all cylinders for sure and is going to kick some serious boot-tay!

Tale of the Dragon's Tale Part 3

2009-04-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

Up the singletrack climb for a second time, actually felt better than the first which is probably due to the fact of having seen it already and knowing what to expect. Left on the top of the ridge this time and I'm thinkin okay, ridge top goodness that may be tech but maybe some "free" miles of twisty, flowy trail. Not exactly. The trail was super fun but pretty rocky and definitely up and down. It was amazing how high off of the valley floor the trail was and that it follow the top of a ridge and still had that much climbing. Every now and then the trail would drop a little then go right back up without many switchbacks. On and off the bike but the sun was out and just kept moving at a quick pace. It was refreshing in a way to not know a trail, not have a watch on, and not have a bike computer-no real sense of mileage, time-just ride hard until this thing was over. Finally passed the EMT-type guy who we had been told at the start was the only person on the ridge section we would see because there was only one way off the ridge (about halfway) and that he would have a phone. Smiled, waved kept truckin and for the first time started to think about the water situation. I was traveling light with one bottle and for the distance of the race and two rest stops, one seemed to be the way to go-plus I don't drink alot. However this trail was proving to be relatively slow going and I wondered if I was going to screw myself. Also, it was becoming clear that the little ups were not the "soul crushers" for sure and that there was still some riding to do. Rolled along, finally crossed a power line cut that was in the photos we saw pre-race and then started to descend a decent amount. Looked ahead across a saddle in the ridge and saw the first of the "soul crushers". I had actually tagged on with a guy that I had seen with flats earlier and he had caught me and we were doing the leapfrog thing. Walking steady up, calves were beginning to protest, water almost gone this is truly an epic course so far and there was still probably 10 miles left. Along the ridge, another big walk and just when I was about to really start cursing the arrows pointed left and that meant DOWN!! Finally some real downhill and just like earlier the downhill was super fast not technical and crazy narrow! Down, down and finally rest stop #2.

Drank water, ate fig newtons, ate pringles and was glad to just stop for a minute. As one of the fine folks at the rest stop was checking numbers I heard "we have only had 16 through" and with two others standing there with me I thought I must be on a good pace still. Someone also mentioned it was 2:30 and I quickly realized that I had just done the hardest 32 miles ever, and still had 8 to go. Back on the bike and immediately the singletrack went up and if fresh would have been a great climb-smooth, not crazy steep but at this point walking was the option for alot of it. Got on top of another ridge and the trail was like the other ridgetop-rocky, up and down just not as long. Downhill came pretty quick and was an awesome dirt ribbon with tighter switchbacks than the King and dropped down into this little valley and followed a creek for awhile. Up one more time, then down and the trail started to open up, get really smooth and fast then finally dumped out onto gravel and I knew the end was coming soon. Gravel turned to pavement and rolled around to the backside of New Castle. I pedaled my ass off because I still could and I was close to the finish. Rolled in with a total time of 5 hours and 16 minutes for 13th place so I was very happy. I stood in my riding clothes for many minutes and opened a beer and realized that was the hardest race I've ever done. The course was brutal with no free miles and you had better know how to ride or you could get seriously injured. I called Sweet Mama next to let her know that I was alive and then I really started thinking about Larry. He had definitely crossed my mind several time during the day and I was just hoping that he was enjoying the trail. I knew he would be fine because he can ride the hell out of a mountain bike and has seen and ridden every type of trail, I was just hoping he wasn't cussing me because of how long this thing really was taking. I also thought of Ed and that I was really glad he didn't come because this was not his favorite type of trail for sure. He could have done it but he probably wouldn't have enjoyed himself. About the time I was sort of feeling normal again a car pulled up and Larry and some others got out. I was glad to see him and see that he wasn't hurt and began telling me about just having hydration issues and generally a bad feeling, luckily enough where the EMT guy was which gave him an opportunity to get off the ridge. It sounded like this alternate trail-the Turkey trail-has been used in previous versions of this race and that it ended up being a super fun downhill, like the others, that took him down to the road that we had started on. There he hooked up with some fine folks that we from nearby and they gave him a lift back to the start/finish area. I knew he really was feeling bad when he didn't want a beer at first-he came around pretty quick though-and we enjoyed some food and good conversation with some other folks from Asheville and eventually got on the road. Its always fun talking about the trails and emotions after the fact and I'm truly grateful to have someone like Larry as a friend and his ride, after not doing alot of riding for a few week, is the most impressive of the day. Believe that this is the hardest course of its kind out there-harder than the Swank by a long shot. It took pro-boy winner 4 hours!!!!

BTW we killed the hell out of some Cracker Barrel breakfast food for dinner near the VA/TN border and it was so good.

Also, while we were on uber adventure silliness, others from Team Ed were at Tsali XC racing some singlespeeds. Keith "more beautiful than Derek" D. brought home best honors with a 5th place finish! The Hammer had some chain issues or he would have been in the mix as well. Maybe I need to do an XC cause if me, the Hammer, and K.D. were racing each other no one else would have a chance- and that's everyone, especially anyone else from K-town.

Late note-ED texted me Saturday evening from the finish at the 6 hour race he did near Charlotte that simply said: "I won!" Way to go ED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tale of the Dragon's Tale Part 2

2009-04-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

So, Sunday morning started great-killed some La Quinta continental breakfast type food then drove down the street to the Starbucks for some real coffee, loaded up our crap and headed to the race start which was about 20 minutes from the interstate. Drove up over a ridge and down the valley to New Castle all the while looking at the various ridges trying to figure out which was the one we would be riding later. Big mountains of WVA off in the distance, lots of sunshine, super-chilled out for a "race" was making this day look really good. We had heard there would be a neutral start behind a car so as to keep everything together until everyone was in the woods which seemed good since we were on singlespeeds and we had gotten killed on the flat, smooth pavement. The race meeting also included a statement that kinda went in one ear and out the other. "The ridge section (10 miles) is super-tech, unforgiving, exposed (no leaves on the trees yet). Be careful, because extraction from the ridge would be very difficult. There will be someone with a cell phone about halfway, where there is the only trail off of the ridge." Sure, ridge riding, probably like Walden no big deal just pedal.

Finally started at 10am and rolled down the road behind the truck, and who was in front but me and Larry giving Team Ed Racing some serious camera time. Another guy was up there with us who was a local and riding a SS stumpy too and seemed like a nice enough guy who talked alot but again something he said I didn't really pay attention to but later seemed relavent to the day. "I did this last year, but I didn't finish. Its pretty tough." Its only 40 miles with a 4ish mile neutral road start, how hard could it be.......

We turned off the road and it went gravel and pretty soon the real players went to the front-one pro-boy from Trek/VW fame that is a local and has won all kinds of hundies. A group of 5 or so was gone pretty quick (big chainrings!!) and the advertised creek crossings started in earnest. We had heard 2, but there were 6 and all were knee or BB deep for those attempting to ride them, with the last one deep enough for a little soggy chamois action. Gravel turned to legit forest service type road that rolled up and down with a little more up each time but nothing steep at all. Finally, got to the turn off for the first singletrack, which was supposed to climb the ridge, right on top, back around, up this again then left on top to begin the 10 mile ridge-top section. Well, this first climb started with a rocky surface then started to mellow and climb steep enough to walk some, ride some given the unknown yet to come there was no sense in wasting a bunch of energy trying to ride the whole thing. Top of the ridge came and it proved to be very much like Walden ridge back home-super rocky, up and down ridge riding. Got to the first downhill off the ridge and it proved to be quite a hoot-fast, pine-needly in places, rocks every now and then but by far the narrowest trail I, and Larry was in agreement, have ever been on. It wasn't hard, but there was no margin for error because of the width. Got down safe, did a short but really fun loop on the other side of the forest road and looped back to Aid station #1.

Was offered PB and J's by the kids of the station workers, filled up on water, and asked the guy there (he had a Shenandoah 100 shirt on so I figured he might know the trail) how far to the next Aid station-to be located after the ridge ride and he said 15 miles. I thought my one bottle should get me there even though I knew I was getting ready to go back up the 2 mile singletrack we had already done just to get to the top of the ridge, then ride this ridge which he offered had 2 "soul-crushing" hike-a-bikes when you got to the far end. I thought well I have already been walking some since I'm on a singlespeed, they probably won't be that bad.......

Tale of the Dragon's Tale Part One

2009-04-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

This idea seemed like a really good one about 6 weeks ago, when I found that mountain touring (of Shenandoah 100 fame) was putting on a 40 mile race near Roanoke, VA the first weekend of April. First plus is that its these guys-quality courses, unbelievably well-run and secondly, Sunday races are good for bike shop guys!!!!!! Anyway, Larry said it sounded good, as did Ed but as it got closer Ed must have had a premonition and when they put a more detailed description and photos of the course on the website, Ed called Chris (organizer, creator, nut-job extrodonaire) to see what it was really gonna be like. It took a few days, but he called and said "Yeah, Ed you've done the 100 a bunch of times.....sometimes you've finished well and sometimes, well, oh, not as fast. You might not like it." That did it for Ed, and had it not been for the Tsali XC race the same day I might have talked some others into going. Anyway, Larry was still super fired up, we registered Wednesday before the race, got a hotel in nearby Salem and then just plowed through a few more days of work before our Saturday after the shop closed departure.

Left the shop at 10 after 5 on Saturday and headed north on I-81 with bikes, black jerseys, and two coolers of New Belgium Mighty Arrow. Drive was good and we made it far enough to just wait and eat dinner near where we were staying. Hotel was right off of the interstate, so we drove into historic downtown Salem to find a local, sit-down type place. Found a place called Macadoo's which apparently has other locations-Boone, NC, etc.-and has a menu filled with 800 different sandwiches. Interesting place because someone loaded the jukebox with the "best of hairbands" mix and when one of the other patrons was lip-synching Dead or Alive while eating we just had to giggle. That combined with our cute, but dumb as a rock waitress-Bless Her Heart-and Jerry Garcia watching us eat made an ordinary meal very entertaining. Luckily they had giant TVs and the final four was on.

Headed to the Team hotel-La Quinta- watched b-ball drank a beer or two and then rested up for the big race. We had no idea.............

Back In Black

2009-04-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

My first round of non-blogging happened and all I can say is "I'm sorry, it was all my fault, it will NEVER happen again." This sentence works really well if you are in trouble with your significant other, but you have to mean it.

Anyway, stuff's been happening, rides have come and gone, baseball has started for A.J., my key blogging time has been interrupted by some home improvements going on and blah, blah, blah.

Two Tuesdays ago, huge group ride at Hastie, B Hann's, Forks-"Dirty South" 25 people for an after work ride-incredible!! Ed raced the road TT in Rutledge put on by SCO in full TEAM ED racing kit, on his fixed-gear cross bike complete with clip on aerobars!! (wish there was a photo). He finished the 40K course in 1 hour and 8 min. beating many with "real" road bikes and I'm sure many with aero wheels. Done a couple of fixie rides myself as I was truly inspired by Ed's race and realized what better way to really work if you are only riding for two hours than to never coast.

True race season has finally started for many of the Team Ed faithful. Sure Ed's ahead with a 6 hour race and the TT under his belt, me and the Hammer contested some cyclocross, but this weekend it has begun in full-force. What is also evident is the far reaching nature of our small but strong team. The true sign of a race team is that several members can be in different places and still cause trouble. Ed previewed the gravel road section of the Cohutta 100 course on Saturday (ended up with 80 miles in the woods!) The Hammer, Keith D, Phillip B went to the SERC cross-country style SS race at Tsali Sunday, and me and Larry went to Virginia for the Dragon's Tale 40 put on by the good folks at Mountain Touring. Everyone has stories yet to hear and mine alone about yesterday is long enough for another day........

Sorry its been so long......

2009-03-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

Last week was strangely absent of blog-type happenings. It was spring break and me and the small one hit the ATL to visit my sis for a couple of days. The GA aquarium is super-bitchin and right across the way is the World of Coca-Cola (where all of your wildest dreams will come true-as long as it has to do with sugary carbonated beverages!!).

Saturday brought on the AMBC poker run which was very well attended and many of the local shops were "checkpoints" in which various tasks had to be performed to get a card from the deck. We made folks sing "I'm a little tea pot" complete with all the dance moves and of course had some refreshments available as well. Thanks to Thomas for making this happen- all the comments have been positive and everyone wants to do this or something like it again ASAP. Larry and I have an idea for a cross-bike digital camera checkpoint ride through town to get to singletrack (think Dirty South) so stay tuned.

Mmmm.... beer and Cliff shot bloks!!!

ED and his angels!

Sunday myself and the Hammer went and did the super tour of Haw. Around 3 and 1/2 hours worth under perfect weather and trail conditions. Muy Bueno!

IT IS ON!!

2009-03-17T05:05:00.000-07:00

The 2009 campaign for Team Ed Racing started Saturday with none other than Ed contesting a 6 hour mountain bike race down in Georgia put on by the great folks of Dirty Spoke productions. Ed had some navigational troubles on the drive down-think dark, mountain highways, rain but he got to sleep around 3 am after the locals gave him the classic directions- "you know drive down this road a few miles to the next intersection. Now don't turn there, go straight past the goats you can't miss it." Anyway, it rained and was muddy but Ed kicked ass riding 5 laps of a 10 mile course (he would have finished 7th in Expert!!). He said that it was run really, really well the course was fun and he had a blast. Not only that the race director gave him a six-pack for getting lost on the way the night before! Sweet. Next stop will be a new version of a previously run race up in Virginia near Roanoke. The stellar folks from Shenandoah Mountain Touring are putting on a 40 miler on the famed Dragon's Back trail and surrounding network on Sunday April 5th. Larry, Jen, myself and ED will be there!

Thursday, wonderful Thursday

2009-03-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

Rode from the house because of the impending threat of rain all day (which didn't start till late in the afternoon) cross-bike style. Went to Lake Forest hood, hit all the trails at Hastie WOW!!, into the backside of the Forks, trails and more trails, greenway back into town finishing with my own neighborhood off-road gravel and singletrack.

Ed hit some Rich Mtn. road action in his final preparations to go racing Saturday-Good Luck ED!!

Full Moon Wow!

2009-03-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

Rocked out with a great group Tuesday night. Me, Wally, The Hammer, Jason S., Josh, Geo. C., The Hard Man from Belgium, Larry, and Jen. Rode from Townsend on the greenway to the Park, left at the Wye and up to Cades Cove. Around the loop to Hyatt and back across to Rich Mtn. road. Out Rich Mtn. and back to Townsend. Started out with it at 79 degrees-on March 10th at 7 pm!!!! Stayed warm the whole ride and we were treated to an unbelievable moon. Crazy bright and its just super-cool being in a place that awesome so close to home. This needs to be a regular ride (I'll do my best). Apparently there may have been some waffles killed on the way home.....

A few more from BSF

2009-03-10T03:26:00.001-07:00

Again super good day (it was Thursday, not Tuesday). Sounds like other Team members rocked BSF yesterday on the most beautiful March day ever! This weekend ED's going racing down in Georgia for a six hour race, so wish him luck as the Team Ed racing season is getting ready to kick into high gear!!

BTW- tonight is full moon madness, so any willing participants should meet in Townsend for some cross bike Cades Cove/Rich Mtn. road action. Check knoxvillecycling.com for details.

Big South Fork Photos

2009-03-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

We prefer PRO but this will do.

Great riding, beautiful day. Me and Ed rode for 5 and 1/2 hours and enjoyed every bit. There are some trees down but I've heard Grand Gap has been cleared even since we were there on Tuesday!

Random Wednesday Stuff

2009-03-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

A long time member of Team ED contacted me recently, partially I'm sure because of the silliness of this blog and because of these super bitchin black jersey we have been sporting as of late. Well, he is has and always will be part of the family and luckily there was one jersey left of appropriate size that is now on its way to New Mexico.

How many Big Brown Trucks does it take to deliver

one cycling jersey?

On similar related nostalgia- the bike that helped start all this rolled through the shop Wednesday night and it brought a little tear to my eye. Ed got fired up about single-speeds years ago because of a cheap Kona that he bought just "to try out" singlespeeding. He liked it enough that he built this beautiful machine that his super-stud daughter is now piloting. This bike has special meaning to me as well because it is the first custom bike that I had helped order for anyone.

Big South Fork recap later....

Frozen Tundra

2009-03-04T04:47:00.000-08:00

Did an hour and half urban fixie ride before TN whipped up on the Gators BBall style on Sunday and I just thought that was cold (wind was blowing pretty hard but the effort and proper cycling attire kept me warm). Tuesday morning however, I thought I'd go mountain biking since all trails should be frozen solid at 19 degrees F. Zipped out to the King since work related activities were to start at 10 and rode around for a little over an hour which was way better than the BLVD. or the trainer. My problem has always been my hands when its really cold, and yesterday was no exception. I've done some cold rides this winter but something happened yesterday that hasn't happened ever. My hands got so cold and then started to "come back" which presumably is when the blood thaws out and actually flows through your hands again and I was in enough pain that I had to stop and dance around in the woods and curse alot before I felt normal. The rest of the day they felt sensitive and cold. If anyone has suggestions for their favorite over-the-top gloves let me know. I know winter is nearly over but I don't stop riding when it gets cold so I will need them next year for sure. Thursday is looking SUPER good for some WARM Big South Fork action!!

Throwdown Thursday

2009-03-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

Took advantage of the mild Feb. temps. to do a "road ride". Quite possibly the best road ride I've done in awhile because of the lack of traffic and the beautiful scenery. Parked in Walland and went up the closed part of Foothills. Back down, then jumped off onto Carr Creek road, a couple of left turns put me in the middle of Townsend. Greenway to the Park entrance, up to Cades Cove, out Rich Mtn. road back to Townsend finishing on River Road back to Walland. A little over 50 miles and some nice climbing!

Proves that you never know who you will run into out

there. I was almost finished, ED was just getting started.

Pisgah/Dupont adventure continued

2009-02-28T05:06:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Dupont senery

ED kicking it on the top of Big Rock Candy Mountain!

Crazy enough to see an airstrip in the middle of the woods, but the basketball
goal put it over the top. If there was a ball I would have worked on my free throws.

The camera did a nice job of capturing the beginnings of our

beer induced haze that started at the Asheville Brew n' View.

We are going to use this for when we promo our Beastie Boys

cover band- WIKI, WIKI, WIKI, WIKI!

Sunrise from the back porch of team headquarters on

Tuesday morning before heading back to K-town. ED

got to stay and ride one more day and did the super tour

of Bent Creek. Maybe he took some photos...........

Day 2 of Secret Training

2009-02-27T06:32:00.000-08:00

Day two started with my famous blueberry pancakes and bacon for the crowd. Lots o' coffee, lots o' looking at the maps and thinking of what to do. It sure is nice to go ride and not have to have any concept or concern for time. We decided that a super tour of Dupont was in order, so off we went, down to four but optimistic about the day. The weather turned out awesome- at least 10, maybe 15 degrees warmer than the day before and the trails were fantastic. My sidekick and WNC super-stud, Larry took us on the perfect loop of what Dupont has to offer.

"The beer is over there!"

Starting to get behind...

2009-02-27T03:22:00.000-08:00

because of all the riding!!! Last weekend Team Ed Racing c/o the Zoo went staight to the heart of all that is good in Western NC for some super-secret training. Sunday morning we woke up to snow on the ground after 60 degree temps on Saturday. Loaded up, ate at the Barrel, and rolled down 40. Once into the mountains the snow started and got hard enough that driving was getting interesting. We pushed on and by the time we got to the Waynesville exit not only was the snow over, it looked as if it didn't even make it over the mountains the night before. Cold temps but lots and lots of sunshine. Parked at North Mills and did the super tour of the Trace Ridge area. Some familiar faces on the trail along with some not seen or seldom seen (in the woods on a mountain bike) made for lots of laughs and a most excellent ride.

After riding we checked into the Team Ed secret training facilities (Bent Creek Lodge) then went and killed the hell out of some Papas and Beer. Back to the cabin more beer, movies, hot tub and sleep to prepare for day two.......

Busy at work

2009-02-20T03:44:00.000-08:00

We were very busy at work testing a new TT helmet, trying to eek out any advantages that not riding enough might overcome. I'm figuring that this thing has got to be good for a few minutes at Cohutta.

Larry, my work sidekick and uber-teammate at Team Ed Racing is displaying a different use for the helmet, possibly as an extra in the next Star Wars movie.

We will be busy with "real" work again soon enough but for now the testing continues......

Real riding VS. The Trainer

2009-02-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

I am ashamed to admit to having ridden the trainer twice already in 2009. That's two more times than the last five years put together. Not yesterday though-lots o' coffee meets the right cycling apparel meets a true hatred for trainers. BTW, Ed has already logged 1000 miles on Rich Mtn. road this year cause he is doing these crazy long SS rides all the time. He tells me his camera will soon have an SD card, so you all better be ready!

More on Friday Night....

2009-02-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

Friday the 13th was the Townsend, Cades Cove, Rich Mtn. Road night ride which seemed like a good idea given the warmish February weather and no obligations for the evening. For the pre-game preparations I thought I would replace the two year old tube in the indy fab's seatbag while at work. Well, when I got up there to start the ride you know where the tubes were.

The counter at work is not a good place for tubes if you are going for a ride. I thought what is worst that could happen- I end up night hiking instead of riding. I took the patch kits that were in the gear bag and went on my merry way. Townsend greenway is well lit and the perfect warm-up-flat and cruising. The road up to Cades Cove is awesome at night- no cars. The loop is beautiful at night even without any moon and lots of critters out and about. I was thinking the chances of flatting were low until maybe Rich Mtn. when the gravel and dirt starts and so far so good. Climbing out of the cove with a 2:1 ratio is good cause it gets the climbing over quicker, and down the other side it was all good, then down the nasty broken pavement descent and I'm home free. Except that right at the bottom of the hill the front went flat!! I thought I'm close enough to ride the pavement out with it flat and not worrying about fixing this as it is getting colder and it's nice smooth pavement out to the highway. Luckily, I kept the steering to a minimum and the Michelin cross tire fits tight enough to not peel off the rim. The only problem was is that I was riding so slow and carefully I was freezing by the time I got to the car. Somehow no damage to the rim and even better no damage to the tire! Good times.

Friday Night Lights

2009-02-14T05:54:00.000-08:00

Did some Townsend to Cades Cove out Rich Mtn. last night after work. Super bitchin'.

Coolest bike? ever

2009-02-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

Was looking at a bicycling magazine this morning at work and was reading about Austin, TX bike rides or something and noticed that one of the shops was Austin Bike Zoo, so of course I had to check it out. What I found appears to be some beautifully crazy cyclists that made this contraption. It says that it seats five, but I figured the four strongest members of Team Ed may have to ride this at the Hill of Truth this year so that the team can be together on every lap. I just need to contact these folks to see if we can rent it. Maybe we'll pick it up on the way back from Durango in September.....

Sick of Pisgah photos? TOO BAD!

2009-02-11T03:33:00.000-08:00

More Pisgah!!

2009-02-10T03:40:00.000-08:00

More photos. You all know has nice it was Sunday and we were in one of the most beautiful places to mountain bike on earth. Not too much typing cause my hands are still tired from RIPPING singletrack.

Pisgah!

2009-02-09T05:06:00.001-08:00

Greenwayurbancross fun

2009-02-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

Doing a 4 to 5 hour ride today wasn't in the cards for many reasons the best of which was to be around to pick up the young one at school and take him to guitar lessons (rock and roll style of course). So, the window opened for a two hour jaunt from the house and around town indy fab style. Somehow I overdressed and rode hard enough to never be cold- even my hands and they are ALWAYS cold. Went up some nice steep climbs that I didn't need to and through some seriously crunchy snow that I didn't need to but it made for more fun for sure. Left picture is of a tree down on the greenway near Ijams, so slow down or launch it like I did. Looks like this weekend is going to be unseasonably warm again and this time I am going somewhere. There seems to be talk of a Team Ed Racing mini "training" camp somewhere in the Pisgah National Forest on Sunday. Those that need to know know where to find us.

Since I'm Up Anyway.....

2009-02-04T03:49:00.000-08:00

Stupid Knox County schools. My morning ritual is to get up, coffee up, computer-weather, cycling related stuff, and make sure that I'm fully awake before I wake up the small boy for school type preparations. Today I changed the order and coffee came first THEN computer and I quickly realized school had been called off. Yesterday maybe, ice and small amounts of snow left over, but today the roads are clear ( I rode home last night and did not die on BLACK ICE ). It is stupidly cold with the windchill- maybe go ride frozen single-track before work? The trainer is looking pretty good.....

Tomorrow looks like a cold day for Big Dumb Thursdays weekly ride. Team Ed is looking strong for some Rich Mtn.-Heinous Loop something or another. We'll see how much snow the park gets today. Speaking of the park, here are some cool photos from a hike a couple weeks back and proof that cross-training is good as long as you don't do it too much.

Weights and Measures

2009-02-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been in the shop knows that every day is very much like a Seinfeld episode. We can talk at great length about nothing. We can come up with absurd ideas but believe in them to the fullest. It is great fun. For example, without knowing it we realized that if we are going to talk about lightweight bicycle parts we need a real world item to compare "it" to. Bananas were on hand and became the logical choice. Our findings were that the average banana weighs 166 grams on our new fancy table-mounted gram calculating device. So, now when you are weighing that new tire or new pedals the latest Team ED standard should be used so we know what the heck you are talking about.
for example: go-fast 29er MTB tire=3 bananas
super fancy plastic road frame=6 bananas

what has been super cool is to see how many bananas you save on your recent upgrades.
for example: I just saved 6 bananas by changing the tires and putting the rigid fork back on
single-speed. WOW!!!

Have fun and START WEIGHING YOU PEOPLE!

We have been riding (despite winters suckiness)

2009-01-31T04:27:00.000-08:00

It actually hasn't been too bad. I mean sure really cold days, really wet days but some beautiful ones as well. I think I have been riding, but Ed has been killing it, giving it CPR, bringing it back then killing it again. Lots of Rich Mtn. road, Cades Cove, P.Branch variations. Of course some Chuck Norris, and I even rode Haw (cause it was frozen solid)

2009-01-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

We finally did it. Now that blogging used to be cool, then not really cool, it is cool again so here we are. First things first. Team Ed started officially at the 12 hours of Haw Ridge in 2002 as we were the first single-speed only team. Of course, some of us were riding ss a few years earlier and we started doing silly stuff like 12 hour racing solo or 100 mile mountain bike racing in '99 and 2000. I guess its just time to share our adventures with just having fun riding, traveling, cool pics and general dumb and random things. There are many other members they may just not realize that they are part of the "team" -they'll figure it out when it matters.