The Big One!

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!

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!!)

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!

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

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!

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.....

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

Been forever

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!

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......

......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?!?!

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......

......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'.

The winter that would never end

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

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

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

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

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.