Wednesday, November 6, 2013

5 November 2013

Fried Green 50 on Sunday. ~45 miles of gravel + 5 creek crossings in the Piedmont NWR near Juliette, GA (home of Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe). Beautiful ride, beautiful day.

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Also, new wheels. A23s on XT (rear) and DX (front). Hope they stay true.

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Monday, October 28, 2013

27 October 2013

More paddling. Quick trip down to Charleston with Tom for a group paddle. First time in a sea kayak. Fun.

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Thursday, October 3, 2013

3 October 2013

I rode the inaugural Hellhole Gravel Grind over the weekend near Charleston. It's a 3-day stage race, including a Friday evening short TT for time bonuses in the GC, followed by ~65 mile dead flat stages on Saturday and again on Sunday. I stayed at a super nice KOA in Mount Pleasant, lakeside, for a measly $30/night. Cabins were also available for about $55.

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I didn't race the prologue since I wasn't really in it to win it, but I did race both stages. Both days I got dropped from the bunch immediately and wound up TTing alone pretty much the whole way. Being the only singlespeed has certain disadvantages. I picked a gear I knew I could turn all day, but as a result didn't have any high end to match accelerations. So I spent the days riding mostly alone, reeling in folks one by one who'd been shelled off the back of the bunch.

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Lost time on day one helping out an injured rider (he and his buddy had jumped on my wheel unbeknownst to me, and gone down when I slowed for a corner unexpectedly -- there's a lesson there)

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and on day two by missing a turn three miles from the finish. Other than that the most notable event was hitting a downed tree at about 20 miles an hour. Normally not a problem, but I totally lack the skills to bunnyhop on the bike I was riding. Managed to get the front wheel over and unweight the back when it hit, but lost one pedal and damn near dumped it in the aftermath. Definitely got my heart rate up.

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Overall there were 47 starters in the stage race (you could also just race a one-day 32 mile or the full 65 mile course on Saturday -- day 1 had 82 starters) and 31 finishers. The main danger was hitting a pothole at speed. The potholes caused multiple crashes and flats, and one guy even snapped his frame in half -- . Finished the weekend in 8th place in the 40+ class. I'd have loved a 50+ class, but in its first year I think the organizers did right to keep the number of classes down. Hopefully there will be more next year.

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http://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=13680

http://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=13725

http://03200a3.netsolhost.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/General-Classification.pdf

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

27 August 2103

 New post. Finally. Just back from 2 weeks in NH. Started with my 35th HS reunion, then 10 days of walking a powerline for work, and ended with D2R2 -- 110 miles of dirt road with 16k ft of climbing. Arrived back in Columbia with the realization that the only thing I really miss here is Tom. Four more years....

Boarding
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Reuning with longtime neighbors Pete and Martha.
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Recovery
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Work--Blackberry season made the brambles a whole lot more bearable.
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Rail trail action on my day off
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Another day off
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And D2R2, with many thanks to Bruce Rychlik for getting me through the day. 110 miles in 11 hours. Ouch.
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Monday, May 6, 2013

6 May 2013

Photos from the Dirty Spokes 6hr race this weekend. Wet and muddy. I lost my brakes half way through my first lap, and then again half way through my second lap, and was reduced to tripod braking. It worked, but it wasn't much fun. I bailed after two laps. Tome raced with Mathew Stuart. They were the only junior Duo, so they won with one lap each. Very sweet.

Post race. Tom had already cleaned up a bit.
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Podium!
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Clothes when we got home. Nasty.
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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

3 April 2013

Saturday I finally put the full CRP 200 together, starting not far from my house and looping north into the piedmont. A little dirt, a few historic sites, a Waffle House for lunch. Looking forward to making it an official permanent. Fun.

Entering Ridgeway.
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Near the second control.
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The confounded bridge
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Second breakfast
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A road to nowhere
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Unless you count this as somewhere
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Just after the hike-a-bike.
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This would make an interesting rail trail
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Serpentine stone wall on the right. Gonna have to figure out how to get a pic.
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Not a ride without a cemetery
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Control #3 near the nuclear plant. Desolate. And potentially unreliable--they were closed for the entire Easter weekend.
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Accessing the Palmetto trail to cross the Broad River
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First lunch
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Palmetto trail. Nice. This is the halfway point, and what I built the route around.
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Second lunch.
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Second cemetery. Because two is better than one.
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A little climb at mile 90.
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Gonna have to work on this pic as well
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A PED at Control #5 mile 110 for the final push
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And done. Mile 127 and change. Now to get it RUSA Approved.
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