Gravel Grinder

 John and me met up in the morning and went to Juliette. Woo Hoo! started out on the river road on an attempt to ride the fried green 50. I say attempt because we had never ridden it without Monty. We had a map, but before, riding with Monty we never really paid any attention to the route. Although It didn't matter because we knew we were in the Piedmont, so we thought. After several turns that we were not supposed to take, we ended up on some county road in Jasper county. 

If you see this camp six sign, your not in the Piedmont. Maybe the Oconee nat.forest.

 Anyway, after consulting the handy dandy google map on Johns cell phone, we discovered we were only a few miles off course. Found the correct roads and finally got to Round oak. It was getting late so we decided to just go straight down Juliette rd. What is it about a paved road and a mountain bike that makes for a good hammer fest. Well we got back to the parking lot and we looked at each other....what was that about? Another good day on the bike, and its always fun to test your training partners....Later

12 Hours of Dauset...FINALLY

My pit

 Finally, all my training and suffering paid off....Where do I start. John got to Dauset early so he could get in a 17.5 mile run and set up my canopy. Which brings up another thought, John is the best crew you can have. I could not have done so well without his help, and I was told that all the top finishers had excellent crews. I had the best!! 
 Woke up early (couldn't sleep), ate a quality breakfast, then met Larry at the Waffle House, and ate a chicken bisquit. I know what your thinking, how much coffee? Maybe 40 oz. I estimate I had a 1500 calorie breakfast. 
 Got to the trail earlier than I had planned, but this was perfect. I had enough time to get my pit set up for John while he was running, sign in, help with the kids race(12 minutes of Dauset), and just relax and get prepared. Talked to a few friends I only see at races, then line up for the le'mans start. 
 The start, ran to my bike, I was one of the last people to get to the bikes, and I hear John....ITS A GOOD THING THE RACE IS NOT WON OR LOST AT THE START. I was making sure I was not going to go out to hard. like last year. I hit the trail about mid pack, that includes all racers, 6 hour and 12 hour teams. First lap was a great pace. The course that Dave set up was a good loop, I had never done that combination before. Second lap I was passing a lot of people. Wait a minute, I need to slow down, is what I thought. When I came around for lap 3 John yell'd what happened? that lap was 4 minutes slower! I answered, I think I'm going to hard. NO! pick it up John says.....thanks for that by the way. I was in 6th place at this point (12 solo). And then started to reel them back. I caught 5th place on upper sandy creek, then 4th and 3rd on huff-n-puff. This boosted my confidence, Now i'm in 3rd coming in for my fourth lap, I didn't know I was in third until John told me only two guys were in front. I feel really strong, and very happy with my pace at this point. I ask John, where are they. Second is 9 minutes ahead and first is 20 minutes ahead..."Holy cow". I made myself think, ride your race Greg, race the clock not the racers. I caught second place on my 6th lap, the last hill on brown lee. He was hanging his head when I came up, and I picked up my pace as I went around, hoping he wouldn't grab my wheel. I don't think he noticed me at all. One more to go. By the end of my sixth lap my back was hurting bad. John fed me ibuprofen the remainder of the race, this kept the pain bearable. I think by the 8th lap I told John, where is that guy? Dude, he is 25 minutes ahead of you. Don't worry about him, just keep 3rd off of you. Now I think, good advise!
 Well, at this point that's the race. The field is set, just maintain. When I finished lap 12 John said "you did it, 13 laps is yours" I had 9 minutes till cut-off. That was my goal. On my 13th and last lap, the first place guy passed me to put me a lap down. Hats off to Michael Christopher, he passed me like It was his first lap. 
 Second place, 130 miles, 12 hours 18 minutes, I'll take it!! Perfect race for me, perfect weather, trail conditions, equipment, and the crew. Thanks to everyone who came out and cheered me on. It means a lot to me....Later

Trail work and Training

 Well I guess to catch up, I'll talk about a couple of things. The first thing is I've ridden three times at Arrowhead...AWESOME! Helped out at the work party Saturday the 3rd. A lot of people showed up for a good day of  progress. There is about 6 miles of trail to be ridden and we need to ride it as much as possible to wear it in, hopefully 10 miles in the near future. Some of the trail is in real good shape, some needs to be ridden, and the rest is real powdery. Maybe the rain we are getting tonight is just the right amount to pack it down a bit, but not enough to make a mud pit. The side away from the lake is smooth and beginner friendly, and the trail by the lake..... ohh doctor, it is the stuff of race course immortality. Let me be the first to say, Arrowhead can be the premier venue for future XC races in Georgia. So everyone get out there and ride it and work it. Lets finally have a trail in middle Georgia we can be proud of. One more thing, all the props to O.M.B.A. Great job!!

 The other thing is my Dauset training. I've been struggling lately with a bad numbness problem in my hands and arms every time I ride my Jet 9. Been trying everything I could think of from grips to handle bars, But nothing helped. Then I remembered thumb shifters! I dropped thumb shifters and went to grip shift a long time ago because of this problem. But when I changed over to 2x10 I had to go back to thumb shifting.  Well, Sram doesn't make a 10 speed grip shift yet, so, I put my 9 speed grip on. Just out of desperation. Holy cow it works, and works well. Their are two gears that get skipped sometimes when shifting but the beauty of grip shift is you can drag those gears when changing and it will drop right in. Put my Ergons w/bar ends back on, and so far so good. Hopefully I can get one more day at Dauset before the race to make sure.....Later

Dauset training....attempt

  Back to Dauset, Plenty of fluids, plenty of food. I think I have my nutrition and my fluids dialed in. Ready for a six hour day....I got two. Broke a spoke on Turkey trot, where that group of rocks are on the top of the hill, the ones I always have trouble clearing for some reason. Well, my wheel was too wobbly after that to continue, and they're too expensive to take a chance. So mad I got. I hurried home while I had time to ride, and jumped on the Lemond.

The rocks I have trouble clearing

 Not realizing that I had not drank enough fluids at Dauset, I quickly got dehydrated on the road. But still a good ride.  I rode to Byron, Boy scout, Juniper creek, then to Roberta and back. The country store in Knoxville is the best. Always the best people there. I need to take pictures next time, good conversations with good people. Leaving Knoxville back home is a man maker, and Smoky bear hill will get you coming or going. Ended up with 60 miles on the road, 20 on trail.
 Back to Dauset, it was also supposed to be a test and tune day. New tires (Michelin xc a/t 29er) and Oury grips. The tires worked pretty well. The trail was damp, so that means the roots were dangerous, no tires are good for that. These tires are old school, but they seem to be durable. I just need to learn there limits. They have predictable control, I am referring to traction in the turns. This is all relative though because I usually hit the corners too hot anyway.  Braking performance could be better, but nothing that better handling skills can't fix. They do seem to roll quickly, this I like. I have had another ride on them at Arrowhead (very dry and powdery) where I thought they could hold there own against any tire in those conditions. All in all I am pleased with these tires, I would buy them again, especially for the price, $14.99 at Performance. I'll post a report about Arrowhead later, it is looking AWESOME! 

UROAR

 Well, URoar was a fun, tough, and profitable race. Second place ($500) John, Andy, and me went as hard as we could. We lost about an hour or two floundering around a couple of checkpoints, but most of the other contenders had trouble with the same ones. If I plan on doing any more adventure races, I need to do some canoe training. I suck! when it comes to paddling. 
 I wish I had more to write but now that I think back most of the race is a blur. The dehydration is what comes to mind the most.