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.

scouting for UROAR

 John and I went out to the Hichiti trail to do some snooping for the up town rotary ocmulgee adventure race (UROAR) coming up. We ran the trail, which is a good running trail. Its about 5 miles long. Some areas have a lot of growth, but still run-able. A real nice creek along the much of the trail, nice rocks, and a couple of nice pools. Several good places to take the kids. Think I will do that soon.
 We then headed over to lake Juliet. The water was real low so we rode our bikes down to the lake and rode on the bank. Not the easiest thing to do, but fun. Good thing no game wardens saw us. Anyway, good day of goofing off.

Back 3

 A few of us went up to Helen and road the back three gap, Hog pen, Jacks, and Unicoi. We pulled out of Helen and decided to do a lap around Lake Unicoi, just to add some miles and get a good warm up. Very nice warm up, completely shaded and a couple of steep hills. Too bad hog pen didn't have the cover that the lake had. We then crossed the river, took a right on Russel scenic hwy. and let the pain begin. Like always starting out on a tough climb I feel strong and ready for the challenge, and then, like always I wonder "WHAT WAS I THINKING". All and all, I did well going up. My slowest speed was 5.5 mph. I past the first overlook on the right, and there were two guys taking a break. They yelled some words of encouragement, and I remember thinking, oh I want to pull over and rest. But if that overlook was not there I would not have given it any thought.  So I suffered on. When John, BK, and me reached the top heaven was waiting in the form of Ethan's truck, and Julie driving with cold drinks. It was awesome to have sag. 

BK's bike and mine

John and me didn't want to wait for the other guys, so we took off. BK stayed to hang out. Fun, fast decent off of hog pen, 53 mph for me. John said "no way". He and I worked good to get to Jacks gap, and we ate a snack once we got there. Stairing at the Brasstown entrance we decided to go for it.

half a mile up I couldn't take it any more and turned back, Superman kept   

going. It took John around thirty minutes to reach the top and back down. By this time the group caught back up, BK then went up. Two out of twelve, not good odds. We all left as a group for Helen, but first Unicoi gap. This will make you feel strong. Unicoi has a steady grade but not steep. John and I motored up about 15 mph. Once we started back down to Helen the weather turned bad. Wet roads are not fun when coming off a mountain. It was dry down by the Chattahoochee and I opened a gap on John, First across the line(Helen city limits). I may have been the only one racing, oh well! 

 Good day for the training, but bad day cause it hurts. If someone says they were fine after this ride I would have to call "bu*#sh@#t". I must be sick but I can't wait for the next round of suffering.