Excuses, excuses!

At least I didn't have to look too far for an excuse not to ride today huh? I know, I know I have a trainer I could throw my bike on but what fun is that!!!

Maybe tomorrow...or Saturday, but I heard Sunday it was going to be a little warmer!

Is that a shinny trail I see behind me..."What a slug"!!

What can you do with a lazy dog?

I tell you what, I just haven't been jacked up about working out these days. I'm not sure if it's the cold, the holiday's coming up, old age or if I'm just plain lazy ! 

I could have done about 2 hrs on the trails to day but blamed my not riding on the rain...well the sprinkle. I'll gladly take any excuse these days to bag a workout...other than my Tae Kwon Do class that is. I'm still feeling my dirt munch from Saturday...neck all twisted up and shit and I'm still going to class!

Nothing a handful of vitamin "I" can't fix right? (Thats ibuprofen for those not in the know)

So I'm just wondering what it's going to take to get my ass back in gear and be a little more consistent with my training? I sure as hell don't want to realize I needed more training when I get out in the fucking wilderness at Cohutta. That's a long way back to the start if you loose it out there.

Well we'll see how things progress over the holliday...maybe I'll have to make a new year's resolution of something...anything!!

It's funny until someone gets hurt, then it's hilarious!!

After a pretty long hiatus from some serious training, I've finally dusted off my bikes and started to get some consistent riding under my belt. Since there's only four and a half months until the Cohutta 100 race, I better get my ass in gear....right?

I hooked up with Tony on Saturday for a few hours of snot rocket riding. It had been a few days so I was glad to get out there and just tick over the pedals for a while.  I hate riding in the cold, (oh the memories of 18hrs on the farm and the feeble attempt to keep my feet warm with duct tape...brrrr), but I figured we would warm up pretty quick...and we did.

Everything was feeling and going great until I pulled a stupid move and tried to wheelie on the double track and promptly threw myself to the ground. Ooooh that's going to leave a mark~!~

Although the soreness in my arm and wrist have subsided somewhat the bruise on my gluteus maximus has grown and darkened in a Rorschachian type pattern. 

"So what do you see...a butterfly...or a bird...No wait, it looks like the Crab Nebula!!!"  Is that Uranus over there?

Well I'll lick my wounds a another day...head to the Chiropractor and get straightened out, and then get back on the Snot Rocket and ride! 

....and no more stupid pet trick...just keep it on the trail!!!

No, I'm not dead..just sleepy!!

Okay I know it's been WAAAAAY too long since I have written a post. That's what happens at the end of a season I guess...you just get a little lazy. So this is my official apology and I hope you can except it...pretty please?

So just for an update on things, my back issue (which had plagued me for longer than I would have guessed) is now a memory...phewwww! I have only been keeping active and not really training in a formal sense. ..so just not getting a beer gut in other words.

I also started taking Tae Kwon Do classes. This will come in handy when I'm out biking in Pisgah and I roll up on a bear, He'll never know what hit em, poor bear!!....OR if I have to battle to the line at my next MTB race...(try and snatch this water bottle from my hand grasshopper...)

But if I never get to use it in those situtations I will at least have a great collection of collored belts.

So cheers for now...

Back from the back

Things are still looking up for the back injury. It's been two weeks with no pain and I've finally...FINALLY, started doing some training again this week. Light stuff, but at least it's stuff. Right?

So just some easy jogging, light weights and a little spinning on the trainer just to make sure there are no lingering issues to be concerned about. So far so good so I'm just pushing forward!

Looks like I might get some trail time this weekend with Tony. Maybe even get to demo an Intense Spider 29er....Ooohhh that's a sweet looking bike.
















But even if I don't demo it this weekend I'll still get out there on the old reliable "Super G" and get my trail legs back under me!

Hopefully if all is going well through the next week I might be able to do the Riverfest 50 miler. Then end the season with 12hrs in the PIT...(that's if they ever get the damn thing organized already)

I'm an athletic supporter! (insert snicker here)

For me it's hard to think about going to a race without actually racing. I find the standing around...cheering.....waiting....cheering...waiting...pretty painful. In most cases I would rather schedule a root canal...but that's just me!

But this past weekend I had the chance to support my friend, Tony...aka Type1Rider, at the 18hrs on the farm MTB race in VA...a race that I planned to do but was sidelined with an injury. (Please refer to my earlier post if you are interested in the details of my latest self induced pain and suffering)

Tony and I did this race last year when it was rescheduled to Nov due to a storm that took out some trees on the course and they needed to be cleared. Needless to say the temperature was a little different in August! We almost lost some toes to frostbite last year..well, okay that's a little exaggerated...but it was really cold!

So this year I was off the bike and on the sidelines for 18hrs of supporting fun. My wife, Sara, and I would be keeping Tony fueled...hydrated...motivated...and whatever else it took to help him reach his goal at this race! Last year was 8 laps...this year had to be at least 9 and a top ten finish.

















(The pit de jure)

The roll out for this race was 4PM. So lots of night riding at this one which is awesome and Tony digs those night stealth missions anyway! The pack was led out by a guy on a unicycle...yeah, you heard me, a unicycle! I got pics!! check em!!

















(Unicycle dude leading out the race start...did you check the chrome helmet?)

Okay, back to the race. Tony rolled out just fine on the first few laps. Everything going as planned. A little pit stop. Fill up the H2O and some nutrition, check the blood sugar and back out there for another....and another...and another...(see that's the part of being on the sideline that kills me...I keep seeing everyone rolling by and I want to grab a bike and follow right along...wait for me everyone)

So sometime around 10 or 11 PM Tony comes in for a blood sugar test and things are a little off...like too high and Tony is not sure why so he chills in the pit for awhile to see if he can correct it or figure out why and all. (did I mention that Tony is a Type 1 diabetic...well okay...Tony is a Type 1 Diabetic...now you are in the know)

(Tony on lap one...and that's my lovely wife Sara right behind him in the hat)

So after about 30 mins there isn't much change but after a little discussion about not bailing so soon and figure out some contingency plans he rolls back out to get another lap and see what happens. We made sure he had his phone so if anything happened out o the backside of the course he can report in. Then we could call for the choppers and have him extracted. just kidding there folks.

Tony comes back to the pit after that lap and everything seemed to have worked itself out and the BS test was right on...(That's blood sugar...not bullshit)! This was the case for the rest of the race actually. Now that all of that was under control our main goal now was to keep Tony motivated and try to keep up with how he was ranking.

With the dark came a chill in the air so stopping for more than 10 mins would be a challenge to keep warm and not start shivering....(nightmareish thoughts of last year's event...berrrr!) We need to bring a clothes dryer next year...or that RV Tony keep talking about!

Hardest part of the race was from 2am until sun up! Sara and I were pretty punchy by this time for sure, and when Tony would come back to the pit he was pretty punchy too. There's nothing like laughing yourself to tears while sleep deprived.

Phrases like:

...slap the chicken

...a pack of cohutta warrior monkeys

...don't forget to sign the blow up doll

...anyone who brings back a glowing chicken will get a prize

To name a few!
















(this the chicken that was being slapped..and by some choked...)

At 6AM the latest results are posted and Tony is sitting in 12 place but the guys behind him, and the 4 in front, had not posted any new laps. It looked like they bailed in the middle of the night or just stopped to sleep or something. But Tony went out for number 8 and we would keep an eye on the results to see if anyone behind him sneaks back into the race.

Coming back into the pit after lap 8 and Tony was feeling pretty beat! But now he was in 8th place and the end was near. But he had to go out on one more to beat his last year lap count and solidify his top ten finish!!


























(Tony going out on lap 9...still smiling!!)

We had a close call when we noticed the guy who was in 9th place come rolling in so we had to wait and see if he would go out for another or just bag it...and luckily he bagged it! Tony would have rolled out for another if that guy went out man was he glad when he didn't...phewww!

So 8th place with 9 laps, 85.5 miles of riding...AWESOME! Tony is the man!!!

Now what?

After my debacle at Wilderness I decided to take a week off for some physical and mental recovery. Having put in the training I had with a less than stellar result left me feeling pretty flat. So I figured the best thing would be to chill, not think about training, and enjoy some cold ones.

The plan seemed simple....but SURPRISE!

All I was doing was walking through one of the areas super large stores and then I sneezed! Yep folks you heard me, I just sneezed! Then I felt a twinge in my back and a had to stop for a second to see if it would settle down. It did for a minute but never went away!

By the time I got home it was feeling a little tight. After sitting in my desk chair for a few hours it was throbbing. This was really looking bad..."do some of that pilot shit Mav and get us out of here"!!

So off to the Chiropractor to get me straight. After three days in a row of adjustments I was starting to feel pretty good. Just a little sore is all. So I was figuring the rest of my season and looking forward to some riding this week.

But again...sounded so simple!

Sunday I wake up and I'm back to square one. Don't know what happend...slept wrong or wha ever...but now I'm back to feeling like I got drop kicked in the spin. So back to the Chiro for some more adjustments and hopeing for the best!

Now it's looking like my season might just be cut so short that it's over already! If I don't get back in the saddle, literally, I will have a long way to catch up to even do better than last year at the PIT.

Fingers crossed that it's just an alignment thing and not something worse!