The Holidays Are Almost Over

Made it through Cristmas without incident. Drove up to ATL on Sat. for celebrations with Liza's side of the family. It was a good time, everyone behaved, and a good time was had by all. Drove back Sun. morning to be at work by 12:00. Monday my side of the family came down for Christmas. We all had a good time, good food, and presents all around. It was good to see everyone this holiday. Have to make it through New Years then regular life can resume again. We are going up to Asheville for a little hiking, artwork, and a cabin at Hot Springs for Liza's 2nd 29th birthday. Should be a good time. Only one week to go and I can get back to training. I've gotten to where I don't even bother trying to ride over the holidays anymore, everything is just too stressful to be able to fit it all in. Leaves me feeling ready to get some miles in come January though! If I don't post again before 2008( i'm sure I will though)- Happy New Years. Later- DH

Endoscopy?!

I don't like anything that begins with endo. Last time I endo'ed my bike I almost broke my face. Actally, I cut open my knee and had to get stitches. Anyways- I had my doctor's appt. this morning. He thinks it is gall bladder related. Sending me for another scan on the ol' GB and also scheduled me an upper endoscopy on Jan 2nd. He wants to go ahead and do all these tests, find out what is wrong , knock it out and let me get to training. I like this guy- I didn't have to wait at all in the office. He was standing in the hall waiting on me- got me in and out like that. I got some Nexium samples too. Hopefully that will help.

Got some news on the bike front too. Since I am gonna be riding a red Cervelo, I decided that I need some Red components instead of the old DuraAce parts. I placed the order today and should have my frame and my parts sometime before the turn of the century.

Have to get some sleep- gotta drive to ATL tomorrow morning to " celebrate " Christmas.
Later- DH

2008 Scheduling

Changed a few things for 08'. I wanted to race the NC Winter Cup CX series in January. I'm not tired of cyclocross yet and want to keep on racing. Problem is that I'm pretty out of shape. Since racing doesn't really get you in shape I decided to bag that and get down to training. Lotsa miles will do me more good than racing in January. Plus- I forgot how tore up my lungs were after nationals. Don't need that again for awhile. Sooo... I probably won't race till sometime in March or perhaps April even. I'd like to get all my base work done before I race. No high priority races until july so I'm in no hurry to go hard. So I'm gonna take it easy until Jan. 1st or so then get to it. From now until then I'm gonna ride when I feel like it and have fun. Later- DH

CX Nationals Photos

Back home

It's good to be almost home. Drove straight in to work this morning from KC. Long story short- Started the race after a #127 call up out of 168 riders. I was about 8-9 rows back at the start which led to about a 3 1/2 minute gap to the leaders after the first lap. 2nd lap was better as gaps were opening. The course was extremely slippery and technical due to ice and mud. Thank goodness for that. I was riding well and moving up 15 to 20 positions each lap till 3 to go. Apparently instead of pulling racers when they have been lapped the UCI pulls them when they are 1/2 lap down. Anyways, got pulled with 3 to go, finishing in 66th position. About 3-4 min. later Page and Tim Johnson flew by going at it. Tim pulled it out due to a dropped chain on Page's part. I felt bad for getting pulled till Liza told me that the race was so blown apart that they were pulling people off after the 1st lap. Anyways- packed up and left Mon. morning for the long ride home. I'll try to get some pics. up tonight. Later- DH

Raceday

Got out to the course yesterday for some practice. Got in 2 laps and my bike was unrideable. Completely frozen. Broke through the ice in a few spots and got muddy. The mud froze and then my levers wouldn't pull any cable, no gears, then no brakes. I couldn't even reach down and manually move the individual components by hand. Not even a micron. Then, my wheels froze. Wouldn't even roll. I grabbed the front wheel around the tire, rim, and a few spokes and yanked on it. Nothing. By this point my ski goggles were frozen up too so I called it and went back to the van. Snow continued to fall all day. Seven inches to be exact. Did get to watch one of the most exciting races I've seen in awhile. Bjorn Sealander and Jaime Driscoll put on quite a show in the U-23 race with Bjorn pulling out the sprint after a dramatic last lap comeback to win the National Title.

Today is raceday. It's 14 deg. out with a windchill of 5 deg. There's a ton of fresh snow and my legs are stiff and stale from not riding enough yesterday. Bring it on. DH

CX Nationals Update

Still trying to find a way to upload pictures. Got out to the course today to watch some races and see #1- how the course would change during races and how changing temps. would change it and #2- how the racers were handling the course. Got what we needed and left to get some lunch and run some errands. Got out for 3 hrs. on the bike. Headed north on some quiet rolling roads. Everything was completely white up there. Very cold out but it felt good to ride and after an hour or so I loosened up and started to roll out. Headed back to the hotel to shower up and go get dinner. The high looks good tomorrow- 21 deg. and another 3 to 7 inches of snow. At least the mud will be frozen instead of deep and sloppy! Got to go- I'll keep trying on the pics. Later- DH

We made it to KC

Well- we made it out here after 24 hours in the car. Made stops in NC and a 12-2am ride in TN. Got here and rode the course. It is the worst I've ever raced on. I've raced in alot of conditions in hundreds of places and this is by far the most miserable. Everything here is covered in ice and snow and it is 20 degrees out. The course is 10 feet wide and 6-18 inches deep in mud. I would say some sections are faster to run but it may actually be harder to stay on your feet than to ride. The bike doesn't roll at any point. You point it downhill and have to pedal pretty hard to move. The uphills are rideable but your tires dig in and scoop up globs of mud and grass and fling it. Every 4 th pedal stroke propels you forward while the other 3 fling crap all over the place. Don't get me wrong- I love racing in the mud. I race well in the mud. But this is gonna be something different. If the course doesn't improve the Elite National Champ will race for and hour and only ride about 12 miles in that hour. The course is that slow. We are going to go watch some races in a little bit to see how people are handling the course. Hopefully with the sunny weather and wind over the next few days will dry out the course and it will get a little faster. Faster in the straights that is. I hope the turns and off camber sections stay gross though, I am hoping for a technically hard racecourse to even out the fitness gap between me and the rest of the guys. I'll post again this afternoon. I have a ton of pictures that I want to get on here. Later- DH

On to the Gastroenterologist

Amazingly enough, the CT Scan yielded no solid results. It did however rule out any problems with my major organs and affirm that there is nothin' in there that is gonna take me out soon. Solving the problem of where my pain is coming from is another thing. I'm waiting to find out when my appointment with the Gastro Doc. is. By process of elimination, if it isn't gastro related then it can only be muscular. Getting closer anyways. Also not gonna kill me to train. Doc said if I'm ok with the pain then I can get to training. Copy that. To quote the great Swayze " Pain don't hurt."- Roadhouse. I'm looking forward to training, all my riding has been done so gingerly lately. I've been tiptoeing around. Time to roll now! I have however worked up to 5 hr. rides on the CX bike now, so I can't be too bad off.
Anyways- off to Nats in a couple of days. I'll keep everyone updated daily on that. Later- DH

Nastiness

I picked up my CT Scan "prep" kit this morning at the hospital. My appointment is @ 8:00 tomorrow morning. They gave me 2 big bottles of Barium Sulfate that I have to drink. One tonight and one tomorrow morning. I'm not looking forward to that. It looks like chalk. Who knows-I'll be optimistic- it may be the best stuff ever! Yeah- drinking dye- got to be good stuff right? I'll let you know. DH

Massive Excitement

Got to see a car on fire in front of the shop today. A rich kid rolling down the road in his brand new Corvette feeling all kind of important stops behind an eighteen wheeler in the turn lane right in front of the shop. Boom- bursts into flames. Kid runs out. We run out with fire extinguishers. We can't get across the lanes of traffic however because of the morons who won't stop and let us across. Instead, they slow down and stay near the fire instead of getting away from it. Finally we say forget it, the whole front half of the car is on fire now and I'm not going to get any closer cause that thing is hopefully going to blow up any second.
Enter mister official " I know what I'm doing here" guy from the Mercedes dealer next door. He strolls in to take control of the situation. I feel the authority in the air- it is almost palpable. Or maybe that was the melting plastic of the burning status in the road. Anyways we now turn to heckling Mr. In Charge as he walks up to the burning car. No more than 10 seconds later, a small explosion rips out of the front of the car sending Mr. In Charge fleeing for safety amidst the calls for a Darwin Award Nomination. Shortly thereafter the Fire Department showed up and there was nothing to see here anymore. The rest of the day will be a letdown now. DH

Plan A

Here's the hairbrain plan for Cyclocross Nationals next week: I am driving to Asheville to pick up Robert and head west next Wednesday. Here's the hairbrain part: we have decided to bring our mountain bikes as well and ride in every state we get to when we get there. I looked up some trails that I don't know and we have a plan. It goes like this:
Wed- I ride for an hour here in SC. Work all day. 5:00- drive to A-ville and get Robert. Ride Bent creek @ 10:00pm, knocking off NC. Head west- Nasheville at 2:00am knocking off TN. Land between the lakes in KY by sunrise then on to Vienna, Ill by 9:00 to take care of that state. On to Missouri- Columbia to be exact by early afternoon. Then finally rolling into Kansas City around 4:00pm to register and ride the Nationals racecourse. Probably crash out early Thur. night and sleep for a long time. Friday will be wide open all day with a couple of practice sessions on the course. Robert will race on Sat. and me on Sun. Back in the van and drive home Sun. night and Mon. I did a trip before where Me, Alex, and Scott rode in every state we came to. Did NC, SC, AL, GA with 3 races involved. This took place over 4 days and was a ton of fun with alot of good riding. This will be 7 states in 30 hours. That's alot to do in a short amount of time but it will be a good trip. I've been riding again for about a week so I'm not looking to tear it up in the race, if I get in 40 min. before being pulled I'll be happy. I might as well ride as much as possible to make this trip worthwhile. I'll post throught the trip on how it's going. Later- DH

Feeling a little better

Had a long weekend this time. Drove up to Asheville to build wheels for Cane Creek. My new track wheels were waiting for me along with some other goodies so I got those mounted up quick. They are very cool wheels, thanks for the support Cane Creek! Anyways, got to building wheels- long story short- got 64 wheels built. Also rode with Robert at the Mellodrome for a couple of hours Sat, then downtown for awhile too. Felt good to be riding again. Saw some very "interesting" college football Sat. night. Rode with Robert again on Sunday @ Bent Creek on a borrowed cross bike. Nice day out and the trails were in very good condition. I felt much better and actually got some pretty hard efforts in without hurting myself too bad. Got done there and made the long drive back to Charleston that night. Weekend over.

This week I have alot going on as well. Friday I get a CT Scan at the hospital. I go in on Mon to the doctor and hopefully they will be able to tell me what is going on. Cross your fingers! DH Out.

+ and - day

On the positive side of things, I've got a cool new bike on the way. I'll be riding a Cervelo Soloist Carbon built with a DuraAce kit and deep carbon wheels next year. Probably the nicest bike I've ever had and it can't get here fast enough.

On the other side of things. Got the results of my MRI and I don't have gallstones. In fact, the doctor has no clue what is wrong with me. I'm going to get a Catscan next, then go back to the "doctor". That should happen fairly quickly- say within the next three years or so. I'll post again when I know something.

Meanwhile-I'm off to NC to build some wheels this weekend. I'm also getting some cool new track wheels that I want to try out too. Later- DH

Because I can

Last week was a good week

Time to start another week. Feeling so-so, I'm going back to the doctor on Friday. Hopefully He'll have some kind of definite word about what's up with me. On a good note- had a great week last week despite the pain. We left Wed. night for my parent's house in Atlanta. Liza had signed up to run the Atlanta 1/2 marathon. It was at 7:00 am on Thursday so we got in and got to bed ASAP due to a 5:00 am departure the next day.
5 am came waaayy too early, Liza got up and I tried to sleep in but that didn't last too much longer. My dad drove us up to the start since it was only a few miles from their house. It was still dark out and we parked, then walked with Liza up to the start line. I have never seen so many people- there were thousands of them. Another impressive sight was the row of Porta-Johns- probably 50-60 of those too. Anyways- The race started and so did the rain. Right on the word go the skies opened up and it was on. I felt bad for those folks for a few moments then got over it real quick when I was reminded how much racing I've done in the rain.
Long story short- rained the whole race. I got out on the track bike and saw almost 1/2 the race, a sea of people as far as you could see- pretty cool.
Liza did very well-she felt good and ran 35 minutes faster than the time that she wanted to beat.
She got done, got her medal, and we headed off for dry clothes and a great Thanksgiving lunch at my parent's.
Didn't want to leave my parent's but we had to make the rounds while we were in Atl. so we rolled down to Liza's dad's house for Thanksgiving dinner. That was fun as well, got to see everyone and eat some more good food. Left there and blew back to Charleston by 11:30. Long day to say the least.
Hung out with Alex Friday. We wanted to go ride the motorcycles but were having trouble borrowing a trailer to haul them. So we went mountain biking with his friend Jared. I then did some hard core couch surfing all afternoon.
We still wanted to ride moto Sat. morning. After no trailer on Fri I decided that I was sick of borrowing other people's trucks and trailers to get things done, so I would buy one. Liza found a good deal on one in Summerville, so we rolled up there and got it. Came back home and loaded up the gear and motos and Alex and I were off to Wambaw Swamp to ride.
We got in about 20 miles that afternoon. Had alot of fun. Alex fell probably 15 times. The learning curve for riding a motorcycle in deep sand is very steep however and he was riding well in no time. We had fun but Liza and I had dinner plans so we headed back home.
Got home, showered, and met Liza at some friend's for some football games. This part of the weekend was terrible. Georgia Tech lost with a well engineered last quarter meltdown ( pun intended ) and South Carolina made one too many mistakes and ended up loosing to a mediocre Clemson team. I normally would not have cared but I hate all things Clemson so I had to pull for South Carolina. We were watching the game at Mike and Heather's house. Mike went to USC and I think he had a mental breakdown during the game- it was pretty funny.
Yesterday was way too short as usual. Wake up, eat breakfast, Barnes and Noble for 45 mins. and then go to work @ 11:30. Work dragged on forever. Weekend was over. So is this post- gotta go to work again. DH out.

I am David's ailing Gall Bladder

Went to the Surgeon today to find out what is wrong with me. He doesn't know. I did get to lay down on the table while I was waiting for him. I took a very good nap- I was out cold when he came in. He then asked me what was wrong, felt around on my abdomen, told me he didn't think it was a hernia and said I needed to go get an ultrasound tomorrow to really figure out what is wrong. He was interested in what was going on with my Gall Bladder. Does a Gall Bladder make stuff lump up under your skin? Anyways, I am going to the Hospital for an ultrasound tomorrow, then another appointment with the surgeon next friday hopefully to find out for sure what is going on and when I can start training again.
I did go to a Yoga class tonight. 1st one ever- it was pretty cool- I can see the benifits with flexibility and balance. Will have to work a class a week into my schedule.
Bonus Points: Name the movie that gave me the Idea for the title of this Post. DH

I'm just here for a referral.

Took part in the Moron-a-thon that is the local Physician's office yesterday. I got poked and prodded, questioned, and X-rayed. Then the diagnosis I had been eagerly anticipating:
Doc: Umm- Yeah- It's definitely musculo-skeletal related.
Me: Reeeally?
Doc: Probably a Hernia.
Me: Would you like to know what kind of Hernia it "probably " is?
Doc: I'm going to have to set you up with a specialist.
Me: That's what I'm here for- just to get a referral.
Doc: I'll call and set up an appointment for you. In the meantime, do you need anything for the pain?
Me: Nope. I'll manage. Are you trying to get me hooked on pain pills?

Anyways- I'm hurting worse than ever now due to Mr. Hamfist pushing on my insides and haven't heard anything back about an appointment. This all proves my suspicions that if you have the internet and a bit of common sense you can do better on your own opposed to going to the doctor. But you still need a referral. DH

I'm on two wheels one way or another.

Since I can't really ride my bike right now I went for a motorcycle ride the other day. It doesn't cause me as much pain in the abdomen and I can still go fast and have fun. Rode up the coast about 60 miles to Francis Marion Natnl. Forest. Great day out, sunny and 60 ish. My destination was the Wambaw Swamp Cycle Trail, 40 miles of singletrack for Moto and ATV use. I got to the trailhead and was pleasantly surprised to find out I didn't have to pay to use the trails . Since it was Vetran's Day, it was no charge- Thanks Grandfathers! Consequently, there were a ton of folks camping and riding up there. I rode for awhile and met up with a guy fro Summerville that was solo also, so we rode togather for awhile. He was faster than me, but that was good, I rode faster and had more fun. Took a couple of spills due to worn out tires on deep sand. Fortunately, you can crash at 30mph in sand and not even feel it, it's like a pillow.

Anyways, rode for awhile, then blasted back down hwy 17 to Charleston. Picked up the family and we headed out to Folly Beach for a late lunch overlooking the ocean. Going to the Doc. today to find out what is wrong w/ me . Later- DH

Pictures!

After catching alot of grief over the last few years from teammates and others I ride with I have finally bought a new saddle and retired this one. I didn't see anything wrong with it, it was very comfortable. I had lots of miles on it ( as you can see ). However, it does bruise my forearm badly when I put my cross bike down to remount. This leaves me with a nice green arm every race. I did replace it with the same thing so hopefully It'll be good for another 50,000+ miles.

Photo #2 is of the cross bike. Love that cheap steel!

On the Disabled List Again

I have been having abdominal pains for some time now. Last Thurs, ( if you have been reading) was the worst pain in some time. By Fri it had gone away a little, I did the 12 hr. race on Sat- it hurt but was manageable. Sun. and Mon. it seemed a little better, but has now been steadily getting more uncomfortable. I have also been getting weaker on the bike as well. Just got back from a 4 hr. 120 bpm Heart Rate ride- shouldn't have even felt like I rode but it was all I could do to get home. Couldn't breath right over 135 hr. Anyways- I've been researching and talking to some people with medical backgrounds and have come to a conclusion. I am 90% sure that I have an Epigastric Hernia. That would explain alot. That bulge that I felt last Thursday could have been part of my intestines pushing through the abdominal muscles. I think I will skip the Swank 65 race tomorrow- might not be a good idea. I'll go to the Doc. this week and we'll find out what's up. Later- DH

New Look

Freshened up the ol ' blog. Still need to add back the Race Schedule and Links, I'll get to that soon. Stay tuned- DH

Got it done in Charlotte

Loaded up the van on Fri. and Nathan and I headed up to Charlotte for the Tree Shaker 12 hr race. Got to the racecourse @ 4:00 ish and met up with a local that wanted to show off his course. Dude was all kind of fired up so we followed him. Got in a couple of laps and felt alright. My legs were still a little sore from Thus. morning's hard ride but I figured (hoped )they would come around. Anyways, split there, picked up registration, ate, and headed to Arleigh's for the night. One thing that was apparent after pre-riding was that it would be a hard race. The course was bumpy, tight, and either straight up or straight down. It would be really hard to get a good rythm going.
Race Day
Great- 40 degrees out at the start. Ran my but off in the run, 2nd into the woods. Passed the leader on the 1st downhill and opened a good gap. Behind me was a small group with Nathan, Z, and another sketchy guy. Z came across to me and we rolled off. Never saw anybody again. Nathan was riding strong as well, securely in 2nd spot and pullin away. I had a few so-so laps before finally getting into a good rythm and putting down 4-5 solid laps to distance myself. After 14 laps, I was wondering how much time I had so I rolled into the start and was told I was 2 laps up on 2nd. There was only 20 mins. till cuttoff and I had been riding for 11 hrs. Consequently, I didn't feel like riding anymore than I had to (and since it was impossible to be caught ) I called it a day. Nathan's fork unfortunately blew up 11 laps in and he had to bag it. That's too bad- we were running away with the race and it would have been cool to be 1 - 2.
Anyways, packed up , split, and tried to get a shower and sleep. Later- DH

Headed up to Charlotte

Leaving for Charlotte in about 4 hrs. for the Tree Shaker 12 hr. tomorrow. The legs feel pretty good and I should be able to roll it if the rest of me holds up. I had an alarming moment yesterday after eating breakfast. I've had some kind of ulcer or pain under my ribs for six or seven years now. It hurts if I get really stressed out or eat too much. Lately my back has been hurting too, directly across from the pain in front. I can deal with it, eat right and stay mellow and everything is fine. Yesterday though, I got a terrible stabbing pain ( it almost took me off the stool I was sitting on ) under the last rib. Then this hard "thing " the size of a pack of lifesavers candy pops up under my skin. So I push on it and after 15 seconds or so it goes away. I am then feeling dizzy and sweating my butt off. Pretty much stayed that way all day.
I got in 10 or so hours of sleep last night and feel much better now, ribs are a little sore but I'm gonna take it easy today and hopefully I'll feel great tomorrow. I better, or it 's gonna be an extra long 12 hr. race. Anyways, got some packing to do. Later- DH

Sooo Tired of Driving

I've been home One weekend out of the last eight. Driven up I-26 six times recently. However, I did have a productive weekend. Got alot of great riding in the mountains done, the house is no longer mine, built a bunch of wheels, watched Alex get 3rd in an inline competition, saw some of the Halloween Festival in Brevard, and did a beautiful 5 mile trail run. Great weather , friends, and scenery- now back to Charleston till next Thursday's drive up I-26 again. I have a 12 hour race in Charlotte that should be fun. I like riding myself senseless every now and then so it should be good! DH out.

Another one for the " I'm never gonna do that again column."

I'm sure everyone has noticed the beautiful full moon that has been coming the last couple of nights. I too have seen this. Last night I decided to take Liza out on the motorcycle to cruise out at Folly Beach. We took off about 8:45. It was a great night out, clear and cool with a nice breeze. We got out on Seccessionville Rd. and things went downhill. I knew I needed gas for the bike but I still had the reserve and plenty of time before that ran out. Anyways, sputter, sputter, the bike comes to a stop. No problem, I'll turn it to reserve and we'll be off. One problem- I was already on reserve when I ran out of gas. Time to push. The gas station was a mile and a half away at the Piggly Wiggly on Folly Rd. What started out as a nice evening became a humid, hot, sweaty hike while pushing 260 lbs. for 1/2 hour. Finally we saw the neon oasis of the Piggly Wiggly ahead. Filled up, blasted home, got a shower, and went to bed. Yup, I'll never do that again. DH

Weekend Wrapup

Loong weekend is finally over. Drove up to Asheville Fri. night and stayed w/ Robert and Kellie. Saw a flipped over RV towing a flipped over Jeep about 100 feet off the road on I-26 outside Columbia. At least the moron managed to get that thing off the road before he took out a bunch of other vehicles. Anyways- made decent time to Fletcher where the weather was nice and cold. Got up Sat morning to drive over to Johnson City, TN for MSG Cross #2. Nice ride up- beautiful leaves and a crisp clear day- that is one of my favorite drives around. Almost blew up the gas station when Robert hopped out of the van before taking it out of reverse, but everything turned out all right. A little too much Krispy Kreme excitement I guess.
Race- Great course, rolling and fast with 2 sets of barriers and a sand pit too. Robert did his first cross race and while we were expecting some carnage, there was none - he rode well and I was next up so I got my warmup on and got ready to race.
Actually had a field of nearly 20 racers in the Pro 1/2, with a good bit of heat showing up. Will Black, Dan Timmerman from Kodak/ Sierra Nevada, Andy Applegate, and a few others indicated this was gonna be a hard one. Yup- the race started fast, then went faster. I settled in around 10th for a few laps, waiting for the fast start to take it's toll. Sure enough- 2-3 laps in and people were blowing up and making mistakes. By the halfway point I had moved up to 6th and was feeling pretty good. I stayed here for the rest of the race. I wasn't gonna get caught and wasn't making time on 5th so I felt pretty good. Then another problem presented itself. Dan Timmerman was about 1/2 lap up on everyone else and closing on me fast. I was gonna get 6th no matter what but I really didn't want to get lapped so I had to turn it on pretty hard. The last lap Dan was about 20 sec off me the whole way and closing fast near the finish. I gave it all I had left and held him off by about 10 feet or so. That done, everyone behind had been lapped so they were done. I could relax and all I had to do was finish the lap and I was good to go.
I was hurting so bad after that race, I can't remember being in pain like that for a long time. My legs have not been strong enough in the last couple of years to make myself hurt that bad- so I guess that's good! Another good thing is that Applegate usually laps me at those races, this time I was less than 2 mins. off him.
Clean up, pack up, eat, and grab my check and we blasted back south to Asheville.
Had a great dinner at Marco's pizza, got some DQ and called it a night.
Got up this morning and drove to Brevard. Another beautiful fall morning 40 degrees or so out. Robert and I headed out on a ride for a few hours while Liza tied up some loose ends and cleaned the house. We loaded the trailer when we got back, ate lunch and got everything else out of the house, picked up Alex and blew town for Charleston. So long Brevard- It's been real and it's been great, but it hasn't been ( well- you know the rest). 4 hrs. later and alot of stupid drivers later and we are home and ready to put this weekend in the books. Later- DH

Overdue Update

I've been real busy since the last post. Here's what has been going on:
1. We got a contract on the house and will close next week.
2. Race the Greenville Classic crit last weekend and rode very strong. Top 10 all race long and didn't feel as if it was a very fast race. ( I was assured by teammates that it was very fast though) 5 laps to go and the guy leading into turn 3 crosses wheels on #2 - big crash and most of the top guys go down. No free laps with 8 to go, so bad luck there- game over- thanks for playing. Fitness is good however.
3. Still getting settled into Charleston
4. Going to Johnson City Saturday for my first Cross race of the year. Feeling fast but a little rusty- I'm sure I will smooth out the technique soon.
I'll post more soon- gotta pack for the weekend, Later- DH

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, and then some rain.

OK, I'm sick of the rain. I've done about 10 hrs in the rain the last few days. Did 1 min intervals this morning in rain so hard I thought my eyeballs were gonna get bruised. The morning started nice and misty but by the time I was halfway out the bottom dropped out. Ended up with my feet underwater at some points due to the flooding. That's great for the equipment. Fenders, lights, little caps, and rainjackets- fun. What a harsh contrast to the past weekend's sunny weather.
Speaking of last weekend- had a great time on St. Simon's Island for my Cousin's wedding. Started Sat off with about 80 miles, did half of that with my Dad and Uncle. That was a fun ride, I like riding with those guys whenever I can. Sat. evening was the wedding and it was a doozy. Beautiful area and ceremony, then the reception on Sea Island. The whole famile was there together for the first time in a long while. We ate great food, socialized, and danced late into the night. Everyone had a great time. I also was treated to the sight of my dad doing the Robot on the dance floor. Good Stuff. Going to Brevard at 6:00 am tomorrow for some mountain riding and to move the balance of my stuff down here. Till next time- DH

Nice

Productivity

I've had a pretty good week this week. Lotta miles and hours, Muscle Tension Intervals on Mon. ,then 30 min run PM. A good hard group ride on Tues let me get some solid threshold work in. Recovery ride on Wed AM, 40 min run PM. Got up this morning feeling a little worse for wear but once I got riding felt strong. Then I proceeded to drive myself into the ground. Did 1 min. intervals- all out, everything I had. Then I spun easy for 6 min. Then a min. all out, rest for 5 min, then 4,3,2 ,and on down to 1 min on, 1 min off. After that it was all I could do to stay on my bike and make it home. It will be worth it in a few weeks.

On another note, I had an epiphany yesterday. I realized why everyone is so aggro when they are driving around. What I figured out is that everyone is angry because they got ripped off when buying their cars. I bought my van in North Carolina. I payed the same price as one that was purchased here. Mine however came with a rearview mirror and turn signals. Cars purchased in South Carolina cost the same but apparently don't come with these items. This leads to animosity between drivers with a complete vehicle and those that have been ripped off. I feel sorry for these people, they need to do something to remedy this situation. Later- DH

Weekend Update

I've been really busy this week so here's a quick update.
Fri: Drove to Charlotte for Sat. MTB race. Stayed at Arleigh's- thanks for the hospitality!
Sat: MTB race- Smoked everyone on the running LeMans style start, got the holeshot and rolled it. Got caught at the end of the 1st lap. Got passed and was down 45 sec or so by the 3rd lap. Came back. 1 lap to go, I'm 15 sec back and closing. Got the leader in my sights when we hit lapped traffic. The leader squeezed around a group of women before the singletrack and I couldn't. That was the race right there. After I got around I drilled it as hard as I could but couldn't make the time back up. Anyways- A good race, I felt great and rode very well.
Sat afternoon I met up with Liza and her side of the family for her grandmother's 90th birthday party. That was a good time as well. Drove over to Brevard for a late dinner w/ Chris and Kent. Chris just returned from the World Cup Finals in Slovenia and was exhausted as was I so we called it a night and went home.
Sun: Loaded up the trailer with motorcycles and as much furniture as I could hold in the morning. Went on a nice mellow ride @ DuPont with Chris, Wes, and Horse Jockey. Great day and a fun ride. Much better than the 4 1/2 hrs back to Charleston that followed. Alex and I unloaded the trailer and van and hit the sack for some much needed sleep. DH out.

A Little Slice of Justice

Rarely do I ever see anything that involves automobiles while I am riding that makes me happy. However, today was a special day. I was riding along minding my own business out on County Line Rd. this morning about 9:00. I was cruising at 24-25 mph, straight road with no traffic. A white budget car (Kia or Hundai or some junk) buzzed by me so close I could feel the side mirror brush the hair on my arm. No traffic anywhere and plenty of room. I signaled to him how I felt about this ( not a great idea- It'll get you in trouble sometimes but a kneejerk reaction nonetheless). Then ( the good part ) a huge red dually pickup cruises by me ( giving me plenty of room ) and guns it to catch up with the car. He passes the other car rediculously ( and deliberately close ) mainly in the right hand lane, and cuts back in too soon running the other car off the road. He then slams on the brakes until the other car gets back on the road , drives really slow and won't get out of his way. I was a safe distance back watching this go on for a few miles. Yeah- how do you like that! I don't know who was driving that truck but that made my day. Later- DH

Bluetooth Equipped

I'm really glad to be back in the bike shop. However, I am constantly surprised at the rudeness of humanity. If another customer comes in here talking with a headset cell phone on I am going to flip out. There are only three acceptable scenarios for this: 1. You are an air traffic controller and are at the present time landing a plane. (1b. you are flying the plane) 2. you are in the Space Shuttle or either in FL or TX talking to the Space Shuttle. 3. You are directing an air strike on an enemy position. I have seen no evidence of any of these conditions existing so I will continue to do everything in my power to reciprocate this rudeness upon these aforementioned individuals. DH

Progress

Went out on the group run from the shop yesterday. We had 8 people show up to run in the rain so we headed out into the neighborhoods behind the shop. The greenway was muddy so we ran pavement. I was pleased that it was much less painful to run than on Monday, even though I was on pavement yesterday. I was also pleased that I was not breathing as hard as some of the others out there. I feel much better today also. Got a good ( foggy ) ride in this morning with Jay- rolled out @ 7 am into the fog. By 9 the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Now it's gonna rain again. Hopefully It'll be over in the morning in time to ride again. Later- DH

Charleston Pics.

Here are some assorted photos from rides and places in Charleston.

Specificity

With cross seson coming up I decided I need to do more running this fall to prepare. This is always my weakness in a cross race so I'll address this and work on it. Got some cool new running shoes and planned everything out. Ran for 20 mins. on the greenway last night. Took off from the shop. Everything started off alright even after leaving the running shorts at home and having to run in cut-off Dickies and no shirt. Felt like an escaped convict running down the road. Anyways- this will take some getting use to- I can race my bike flat out for 12 hrs. or more but after 20 mins. of running I feel like the victim of an assault and simultaneous car accident. Back to the bike tonight, then more running tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. DH

I can see the form way out there... But it is getting closer!

Another great week of riding is over. 20 + hours in, 370 miles. Lots of solid mileage, rode hard on Tues, then had a productive weekend 4-5 hrs each on Fri and Sat. Good group ride on Sat then a trip to the beach with Alex in the PM. Getting my tan back and slowly losing weight. I'm really looking forward to cross season now as I should get rolling somewhere near the end of October. Gonna start running tomorrow so the next couple of weeks will be tough with that going down. Watched some good football games yesterday too, the good Tech won, bad Tech got crushed, and Georgia lost to SC. I wish GA/SC could have both lost but it don't work that way when they play each other. Anyways- looking forward to another solid week, gonna be up at my summer estate in the mountains next weekend, then kick back with a rest week after that. By the way- Carbon Race wheels for sale- CHEAP! any takers- lemme know, I need to get up some $ to get through cross season. Later- DH

Go Time

Did the Tues. night group ride tonight. Fast as usual, felt pretty good- Felt out of shape but my Power Tap said otherwise when I downloaded it. I haven't had too much of a reason to ride hard this year with being hurt or sick for so long .. but that changed tonight. There are some new guys ( very fast guys ) that are riding against me specifically- attacking right after I take a pull and whatnot. Some typical Roadie stuff that needs to be dealt with. So yeah, me and D.L. are all kinds of fired up now and ready to cut heads. Guess we'll all have to get faster. Give me a couple of weeks and it'll be - as they say in wrasslin' ON!

Other than that everything is going well- lots of riding, a couple of 4 1/2 hr days back to back this weekend were good- feeling better than I have all year. Probably better than a couple of years. Back pain is gone and my leg speed is starting to come around. Leg injury sustained last weekend got pretty ugly after a couple hundred miles in the rain this week and required some minor bathroom surgery to look like something human again. Gotta keep that thing clean. I'll post later to keep everyone informed on how the warpath is going. Later- DH

It's so good to be back in a bike shop.

Really diggin it here in Charleston. Get up @ 6:00 am- take Alex to school by 6:45 and to the shop and riding by 7. 3 hrs. to ride every morning then to work. Repairs, customers, bike builds- something new every 10-15 mins. or so. I am not nearly as exausted as I was at Cane Creek sitting in a chair all day. Should get 300+ miles/ 17-18 hrs. in this week. Nice to get back to some decent training. The riding down here is definitely lacking compared to NC but as far as usefulness for training goes, I have everything I need here.
I'm healing up nicely from Sat. miscue and should look as ugly as normal here soon. Gotta go- DH

Bonehead Move of the Week

Rolled out At 7am this morning for the John's Island group ride. Easy spin over and found a small group to ride with with some of the usual suspects. Rolled it 28-30 mph down County line road for 30 min. or so. Hurt me pretty good but I hung in there. Headed on to Hollywood. Rolled in to the hollywood sprint @ 30+. Pulled off right before the sprint to coast in easy. Insert front wheel into hole @ 30mph. The impact knocked both my hands off the bar. The bar was very slippery and due to some incredible foresight I had removed my gloves a few miles prior. Anyways- long story short- fold one week old front wheel, pavement on the face at 30, tear up helment, face, jersey, shoulder, elbow, knee, shoe, rear derailleur, and saddle. ( in that exact order.) The weird part was that I didn't slide, normally there is some sort of projection and then you slide. I got dropped like a sniper got me- straight down on the head and stuck right where I landed. Came out OK- scrapes and a sore neck and headache. I'll take it. Anyways- got a ride home with my new co-worker and his wife (hi- I'm David and I crash on my face ), went through Shower Hell and now I'm gonna go eat. Later- DH

Left out a bit.

I left some details out from my last post. I am working @ The Charleston Bicycle Company, we sell Cervelo, Felt, Seven, Jamis, Cannondale , and Orbea bikes. These are all great brands and I have only sold Cannondale out of all of those listed. Super fired up to be dealing with Cervelo and Orbea- 2 great bike companies with a fine product.
Living up on Hwy 61 with some friends till I can get a house on James Island. Looking forward to getting some serious mileage in this winter ( 25-28 hr. weeks ) and slaying all this spring. I'll be racing for Team CBC in 2008 and we should be a very strong Pro 1/2 team. Later- DH

Somewhat relocation

Well- I'm in Charleston. Worked at the Shop all week. I like it there, cool people and a good shop. The hours pass much faster with some human interaction and sunlight. Didn't realize what a dark cave of solitude I was working in- no wonder I was always tired at the creek. Anyways, got some hours in on the bike this week, looking forward to ten more or so this weekend. Great weather ( a tad hot ) and decent riding. Did a few hours on Wed- got in a couple of laps over the new bridge. That's a no joke workout- wish it was here the first go round. Anyways- living with friends right now and Liza is still in NC till the house sells. Hopefully it will be soon, life is kinda Chaotic right now with everything and everyone scattered out like this. I'll get up some pictures soon- left my Kodak software and USB thing @ B-Town. Later- DH

Last Ride

Did my last ride in Brevard today. Low temps, perfect trails, great day. Solo ride kind of fitting. 2 1/2 hrs., 27 miles. Here's the pictures- figure out my exact ride and you win a prize.

Cool Ride

Went riding on Wed. with Kent. We parked at the Ranger Station and decided where to go. I hadn't been on Twin Falls trail in awhile so we went there. We rode up the Horse stables road to Clawhammer, good conversation on a nice day. The climb to the trail wasn't bad. After a break at the trailhead we descended. I came around a blind corner and found myself face to face with a black bear. He was about 3 feet tall on all fours. I wasn't scared like I imagined I would be. He was- He peeled out with all four paws flinging rocks and debris and crashed down the hillside into the woods before I knew what was going on. Kent came flying around the corner and almost crashed into me on a big nose wheelie skid. We could hear the bear way down the mountain still crashing around. Guess they really are more scared of us than we are of them. Anyways- that was cool seeing a bear on one of my last rides up here! DH

Hall's First Law of Mind Control

I have had a theory for awhile. Today I gathered enough evidence to prove it, therefore making it a Scientific Law. My theory is this: You can directly control the behavior of your entire city by mowing your grass. Yes. I'm not the only one privy to this info.

Anyways this is how I have proven this.

1. went outside with the hedge trimmers to clean up an unruly bush. I reconned the area- 3-4 yards up an either side of me and across the street as well. People were out and about this morning (11:00ish), but all yards were high grass. People were working on other projects. I finish trimming the bush and set my experiment in motion.

2. Crank lawnmower and mow 3 rows in the front yard. Cut off lawnmower and observe. A skillsaw across the street stops. Two people jump in their cars with red gas cans. They are back momentarily with full cans of fuel I presume. One by one lawnmowers start on every lawn up the street. Little red pushmowers, big green John Deere riding mowers. I look across the street- the carpentry work has stopped and full blown emergency grass mowing has commenced. I count eight lawns being mown in full scale panic attack.

This grass mowing epedemic is compounding as well, spreading to the next street over. The next neighborhood too. Who knows how far it will go.

I'm off to drive the nail in the coffin now- I have a weedeater and I'm gonna use it. DH

Dawn Patrol

Woke up at 5:oo this morning. Hopped on the moto and rode up to the Parkway. Made it up to Devil's Courthouse while it was still dark. The plan was to watch the sunrise. The sunrise was nice, but it was the weather that pleased me the most. 65 degrees, crisp, low humidity, and a nice breeze.

It is funny how the human brain works. At that exact moment, the weather made me remember the two other times in my life when the weather was identical.

I remembered swinging on a tire swing at the babysitter's (where my brother and I were soon to be kicked out ) when I was in 4th grade. It was a early October afternoon. I was on a tire swing, not the kind that hangs vertically, but the horizontally hung type that hangs on 3 chains. I was wearing a yellow "Fayette County Elementary Tigers" T- shirt. I loved that shirt. I remember hanging out of the swing and spinning, looking up at the fall leaves in a state of total bliss. I could have stayed there for hours.

The next time I felt this way, I was in Charleston 4 years ago, late Oct, early Nov. I was riding my Mountain Bike out to Fort Johnston to ride some illegal trails. It was the same type of weather- crisp with a nice breeze blowing in off the marsh. The trails were in great condition, the leaves had just started to hit the ground. I wasn't there to train, race season was over. I was riding because I enjoyed it. Rode for awhile , then took one of the trails that meandered out to the beach. Got out to the beach and was completely content for a few moments. With the breeze on my face, the smell of the marsh, and the sound of the waves, I could close my eyes and imagine I was anywhere I wanted to be.

Anyways, the sun was up now, so I fired up the moto and headed down Hwy 215 to Waynesville. That was a really fun road to ride. Further down, at Lake Logan, there was a Triathalon being held. Tons of people were running and riding bikes. They had the swim course laid out in the lake with bouys. Amazing how many more people there were there than the Mountain Bike National Event I attended last weekend. On to Waynesville- Candler- Hwy 151 to the Parkway ( another great road- lots of tight turns ) back down 276 to FR 475, past the Fish Hatchery, to Ingles for a muffin, then Home. 110 miles on the bike, 1 mile hike, 1 sunrise, 1 triathalon, and a muffin before 9:00. Now I can trim some bushes and mow the grass. Later- DH

Time to head down east.

It's official- I'm moving back to Charleston in 3 weeks. Got some details to hammer out with a job down there and I'm gone. Planning on spending the next couple of weeks riding all the trails around here that I can. Not that I won't be back but I need to ride them anyways. Planning a 4-5 hr. -4 a.m. night ride soon so I can see the sun rise from the parkway- that will be cool, I need for the rain and fog to go away first though. I also need to hang out in Asheville one weekend, haven't been up there enough lately, and ride the Green River Gorge, haven't done that either. I'll be back for the Swank 65 race so I guess I need to go ride Farlow Gap a couple of times too. Need to go to a couple of resturaunts I've been wanting to go to also. Anyhow- I'll write more on this later. DH

I heard there is a bike race around here somewhere, but I don't see anybody else on a bike!

Went up to Sugar Mountain this weekend for the National Mountain bike Series race. My how the times have changed. Doesn't seem like there were more than 200 people there all weekend. Most classes had 6-8 racers in them. 6-7 years ago there would have been 80-100 per class. Guess everyone took drugs and went to race on the road.
Anyways, saw some XC racing on Fri.- Teammates did well in the JrX race. The Semi-Pro race was pathetic- wish I had raced it now. Got some super D practice runs in- pretty gnarly Downhill, technical and fun- not real fast in most places.
Saturday was rainy and overcast all day- decided not to practice, figured the course would be all chewed up and different on Sun anyways. Watched the Pro Men and Women's XC races- very wet and muddy, saw some hurtin' people out there.
Sunday was my big day. Short Track race @ 2:30 followed immediately by 2 DH runs and the super D race. I was pretty nervous- They made me race Pro Super D because of my XC license. I would have been happy to Sandbag the 30+ class like Robert Marion did.
Anyways- got a good warmup then raced the Short track.
The race started fast with many attacks. Everyone was racing at inhumane speeds up the mountain, I could hardly believe it possible! Then the officials neutralized the race. They gave us all drug tests. The race leader was ejected, then a few others, then a couple of teams withdrew. One guy that was impossibly out of contention took testosterone and was kicked out. Everyone screamed and cried that they were innocent. Once that was taken care of, the 13 of us left raced on. The day afterwards even someone else turned in a positive test as well.
Wait----- My mistake, that was some other race. My race was not nearly as exciting.
On to the Super D. I was cooked after the Short Track and wondering if I could hold it togather for the SD. I ended up being first off in the Pro class. Pedaled really hard and rode real fast, then lost my chain and spent a very long time unjamming it from between the bottom bracket and the small chainring. Then I had to run up a hill after freeing the chain, causing a huge slowdown and losing precious seconds. Rode as hard as I could the rest of the way to post a new fastest time ( the good thing about being the 1st one down !). My time stood for a couple of riders then the heavies started knocking time off. I ended up 14th. 20 seconds off the podium. I would have been real close without the chain problem.
Came home exhausted and went right to bed. Raced a total of 25 mins. this weekend and feel like I've been in 25 car wrecks. Later- DH

Back in action

Rode up to Kingsport TN yesterday w/ Robert. It's only been 10 months or so since I have raced on the road. They were having a crit up there so I decided to go ride around in little circles for awhile. LAME. There were 3 or 4 big teams there w/ good representation from each. One team had like 15 guys and attacked twice each lap for the 1st half till a break was established. Robert and I chased on each time. After about the 15th attack I couldn't go with them anymore and a break of 8 was established. The rest of the racing was very negative and dissapointing. One of the better represented teams had no one in the break and were content to sprint for 10th place I guess. I was relentless in the harrassment ot these guys for the remainder of the race. None of the solo riders would work and teams w/ guys in the break were sitting in too (that one was understandable- I would be content too.) I have only been training well for about a week and was not strong enough to bridge solo ( not for lack of trying ) so I had to sit in. One lap to go and we have 8 up the road with a chase group of 4 dangling. Robert lights it up with me on his wheel. When he is done at the 1K to go mark- I roll off solo. I blow buy the 4 man chase group and they watch me go. No one jumped on my wheel which was really weird. Anyways- solo to the finish to end up 9th, one out o the money- my standard position. Gimme a couple of weeks more of training and I'll be rolling. Later- DH

Busy 2 weeks

I've been real busy the past 2 weeks.
1. pulled out all my stitches and started riding again.
2. Spent a week coaching the USA Cycling Athlete Development Camp here in Brevard. (there are some super fast 15 year olds coming up- so look out!)
3. I've worked up to 6 hour MTB rides now. No speed at all but I can ride all day.
4. Rode moto down to the Clemson S.E. Regional MTB race to hand out bottles to friends. Everybody I know finished on the podium- that was cool.
5. Rode Moto all morning on the 4th w/ Robert, Shawn, and Kelly out at Weyahutta ATV area. Crashed hard on a rock section but somehow didn't get hurt bad for another 3 week period. My luck must be changing (knock on wood.)
6. Attended ( along with every other biker in town) Wes D's 4th of july/ horseshoe/ croquette tournament/ shindig. Great time , then we went to the college for fireworks, then home.
7. Liza and Alex finally came home after what seemed like months of vacation.
That's all for now, I'll write more later- DH

Boredem

I am sooo bored. Some stitches "fell" out of my knee today. Scissors "fell" on them, then they "fell" on the wheelroom floor. This was fortunate- they were so loose and useless, they needed to come out and if I don't have to wait in the doctor's office, it's that much better. More will probably fall out soon.

I've had alot of time on my hands and built up my Yeti hardtail as a cross, fireroad, commuter bike. See attatched photo. Looks fast and feels light. Too bad I can't bend my knee enough to ride it yet.

I have been watching TV later at night because I don't need as much sleep when I'm not riding 3 hrs a day. Saw a great show on the History Channel last night. There is a DeBeers Diamond mine in Canada-near the Arctic Circle. The only problem with this is it is 350 miles from the nearest road in Yellowknife ( Northwest Territories I think). There is nothing but lakes and swamp for 10 months of the year. This mine uses an incredible 10,000 tractor trailor loads of supplies , problem is- there is no way to deliver it. Here is the "brilliant" solution. For 2 months in the winter, the temp gets down to 40 BELOW. They build a 350 mile road of 24" thick ICE for the trucks to drive on to the mines. All over 200 ft. of water in whiteout conditions. As soon as the weather is ready, they send truck after truck 24/ 7 until the "road "melts when it warms. The Ice buckles and cracks when these 30,000 lb. trucks drive on it because the weight causes waves under the ice. Drive too fast and the wave will break through and your truck goes in. It's OK if you keep moving. If you break down, you will probably die. If the truck doesn't move, the dead weight and vibration from the engine will break through the ice- and you go swimming. If you shut off the engine- well it is 40 below and that will be the end of the line too. These drivers come from all over to risk their lives. It is worth it- they make more in 6-8 weeks than they will in a year driving elsewhere. I think that's pretty cool. ( no pun intended ) All I want to know is how do you figure out it is OK to drive an overweight tractor trailer 350 miles over a frozen lake? They have done it for 60+ years now. I wanna meet the 1st guy to say- "sure- I'll give it a go" Later- DH

Nasty

Sweet Home Alabama

Here are some pictures from last weekend in AL. First off- The first sign we see when we get into AL is in the picture. " Keep Alabama The Beautiful". What does that mean? The beautiful what? Did the corrections facility that made the signs have budget cutbacks and not finish them, or is AL trying to catch up with the literacy rate in Mississippi? Anyways- The other picture is me pedaling around the racecourse for awhile.

On another note- I'm getting mobility back, I can hobble around a bit and move my knee more everyday. Hopefully it won't keep me out too long. Later-DH

New Crutches

After all my health problems the last 3 weeks I thought I was in the clear. Went to Birmingham for Bump and Grind, great course- fun to ride. Had no expectations and didn't get last so it was a good weekend. Pics to come. Had a good time with Liza that weekend, got some travelin and good food in too.
Had a great week riding too- feeling so much better, fast without trying on Tues. Group ride and good rides all week.
Till last night. Went out on the Sycamore Cycle's Group ride. Actually one of the best I've done- nice and mellow with everyone riding a good pace. Stopped to regroup on Hickory Knob and start the DH. 1st right hand turn and I get off line and clip a log. I have to jump over the bars, land and roll in the soft grass to a stop. Not a hard fall and a very soft landing. I think I was even laughing while I crashed.
I go to stand up and notice my knee is hanging wide open and I can see stuff in it that I'm not suppose to see- like cut muscle and tendons. So with the much appreciated help of the Sycamore crew I got "patched up" with a sweat band, tube , and electrical tape. Wes D and Stephen carried me back to the top of Hickory Knob where I got back on my bike. One legged all the way down Black Mtn. Trail, then Clawhammer back to the Stables where Chris was waiting w/ the truck.
Long story short- got 20 stitches w/ 5 inside my knee. Tendon got smashed and briused but not cut so I'll be alright. Got home At 1:30 am .
Anyways- So looks like Cross season is rapidly becoming my focus due to my compounding innability to train this year for the normal season. Guess I am suppose to get some rest this year. I'll post pics as soon as I can pick my van up (the camera is in it.) Later- DH

What Next?

Well I'm 90% over the cold, allergy, sinus infection whatever mess it was that crushed me the last 2 weeks. Rode yesterday and the day before. Last night I got a stomach virus and was in the bathroom every 1/2 hr. all night long. At least I've lost some weight- but I doubt I will feel good enough to race this weekend. We are still heading over though- maybe I can recover in time. I'll know soon enough! Later-DH

Like All Good Train Wrecks- Gotta Get Back on Track

OK- disregard last night's post. Got some sleep, got talked at, and re-focused cause you know what? I've got too much unfinished business! There are too many races left out there that I haven't won. Time to get it together and go win em.

180 degrees

Couldn't sleep last night. I was so stressed out and restless I only got about 2 hrs. in. I was so bent out of shape that I decided to quit riding. Not just racing but riding all together. It's been so long since I felt fast and honestly, good about ANYTHING that I felt like I couldn't take anymore dissapointment. If I can't race well ( and it's been a couple of years since I have ), then I don't want to waste my time with it. In fact if I had my camera at work today, my bikes would be on E-Bay right now.

But Liza convinced me to ride today and race this weekend. Since it is our anniversary this weekend, I decided to ride if she wants me to. So I came home and rode the rollers for a half an hour tonight. I feel a little better now but only time will tell how it all works out.
Stay Tuned.... DH

Memorial Day weekend

Lots of stuff went down this weekend. 1. Cookout at Kent and Mary's place Fri. night- good food, fellowship, horseshoes, and stupid humans on bike tricks.

2. Got out Sat morning for a ride with Robert. 1st time on the bike in a couple of weeks- finally felt well enough to ride. Or so I thought- nice day but I was miserable- felt like I was riding at 13,000ft.- just couldn't get a full breath. So Robert unintentionally worked me over all morning. 3. White Squirrel festival this weekend, hung out downtown for a while- it was packed. The major excitement there was the soapbox derby car races down Jailhouse Hill. Checked out Wes D's car and saw some practice. Already some good wrecks in practice. Should be plenty of carnage to be had when the real racing starts this afternoon.

4. Ate lunch and went hiking at Black Balsam with Lisa and Jim who were up from Bufort, SC for the weekend.

5. Got out this morning for a hike with Liza. Left from Black Balsam on the Art Loeb Trail out to Shining Rock. It was a beautiful day out. Came back on Ivestor Gap Trail for about 8-9 miles round trip.

Planning to resume training tomorrow- I can finally breathe and think I can start getting some efforts in on the bike again soon. Later- DH

Hiawassee Trip

Had to go to Hiawassee, GA to pay a speeding ticket today. Actually it was in Hayesville, NC. Rode over on the moto last night to stay at uncle's house. Nice ride over - 100 miles on nice twisty roads. Finally starting to feel better, been out of action all week with a sinus/ allergy infection. It got so bad that I had to bail out on my team @ 12 hrs. of Tsali. Really bummed out about that but I was so bad off that I was bleeding out the nose from it.

Anyways- $140.00 later I got the ticket taken care of and headed home. Sort of. First I headed to Murphy to locate the Tellico ORV area. Couldnt find it but I did get a 70 mile loop in in the middle of western NC and TN. Headed home. Nice day out so I took the long way home. Headed off of 64 towards Standing Indian Campground. This was good because there was free water there at the campground. After Clay County had taken all my money and then some I didn't have, I had Zero dinero. Free water coupled with the huge package of 89 cent generic fig newtons worked out well. 20 miles of beautiful scenery and gravel switchbacks later I popped out on 441 south of Franklin, NC. Got back to 64 and rolled on back to Brevard. Hungry and tired, I took a shower and now I'm going to bed. Later- DH

Pics

New Moto- Forest road mayhem.

Yeti- still the coolest bike I own.

Technical difficulties

Something has been wrong with my account for a couple of weeks. Finally got that straightened out now so I can post again.

Quick 3 week wrap-up. I'd like to post more but can't right now.

1. New bike is up and running- rides great.
2. Won the Circle the Bald (20 miles solo and a new course record)
3. Hung out w/ my family in Hiawassee, GA
4. Had a great day on Brasstown Bald watching TDG w/ my uncle
5. Didn't have a great day at Cohutta 100 ( a long day, OK but not great) WAY too much gravel road riding.
6. Funeral
7. 2 new motorcycles
8. Drove to Charleston Fri night to race on Sat- Race cancelled w/ no notice- Nice!
I'll elaborate more soon- Later DH

It's days like this that make me glad to ride my bike

Beautiful day today. Low 60's, cloudless, but 40 mph gusts. After 3 hrs. on 45 degree rain yesterday I was ready to roll out! Headed up 276 to the Blue Ridge Pkwy. Got my 3 intervals in on the steeper sections on the way up. The wind was not an issue and I felt great, easily turning over 3 taller gears than I normally use on this ride. Got to the top and the wind showed up! I guess when you are on a ridge 2500 feet above anything else you might get some wind every now and then. Snapped some overlook photos back toward Brevard ( couldn't see my house from there) and headed on up to Graveyard Fields. I figured if I made it there I would have a 28 mile, 3,300 foot climb done- plenty for my sorry climbin' self. Passed some ice and a quick check found the temp to be 49 deg. @ 5000 feet. Got up to Graveyard, ate a Clif bar and hightailed it back down to get home. Feeling good this week, hope to rest up, get 3-4 hrs. in on Sat, then rock the house in Athens on Sunday. Later- DH

Spring in the Mountains

I rode Tuesday- It was sunny and 80 degrees out. I remember thinking " I could probably go for a sleeveless jersey today". Woke up this morning and it was 25 degrees out and snow was covering everything. I thought spring had sprung and it would be warm from here on out. I was wrong- Old Man Winter got us with another sneak attack! I think I'll wait till tomorrow afternoon to get my long ride in, maybe it will be warmer then- probably back to 95 degrees out if these weather trends stay consistent. Later- DH

Rough Week

Finally feeling better now. I hate rest weeks- they always leave me feeling like garbage. I seem to do the best when I am putting in 18-20 hr. weeks consistently. I know I need to rest but man do I feel awful when I do- sore all the time, I eat bad, and I can't sleep. Anyways, been averaging 2 easy hours a day this week. Yesterday's ride had my legs feeling like poopsicle sticks. I tried to do a few sprints to open them up but that only made things worse. Sometimes I wonder if I should jest increase my hours every week without resting and see how long it takes to ride myself into oblivion.

Got to work yesterday- there are alot of changes going on lately- can't use the computers at work anymore so my updates may get slowed a bit. I think we may be getting house arrest ankle bracelets to wear at work too- got to keep track of everyone! I need a new job soon- any leads, please let me know.

Anyways- stressed out enough from work and from my rest week sluggishness I decided to get out on the SS today. Rode Caney Bottom and Butter Gap trails. Legs are coming around again so I had a great ride. Gonna try to get 3 hrs. in tomorrow and get back to 18 hrs next week. Only one more block of Base training left- them I get to go fast!

My FS frame will be in Monday or Tues. so I'll get to build that up- fired up about that. Other than that not much else going on here- headed to Athens for SERC #4 next weekend- that should be fun. Heritage park was a good course last time I raced there (2001). Later- DH

Tsali Race Report

I am too tired to write much now. Had to clean up too much clothing and equipment from the race. It was the most disgusting mud slop I've raced in in a long time. Also the best I've felt in a loong time. I'll give the weekend's details tomorrow but I will say that I got 5th and that qualifies me for Nationals- so that's a load off. Won some money too- good thing because I'll have to use it all to get my bike running again.....ah the vicious circle of racing. Later-DH

What have I gotten myself into?

I recently sat down to plan out the next month's training and racing. In the immortal words of Mr. T from RockyIII- "Prediction?.....Pain!". I knew what I was doing when I planned my schedule but it hadn't sunk in now. This is what I am looking forward to:
April 15th- SERC#4- XC race, short and easy.
April 21st- Cohutta 100- that'll be 100 miles offroad,
April 28th- Dirt, Sweat, & Gears 12 hr- what's that- another 120-130 miles?,
May 5th- Cinco De Marrington 8hr- 13 mile loop (~1 hr laps)= 100+ again.
Then I get a luxurious weekend with no race before 12 hours of Tsali and a 4 day Stage Race the weekend after. I may have to take the whole month of June off to recover before the Cowbell Challenge 12 Hr. @ the end of the month. Vicious Circles I'm talkin about here.
I think I'll go take a nap now- I'm tired thinking about it. Later-DH

Updates Galore

Dark Mtn. Super D

Loaded up in Herndon's truck w/ Wes D, Chris and Alex for the trip to Dark Mtn. Stopped by McDonald's for some high quality sustainance. After we all felt like crap from said sustainance we rolled on up the road. Pulled up, did some practice runs, then race runs, Chris-1st Pro, me-2nd Pro, WesD- 1st 30+. Top 3 times overall, got back in the car with our Kenda tires and went home. That's all there is to say about that.

Secret Tsali Weapon

It's superlight and superfast. Come to Tsali next weekend to check it out. Nuff about that.

Assault on the Carolinas

What do you do to avoid the chaos of 700 riders leaving at the same time? You rip it through town @ 35mph ( courtesy of WesD). After departing town at a high rate of speed, the tandem-piloted by the Applegate-McCauley's dumped the clutch and was GONE. Over the course of the next 65 miles the following transpired:

1. 6 horses got loose and were seen running (drafting even) in the lead pack. They held their line better than most riders.

2. Dude flies off of Hwy 178 @45mph into a 100 foot crevasse. No major injuries but vehicles with winches were required to get him out.

3. Went off the front on SC228 for 12 miles hoping to get a big head start before having to haul my large posterior up Ceasar's Head.

4. Only had a couple of minutes lead at the base.

5. Out of water and blew up like Hiroshima about a mile up, had to limp on up to the top feed zone.

6. Got my feed, went back downhill till I found Robert, rode back up feeling better now, and we drilled it back to town.

Yardwork

Mowed the grass, limed it, fertilized, seeded it. Watered the snot out of it and hopefully I'll have a beautiful yard in 2 weeks. I'll post a picture if so- if not I'll just rant about it. Later-DH

Oops.

No I did not wreck. I will write all about this later- I have a race tomorrow and don't want to think about stuff breaking.