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