Assault on the Carolina (Just one)

Left yesterday for the mountains. Stopped by Sumter, SC to do some moto riding. Went out to Manchester State Forest to ride. Rode there in 02' but haven't been back since. Remembered having a good time when I was there so I was looking forward to going back.
I had a great time. Fast trails and I was riding smooth and having a great time. Did 60 or so miles ( 3 hrs.) The last lap was pushing it as I was getting tired and starting to make mistakes, so I decided to call it a day and head on up to Asheville. Rolled up at Robert's ready to relax. Robert was dressed to ride and made me ride my bike. I didn't want to but felt better after a short spin. Nathan, Jay, and Thaddeus showed up around 10:30 and we hit the sack.

Assault on the Carolina:

Woke up to a VERY rude alarm at 7:00 this moning. If that wasn't bad enough I was also hearing the sweet sound of a torrential downpour. Great- I love racing in hard conditions, but a charity ride cruisin' with friends in a downpour- not so much. Anyways- rolled down to Brevard High School for the Assault start. The rain stopped long enough to start the ride and we rolled out nice and mellow. I was actually feeling really good today and rolling comfortably in the lead group. I told Jay I'd ride with him so I figured I'd ride hard till the top of Walnut Hollow then double back for Jay. However, it wasn't my decision. Broke a spoke on Country Club road and had to stop. Robert doubled back instantaneously. I wrapped the broken spoke up around another, checked to see if the wheel would turn, and we were off. We rolled easy for awhile and Jay along with a small group caught up. We had a nice ride for a bit. As soon as we got over the Continental Divide however, the bottom fell out. Torrential downpour of epic proportions ocurred. Hail, dropping temps, and water running down the road made the descent on 178 very dangerous. Not to mention that my front brake was disconnected so the wheel would roll. A fact that I had forgotten until I hit the brakes in the first switchback and nothing happened. I was getting colder and colder and we still had another 1/2 hr. of downhill left before we could warm up by climbing. I stopped at the state line and waited for the other guys to catch up. I proposed that we head back up the mountain to get warmed up then head back to Brevard. I didn't even finish my sentence and everyone was u-turned and left me standing. Instant warmth once we got rolling. Saw some other guys I knew and they joined in as well. Looped back through Rosman and on to Brevard. The rest of the ride was great once we got out of the deluge. Made it back, cleaned up and waited for the others to get back. My other teammates rode well getting back at the front 3rd and 4th ones in and anothr in the top 10 as well. Sycamore cycles had a good showing in the top 10 as well in a very strong field today.
Even with the bad conditions, the Assault on the Carolinas is one of the best around and I had fun anyways. Seems like every other year the conditions are good. So- I guess next year will be nice. Better be beause I'll be back again. DH

Updates

I've been pretty busy lately, so it's been awhile since my last post. Finally have gotten some sort of consistency going with the bike. 400 miles/ 23 hrs last week. Hopefully this week will be the same. Headed up to NC this weekend for a long MTB ride Friday and to ride the Assault on the Carolinas event this Sat. Whole team is going so it should be fun. Great event, great course, and I know a ton of people that ride that one. Hoping for good weather, you never know at this time of the year. Plenty of good weather here lately, got some tan lines going finally. Also have a black eye to go with the tan ( freak screwdriver accident ). Resting as much as possible today. All I want to do is sleep. Later- DH

Yellow Death

The yellow death is falling from the trees now. Having a hard time with the time change. The guys that ride after work are lovin it but I ride in the morning. Getting up an hour earlier is still a pretty bitter pill to swallow. Still cold in the AM here. Gets up to 70-75 degrees by lunch but those morning rides are still cold. Had a good one last night, got out on a solo night ride over to Mt. Pleasent. Did a few hill repeats on the bridge. Tons of people out with the time change and all. Got in about 3 hrs/ 52-53 miles. Last time over the bridge felt the fastest ever. Started raining after an hour or so, sprinkles on and off. It felt pretty good so I kept going. Got done around 8:30- about 2 min. before the bottom dropped out.
Hard to get up this morning. Shook the cobwebs out of my head and was on the bike 10 min. later- that's pretty rough. I don't recommend it. Got warmed up after 1/2 hr. and felt OK. I've been going pretty hard the last 2 days so I planned on having flat legs this morning. Propper planning= propper execution and I executed the flatness perfectly. Got in a couple of hours and felt better when I got to work. Couln't really remember anything from the ride when I got there. I knew I was doing alot of thinking while I was spinning along, but I didn't know I was that wrapped up in it! Gotta get out on the mountain bike so I'll have something to pay attention to.
Healing up well- elbow is still in pretty rough shape, but I am not stiff and beat up feeling anymore. I am thinking about getting a T-shirt made that says "Yes, I did crash in a race last weekend." ( see back for a detailed explanation because I'm not going to explain it to you.) I think that would cut out some hassle with customers at work.
Anyways- got to eat now, gonna try to get another 2 hrs. in on the way home. Later-DH

Windblast 2008

What a windy day. 30mph. sustained wind. So... I decided to go for a long motorcycle ride instead. Got suited up, stopped by ChicFil-A for some biscuits and headed south. I had a map and just went. My route crossed the Sat. group ride's route and I caught up with them ( all 3 ) at the Hollywood gas station stop. Chatted for awhile about how my moto was a much better idea this morning and they headed off. Got a drink, fueled up, and headed off toward Edisto Island. Never been there so I thought I'd check it out. A half an hour later and I was on the beach. I'm sure Edisto is cool in the summer but right now it was kinda creepy. First off- it's waayy out there in the middle of nowhere. Then there are miles upon miles of great beach houses. They were all empty, a ghost town. I was maybe 20 people the whole time.
Stopped on the way back to get some photos of the "Serpentarium". More creepiness- a snake house in the middle of nowhere. They were closed or I'd have gone in to see snakes and totally freak myself out.
Got in some great dirt road riding and some off roading as well to round out the trip. Got in about 4 1/2 hrs. and 200 miles.
Time to clean up and get some food. Later-DH

Summer Plans

Sitting around looking at racks and bags for bikes. Something I never thought would ever go on my bike. I am making plans for this summer , however; I will need bags and racks to pull off said plans. Don't really want to spill the beans yet but I'll be riding a ton of trails way up in the sky come July. Later- DH

Lucky # 13

The ominous feelings began last Friday. I was headed to Albany, GA for the first stage race of the year. I got online to check start times for the time trial on Saturday morning. I printed out the start list and highlighted all the start times of my teamates. Then I noticed it. My race number for the weekend was #13. That can't be good. Everyone told me to not worry, that was lucky. I figured I'd do the traditional thing and run the number upside down and I'd be fine. Besides, it was my 32nd birthday this weekend so nothing bad could happen. If it was my 31st -I'd have stayed home.

Anyways, we loaded up the megavan and trailer to capacity with Liza, my team, and myself and headed to Albany. The trip was long but we watched movies the whole way so it was not bad. Checked into roach motel and tried to get some sleep.

Time Trial:

I couldn't run my number upside down. That didn't bode well. Good course for me, 3.2K with 16 turns. About 80 guys were in the Pro race andd some were straight from the Tour of California. No problem- I get the countdown and blast off up the street, around turn one and head to head with an oncoming vehicle at 30 mph. Volunteers were running everywhere, the truck didn't know what to do and I didn't have any time to react. I squeezed around in the gutter on the far side of the street costing me valuable seconds and most importantly messing with my oxygen starved brain. Blew another corner further in for some more lost time and rolled in to finish 40th. Nathan had a good ride finishing12th for our highest GC position.

Crit:

Nothing exciting here. 8 corner, 30mph Avg crit. I felt pretty good and was having fun with all the corners. I rolled in 23rd for our highest placing. We all moved up to top 20 in the GC with Nathan in 10th now.

Road Race:

I was looking forward to this one. Rolling 96 miles should be a good day. Got things started quick with a break on the 1st lap. Cleve and I rolled up the road about 5 miles in. Got joined by a super strong guy a couple of miles later and we rolled out. I wasn't wanting to stay out all day, the intention was that when I was caught, Nathan would counter-attack. Cleve broke a derailleur cable and was gone, we were now low on horsepower after 15 miles or so it came back togather. After a flurry of activity, a break went again, this time with Nathan in it. One other guy in the top ten was present and no one else had a strong enough team to bring it back. If the break stays, we win. A good situation. Starting the last lap the break had over 4 minutes. Done deal. We roll into the feedzone waayy too fast on the last lap, a break is forming and the feild is chasing. I know we are too fast and try to slow so I can grab our feed bag as we are all out of water. I see Jay and the bag, grab it, and I'm on the ground at 30 mph. Got hung up and dragged down, lots of guys crashing now. I'm curled up and getting run over and slammed into for an eternity. I'm starting to wonder if the everyone looped around and they are crashing into me again. Anyways, It's over and there are guys scattered all over the road, one guy is not moving and leaves by ambulance. Everyone else is dazed and bleeding all over. I'm not too bad off, alot of abrasions on the right side but OK. Crunched a carbon wheel too. Liza and Nathan help me out of the road. That's right- Nathan who is suppose to be 4 mins. up the road. I inquire abou this and he had the same thing happen to him. Feedbag- ground correlation. So we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Had the race locked up and now nothing. Happy Birthday sucker! Long ride home an lots of sticking to the sheets now. Later- DH