I'm still here

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive. I've been really busy lately but haven't had much constructive to say. I'll get some good posts going soon. Later- DH

Dirt Sweat and Disaster

The weekend didn't go so well. Drove a long way to "race" for 2 hrs. Pre-rode the course on Friday and loved it. Rolling, witha few steep but short hills. Twisty singletrack was very nice. By raceday it was terrible. Made a bad tire choice and paid for it. Was running fifth into the woods, feeling like I was riding easy instead of all out off the start like normal. The trail was wet, but not too bad. 4 miles in it fell apart. We came out of the singletrack onto a dirt road. I was running a 2.3 tire up front. I had also taken my rigid fork ( the one with miles of mud clearance ) off and replaced it with my suspension fork. Bad mistake. My front wheel got so clogged with mud that I couldn't even push the bike more than 10 feet without it stopping me. I had to carry my bike for the next six miles to finish the lap. At one point I had cleaned enough mud out to roll and I got on for a downhill. I made it 20 feet and the front wheel clogged so bad that it stopped and I went over the bars. Broke my derailleur hanger on that one. Was planning on trying to change tires and get something going on lap 2 till that nonsense. I was about to be lapped on my first lap when I finally got out of the woods and back to the pit area. Packed it in and went home.
Injury report: A good cut on my left knee ( slipped while walking w/ the bike)
A long cut on my right shin ( caught my fender in the endo!? )
A pretty nasty disc brake rotor burn on my right shoulder.

The drive home was long to say the least. I HATE quitting. Anyways, after that display of dominance I am no longer placed high enough in the USAC Ultraendurance series to justify traveling to the rest of the series. Therefore, my schedule will change a bit from here on out.
Stay tuned for the rest of the season. DH

Big Week Coming Up

I had a good weekend. Rode up to Southern Pines, NC this weekend for the Tour De Moore Road Race. We had good representation with Nathan, Scott, and I in the race. Looking at 70 miles in the first hot day of the year, we were loaded up with water.
The race went pretty good. We were in a constant battle with the Hincapie team and their negative racing tactics. They would get a guy up the road in a break and sit 4-5 wide across the road at 12 mph and not let anyone else past to start chasing. This is racing in it's most cowardly and most unsportsmanlike form. No one else in the race wanted to race either as the other teams succumbed to these tactics. Weak. Wouldn't want the race to come down to who is the strongest and tactically astute. That's not honorable racing. Eventually, Nathan and I worked our way to the front and started to bring the break back. It wasn't easy as the 2 guys were out of sight up the road somewhere. We spent over a lap on the front to get it done. Thankfully Scott made his way up right as we caught the break. I knew a counter-attack would happen when we caught the break. Nathan and I were wasted from chasing for so long so Scott would have to go with any attacks. Thankfully he attacked as well and 7 guys were up the road. I did what I could to slow up the field and soon had nothing to worry about. Hincapie had 2 guys in the break and soon their whole team was spread across the road slowing things to a crawl. Game over. At least we could take advantage of the lame tactics.
Long story short, one guy got dropped from the break, the remaining 6 split 3-3 but stayed away. Scott was in the 2nd half, struck a deal with the other 2 to not sprint and split the prize money. This worked out well as the other 2 were better sprinters ( he started riding away on the hills and they got scared he would attack so they wanted to bargain.)
I finished well in the field sprint so we had 2 in the money. That paid for our gas and we all went home with more dough than we came with. Worked out well. Especially since I had my doubts about finishing after chasing so hard. I was cramping pretty bad in the sprint but had something left.

Next up:
USA Crits in Walterboro on Wed night. Lots of money and Pro's to beat on me. Pain Central for this week. Gonna do the Cat 2 race before the Pro race to win some cash before I get beat on.

Then...
Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 Hr. in Fayetteville, TN on Sat. 2nd race of the USAC Ultraendurance Championship Series. I am currently tied for 4th. The goal is to ride well and move up into the top 3.
I'll let you know how it turns out! DH

Motorpacing Night

Got out with the guys for some motorpacing last night. Big crits next week to get ready for. We probably should have started motorpacing a month ago, but what the heck! Got in about 45 miles last night, mostly at 35-40mph. Some of the team had never done it so I guess it was good practice for them. I meanwhile was trying to see just how close I could get off the bumper ( fortunately we had a good road and a smooth driver or I would not do this and do not recommend anyone else do it without getting use to it first. Trained professional and whatnot.) Had a couple of tense moments where we had to come around the car in corners (cars corner way slower than the driver thinks they do!). That was fun as well. Anyway(s) we got in a couple of good hours of speedwork and headed home. Funny how you can turn over 2 gears higher on the way home ( into the wind ) than you did on the way out after that type of workout. Motorpacing "redefines" your perception of speed.
Got in another great ride this morning- a few hours in the sun makes the rest of the day go well. DH

Cohutta Write Up

Basic Cohutta Race Write Up:
7 am. start- Rain- It wouldn't stop for 5 hrs. Very fast up the 1st climb. About 200 in my category. I'm cruisin' about 15-20 guys back in the pack. Someone attacks with "old school fury" over the top of the climb and I come off. Not wanting to go that hard, I back off and figure I'll settle in with the 2nd. group. There are about 30 in the front group. Surprise- no one in sight behind me. I guess the top 35 or so guys blew off the front and left everyone else ASAP.
This worked pretty well for me because I had a clean shot at the singletrack when we hit it. I started picking guys off pretty quick once I hit the trail. This went on for awhile, suffering on the climbs and recovering on the downhills. Putting out as little effort as possible while still maintaining decent speed.
About a mile and a half from the first aid station I break the chain. Great- no tool, couldn't find it in the toolbox before I left. No one had one so I figured my race was over and walked the mile and a half to the aid station. Hung out there for awhile as no one there had a tool either. Finally, after about 10 mins., I hear a guy coming up the hill with a flat tire. He was hollerin' out to see if anyone had an air cartridge. I said " I've got 4 for you if you've got a chain tool!" He had one and dropped it for me while he filled his leaky tire.
Game on again. I figured I just lost about 30 spots and 15-20 mins., but it was a long race and anything can happen. So, on I go- trying to stay steady and not chase too hard. I know how hard this race is and I'll need it later.
For the next 5 hours, I steadily pass people back. I keep it nice and steady doing damage control on the climbing and punch it hard on the rollers-making up time there and on the downhills. I meet up with Nathan around 50 miles in. He is cramping pretty bad and we get separated after a few miles.
Finally, after 92 miles I hit the last aid station and the last climb of the day. I stay as strong as I can up the singletrack and top out at 94-95 miles. All downhill from here. I have to struggle to keep it togather on the downhill as I'm coming apart at the seams and having problems focusing on the trail.
Mile 99- out of the singletrack and on to the bike path to the finish. I spy Floyd Landis and Chris Scott ahead. I pin it then figuring I might have to turn myself inside out but I'm gonna try to catch them. I come up fast and go as hard as I can. I come by fast and they can't really react as I drill it to the finish. I'm cramping badly and hope I don't crack and get passed back. That would be embarassing. I hold it out to the line, almost catching another guy but running out of racecourse. I ended up 24th place. Not too bad with the mechanical and all ( had to repair the chain one more time too). Exhausted, Nathan and I eat, pack up and head home. DH

Cohutta 100 Pictures

Nasty hard race. Rain for 6 hours. 2 1/2 miles of elevation gain. No idea how I finished, slow results. Here's some pictures, I'll post a write up soon. DH

Weekend Preview

Looking forward to a great weekend. Gonna leave tomorrow night with Nathan. Driving up to Asheville to stay at Robert's on Thurs. night. Getting up on Friday morning to run by Cane Creek and give everyone a hard time. Got to get a carbon rim to replace my broken race wheel while I'm there. Then it's on to Ducktown, TN for the Cohutta 10,000 gravel road extravaganza. We are going to ride all the singletrack sections on friday. 73 deg. and sunny temps should make the trail that much better. If I remember correctly from last year, the trail sections were really good. Camp out Fri. night and throw down on Sat. Floyd Landis is suppose to show up and throw everyone a beating. That has no impact whatsoever on my race. I don't care who else is there. All I want to do is beat my time from last year and I'll be happy. The weather forecast is looking favorable for Sat. as well. 67 degrees and rain showers. I love racing in the rain. It's great to see guys that are normally much stronger than I am have spectacular meltdowns in bad conditions. It will be a heck of a day one way or the other! DH

Baker's Dozen No Go

Didn't race this weekend. Went up to Charlotte w/ Liza and Alex. Liza ran a 10K running race Sat. morning. We stayed w/ Liza's Grandmother south of Charlotte. The 10K went good, the rain held off for the most part. Got done around 11:00 , then I got to ride. Was looking for 4 hrs. at least so I headed south towards the Leroy Springs trails in Fort Mill. Did a 12 hr. race there in November and remembered the trails being very good and close by. It took me 25 min. or so to get there, then I was on dirt. The trails were in good shape and I had a great time till the rain showed up. After an hour or so it started storming, harder and harder. I got muddier and cold, I didn't want to tear up the trails or my bike so I ducked out to the baseball fields and hid out in a dugout. Called Liza and 15 min. later she came to collect me.
Got back, took a shower, ate 2 pieces of Key Lime pie, and zonked out on the couch for about an hour. Slept on the way home too. And all last night. Guess I was tired- I guess 4 nights of no sleep will do that to you.
Anyways, looking forward to Cohutta 1,000 gravel road extravaganza this weekend. Should be fun. Later-DH

Foggy Morning

Got up really early this morning to go get in a couple of hours on the MTB before work. Made it up to the trails about 7:15 and got ready to ride. Very foggy out. Nice and misty too. The ferns and other vegetation were very bright green. Combined with the fog the place looked like I was on Endor. I halfway expected to see Ewoks and stormtroopers battling it out. Anyways, the trails were in great condition and the first lap went by before I knew it. Got hung up for awhile at the " jump" area, someone has been digging alot there. There were 3 or 4 new sets of double jumps that caught my attention for a half an hour or so. I soon realized that if I didn't get back to riding I would be late to work so I took off. The 2nd lap went by faster than the first and I got back to the car just in time. #1 to get to work, and #2 just in time for food as I had started to come apart a little near the end of the ride.

Load up and drive in to work. Greeted by UPS and a big box of tires. Thanks Maxxis!

I'm a slave to the computer right now as I am waiting to find out if the race on Saturday will be cancelled for the 2nd weekend in a row. We'll see- I really want to race. Later- DH

Why the Mountain Bike is cool to ride on the road:

Got a great ride in yesterday evening. Headed out from the shop on my mountain bike. Hit the greenway and headed south. The plan was to go to John's Island, loop over the big bridge and head back. Got on the road at the end of the greenway for awhile and decided to do some exploring. There is a railroad line that parallels Hwy 17 for miles and miles. I decided to ride down it. There was an access road on a few sections, others I rode down the tracks. Riding down the tracks was better the faster you went. That is unless there was a crosstie missing. Had to pull off some quick maneuvering every now and then. Got way out in the middle of nowhere and rode across a long section of bridge over the marsh. Pretty cool or nerve wracking to ride. Had about 8 inches to ride on then a rail on one side, 15 foot drop into water on the other, tires going whump, whump, whump.
Anyways, got to the next road crossing down at Hwy 162, hung a right, merged onto Hwy 17 and headed north back to Charleston.
Pretty cool day, wish I'd brought my camera. Nice to ride some new stuff every once and awhile, even if it is unconventional. Later-DH

Manchester State Forest

Since today's 13 Hr. race was rescheduled on next saturday, Brad and I drove up to Sumter to go for a ride yesterday. The trails were in great shape and very fast. Nice day, we got in 3 hrs. for around 35 miles. Rode tempo for the most part. Had to kick it up to race pace for a few minutes on Cambell pond trail to see how the legs were doing. They are good to go for next weekend. Later- DH

I just wanna ride!

Yeah- I'm sitting here with nothing to do. It's raining out. All I want to do is go for a night ride tonight. By myself for a couple of hours out at the trails. Quiet, smooth, in my own personal tunnel of bliss. Not gonna happen though. Guess I'll ride the rollers. Again. I'll just have to close my eyes and imagine.
DH

Diagnosis

Still looking forward to Sat.'s race. Babying my leg by riding easy, I want to go out to the trails tomorrow and drill it. Better not. I'll be raring to go for this weekend though.

Got back started with my chiropractor from a few years back. Had some X- Rays, assessments ,and other scans done on Mon. Went back today for the diagnosis and to figure out what to do. He didn't really know where to start there are so many problems. Most stem from the 7mm leg length discrepancy. My left hip drops and causes pain in the right. This explains why my right leg has been junk the last couple of years. An orthotic will solve a good bit of this.
Another area of concern is my neck. There has been so much trauma over the last 32 years that my neck is not bent right. There is suppose to be a nice curve in the spine there, but 2 vertebrae are curved then the next 3 or 4 are straight. Basically, he told me that I REALLY don't need to crash anymore. Multiple whiplash "events" have wreaked havoc around the base of my skull. Maybe that is why it creaks and groans every time I turn my head. This can be fixed with adjustments and exercises that I can do. He mentioned traction exercises too but that is a last resort.
Then my back is jacked up around T12 -14. He didn't mention anything about my gallbladder problems in the last few months but I did some research and that is the area that is connected to the gallbladder. Possibility there.
Anyways- Now I know what the problems are for sure and what to do about the problems. I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel now and I will soon be able to train like I should and take care of business.
DH Out.

Weekend Outlook

This weekend will hopefully be better than last. Racing in the Baker's Dozen 13 Hr. race this weekend. Gonna race the 2 man team with Brad. Never done a duo before. Should be fun. My legs should be fresh, they felt great last Saturday in NC. I haven't been riding a ton this week, trying to ease off my right hamstring- it's a little pulled right now. Got some time in on the rollers tonight and it felt better.
My new mountain bike fork will be in on Thurs. and I'm really excited about that. I got a Bontrager Switchblade fork. Gonna ride rigid singlespeed for a bit. It just feels better. The bike is so quiet, simple, and light. Most of the time I think the rigid fork is just as fast as the suspension. Most of the time. I like the singlespeed as well, it makes me ride harder up hill- can't ease off and spin. The only drawback is on the flats getting spun out. Fortunately, I am a road sprinter and can hold high RPMs for quite a while.
Anyways- looking forward to this weekend, driving up on Fri. AM to pre-ride and hang out. Brad managed to reserve an 18th century Huegenot cabin for us to stay in. Should be a fun weekend.
I'll let you know. DH

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