My ride

Rainy Day Boredem

Rained all day today. That's just as well though- went out for 5 1/2 hrs. yesterday but only got in 4 1/2. My knee was killing me from where I smacked the stem last Sat. I had good rides all week, did some Muscle Tension intervals on Thur. Maybe those irritated it again. Whatever it is, rain poured all day so I got to rest up.

Did get a new digital camera for my fast approaching birthday (31 on Mar 2). That should help me get some decent pictures up here soon.

Managed to get a ton of stuff up on E Bay too so hopefully I'll have enough scratch to get to some big races this year. Best wishes for a sunny warm week coming up. Later-DH

New Stuff

Got some new stuff for my ride this week. There has been a Maverick SC32 fork hanging out for awhile up here at the Creek. There were some plans to produce fork cartridges for Maverick but the plan got scrapped. Sooo.. after alot of harrassing and bugging people I got the OK to "requisition" it. Install, build a wheel, and put on the new Kenda Small Block 8 tire and I was ready to roll. Did 3 hrs. yesterday at Bent Creek and am really diggin the fork. It took me awhile to get it set up right but once I did it was ON. I really like long travel. I have a KHS FS frame that will be here soon I hope because the hardtail is not going to cut it anymore. I can go faster now with that fork than my old Reba, fast enough to surpass the capabilities of my hardtail. That Small Block 8 tire rips too... I was trying hard to break it loose but it is very sticky. Anyways- hoping for a new frame soon- got a sweet rear shock waiting for it too. Later- DH

Winter

I hate winter. Did 2 hrs today in the most insane wind that I have ever ridden in. I had a hard time staying in my lane. Not holding my line, but staying in my lane and on the road. The best part of the ride was doing intervals up Terry's gap. Normally that would be the most dreaded part for me but it was great today. At least while I was doing the intervals I was suppose to be hurting. The temp. kept dropping and the wind picking up, then it started snowing on me. Tough day- completely blew apart at the seams about a mile from the end. Had to sit on a bench in the locker room for 1/2 an hour before I could manage to make it into the shower. Yep- I'm about done with winter now, thinking warm thoughts of Florida. Later- DH

Getting it dialed in

It's been so cold here lately that riding has been really tough. My saddle sores have saddle sores because I've been on the rollers so much. Not today though- It was sunny, dry, and 40+ degrees out and I was jonesin for a good offroad ride. Loaded the KHS into the Megavan and blasted up to DuPont. I was not dissapointed. It was dry everywhere and slightly tacky in the turns. You could really rip out there today. Hit the turn hot-drift ,and the tires would hook up just in time to exit the turn without loosing speed. It was the most fun I've had out there in a long time. This time of year I have a pretty strict heartrate ceiling but I couldn't help myself today. It's been too long since I rode on hardpack and I had to keep ratcheting up the intensity. I think I am finally getting close to a good setup on the KHS. Made a few adjustments today and it feels pretty darn good now. I installed a Cane Creek Thudbuster seatpost and returned to XC weeny world with a low stem, flat bar, and bar ends. Forgot how fast you can crank uphill with this setup. Got in a couple of hrs. today and it felt good; gonna go out for 4-5 more hrs. tomorrow and see it my body csn handle the position. Feels really fast now but if it ain't fast all day it don't do me no good. Got some cool pics today DH out.

Laurel Mountain Escapades

Well, it's been awhile since I posted and I promise to post more regularly in the future. Got in a great ride today. It was finally a nice day out so I bounced out of work a few minutes early to go ride. I decided to ride Laurel Mtn./ Pilot Rock today. I figured I could get to the top in about an hour, then do the downhill in the dark, lights were charged so I was ready to roll. I'm really glad I rode that trail today as it was in almost perfect condition. I was able to clean all but 2 spots on the way up, made it up 2 rock sections I have never made before. There were some pretty cool ice sections over some of the rock sections making it a bit interesting. Made it up the bottom third of the hike a bike before I had to walk, then rode from the second switchback of the hike a bike until the left turn to descend Pilot Rock. I was really stoked about that, there is some tough climbing there. As I was climbing I saw some of the coolest light I have ever seen here in Pisgah. The sky was still crystal clear blue with furrows of hot pink clouds. All of the light, which was rapidly fading was bright orange and bathed the ridges and treetops with a warm glow. Everything looked orange except the pink clouds streaking the sky above my head. It was the closest thing to alpenglow that I have seen on the east coast and was over all too soon.
Time to go downhill now so I turned on the light as it got pretty dark all of a sudden and I thought the downhill would be fairly suicidal if I didn't use the light. I haad never ridden Pilot Rock at night before and it turned out to be as much fun as I hoped it would. I actually had better lines than in the day and had no problem blasting through every section. Well, almost no problems- on one of the wide open fast sections, I didn't see a fallen tree trunk sticking out from the bushes about 12" high. Caught that sucker right on top of my ankle, it almost cleaned me off the bike- it hurt so bad. Luckily, it was so cold out that it soon went numb. Finished up the downhill with the worst part of the ride- the forest road back to Yellow Gap where the Megavan was stashed. That road was horrible- it is mostly downhill and you can run 20-30 mph almost the whole way-that is torure when it is only 30 degrees out. Got back to the van just before the onset of Hypothermia and Rally carred it down the road to home. Great ride confiming that Laurel Mtn. is my favorite ride around.

Man Down!! Medic!!

Wwnt out on a ride this afternoon w/ the Sycamore Cycles crew. Eric and Hugh from the Aerospace team were in town so I invited them as well. Wanted to get in 3-4 hrs. nice and mellow on the mountain bikes so we figured out a good route and took off. First up was North Slope trail- a nice 3.5 mile loop. We rocket up the climb w/ Wes D setting a good tempo, get to the top and regroup to start the downhill. There were numerous close calls due to the massive leaf fall on the trail but it was still fun. Nearing the end of the DH I decided that I hadn't had a hard crash since the Wissahickon Cross race back in Oct. and wondered to myself if I could still crash really hard and get messed up bad. If you have ridden N. Slope you know there is a tiny section of nasty rooty steps near the end. Today they were wet and covered with leaves. Nope, I did not answer my previously pondered question here- I did however crash spectacularly on a tiny section of wet roots 100 yards later. I have ridden that trail hundreds of times and had not even noticed that root before. However, it was my lucky day and the cosmos and stars and whatever aligned perfectly to drop me like I had an Aneurism or been shot by a sniper. After nearly being run over by The Weapon, regaining my feet and composure, ( in that order ) I brushed the mud off my white vest (a wise fashion choice today) and surveyed the damage. Surprisingly I got off relatively easy, until I saw the hole in my knee. It was the big enough to stick the tip of my pinky finger in ( I know this because I had to try it- much to my surprise it hurt very badly when I did that!) Anyways, the hole had big chunks of skin hanging off it and was rapidly releasing my blood into the open where I did not want it to go. So I pull my knee warmer down to cover it up- that will fix it and we ride on. After another 2 1/2 - 3 hrs. we roll back into town at the right time because the temp. had dropped 10-15 degrees. I go searching for Ibuprophen and go home to clean up. I'll spare the details of the cleanup but it did involve tiny scissors, toenail clippers, rubbing alchohol, neosporin, towels, and a large dressing. Lifting weights tomorrow will be fun!! Later- DH

How it went down

I Dave Hall went to Wes Dickson's birthday party. Not Harland Price's. But Wes'. All the usual suspects were present. A good time was had by all- well nearly all, the Yeti will have it rough tomorrow. The KOP seemed to be having a great time, which is always fun to be around. Anyways- Happy Birthday Wes and good luck next year.

UCI cross weekend

Drove to Philly (10 hrs.) for the Verge Mid Atlantic UCI cross races @ Granouge Estate in DE and the Wissahickon cross in PA. Stayed w/ Ben and Terri (who is very pregnant and thankfully did not give birth while I was there ) and got to check out lots of cool stuff in Philly. Rode through Camden, NJ ( highest murder rate in the US), saw Independence Hall/ Liberty Bell, the Dolly Madison House ( yes, the same one that makes the delicious pastries in convenience stores), ate the most phenominal french toast ever (huge with a layer of cream cheese and bananas between slices), checked out Manayunk, and saw a comedy show (the headliner was Biff from back to the future). Oh yeah- I did also race. How did that go? 2 front flats at high speed + 1 rolled tubular= 2 hard crashes. 2 hard crashes = multiple lacerations + 1 good head whack + 1 dislocated thumb + lots of time fixing bike and running around = getting lapped and finishing 48th and 52nd respectively. 2 many equations there. Better luck next time and thanks for playing. By the way Ryan Trebon absolutely DESTROYED a stacked field. Look out fellas cause I don't think he can be stopped.
This weekend should go better, going to a small local race to lick my wounds and feel better about myself. Plus I get to race in a costume for bonus points! Rock On! Later-DH

Off to A Beating

I'm off to Wilmington, DE for the Verge Mid Atlantic Cyclocross Series #1. These are big time UCI races- they don't get any bigger on American soil. I checked the start lists and all the heat has registered. Loaded up the megavan and I'm off. I'll post afterwords if I can still form a cognitive thought process. Later-DH

Bluegrass, barriers, and campfire pizza

Loaded up the megavan w/ camping equipment, cyclocross equipment,Liza and Alex and headed up to Johnston City, TN for some MSG cross action on Sat. Got there, warmed up and got ready to race. Hadn't ridden in a couple of days so my legs were really stale. The plan was to start slow and work in to it. Gun goes off and we race up the pavement. Somehow I get the holeshot. Plan A ( starting mellow) is abandoned- I am leading so no choice but to drill it. The race gets strung out pretty quick , I ride smooth in 2nd. 2 guys catch me and from the sound of their wheezing I know they won't get far. Sure enough, they detonate soon, I roll by, get on the gas and am gone. Can't catch 1st, he is in another county by now, so I roll in for 2nd. Pack up the van, get my check and we are off to Kentucky.

We stop for the night in a place called Jellico, TN. It's up by the TN/KY border. They are suppose to have a state park here. We find it and I set up camp. Liza and Alex drive off to find a Wal-Mart and some firewood. Shortly after they leave I saw an A-10 Warthog plane fly over at treetop level, bank west, circle, do a barrel roll, and fly upside down over the ridge and out of sight. I would hate to be an enemy of the US Government in a tank.
The megavan has been gone awhile and I am starting to get a little worried. I am from Western Carolina and I am going to go ahead and call this area a little backwoods hillbilly. By now it is dark and getting cold. Alas- headlights! The magavan has returned. They drove 15 miles into KY and there is no firewood in sight. They did requisition some charcoal however so I get that rolling while Alex does what he does- goes to mooch some firewood somewhere in the campground.
Alex is successful and so is Liza, the pizzas are on the grill and cooking. After dinner, we walk through the campground and get treated to an impromtu concert. We are treated to the stylings of Johnny Cash-done in Blugrass. Off to bed.

Wake up, DiDi, and hit the Huddle House for some huddlin' up on grease. Back in the car and head to race #2. Pre ride the course-lots of 180s and a run up the size of Mt. Everest. Legs don't feel great so I decide to go for yesterday's plan A again. This time I execute the last place start to perfection. On the 2nd lap I can't ride that slow anymore so I attack the group I'm in and drop 4 guys. At least I'm not last anymore. Start picking off guys lap by lap as Mt.Everest keeps growing, I almost don't make it the last lap but roll on in for 5th, the last spot in the $.
Repeat yasterday- pack van, grab check, go home.

Long drive home. Crappy meal at Denny's but that was balanced out due to the fact that we saw an RV on Fire on the side of the road. Hope everyone got out OK.
Pictures soon. Until next time- DH Out.

Photos

More photos can be found at http://jjakucyk.rwaarchitects.com/stampede2006