After a lot of work on numbers, totaling up inventory and finding out about insurance coverage, we finally got a number given to us for actual purchase price. It was much higher than we expected, more than I think the shop is worth with its current business load and stock. I had my hopes up for a few weeks, but in the end it was not to be. I could not justify moving or having a crazy-long commute everyday to stick my neck out so far for a shop that depends solely on one trail. LBL and the Canal Loop provide the majority of the customers to the shop. LBL is controlled by the Forest Service. While the Forest Service is promoting mountain biking right now, they have made some questionable decisions regarding mountain biking in the past, so I feel business is not always guaranteed in that area.The shop is still for sale if you want to take a stab at it.
Real winter arrived to Tennessee in the middle of January. I have finally found a group in Clarksville that likes to ride with me. The Riverside Bicycle Racing team (RBR) started a weekly night ride on Tuesdays to keep the miles going through the winter. They invited me out one night for a 53-mile ride. It was stupid cold. I was nervous about it for several reasons. For one thing, it was only 30 degrees when I left out just before sunset. I had been riding outside in the 30s, but most of my efforts had been very intense cyclocross efforts. Those keep you very warm and even if you do get cold, the house is always just a minute or two away. This ride would take me a long way from home where even cutting out early would mean at least another hour to get home. I was not used to layering this much with those intense efforts. The wind would test my winter clothing layering skills, which I had only put to the test once on the road in the past month. I also had not tried to push my distance in a while with the gastrocs. The left one had still been bothering me since Montgomery Bell and this would be at least a three hour ride.
I left home in the daylight, but it was dark by the time I met up with the group. The temp dropped to 27 and was windy, but we all survived thanks to everyone dressing right and the hilly route Paul Carter picked out for us. My hands rarely do well with temps that cold, but they only got cold in the last 15 minutes. I finished the full ride with no gastroc pain! The right one felt great, but I did have some tightness on the left for the second half of the ride. I was excited because that was my first ride over three hours without pain since this all started back in October!
The next weekend was another race weekend. The Nashville Dirt Championships of the World ws the final cyclocross race of the season in middle Tennessee. This race was actually a double-header, featuring both cyclocross and short track mountain bike races on an old golf course near Nashville. The forecast was for a really cold day, like starting at 20 degrees and topping out at 27. I have not had heat or air conditioning in my car for about three years. I had my issue checked out by several people and they all felt it was a big job. It sounded awful to do by yourself and the estimates I got were over $1200. That's more than my old Taurus is worth. The recent cold had me motivated to look into the problem for myself and determine whether it really was too big of an undertaking for me. This race forecast really lit the fire under me to get it done. I would never be able to keep warm between races if I had no heat in those kind of temperatures.
After a few days of research, I discovered it was not the big problem everyone thought. It was merely a fan motor problem, which was accessible from the cab. While it was not easy to fit myself into the position necessary to reach the mounting bolts, it was a fairly easy and cheap replacement job. The car was nice and toasty on race day. The weather cooperated more than we expected, giving us sunny skies and temps climbing all the way to the upper-30s. The wind was the worst thing today as the open layout of the golf course gave you no shelter.
The short track mountain bike races were in the morning, then cyclocross came at midday. I raced the A Race for the short track, which was mostly Pro and Cat. 1 racers. Race length was 30 minutes. The course was all open, basically being made up of one long descent and two climbs. The start was on a paved golf cart path that descended into grass before a few quick turns. Then came a bigger downhill on the cart path, which ended with back-to-back 180-degree turns that lead to a sand trap sandpit. You had to turn into the sandpit, which made it a bit more challenging. Then came a long climb in the grass that was steepest at the top. There were a few quick grassy turns, a log crossing and then a flat dirt road to take you to the next climb. This climb was a steep paved hill that took you past the parking lot and then around a building where registration was housed. A quick pass behind the building led to a paved sprint to the finish.
Short Track course map
B Race riders finishing up
Close finishes in the B Race
We had 14 riders on the start line. I wanted to get the hole shot. I've been working on my start a lot with our practice races at home. It paid off as I easily got out front and led the opening section. I gladly let Chris Cooper come by on the second part of the descent so he could block some wind for me as we dropped down toward the sandpit. The pit was packed down and really not much of an issue like I had expected. You could almost berm the backside of the pit and actually gain speed.
A Race start line
Start
photo by Greg O'Loughlin
First time down the hill
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Out front
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Chris Cooper in front
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
The first time up the long climb was like an explosion. I think every rider went all-out. I did not want to go that far into the red zone that early, so I set my own pace and dropped back in the field. I think I was in 8th at the top. I had my MaxxLite 310 tires on my hardtail today and the tires were very fast rolling on the pavement. I drilled the paved climb every lap and that helped me regain positions.
Top of the hill on lap 1
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Seth Ruhling and Hank Campbell got a gap on the first lap and were able to stay ahead for a few laps. Jason Tatum was chasing in third. He was crushing the long climb. I was up to 4th after a few laps and tried to bridge to Jason, but he was just too strong up the climb. The long grassy climb was my nemesis today. I could gain 5-10 seconds on the descents, over the log and up the paved climb, but I was dropping 15 seconds up the grassy climb.
Hank Campbell
Me chasing two riders early in the race
Seth was able to drop Hank up the climb halfway through the race. Jason then caught and passed Hank for second. I was able to then get across to Hank with two laps to go. We had a good battle those last two laps. I tried to attack him up both climbs, but he hung with me. Once we took the bell, I realized it was going to be a sprint, so I started backing off to save up for a big attack at the top of the paved hill. It looked to me that whoever got to the building first would win. The sprint was just too short to pass somebody before the line.
Jason Tatum now in front of Hank
Me chasing in 4th
Chris Cooper running 5th
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Dustin Sperber on the paved climb
Jason now alone in 2nd
Hank climbing the paved hill with me in pursuit
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
I had hoped he would not attack me up the grass climb and he didn't so we came to the pavement together. I kept the pace just high enough to discourage an attack at the bottom. Near the top, I hit the gas hard, just as Hank was attacking too. We went bar to bar into the next corner, but I was a little faster and beat him through the turns to lead into the turn around the building. We came into the corner a little hot. I couldn't make the turn and had to go wide, blowing through the course tape. Hank also had too much speed and was forced to follow me through the tape. We both jumped back on course and I took the sprint for the position. Seth took the win, Jason was second and I took a podium in third.
Me and Hank on the last lap
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
B Race podium with Paul Carter on top. He was very interested in the bag and cool frame trophy.
Seth Ruhling and I on the podium. The dog was filling in for Jason.
I had a good gap between races, I had time to watch the early cross races and get my bike ready. The course was the same as the short track with an addition at the end of the lap. Instead of going around the building, we curved left and went down a rough descent in the grass into an off-camber turn that spit you out onto the paved cart path. Then we were treated to a steep climb that was nothing short of awful. The cart path was the same steep grade all the way up, but then at the top you had two grass humps that were even steeper. After the top, we went behind the building and then to the finish. The only thing I did not like about this course was the lack of dismounts. There were no barriers and the log was small, so there was nothing to make you get off your bike.
Cross course map
Start of the CX 4/5 race
Photo by SORBA Mid TN
CX 4/5 race
For once I felt like a picture showed the steepness of a hill
There was no Singlespeed race, so I only had to worry about the Pro/1/2/3 race today. We were scheduled for 60 minutes of golf course fun. We had 14 riders for this race as well. I did not get as good of a start and was probably 10th or so by the time we got down the hill to the sandpit. The skinny cross tires cut into the sand, totally changing it from the packed pit we had in the short track race. It actually got difficult to ride, getting deeper as the race went on. I struggled again on the long climb.
CX 1/2/3 start line
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Start
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Travis Werts and Shannon Williams out front
Pete Young
Trav on the log
Jean-Paul McNeely
Me on the log
John Gore
Chris Daffin
Photo by Chase Hardin
After a slow start of again struggling on the long grassy climb, I began to move up, getting all the way up to 5th at one point. Then I got into a big battle with John Carr, Arvin Jansen and Jean-Paul McNeely for fourth. McNeely attacked us hard on the paved climb and took the other two away from me. I am getting stronger, but the accelerations were really too much for me. I chased after them, finally getting back by Arvin with a few laps to go. Arvin was having a great ride today and stayed with me. His light weight really came in handy on the steep climb to the finish.
Travis powering up the climb
Shannon Williams and Pete battle for 2nd
Pete
photo by Greg O'Loughlin
McNeely
Me and McNeely on the steepest part of the climb
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Arvin and I went back and forth the last few laps. He kept attacking me on the climbs, each time getting a gap. I would hold my pace and catch back up. I was much faster over the log and through the turns, but there was not enough technical features to balance out the climbs. This was a legs-and-lungs race for sure. Arvin finally got a big enough gap on the last lap that I couldn't get him back. He held me off up the steep climb at the end to take 6th, while I ended up 7th. Travis Werts dominated the race and took the top spot on the day.
Me and Arvin on the climb in the closing laps
photo by Bryan Bloebaum
Arvin attacking me up the paved climb
Photo by Sunny Izreal
Photo by Sunny Izreal
McNeely weaving on the last lap.
John Carr and Arvin Jansen
Arvin
Lots of suffering today
The last time up the hill really hurt
I was happy with the race. It was a really fun event and a great workout for this time of year. I can't imagine that I would have ridden that hard or that long at home on a 35-degree day. I'm continuing to see good progress with my gastroc. The left side was fatigued by the end of the race today, but not tight or painful. I still have a lot of work to do to get it back to 100% and get my fitness back to where it should be, but I'm getting there.
Thanks to all who snapped pictures during the race. Again, I hope I gave everyone credit as it has been too long for me to remember where I got some of the photos. We have video posted below if you want to get a glimpse of the racing.
Video: Nashville Dirt Championships footage
The cold stayed in place after the race and kept me inside on the trainer for several days. I keep myself entertained with watching European cyclocross races while I ride the trainer. Cross videos keep me going after college football season ends while I await the start of supercross.
The extra time indoors also gave us time to finish drying out our peanuts from the Fall harvest and cook them. They were very good! I was not expecting a lot from our first attempt, but they were some good peanuts! I ate plenty, but also kept a few for replanting in the Spring. Right now, we are enjoying our winter plantings of broccoli and Brussels sprouts. This is our first attempt at Brussels and so far they have done well. They're a good food for anyone looking the save a few calories. Very filling, with low calories and good nutrient content. I'm not big on the taste of green things, but Shannon has made a few recipes that are really good. We also attempted cauliflower again this year (for the second time) and were again unsuccessful. The winter freeze came just before the heads were fully ready and we lost them all.
Pan of roasted peanuts
Tennessee Red Valencia peanuts out of the shell
More about winter training, snow and a concert in the next post. Thanks for reading!
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