My priority was to get things moved in this final week. The rest of the family was bent on doing other things that I felt could wait until the move was over. They were building a wall in the kitchen and changing outlet plugs. We were running out of days to bring our stuff over. Me bringing over stuff and putting it into the garage apparently made it too difficult for everyone to work comfortably. They refused to help me move and so Shannon and I had to do a lot on our own. We tried to leave the biggest items for when we had help. Then my Dad tried to sell his trailer, the only trailer we have access to, before we had even used it. I have no idea what he was thinking. Shannon and I had to move some of the bigger items by ourselves at midnight one night because a guy was coming to look at the trailer the next morning. Luckily, he didn't buy it. I've had to really think about how to write about the end of our move. I've come to the conclusion that less is better. All I will say is that the actions of some of our family members was unbelievable and disappointing. They not only made us do these late night moves alone, but actually tried to make it harder for us to complete the move. It was sabotage at times. One person even admitted to doing it on purpose, and I quote, "to show you how hard real life is." I don't understand the point, especially considering Shannon and I have been living "real life" for more than five years. We haven't been mooching in someone's basement with no rent and having someone do our laundry for us. We live on our own, unsupported by anyone and are doing quite well I think. I just couldn't believe my family would do things like that to us.
I had hoped to be done with the move by Memorial weekend when Shannon's parents were coming to visit. We had planned this visit with them almost a year ago. We were going to take them to the lake where my parents camp and planned to camp, fish and cook up a big meal. I didn't want them to get here and be put to work all weekend. But that's what happened because we were not finished and because they wanted to work. They helped us a lot. We got most of the move finished thanks to their help. It still was not smooth as it rained most of the weekend and my Dad got his truck and trailer stuck in the mud on the farm, which took us a while to get out. I actually pulled the truck out with my car and a long rope, but it took a tractor to go through the mud to get the trailer. We did end up getting to at least visit the lake. There was no fishing or overnight camping, but we did fire up the grill for some chicken and ribs. We also discovered a new ice cream shop in Pleasant View called Golly G's. They have great ice cream and bakery desserts. It's nice to finally have a place like this close to home.
Lake Barkley provided a nice view for our cookout
My Dad riding out onto the flooded dock
During this weekend, Shannon and I rode the CRAM tour ride in Clarksville. We did it on the tandem, but did only the 62-mile route versus the 100-mile option we were targeting. Our build-up just didn't work out with a combination of moving, frequent poor weather and mechanical issues. We knew we could make 62 miles as we had completed two 65-mile rides, so we were able to ride it hard with no real worries. We hooked up with a small group early on and rolled 22+ mph for the first half of the ride. We could actually see the front group ahead for the first 20 miles.
After the halfway point of our route, we lost our group after they stopped at a rest stop while we continued on. It left us out alone in a stiff headwind for about eight miles. We did well though, still rolling 19-20 mph steadily which is faster than we have ridden in training. We got caught by a faster group behind that was trying to go sub-three hours for the 62-mile loop. We hopped on the back of the group for a while, then wound up doing a lot of pulling before the finish. We made it in sub-three hours, completing the course in 2:59:44 with a 20.5 mph average speed. My goal was to average 17 mph because I thought we would be alone, but we had the speed to hang with the groups today and being able to draft really helped us. It was our first time ever riding the tandem in a group. When we finished, neither of us felt very tired. Shannon looked better than I have ever seen her look after a tandem ride. My legs were tight from the constant seated pushing on such a flat course, but I could have kept going. I still think 100 miles would have been miserable, but I think we could have done at least 80 today with a group. Eventually, we are going to make a full century on the tandem.
Dina and I got to ride our backyard mountain bike trail on Memorial Day. It was my first time riding straight from our new house. It takes about one minute of riding to be on the trail. That is going to be so nice this summer! We also wrapped up the move thanks to our friend Austin and his help with moving out our giant freezer. I am excited for him as he will be moving into our old farm house, which his parents own. He was so excited that he started bringing over furniture before I could even get our last things out of the house. He helped me move the freezer and I helped him move in his new furniture. It was the most fun part of this whole move.
Leaving the farm was bittersweet. I will miss the open space, the lack of neighbors, our great friends who happened to also be our landlords, and the new cows. Taylor has decided to stop farming tobacco now and focus just on cattle. He finally finished the new fence and moved the cows over. I will miss their entertainment as they can be really funny. The cows even come over to me every now and then when I'm out in the yard, usually wanting me to give them a snack, which I usually do.
First evening with cows on the farm
What a bunch of heifers
Who needs hands when you have a tongue like that!
Last time relaxing on the dock. Lots of good moments on this dock.
Some of the things I won't miss are the amount traffic and noise of living on a busy road, the constant litter tossed out into my yard, and paying rent. The littering is ridiculous. Every day I could pick up a bucket of trash. I think it's the same people doing it as it is the same trash over and over. I can tell you exactly where they eat, what beer they drink and what cigarettes they smoke. I just wish I knew where they lived so I could return the cans, wrappers and food bags they lost in my yard. I'm sure they would love to get them back.
June kicked off with the sixth round of the SERC Series at the legendary BUMP N' Grind at Oak Mountain. This race was the biggest race in the southeast for many years and still carries a certain prestige about it. I was glad to see it added to the SERC Series this year as most of the SERC riders usually make the trip to Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, AL for this event each year. I had a lot of fun on my last trip to BUMP which came two years ago. I did the Omnium competition then, made up of Air Downhill, Short Track, Super D and XC events over two days. There was no Omnium this year as they decided not to do a Short Track race. Even though all the SERC points were awarded for the XC, I went for the full weekend, doing Super D and Air Downhill on Saturday.
My Remedy is possibly permanently out of commission, so my bike for all three events was the new Epic. I was a bit nervous about using carbon wheels in the gravity events, but these courses are fairly tame with no major drops or huge jumps where I might slam the wheels a bit harder than they would like.
The Super D kicked off the festivities on Saturday morning. Practice started early so we drove down Friday night and camped in the nice campground the park offers. That let us relax before practice and be at the top of the mountain when practice started. I took two runs before the race, making adjustments on the bike. It was the first time I had ridden this many rocks at this kind of speed, so I had to change my suspension set-up from what I normally run. I also had to add some air to the tires as I could really feel the rear tire flexing in the turns.
Our home for the weekend
The course is a short and fast one. It's more of a downhill course than a Super D as it has no climb, but does require some pedaling early in the course. The top section is rolling along the top of the mountain, gradually losing elevation with multiple turns and a few little jumps. Then you make a hard left into the infamous "Blood Rock" section, which is a monster rock garden with several steep drops coming into a pile of rocks. Once you exit Blood Rock, the course points downhill over some rough terrain. The trail is fast and littered with rocks. It's a good place for a flat tire. You have to be on your toes to pick good lines as things happen fast at this speed. After the rocks, the trail turns to more dirt with several technical root wads before a set of switchbacks to get to the bottom and the finish.
View from the overlook at the Super D start
I checked the seatpost bolt on the start line. It had more loc-tite on it and a little extra torque on the bolt this week. I was one of the first riders to go off as they sent Pro/Cat. 1 riders first. I could not believe the speed difference on the top section of the course. I thought I was practicing fast, but it is amazing how much faster I rode once the adrenaline of the race got going. My extra air in the tire was not enough. I could feel the rear tire flexing and thought I would be lucky to make it out of the top section without rolling it off the rim. It held up and I ripped through Blood Rock with only one little mistake in the tight right-hand turn at the top. I knew I was on a good run and could win this thing if I stayed on the gas. The increase in speed through the rocky section after Blood Rock forced me to change up my lines. I tried to jump over the bigger rocks more to keep from catching a square-edge rock too hard. All was going good until I got air through a turn. As the trail curved left around a rock garden I took to the air to hop the rocks and straighten out the turn. I made the jump just fine, but landing in the corner was too much for my rear tire. It blew out and that was the end of my run.
Not the way I wanted to come down the Super D course
I have worked on both my skills and the equipment I carry for a flat change since the disaster at Conyers, but I still had a hard time changing this flat. The tires are so dang tight on these wide carbon rims! I ended up having to use one narrow tire lever with a spoke hook and a wide tire lever to get it off. You need the wide lever to pry to tire off and must have that spoke hook unless you have three hands. So far I have been unable to locate a wide tire lever with a hook. I'm sure they are out there, but I have not seen them yet. I also had a hard time getting the tubeless valve stem loose. I miss the old Mavic stems that were rectangular and fit into a groove in the rim. The new ones are round and there's no groove in the rim anymore. There's nothing to help you hold the stem so it just spins around inside the rim when you try to loosen the nut. I ended up having to jam an allen key into the stem to get the nut to loosen. It took me over 20 minutes just to change the flat, but I did finally complete it and finished my run. The winning time was just under seven minutes, my time was 32:25. At least I finished.
Air Downhill was later in the afternoon, so we had a lot of time to go pre-ride some of the course. I wanted something short and easy since I was racing twice today, so Shannon and I rode the final section and first section of the XC course, which are definitely the easiest sections. There is still some climbing on Rattlesnake Ridge, but nothing major. During our ride we were able to watch some of the Unicycle and Kids races, and also stumbled across some huge pinecones.
Giant pinecones
Course takes you across the dam
Double Oak Lake
Bridge over the spillway
After the ride, I noticed a bulge in my tire. Upon further inspection, I found a massive cut in the sidewall. Turns out I did not roll my tire in the Super D, I cut it. We were headed back to the campsite for a relaxing lunch, but it turned into a scramble to get a new tire on before Air Downhill practice. It gave me another opportunity to practice changing a tire though and I think I am getting it down more now and have finally landed on the right combination of tire levers. I was not happy to have to run a tube the rest of the weekend, which would require much higher air pressures, but I had no choice at this point. I usually have a set of Ikon XC tires are a spare set, but I could not find them when I was packing on Friday. They are in some box somewhere. I can't find anything since we moved! I had to bring Ignitors as my spares. They are much knobbier and a little slower rolling, but the big tire is better than nothing.
We got it fixed and over to the Air Downhill course for practice. I took two runs and then waited for the start. It was hot and the shuttle was not running yet. I had to ride up the climb after every run, so I figured less practice would be better in the long run. The course was the same as it was the last time I raced here, so I remembered it well. It starts with some tight corners and big rolling jumps, then takes a dip down a huge gulley before a pedaling section that actually has a bigger climb in it than the Super D course has. After the climb, the trail is a little more tame with some flowing berms and roller jumps before a big drop. In the past, the drop was optional. It was actually faster to go around it. This year, they taped off the fast line and forced you to do the drop or take a slower line to the right of it. The drop was only about four feet, but I didn't want to chance it on a carbon frame with carbon wheels. I found my own line between the alternate line and the drop, which let me do about a two-foot drop and carry a little more speed than the alternate line would allow. The big drop was still faster though and I knew I would have to make up a few seconds in other places to compensate. Below the drop is a series of tight berms, ending with some switchbacks right before the finish line. The trail was dry and fast with some loose gravel present in places.
We were all in a hurry to get this thing going as rain was forecasted for the afternoon. Occasionally, we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. We were to do three runs with the fastest run counting for the awards. I was one of only about three people there on an XC bike and in lycra. I didn't see the point of bringing another set of clothes just to go baggy for a few runs. I got made fun of a little bit before the start, more for my tall seatpost than my lycra. I like keeping my seatpost high. I'm used to it being there, so why change something right before the start of a race? One guy told me I was going to die and there was no way I would make it to the bottom.
The first run was good. The Ignitor actually hooked up really well. I didn't know how it would do so I rode a little conservative in the turns. The bike actually rode the jumps better than my Remedy ever did. The suspension on this Epic is amazing. Like I have said before, the rebound pushes you forward, not up. There was no issue with bucking over the front wheel on some of the steeper jumps like I have to fight on the Remedy. I was able to clear jumps that I could never clear before. I clocked a time of 3:00, which was fifth fastest out of everyone. After this run, nobody was talking smack anymore about my lycra and tall seatpost.
Big berms on this course
The winner on the day, Omar Frasier
Spencer Lowden
I pushed a little harder on the second run and really tried to sprint hard on the climb. The rear end of the bike felt so much better than in the Super D. The thicker tire combined with the tube added a lot of sidewall stiffness. I still made a few mistakes in the turns at the bottom, but I picked up my time to a 2:58. That put me up to fourth overall. I just needed another two seconds to get on the podium.
One of the brave females that raced the Air Downhill
Chuck Lewis getting some air off the drop. He took second overall today and first in Cat. 2.
I felt even more confident on the third run. I pushed the berms harder and made less mistakes. I tried to sprint the climb hard again. I felt like I was not as fast up the climb, but I knocked off four more seconds! I clocked a 2:54. The third place rider also bettered his time to a 2:54, so we tied for third overall and second in Cat. 1. They did not do a tie-breaker of any kind, so we both got third place medals and shared the podium, which was kind of weird. The race was won by the Super D winner, Omar Frasier, with a time of 2:48. I would have liked to do another run. I was just starting to get comfortable on my bike in the corners and I think I could pick up a few more seconds if I went again. We were only one second off second place so I would like to see if I could have taken that. He was launching the drop, so I would say that is where he got me at. This was one of those races that increases your comfort and confidence levels on your bike by 1,000 in just one day. I thought I was good on this bike, but I learned a lot today. There is some video from the Air Downhill posted below.
Air Downhill overall podium. Spencer and I shared the third step.
Video: Air Downhill clips
Shannon and I swam in the lake after the Air Downhill awards. It's amazing what a cool dip in the lake can do for recovery. Storms clouds were gathering and eventually forced us out of the lake. It began to rain after dinner and continued most of the night and morning. It seems like this happens a lot at this race, but the trail holds up great. It's a sandy soil here so it drains well and minimizes mud. Just the roots and rocks get slick. The biggest problem with the rain for us was a leaking tent. Our rain fly began to leak int he middle of the night. Drops would fall and hit the mesh upper of the tent and cause a mist to fall on us. I was pretty wet by morning, but it was nothing that ruined the trip or anything.
We had the later race which brought another weather change. The skies cleared and we started under sunshine. It started to get hot and muggy as the rain evaporated. Pro and Cat. 1 turnout was low yet again this week. There are several other big races going on this weekend, including Marathon MTB National Championships in Georgia and the Pisgah Enduro in North Carolina.
Race distance here at BUMP is a bit longer at around 33 miles. We did one large lap around the classic BUMP course, including the long fire road climb up the mountain after about eight miles of rolling trail. We then rode across the ridge on more fire road, then descended the mountain through Blood Rock and the end of the Super D course. Next comes two more climbs on Johnson's Mountain before Rattlesnake Ridge to end lap 1. The second lap is shorter, starting on the road then taking a left onto Jekyll & Hyde, which is a rolling climb back to the top of the mountain where we would then descend the bottom of the Super D course again before revisiting Johnson's Mountain and Rattlesnake Ridge.
Pro and Cat. 1 start line
Pro and Cat. 1 19-39 classes on the line
photo by BUMP
Simon Lewis got the jump on the start
photo by BUMP
Simon Lewis jumped off the front on the start. I had a good start and was third going into the woods behind Simon and Spencer Lowden, which is who I tied with in the Air Downhill on Saturday. Spencer was content to let Simon go since we were Pro and Simon is Cat. 1. The pace was a little too slow for my liking though. I was feeling good so I attacked on the dam and bridged to Simon. I was hoping they would let me go too, but no chance. I took the whole line across to Simon, with the exception of Zach Wilkins, who broke a chain on the start before we even got to the first turn.
Riders passing by the lake early on
Simon led the way in the opening miles. I nearly crashed in one rooty turn and had to do a superman off the bike to save it. When my chest hit the seat it tilted the nose up. The seat clamp had been perfect all weekend and now three miles into the race it had moved. In its defense, I did really smash it hard. It was tight because I couldn't get it to go back down. I tried bouncing on it with all my weight and even sitting on the descents while running over all the roots. Nothing made it tilt back down. I rode about a mile, then had to stop to correct it. I pushed it down a little too far and had to stop a second time as I was afraid having my weight too far forward would allow it to tilt down later on. I had now broken my trusty loc-tite seal.
As I stopped, riders started attacking. Pete Edmondson went first. The Cat. 1 40-49 group was catching us, so they also passed me while I was adjusting the seat. Ray Hall was leading that group and on a tear. He had actually started Marathon Nationals on Saturday, but flatted early on and dropped out. He's from Oklahoma and stopped by BUMP on his way home. Clearly the guy still had good legs as he plowed right through our entire group by the end of the first fire road section. I was off the back on this fire road, but I could see the entire field so I knew I was not far behind. I picked off a few riders before we reached the next piece of singletrack. After that, I was held up most of the way to the big climb. I passed a few guys, but really lost a lot of time in the slick rocks as the guys I was stuck behind were having a hard time and there was little room to pass.
When we reached the climb, I was 40 seconds off the lead running third in Pro. Second place was 15 seconds ahead. Shannon only gave me the time check to second as it was Nathan Haslick, who is nearest to me in the SERC standings. I wanted a check to the leader. When I asked for that, it got all the spectators fired up and they cheered me on as I started the climb. Even one of the riders I was with was telling me to go get that leader!
I felt good on the climb and bridged to the group ahead. Nathan was in this group. There was four of us together at the top about 30 seconds behind the leading group of four. The four up front were Ray Hall, Spencer, Simon and Pete. That was a strong group and I knew I had to get across to them ASAP. Our group worked well together across the ridge. I took a long pull near the end to ensure I reached the singletrack descent first. I flew through the rocks before Blood Rock, bridging that 20 second gap in only a few hundred meters. I even managed to pass Pete before Blood Rock. Ray and Spencer went through the rocks faster than the others and had about five seconds on Simon when I joined him. I did not push Simon as I wanted to make it through that spot that cut my tire in the Super D without incident. The two leaders actually pulled away from us down the descent and up Johnson's Mountain, having 20 seconds on us as we approached Rattlesnake Ridge. I could see Nathan and Pete coming back across so I had to go around Simon here to hold my gap. Nathan looked like he was having a good ride today. I only had two points on him in the standings, so I didn't need him to beat me.
I almost got across to Ray and Spencer on Rattlesnake Ridge. I got to within seven seconds, but they saw me coming and upped the pace. My legs were starting to feel the chase I had been doing for the last 17 miles. I just settled into my pace and let them go. It was all I could do unless I wanted to risk blowing up and giving up my spot to Nathan later. I thought they were long gone, but the gap was only 25 seconds after lap 1. Pete and Simon were now about 1:10 behind me and Nathan still at less than 1:30.
I had to really pace myself up Jekyll & Hyde, saving something for the top section that is steep and rocky. The trail was not well marked at the top, just like two years ago when Jeremy Chambers and I got lost. There is an intersection where the horse trail, hiking trail and bike trail all meet and there was not a single arrow. Luckily, I remembered where we went last time and did not lose time here. Pete was coming across to me, but he did not see which way I went. He missed the turn momentarily and had to double back. He said he saw me climbing up ahead and realized he had went the wrong way.
I then reached another split with poor marking.The arrow was between the two rails and did not clearly point which path to take. I waited for Pete. We finally found a second arrow pointing to the right, which was not the way I thought they told us on the start line. The arrow was rolled up like a scroll from the rain. Things like this should not happen at big races! How do you miss marking major intersections? And why not use tape at this split? They used it everywhere else around the course.
Pete and I were now on the Centipede trail, which misses Blood Rock and comes out lower down the mountain. I still thought we might be going the wrong way as I was told we would ride Blood Rock on both loops like in past years. I knew Centipede came out below Blood Rock. We were relieved to reach the end of Centipede to find arrows and tape. We were going the right way! It irritated me though because we missed the part of the climb I had been saving my legs for.
Ray and Spencer were now 1:40 up on us as we started Johnson's Mountain. Pete gapped me up the first climb, but I got back to him on the descent and then was able to hang up the second climb. I was much faster in the technical sections as he was riding a full-rigid bike.
We hit Rattlesnake Ridge 1:25 back. I did not have a lot left and just tried to hang onto Pete's wheel. My seat began to loosen again, tilting around every time I shifted my weight. Pete thought I was in his class and kept attacking me, but I stayed with him until the final climb into the finish. I just didn't have the legs to sprint over it like he did. He sprinted hard thinking it was for the win in the 19-39 class. Ray managed to drop Spencer, taking the overall and Cat. 1 40-49 win. Spencer won Pro. Next came in Pete for the Cat. 1 19-39 win, then me in fourth overall for second place in Pro. I ended up 1:10 behind Spencer. I was gaining on him late, but not near fast enough to make it a real race. Second is my best-ever finish at BUMP and it gained me another point in the SERC Series Points over Nathan, who finished third today. My lead is now five points with three races to go. I was pretty pleased with my segments on Strava too. I don't care about my placing on Strava, only my times versus myself. I had PRs on every single section of the course when compared to the last time I raced here.
Topping the final climb
photo by BUMP
Me finishing the race
Pro Men's podium
My Strava page from the race. PR's a-plenty.
The ride of the day award goes to Zach Wilkins. He got his chain fixed in six minutes and then rode like a madman the entire race, pulling all the way back up to third in Cat. 1 19-39 by the finish, less than 2:30 off Pete. He may have destroyed us all today if his chain had not broken.
Shannon shot a little video which is posted below. It includes the start, where you can see Simon smashing the hole shot and Zach's chain failure. There's also some good clips of the early parts of the course when the group was packed up and of me working through traffic.
Video: Clips from BUMP
I felt a bit disappointed leaving the race. Not because of how my race went, but by the race itself. Nearly everyone I talked to got lost where Pete and I did. Turnout was low and payout was even worse. I remember when this race was one of the biggest races in the country. There were 25+ Pros and payout was in the thousands. Now we barely make $100. With no Omnium available and no payout for Super D or Air Downhill this year, it was quite an expensive weekend for what you get, or have the chance to get. It's just sad to see a race such as this dwindling to nothing. They have to do a much better job with course markings and payout if they want a big turnout when they are competing against so many other great events on the same weekend.
