Putting It All Together

     It was another week of working hard on the new house between the Clemson SERC and Columbus GSC races. I only managed one ride during the week which came on Thursday evening when I scrambled to the local Thursday night group ride after work. I almost always ride to the group rides when I go just to get in extra miles, but I barely had enough time to drive there from work. I got to the ride literally two minutes before the start. I changed clothes faster than Superman and threw the wheels on the bike like a pro mechanic. It was another ride where I had no warm-up before a really hard effort. I've always been slow to get going, but lately I have had to learn to deal with not getting in much warm-up before hard efforts. It doesn't always feel good, but I do think the legs are getting better at coming around earlier in the ride.

     I had a good group ride putting in several pulls at 31-32 mph for nearly five minutes at a time. My legs are really getting stronger which is amazing to me considering I feel like my training has been really crappy since the end of March. This ride I also inadvertently contributed to some tension that is being built up between the two local teams in Clarksville. One team likes to do everything in a smooth paceline. They do not race anything except the occasional time trial so they think this is how you train for all races. The other team is newer guys who started racing a lot last season. They understand races are as much about violent accelerations as they are about pacelining. The two views on how to ride the loop causes some major friction. I prefer the accelerations because they are necessary to prepare for racing. Rather than let the guys that attack go and continue your own smooth paceline, they all fight to stay together and then proceed to bicker afterwards. One of the guys on the team that prefers steady pacelining said he was riding 26 mph and "that is fast enough." There's always got to be somebody policing the ride. I have a simple solution. If someone goes faster than 26, don't follow them. But that'll never happen because there is was too much pride in this peloton to ever let that happen. I can't stand the drama, which is probably why I don't join the group rides very often anymore.

     The bad moment of the ride came a mile into the loop when one rider was hit by a passing car. The car came by very close to the group and a very high rate of speed. The passenger side mirror hit a rider in  he left arm as the car came by. Luckily, it was a folding mirror and the impact was lessened as it folded up against the car. The rider was unhurt. The car sped off never slowing down. Unfortunately, it happened so fast that we were not able to get a license plate number. People can be crazy when they get behind the wheel. Be careful out there!

     The house continues to bring us a lot of stress, but it is starting to seem worth it. We are checking things off the list now. Rather than having 15 projects underway at one time, we have actually started completing things. Drywall repair is done. Walls, ceilings and doors are painted. Closet shelving is in place. It's starting to feel like we may actually get done with this thing at some point in the future.

Our spacious new garage. Can't wait to set up shop in here!

    With that being said, I also realized this week that we are not moving along fast enough to wait to start the moving until after we are done. We clearly will not be completely finished by May 31, which is the day we have to be out of the farm house. I started moving small things out of the farm house this week, bringing them to the new garage. We have been so busy working on the new house that we have had no time to pack anything to prepare for the actual move. We've been over at the new house so much that I don't even feel like we live on the farm anymore. We basically just sleep there now.

     One of our new neighbors is helping us start a garden at the new house. William and Donna live next to us now. I have known them nearly my whole life. I hung out with their two sons when we were kids. It is awesome to know I have good people living next door. Our backyard is on a hill, but there is flat spot at the top where our land meets with their land. William brought out his tractor and broke us up a plot on the flat spot, even expanding it onto his land. He really helped us get things started. Our poor plants were more than ready to be in the ground. They have been living in egg shells and tiny plastic cells for far too long as we could not plant on the farm knowing we would be leaving soon. We got about half of our plants put in about a month later than they should be transplanted. The rest are still waiting to be planted as we ran out of room on the plot. Some of the plants we did put in the ground this week died as they were not doing well with the tiny root space they had prior to being placed in the garden and it has been hot and dry.

     We had to prepare the dirt by hand again this year as the tiller we bought last Fall was a bust. Since it was Fall when I bought it, I really didn't use the thing. I just made sure everything worked and put it up. When I pulled it out this Spring we found out that something was busted in the gear box. The tines would turn, but would not work in the dirt. Any resistance caused the tines to stop and an awful squealing noise came from the gear box. I took it back to Lowe's and they sent it off for repairs. The repair shop said it just needed to be adjusted and charged us $75 to fix it. They said I could have done that if I had read the manual, it was part of normal maintenance. Well, we bought it as a return and didn't get a manual. Lowe's also said it had just been adjusted so why am I having to adjust it again before the first use? Lowe's offered to split the repair bill with us, but I still felt like I got hosed on the deal. I didn't like it, but I paid my half and took my tiller home, just happy to have it working. First try after getting it home and it did the exact same thing! I was so pissed off when I had to take it back to Lowe's yet again. We demanded a refund and after a few days Lowe's did refund us the cost of the tiller and our half of the repair. I don't know what is up with that tiller, but it is something major and should not have been sold to anyone. I am grateful to Lowe's for taking care of us through the ordeal, but now we are back to square one with no tiller.

Sunset behind a pond during one our trips between the two houses

     My Mom and Dina went to California this week. Dina had a class to attend near Los Angeles for work. My Mom went with her and they stayed the entire week following Dina's class, exploring the L.A. area. The trip happened to coincide with the Tour of California. They caught part of Stage 2 from South Pasadena to Santa Clarita. They were near the top of the first KOM climb of the day on Hwy 2, the Angeles Crest Hwy. My Mom shot a little video of the riders coming by which is posted below. You can see Julian Alaphilippe and Daniel Jaramillo attacking at the front, chasing the KOM points. You can also pick out Peter Sagan in the yellow jersey after winning Stage 1. Mark Cavendish is also fairly easy to spot when he comes up in a little chase group surrounded by Dimension Data teammates. There is some sketchy drafting behind cars going on in the caravan, especially one where a UHC rider is almost hooked onto the bumper of his own team car. I wonder if any penalties were handed out on this stage.

The guy with the ram horns was on this climb. He seems to always get on TV. I bet his neck is sore.

Video: Riders pass by on the Angeles Crest Hwy climb during Stage 2 of the Tour of California

     The weekend brought a double-header at Flat Rock Park in Columbus, GA. It was another break for us, a chance to get away from the stress of the house work and the craziness my family has created because of the house. It wasn't quite as adventurous as last week at Clemson, but we still had a great time exploring an area neither of us had ever visited before. This was my first trip to the trails of Flat Rock Park. They were rough, but fun. We pre-rode the XC course Saturday afternoon before the short track and I really liked what I saw. It seemed like a course I could be competitive on.

Trail rolls around Flat Rock Lake

Shannon pre-riding with me

Spillway behind the dam of Flat Rock Lake

Dark clouds came over several times today, but the rain stayed away

Flat Rock Creek

     The Columbus round was part of the Georgia State Championship Series, but also brought a make-up race for SERC, which can be used to replace a missed race. The short track on Saturday was for GSC Series bonus points. The goal for me this weekend was simple: get into contention for the GSC Series overall. I was the only Pro in attendance all weekend, but that did not matter as GSC races combine the Pro and Cat.1 19-39 categories. That gave me plenty of people to race against.

     It was a hot afternoon for the short track. The course was a decent length and offered up a mix of trail types. It began with a slight uphill on a gravel road that led to a long grass section with lots of roots protruding above the ground. Then came a tight section of singletrack that ended with a climb out into a field. There was a log to jump, then an open doubletrack trail to a 180-degree turn back onto the gravel road for the finish. It was a little more open than I would have liked, but that's typically what you get for a short track course. The good thing about an open course is plenty of room to pass which is huge in a race that lasts only 20 minutes. Short track races always challenge me because they are so intense and so short. Again, it usually takes me 40-45 minutes get going. No time for that in short track racing.

Short Track course map

Action from the White Wave race

Jack Wery and his full-face helmet

The climb out of the singletrack

Jack getting down over a root

     I got a horrible start. I was on the front row, but the guys to my left crowded me over into the trees along the edge of the dirt road. I had to back off and was near the back of the group at the top of the first hill. It was a good-sized group as our race was made up of the entire Yellow Wave, which is Pro/Cat. 1 and Cat. 2 riders. I picked off a few spots before the singletrack, then bridged to the front group when the doubletrack came. The first few laps were the same. I was last man on the front group, it would split up in the singletrack and I would bridge to the front group again on the dirt road.

Leaders early in the race

I'm in the second group at this point

     I was moving up steadily and riding strong, but having to hit the hill that hard every lap was starting to hurt me. About four laps in it finally split into the final selection for the front group. Two riders, Kurt Dorshimer and Josh Perez, were off the front. I bridged across, taking Pete Edmondson with me. Pete would crash in the 180-degree turn a lap later, leaving three of us in the lead. I attacked three laps in a row on the gravel road. I couldn't get more than a few bike lengths over Kurt and Josh, but I kept trying, hoping to eventually break them.

On the attack

    Race distance was 20 minutes plus a lap. Dave Berger said he would clearly give us the one lap to go signal himself. As we came by at 19 minutes, someone yelled "One to go!" We were confused for a minute and talked among ourselves up the gravel road. We decided that was not right. It did not come from Dave and it was not 20 minutes yet. So we decided not to sprint this lap. Kurt upped the pace in the singletrack and had me hurting. I knew I could not last another full lap at that pace, so I backed off and gave them a gap in order to save up for one last attack.

Me leading Josh Perez and Kurt Dorshimer with a few laps to go

I was a little gapped of the back here coming to one lap to go

     Kurt led across the line to hear Dave yelling one lap to go. I think Kurt was hoping it was over as he appeared toasted at this point. Josh then attacked him. I accelerated hard on the gravel road and passed by Kurt, catching Josh as we reached the grass. I was dying, but I went straight by him and stayed on the gas through the roots. I sprinted all the way to the woods. I thought I could gap him through the tight trail section if I could get there first. I was right and I emerged from the woods with a gap and held on to take the win. The last lap was by far my fastest lap of the race. We really went hard racing for the win. That was my first ever win in a short track in any category. It also netted me five bonus points for the GSC series and brought me a little closer to being in contention for the overall.

Taking the win

Yellow Wave podium. Finally I get to stand on the top step.

Jack's Mom, Becky, wanted Jack and I to show off our medals on the podium. Jack took 3rd in the White Wave.

    A quick video of the short track is posted below. You can see the start of both races and the finish of the Yellow Wave race. Dave Berger tried to give me a high-five as I crossed the line to get the win, but I totally missed him. Sorry Dave!

Video: Flat Rock Short Track clips

    After the race, Shannon and I took a dip in Flat Rock Creek which flows through the middle of the park. The creek flows over some exposed rocks that makes for some good views and plenty of shallow pools to sit in. The cold water felt great on the body as it was very hot today. I felt like my face was on fire during the short track. We spent the evening relaxing in the hotel, munching on pizza from nearby Deorio's Pizza Inn and enjoying some motocross on TV.

Another view of Flat Rock Lake

Now that's a red dirt road. There's a lot of Georgia clay at Flat Rock Park.

Shannon testing the waters

What the park gets its name from

     Sunday brought the XC. We were scheduled for four laps on the rooty, seven-mile course. The course was tight in most of the woods sections, but there was also plenty of open sections in the back of the park where the course weaves through some grassy fields. There were multiple climbs, all being short and most being steep. We started with technical singletrack, then hit a long stretch of open doubletrack with most of the climbing coming here. Then came more singletrack with two short, steep climbs before a long, straight open drag in the sun. The loop ended with a twisty mile of singletrack that was fast, but kept you on your toes with many sharp corners and a couple of muddy berms that looked like they were built in the past week.

The tightness of the course in this small park made for great spectating opportunities

     The start was fast and I again did not do very well. I had to line up on the second row and picked the wrong person to be behind. I found myself last as all Cat. 1 classes sprinted up the gravel road used for the short track. We did a parade lap of one full lap of the short track course before hitting the main XC loop. Like last week at Clemson, most of the guys did not look at the start. It was chaos when we got to the grass. To add to the confusion, there was an unleashed dog running across the course. He shot right in front of the group as we reached the grass. Some guys went left to miss him and some thought we were supposed to turn left when in fact we were going right. It was amazing that we did not crash and that nobody hit the dog. The mess benefited me and I ended up top five by the time everybody got straightened out. You can see the wild start on the video posted near the bottom of this page. Shannon captured it all. John Carr made it better by playing some Benny Hill theme music with it.

     In the first singletrack section of the main loop there was a crash ahead of me in the first rock garden. I also moved up by taking an alternate line around a huge boulder that I had spied out in the pre-ride on Saturday. Neither line was taped off so we had the choice as to which way to go. I chose the shorter, more technical line up a steeper hill while the riders ahead of me went the easier away around the boulder. Several of the riders said I cut the course, but with neither line taped off, both were fair. The rules no longer specify what is the course exactly when you are not riding between two pieces of tape, but the old rules stated you could deviate up to 10 feet off either side of the marked singletrack line, allowing you to make you own lines in some areas. I've had issues with this rule before, most notably at the 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth in Oak Ridge, TN in 2006. I was racing on a four-man team with pro motocross rider Mike Brown. Mike was accused of cutting the course and our team was almost disqualified. There was a section where the trail curved around a massive tree that had fallen across the trail. Mike and I were jumping the tree. Neither line was taped off so both were legal, but some people said it wasn't fair. One guy even went so far as to lodge a protest against Mike with the officials. Not our fault we can jump the tree and others can't. If you want to go faster learn to jump big trees. If you don't want us to jump the tree, tape it off. In the end, they didn't disqualify us, but it was a big mess that was completely unnecessary.

     Anyway, the technical line put me up to second. Our group stayed together until we hit the open climbs for the first time. The attacks began immediately as the three Portable Rock Climbing riders in the race began trading blows with Chris Lessing and Mose Howard. I just tried to follow and pick off whoever started getting dropped. After the next singletrack section, Mose, Chris and Wes Garland had a gap. I was in fourth, about 10 seconds back with Kurt Dorshimer and Pete Edmondson of Portable Rock Climbing on my wheel. On the long power stretch back towards the start/finish area. I bridged across to the front group, leaving Kurt and Pete behind. At the end of lap one there were four of us up front. Kurt and Pete were still about 10 seconds back.

Coming out of the first singletrack section on lap 1

Front group under pressure

     Mose kept the power on during lap 2, especially on the open climbs. The pace started to get to Wes and he dropped off the back of our group. Mose, Chris and I stayed together the rest of the lap, increasing our lead to over two minutes ahead of Kurt and Pete. One good thing about this course was that it twists and turns so much near the park road. It was perfect for spectating. Shannon was able to ride back and forth on the road, giving me frequent time checks and motivation. Mose was also taking advantage of this, taking multiple feeds around the loop in order to not have to carry so much water with him on the bike.

    Mose upped the pace on lap 3 in the first singletrack section. I put loc-tite on my seat clamp this week, but it still came loose and began to tilt on bigger bumps. I got gapped by the two leaders, but kept them within 10 seconds. Mose put in another big attack on the open section, gapping Chris. I caught and passed Chris as he appeared to be blown up. Mose held the 10 seconds on me despite me chasing hard. I felt strong on the power stretches and was surprised to see I could match Mose here. I intentionally let him stay ahead of me as I could see he was working hard. I wanted to let him wear down, then close the gap and go right by him.

Mose Howard leads

Me chasing Mose at about 10 seconds

Chris Lessing sitting third overall on course

Mose

Chris passing by the lake

Mose near the end of lap 3

Shannon almost missed me

A fun slalom section in a half-pipe ditch

     Mose still held the 10 seconds on me going into lap 4. I tried to catch him in the last tight singletrack section on lap 3, but it was too tight to really make up a lot of time. Mose has good skills so I wasn't cornering faster than him like I do with most riders. Chris was almost two minutes back now as he had cracked. Lap 3 was our fastest lap of the day so I'm not surprised we were cracking people. We were now almost five minutes ahead of Wes and Pete, and six minutes ahead of Kurt.

    I forgot one critical thing when coming up with my come-from-behind tactic: traffic. We were starting to lap riders now. My seat was getting worse, but I was determined to not let it affect me. It forced me stand up a little more than normal, but I didn't stop being aggressive. I was only five seconds back as we neared the open climbing section. I was much faster on the last singletrack descent before the open section so my plan was to close the gap there and then attack up the first climb. But we caught a few riders in that section. Mose got by them before the descent and I had to follow them most of the way down. Instead of coming into the grass on his wheel I was still seven seconds back. Mose hammered the climbs and despite me going all-out I could not close in on him. The gap stayed at less than 10 seconds, but I could not get any closer. I pushed hard in the next singletrack section, but the climbs began to get to me. I started cramping in both quads. These hills were short so you could stand and sprint all the way up them. Actually, you had to sprint them if you wanted to hang with Mose. My quads were not ready for two hours of that and they gave out on me.

Half a lap to go for Mose

Still chasing, but eventually I ran out of steam

Wild Bill

Dropping down toward the last climb

     I had to back off on the final climb and power stretch. Mose pulled away from me to get the overall win. I came through for second overall just under a minute back. Mose is in the 40-49 class, so that gave me the Pro/Cat. 1 19-39 win. I wanted to take the overall, but I couldn't complain a bit about my result. It was my first XC win in almost two years and it definitely has me in contention for the GSC series now. It actually put me into the lead by two points over Chris Lessing, who finished second behind me today. It also gave me 30 points for a make-up score for SERC to replace my missed race score from the opening round in Florida. Other than the cramping, I rode great today. I had more power in the legs than I have ever felt. It still is blowing my mind that I seem to be improving while not training. You could say I needed a little rest when this first started, but it's now been seven weeks since I put in any real training during the week. Seven weeks is beyond resting.

Mose takes the win

2nd overall for me today, 1st in Pro/Cat. 1 19-39

Cat. 1 40-49 podium

Singlespeed podium

Pro/Cat. 1 19-39 podium

    Below is a video of clips Shannon grabbed during the XC. Get that Benny Hill theme going for the first clip!

Video: GSC #4 - Columbus, GA

     On the way home, we stopped by Auburn University and walked around campus. It was another nice campus with plenty of sights to enjoy. We couldn't get into the football stadium, but they had the baseball stadium open and we were able to walk out onto the field.  It was a cool way to wrap up the weekend.

Jordan-Hare Stadium

Cam Newton statue

Bo Jackson statue

Samford Stadium

On Hitchcock Field