This creek is the same creek that runs along our trail at home. It's quite a bit bigger here a few miles down stream. It's called Half Pone Creek.
One of my favorite backroads.
Taking a break along Raccoon Creek.
Raccoon Creek
After driving down to MOAB to get my new warrantied mountain bike shoes after my other shoes broke at Chickasaw, I had an afternoon adventure with my Mom on the Natchez Trace Parkway. We started with a few short hikes. First it was down to Jackson Falls, which was flowing well after some rain the day before. The undergrowth was starting to green up and moss covered a lot of the rocks along the trail. Then we hiked north from the same parking area to reach Bakers Bluff for a quick overlook.
Most of the trail down to Jackson Falls in concrete with handrails. It's still tough as it has a steep grade.
That's quite the stack of rocks building up to the parkway.
Arriving at Jackson Falls
More water flowing out of these holes in the side of the bluff.
Video: Jackson Falls
View from Bakers Bluff with the Duck River down below.
We then moved further south along the parkway to reach Devil's Backbone State Natural Area, where we did another 4+ miles of hiking. There was nothing spectacular along these trails, but it was some nice woods and tough climbs that made us work. We did see quite a few butterflies fluttering along the top of the ridge which was kind of nice to add to the scenery. I hopped on my bike after the hike, heading north on the parkway back towards Nashville. It was a windy ride. I stopped a few times to check out some turkeys and a few nice views. I got in an hour and a half and nearly made it to the north terminus before the sun began to set on me. It was a really fun day.
Hiking in Devil's Backbone State Natural Area
Turkeys making a dash for the woods.
Riding on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
The Gordon House. Built in 1818, it was the home of John Gordon, who operated a ferry across the nearby Duck River. This home is one of only two original structures remaining along the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Water Valley Overlook
Spring finally started to arrive with colors beginning to appear in our backyard. It's such a mental boost to me to start seeing those signs of Spring. With all the work we have done to the yard since moving into this house, we now have something to look at as soon as the growing starts. Buttercups, violets and redbud trees bloom with bright colors.
Green starting to show up in our backyard.
Purple and white violets are everywhere in our yard.
Redbud tree flashing some pink as the sun sets on another early Spring day.
Our neighbor told us she had some jelly made from violet flowers. She said it was really good and we should try to make some with all the violets we have in our area. Shannon was curious so we found a recipe and then collected a giant bowl full of the bright purple flowers. You take the flower part only, letting it soak in water to pull out the substances within the petals. The water is then used to make the jelly. There's no actual flowers in the jelly, just petal-infused water. It was indeed delicious with a super smooth consistency. And nice to look at too with it's semi-transparent, deep purple color.
Enjoying the finished product.
We loved the jelly and quickly were on to other varieties, like white and yellow. We have a big patch of yellow violets growing in the woods along our trail. The white flowers make a pink jelly, while yellow flowers make a slightly lighter pink jelly. It's interesting because the water after soaking yellow violets is bright green, but as soon as you add the lemon juice when making the jelly, it turns the green water to light pink. It's really cool to watch the color change almost instantly.
White Violet jelly
Violet jelly trio: White on the left, Purple in the middle, Yellow on the right.
Shannon loves canning things and trying new recipes. We were instantly in love with the jelly. It took us a while to get some others to try it as everybody freaks out about eating jelly made from flowers, but everyone that tried it liked it. Shannon asked me to offer them up in our eBay store for the farm to help pay for the canning supplies. Shipping is super high for the jellies since they are fragile and heavy. I never thought we would sell any with such a high price, but it began to sell almost immediately and we sold every single jar that we didn't eat ourselves. I was shocked!
We also tried Dandelion Jelly. It turns out there is a use for those pesky weeds. Again, you use only the petals and soak them to bring out their flavor. This jelly tastes much different than the violet one, but I did like it too. It's a very unique taste and dandelions actually pack quite a few nutritional benefits so it's sort of healthy too. Shannon also tweaked the recipes over time, using the least amount of sugar possible while still preserving taste. Our final recipe contains about 1/4 the sugar of many common jelly recipes. Again, we listed the Dandelion variety in our store and it began to sell like crazy. We sold out in just a few months. It's a bit more work to pull the yellow petals out of a dandelion head as compared to the violets, but it was worth it.
Dandelion Jelly
Winter was not done yet though. Snow came back and kept me away from the Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, AL. I wanted to go, but the temps were in the 30s and it just didn't sound fun when I knew I wasn't in great shape anyway. I also considered going to the SERC in Conyers, GA the following day, but it rained a good bit there on Saturday and during the night, so I stayed home. It wasn't worth wrecking my bike for a race I'm not ready for on a course that really doesn't suit my strengths.
The following weekend was warmer, but the rain came again. We had planned to race the SERC in Tsali, NC, but again I had to make the call to stay home and save the bike. It was a frustrating start to the season as mentally I was ready to go do some races and travel.
We had decent weather for the first Bells Bend Time Trial of the year near in Nashville. Dina, Dad and I both did the race. I didn't have my greatest time ever at 32:28, but it was a solid run and landed me a top 5 in the Merckx Men class. Dina had one of her better times and took 7th in Merckx Women. She has dropped a lot of weight over the off-season and it's starting to show now on the bike. Her goal is to beat Dad and she nearly did it this time, finishing just 18 seconds off his time. She also joined up with the Tennessee Women's Cycling Project so she will actually have a few teammates this year. She even got a new road bike right before the TT thanks to the guys at MOAB, and might even try her hand at a few crits this season.
Dina during Bells Bend TT #1
It ended up being a good thing that I missed Tsali. I got asked to meet with some of Stake leaders at church. I had heard our ward was splitting and some new boundaries were being laid out in Clarksville, but I had no idea I was about to be asked to be one of six people tasked with laying out an entirely new ward from scratch. I was called as the Ward Executive Secretary for the new Cunningham Ward. Basically my job is to schedule meetings for the Bishop and his counselors. I was not excited at first as I felt I was a bad choice for the job considering how much I travel and miss church, but the leaders still felt I was the one for the job. They sold me on it by telling me our new Bishop would be one of my good friends Shaun, who I would do anything for. I was ready to go to work with him and get this new ward going.
It was a mess the first few weeks until we came up with people to lead the various organizations that make up a ward, find teachers for Sunday School classes and just get into the hang of answering the phone all the time. I am not a fan of talking on the phone so I do my best not to call people any more than I have to. I think I was on the phone at least two hours a day the first few weeks. It was quite the change from being Assistant Cub Master in the Boy Scout troop. It's also quite the adjustment to start learning personal issues of the various members of the church. I really enjoyed being blissfully unaware of everyone's problems. I like thinking everybody else is doing better than me. It makes me work harder to get to where they appear to be. While I know what's visible on the surface is not always true, I like to think that it is. I just enjoy looking up to people in the church. While I don't deal with any issues the members may have, that doesn't mean they don't tell me about them when we are setting up the appointment with the Bishop. The new calling has definitely added some stress to my life right now and it's usually a multiple year calling so I might as well get used to it.
After a couple of weeks with the new church duties, I was ready for some time away. It was my birthday on a Friday at the end of April. Could there be any better way to spend your birthday weekend than at a bunch of bike races? I think not! We had a triple header on tap with the Spartanburg Regional Criterium on Friday, Athens Twilight Saturday and the SERC/GSC series race at Winder, GA on Sunday. It was a lot of driving and a lot of fast bike racing.
Spartanburg has always been one of my favorite courses and doing it on my birthday was an extra treat. Shannon, Dina and I piled into the van for our first drive with it. It was nice to have so much room inside! It took a bit of time for me to get used to driving a high-profile vehicle though. I have always had cars that sit very low to the ground. My black Taurus feels like your butt might drag the ground if you hit a bump. The van is quite the opposite and you can really feel the weight shift around in corners. We took the scenic route through the Carolinas, hitting the curvy roads through Pisgah National Forest on our way into Brevard. I may have slung a few things around in the van on those curvy roads, but it must not have been too bad as Dina slept the whole way through the twistiest road.
We made stops at Sliding Rock and Looking Glass Falls, then ran into a familiar face on the descent. Carson Beckett was wrapping up a training ride. He was as shocked to see us and we were to see him. He stopped and we had a little chat before hitting the road again.
Sliding Rock
Sliding Rock from the bottom. The handrail is to help you walk to the top so you can slide down on your bum like a waterslide. The water is still a little cold for swimming in April. I still thought about giving it a go though...
Gumstand Branch, which flows through Sliding Rock
Weird mushroom along the trail
Looking Glass Falls
Looking Glass was flowing well so I took plenty of pictures.
Plenty of stairs to get back to the road.
Video: Sliding Rock and Looking Glass Falls
When I recalculated our route to include the Pisgah excursion, I forgot to account for the time change. We didn't realize it until we decided not to stop by our AirBNB apartment in Greer, SC on the way to Spartanburg. It took a little longer than I planned to see the two falls, so we decided to go straight to Spartanburg. When we figured up our new route, we realized what I had done. It made us really tight on time. It was even harder with rolling into Sparty at rush hour on Friday for an evening race. I had signed up for the Cat. 2/3 race. I scrambled to get changed and then rushed to registration. I found out they were running behind on the schedule so I did have about 20 minutes to hop on the trainer before the start. I also noticed the course was a bit different. It was the same short rectangular loop, but we were going in the opposite direction and the Start/Finish had been moved to what was previously the backstretch.
There was a no time for a warm-up lap as they started us right after the finish of the previous race. I did the best warm-up I could, but we all know I need a good 45 minutes to get ready for a crit effort. I got a good start and was in the top 20 the first lap. We had over 50 starters which is pretty good for a Friday race. I got caught in a crash on lap 2. As we went into Turn 3, some guys on the inside got together and went down. I was on the outside and could do nothing but go straight into the barriers. I smashed my right hand onto the metal barrier. It was sore, but nothing broken so I continued on. I wash just happy not to have been hit from behind while I was pinned against the barrier. Michael Zinkann was a little bit behind the crash and had on a camera that captured the aftermath of the incident. You can watch a clip of it below.
Starting the second lap at Spartanburg for the Cat. 2/3 group.
Turn 1
Video: Cat. 2/3 crash on lap 2 as seen by Michael Zinkann. I'm in the red next to the barrier.
See more of his onboard video footage here.
We took our free lap and then got dumped back into the race. The pace was really high and it was the pack was exploding already. They put us in near the back and after just one lap back in the group, gaps were forming ahead of me and I was having to work really hard. My heart rate was pegged and I began to get the cold chest feeling from lack of warm-up. I did my best to survive a few more laps and cross a couple of more gaps, but then I couldn't do it anymore. I got popped after just 10 minutes and was quickly pulled out before the 12 minute mark. Ugh. What a sucky way to start the weekend. The poor performance was partly my fault with getting there late, partly not my fault with getting caught up in somebody else's mess. I was far from the first to get dropped though. Actually, I was one of the last to be pulled and ended up in 26th. They barely had 20 make it to the end. The new course layout was not near as fun to me as going in the other direction. It definitely dropped the fun factor of this race down quite a bit and I doubt it will be my favorite anymore if they keep this layout.
A big group going off the front right as we came back into the race. Worst time we could have had an issue.
Me off the back
After the race, I cruised around town to spin out my legs and get in some bike time. Between my warm-up and my race, I only had 30 minutes of ride time in. I saw some interesting buildings, including this church a few blocks from the race course.
I came back to the van, spun a while longer on the trainer, then got changed so I could head down for the Pro races. We watched both the Women's and Men's races. The Men's race had a stoppage in the closing laps due to a massive crash that happened at the front. The few riders that didn't crash were given a gap on the restart of about 15 or so seconds, then those involved in the crash were released. They did this as free laps were over at this point so everyone couldn't start together if things were to be even close to fair. That made for some hard chasing from the group behind which was about four times as many riders as were in the front group. If you saw the livestream of the men's race then you probably saw the other crash that happened at two to go. A rider had his foot go into another rider's wheel as they were going down the backstretch. The rider whose foot hit the wheel was shot off to the right and into the barrier right where two panels met. At 35 mph, he went right through the zip ties holding the panels together and flew out into the crowd. Somehow he managed to only hit one person, which is amazing considering the crowd was three deep all the way down the back straightaway. It happened about 30 feet past where we were sitting and all we saw was a rider go right, disappear, and then a person go flying backwards. The person that was hit had some injuries as they landed hard on their back and possibly hit their head. The medics were there quickly and got them the care they needed. That was crazy! It just goes to show you that if it can happen, it will happen. It was a full moon too, and you know how those usually go.
Pro Women on course
The Denny's building dwarfs everything else in downtown Spartanburg.
Exiting Turn 2
Pro Women on the backstretch as darkness approaches.
Final lap and they're on the gas with ISCorp on the front under a full moon.
The only semi-decent shot I could get of the Pro Men. They were going way too fast in the dark to get any good shots with my camera.
Video: Clips of the Pro races at Spartanburg
It was late when we rolled into our AirBNB in Greer. It was a nice place and the owners had stayed up to meet us. They were casual bike riders and were interested in talking bikes with us and wanted to hear about the race. It was one of the best AirBNB stays we've ever had.
Got to love clean places. Couldn't wait to hit the sack in this comfy bed.
We were up early again on Saturday and headed for Athens, GA. I had a race around noon to try to qualify for the Amateur Finals at night. We ran into some gridlock traffic behind an accident on I-85. We were late getting to the race again and I had to do the superman clothing change and sprint up the hill to registration. The line at registration was huge and it wasn't moving. Apparently, they ran out of entry forms. I waited 30 minutes and still no entry forms. How does this happen?!! The races were running behind schedule, but by the time the forms came it was too late for me to get in more than 10 minutes of warm-up. After the night before, I knew that wouldn't end well. So I made the decision to just wait for the evening and do the Pro race. I hadn't planned on it, but today was the day I would get my first taste of the Twilight big show.
We had some friends come visit us at the race. They had recently moved from Clarksville to Augusta, GA, which isn't too far from Athens. They made the trip west to come hang out with us and see me race. They got there just in time to catch the morning race, which I wasn't even in. They had said before the weekend that they were staying for all the races and leaving on Sunday, so I thought it would be extra cool for them to see me in the big race, even though I knew I was about to get smashed.
I wanted to spin around town and loosen up the legs, especially since I was already in my kit and ready to ride. Dina needed to work her legs today so she would be ready for the SERC race tomorrow. So we rode around town on the greenway and then into the UGA campus. I wanted to see Sanford Stadium where the Dawgs play football. You can't see much though. I forget that not every university allows you open access to the stadium like Florida does. Still a fun ride over though.
Oconee River along the greenway
Sanford Stadium
When we ended our ride, I got to chat with our friends for a minute then we had to hurry off to the AirBNB and check in. The change in race times really messed up our planned schedule. Our friends wanted to stay in Athens and venture around town so Shannon stayed with them, while Dina and I went to check in. We had a 20-minute drive over to our rental. Before we got settled and headed back, Shannon called me and said our friends had left. They apparently did not get a place to stay for the night and had brought their dogs on the trip. They had checked the dogs into a little doggie hostel for the day and had to go pick them up. Then they were going home. Shannon was left by herself and apparently we had her purse. It was well past lunch and she had not eaten and now didn't have any way to buy food. She was a little hangry by the time we met back up with her. I hate it that our friends had to leave. They missed the best part about Athens, the night racing, and didn't even get to see me race at all.
I had time to watch the Amateur Finals race, which looked faster than what I could do. It was kind of daunting to put on the clothes during the women's race knowing you were about to be thrown into the hardest race of your life and you were far from ready for it. But it was exciting too. Finally in the big race! And back on the old course. It was a great birthday present even if I was about to have my heart explode.
Amateur Finals
Nashville Local rider being aggressive off the front.
MOAB Masters rider David Koonce made the finals.
First lap of the Pro Women's race.
Pro Women enter Turn 3.
Exiting 4.
Two riders off the front on the backstretch climb.
ISCorp leads the chasing pack.
The back of the pack cresting the climb.
I was literally on the back row for the start, but I got a good jump and moved up a few rows before Turn 1. The sound was deafening going into Turn 2. If anyone had crashed I couldn't have heard it. That was BY FAR the most people I have ever seen on the outside of any course I have been on. The first sprint up the hill on the backstretch was tough. The pain began quickly and we were already strung out with about 150 riders starting the race. I never saw the front after Turn 1 the first time. The front of the pack had already entered Turn 3 when I topped the climb.
Staging was more of a nightmare than usual. I'm in that mess somewhere fighting for a spot. Still ended up on the back row.
The blur and long line on the first lap at Athens Twilight.
Coming off Turn 4 the first time there was a crash ahead of me. I skated through, but lost my momentum. It was one of those moments where I got through too well to get a free lap, but not good enough to stay with the group. I had my GoPro on so I caught the end of the crash.
There was a big gap where the fallen riders had been and now I had to close it. It literally took everything I had to get across down the hill into Turn 3, but I got there. Entering that turn may have been the fastest I have ever gone in a crit, but there was not time to look down. Coming out of 4 it was out of the saddle and sprinting again just trying to hold the wheel in front of me. I was literally hanging on with everything I had, getting gapped slightly up the climb again out of 2. But again, I dove into Turn 3 and rejoined the end of the group. But this time the acceleration of 4 was too much and I got gapped. A bike length became 10 bike lengths by the start finish. I railed Turns 1 and 2, but did not make contact. Once we hit the climb it was all over. My heart was pounding out of my eyeballs and my lungs were fried. Welcome to Athens!
A blurry me during my short time in the race.
I was pulled after just five laps. I'd like to think I would have lasted a little longer if I hadn't been held up by the crash, but that's part of crit racing. All I know is that I have A LOT of work to do before I can finish Athens Twilight. Still, those three laps were some of the most fun laps I have ever had in a crit and I hope to get to do them again some day. Diving into Turn 3 was one of the best feelings I have ever had on a bike. So fast! I was literally exhausted after only racing eight minutes and 37 seconds, but I felt like I couldn't stand on my legs when I climbed off the bike in the pit. The guy that was pulled right behind me actually fell over into the barriers when he got off. I was far from the first one pulled and many others quit starting the second lap. They credited me with 137th on the official results, which only showed 139 riders. None of the DNFs were given a place. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but I was ahead of more than two when I got pulled out. I say that not only to say I did better, but also to point out the speed and that there were a lot of guys blown out in less than four laps. CyclingNews has a race report and full results here.
Only five laps, but hurting afterwards.
Thanks Shannon for the support and pictures. She was proud of me just for being out there and getting back on after the crash. A short video of my time in the group is also posted below, followed by some clips Shannon and I shot from outside the course.
Video: My handlebar cam from Twilight
Video: Clips from the Pro Men's race
The weekend's woes carried on into Sunday when we started the morning late after our alarm didn't go off. When it rains it pours, I guess. We made it over to Ft. Yargo State Park in Winder for our third and final race of the weekend with just enough time in hand to get in a short warm-up. My legs were funky after the last two night's of racing. Both were short efforts, but extremely hard.
The trail at Yargo was in good shape, probably the driest I have raced on this course in several years. The course layout was the same as in recent years with everyone tackling the same loop that is about right on 10 miles in length. This was my first SERC race of the year. When I found out I was way short on funding for this season, I had to make the choice of which series I would focus on. I didn't have the luxury to do both the SERC/GSC series and DINO series. It's just too expensive to do them all. I ended up picking DINO for a few different reasons. First, it is very good for us as a family. We get to see Shannon's parents for two of the DINO race weekends and her cousin for a third. Each of those three weekends with family brings a free place to stay. Driving distances and fuel costs are not much different, but driving to Indiana is soooo much easier on us. We don't have to deal with the mess that is Atlanta traffic, and the growing terrible Nashville traffic, which has really stepped up to ridiculous the past two years. Drive distance might not be different, but time and stress certainly are better going north. I also think the level of competition is more consistent in Indiana with a steady group of riders racing Elite every round. With SERC, and especially a stand-alone GSC, you never know if you will be racing 17 riders or only yourself.
My hole shot at Tsali last year made this year's SERC Series Flier. Pretty cool!
The Elite group does three full laps at Winder. We had nine starters on the line. This year the Elite class was formed out of a combination of Pro, Cat. 1 19-39 and Cat. 1 40+. It sets things up sort of like the DINO Series where Pro and Cat. 1 riders can all go for the top purse and series points. DINO starts things separately and compares times at the end for payout and points, but SERC is now starting everyone together. Since turnout in Pro has been much lower at SERC races in recent years, I welcomed the change as it gives us more riders to race with and allows faster Cat. 1 riders to take money from the Pros. Overall though, there is less money to be had as a Pro, which is another reason why I picked DINO. Payout is better there. While I obviously don't do this for the money, I do need something to ensure I can get to the next race, especially this year.
I had a solid start, but found myself last entering into the woods out of our group of nine. I stayed patient, sitting in line through the opening piece of singletrack and holding onto the group up the first climb with my sluggish legs. I moved up to 8th and then lost contact with the lead seven on the second climb. I bombed the following singletrack descent entering into the section known as the "Monster Mile" and managed to rejoin the group. Almost immediately though I was off the back again as we reached the next climb, which is much steeper than the first two. Again, I chased as we exited the Monster, but the group was still a little ways ahead. I caught Wes Dickson and rode with him for a few miles before passing him to move into 7th.
Elite start
Me near the back of the Elite group
50+ class
Video: Cat. 2 Women start clip at Ft. Yargo
My legs never really felt great, but they were decent and I was able to settle into a good pace and keep the pack in sight for most of the rest of lap 1. I was just over a minute back from the main group starting lap 2. Brad Perley was already out front by himself, never to be seen again. I did not ride lap 2 very well, slowing down about two minutes on my lap time, falling further behind the group ahead.
Brad Perley out front on lap 1
Me on lap 1
The chase group battling for 2nd halfway through lap 2.
Me entering the woods halfway through lap 2.
Chase group is down to three here near the end of lap 2.
Me on this little gravel climb next to the road on lap 2.
I then picked it up a little on lap 3 to at least not fade anymore, running a time just a couple of seconds off lap 2. The group ahead busted apart and some of them faded more than I did. I was able to catch a rider in the closing mile and get by to finish 6th overall. I was a little bummed not to get my #1 plate at this race as they forgot to bring it this week, but that happens. I will be doing at least one more SERC race next month when the series comes to Chattanooga.
Perley on lap 3
Mose Howard got away from the group to take 2nd.
Dina in her GSC Champ jersey.
Michael Mathers running in 6th with less than two miles to go.
I was only about 15 seconds behind Mathers here.
Dina comes up the hill. I usually catch her about halfway through the last lap in our races, but she stayed out there a lot longer today.
Dina had a good ride and finished 6th in Cat. 2.
We took the backroads home as traffic was horrible around Atlanta and on I-75 through Dalton into Chattanooga. We detoured through northwest Georgia, stopping by Cloudland Canyon State Park in Rising Fawn, GA for a short leg-stretching hike. I have been by this park numerous times in the car and on my road bike, but never actually went inside. We had already paid for a Georgia State Park Pass for the day when we entered Ft. Yargo, so we got into Cloudland for free. We checked out the overlooks first, then hiked the Waterfalls Trail down into the canyon to see Cherokee Falls and Hemlock Falls. It was only two miles of hiking, but the climbing out of the canyon had my legs screaming! It was totally worth it though. Cherokee Falls was one of the best waterfalls I have seen. The trails were beautiful, twisting along the inside of the bluff wall with plenty of greenery. Most of the traffic had cleared up once we ended our hike and made our way over to I-24, giving us a smooth drive home while we listened to the end of the NASCAR race at Talladega on the radio.
Cloudland Canyon Overlook
Waterfall on the opposite side of the canyon.
Heading down on the Waterfall Trail.
Daniel Creek in the bottom of the canyon.
Walking up to Cherokee Falls
Cherokee Falls drops sharply into this gorge with a deep pool below before it becomes a rushing stream again.
Hemlock Falls with big boulders lying all around.
Video: Daniel Creek inside Cloudland Canyon State Park
That does it for April. It was back to the road the following weekend to kick off May with the biggest crit weekend Nashville has hosted in many years. More on that in the next post!
