Hold On

     I chose Hell of the South over Chickasaw. The weather was not good either day, but the rain held off on Saturday and the road race wound up being the better choice. It rained overnight, but was gone by the time I woke up on Saturday. I was not at all prepared, mentally or physically. I was more set on racing Sunday. I literally made the call at the last minute and headed out for Berlin, not even getting in a good breakfast. I was coming off a rest week so my legs were stale. And I had been eating junk all week. It was not looking like the makings of a good day on the bike, but I couldn't pass on the opportunity to get in a long race, especially one with a gravel section in it on a cold, wet day.

     I was also dealing with a freak toe infection that came out of nowhere. Contrary to my Dad's comments, it was not from forgetting to clean to funk out from under my toenails, but rather an infection on the other end of the toenail up under the skin. I don't know where it came from, but I woke up Wednesday night with a throbbing toe and could barely walk at work on Thursday. It got better on Friday as I was able to drain some of the infection out, but remained sore Saturday morning. Luckily, it did not bother me one bit during the race and has now resolved itself.

     I am a huge, huge fan of cycling's Spring Classics. They are the one-day races that test rider and machine. They are long races full of rough, cobbled roads that often are accompanied by brutal weather. It really brings out the "hardmen." Hell of the South is the only race around this area that at least tries to simulate a Classic, though one section of gravel each lap that is less than a mile in length is hardly close to bringing out the "hardmen." Nevertheless, I am always up for a little gravel. The loop for this race is constant rolling hills with some sketchy pavement most of the way around. Potholes abound and claimed more than their fair share of rims during the course of the day.

    The Pro/1/2/3 race was 78 miles long, taking in 3 laps of the course. The gravel is normally the splitting spot, where the group will often blow to pieces. Some people are scared of the gravels while others can't get up the two small climbs that come in that section. It's usually chaos in that part so staying near the front of the group is very important.

HoS Race Course Map

     We began on damp roads with the temps in the upper-40s. It was a rather cool morning for the end of March, but then again every morning has been cool this March. The start was slower than in recent years. I've done this race 2 out of the 3 previous years it has been held and both of those times started like we were racing for 5 miles. We got a big speech from the official on the start line about how there are no yellow center lines on these backroads, but we all know where the center is and we would be disqualified if we crossed over it. What a joke. We were spread ditch to ditch nearly the entire race and not once did the official's car behind us honk the horn and no one was DQ'ed.

    I stayed in a good position early on and hit the gravel for the first time near the front. My buddy Chris Cundiff was also riding up front. He flatted last year on the first lap, even before we reached the gravels. I had a bad race last year as well, having just come back from the stomach illness. I took my only DNF of the year after just one lap of racing.

     I survived the gravel the first time through. I was hurting bad at the exit, but managed to hang on the back of the front group. I hit my max heart rate for the race here at 191. We had a few stragglers catch on after the gravel, but most of the riders that missed the split never rejoined. We went down from 60+ riders to about 40 after the first lap. I nearly lost a water bottle again this week. In Union City the week before I lost a full water bottle when I hit a pothole at the end of the first lap, which likely contributed to my cramping at the end of the race. I caught a rough patch on a fast bridge today that again dislodged my full water bottle from the rear cage, but it wedged itself between my calf and the frame and I was able to use my snail-like reflexes to get it before it hit the road. It must have wedged in there good because I really was slow to reach for it! Got to love the looseness of a carbon bottle cage. Sometimes I miss heavy technology...

Pro/1/2/3 group just after the gravels on lap 1

Photo by Thad Hoffman

     Chris was in the group until about 2 miles to go in lap 1 when the flat monster reached out and grabbed him again in the form of a sharp piece of gravel that sliced his tire. He made a valiant chase after getting a wheel from the awesome neutral support moto behind our group, but it wasn't to be for him today. Props go out to MOAB for providing not only many sets of wheels for neutral support, but also placing one of their mechanics with wheels and a car just after the gravel and another riding behind us on a moto. It sort of made this race feel like a big-time event.

     Numerous breaks tried to go away on lap 1, but all was brought back together with a huge effort from a few riders to start lap 2. I was put into difficulty during that time, but held my position. I didn't dare stick my nose into the wind when the pace was high. The 40 or so riders were still together until the gravel on lap 2, where we then split the group down further to just 31 riders. I was the last one out of the gravel that stayed with the front group. I just barely managed to latch myself onto that last wheel at the top of the second hill. The problem with this lap for me was that we went into the gravels too slow. That bunched us up and killed any momentum we may have had for the upcoming hills. It's hard to maintain traction on a steep gravel hill when you nearly stop halfway up and then try to go full-on again.

     I was getting tired as we started the last lap. The breaks were still trying to form, but it was all being pulled back so far. Then with 25 miles to go, the elastic snapped and 5 riders got clear. They were never to be seen again. I was starting to bonk. My goal was to get to the gravels with the group and then just take it a mile at a time. Again, I was last man out of the gravel, but hung onto the back by the skin of my teeth. I used a slightly different tactic this time. We again entered the gravel slow, but this time I didn't panic on the first hill, instead staying steady and then hitting the second hill hard to ensure I held my momentum through the last deep section of gravel. That seemed to work well for my tired legs. I sipped on my bottle of Ultragen throughout that last lap. It's a recovery drink, but works wonders on the final lap of a long race because it is designed to get a ton of nutrients into your body very quickly, making it perfect for reviving from a bonk. It was just enough to save my day.

     Two more small breaks of 6 riders slipped off the front in one of the hillier sections. We nearly caught the third group with 6 miles to go, getting to within 5 seconds of them, but then everyone turned off the chase and just let them go. I wanted to bridge across so bad, but I knew that physically I couldn't do it. It would've been sure suicide. I was content just making it with the peloton today.

    Those last 6 miles turned into a fun ride as we cruised in at 18-20 mph until the final sprint. I way underestimated what I had left and tried to wait for the final few hundred meters, but found that there were gaps ahead of me when I pulled out of line. I ate up several positions before the finish line, but wound up 5th in the sprint, giving me 22nd overall. I hit 187 heart rate in the sprint so there was definitely still something left in the tank. I was toast in the legs after the race, but actually felt good by the time I got home. If nothing else, I am recovering well this year!

Even with the rain overnight, my bike still came out of the race with a bit of gravel dust on the frame.

    Chickasaw wound up being very, very nasty. It was a good call on my part. My new drive train would not have enjoyed being welcomed into this world in those conditions. I feel like such a pansy for missing the race. I love the muddy conditions, but it just doesn't make sense any more for me to do them when I haven't shown any real race form on the mountain bike the past few seasons. Mud really hurts your parts, which in turn hurts your wallet. We just don't have that kind of race budget anymore.

    Since Hell of the South, Winter has reared its ugly head despite it officially being Spring. It has snowed twice and averaged in the upper-40s to low-50s on temperature. I have not tolerated it so well. I was mentally prepared to end the trainer the week of Union City, but the cold rain has kept me indoors and the motivation has suffered. I can only do so much on the trainer with my high-intensity workouts now. My plan was to be working on sprints and explosive power now, two things you just can't do on the trainer unless you want to rock the trainer over in the floor. With less bike motivation comes less motivation off the bike and my nutrition has declined as well. I think I pushed it a bit too far with dropping weight right after Union City and that has caused more food cravings. Easter is a bad time to want to eat because there is just too much candy lying around, especially at work. Patients have been bringing us oodles of chocolate and cakes. I have partaken of more than my fair share and have seen the effects on the scale this week. I've put 2-3 lbs. back on, but the positive thing is that I'm still below the weight I was at any point during last year.

The day of Chickasaw (March 24) started out with rain, then brought thunderstorms and even some hail seen above...

...then less than 10 hours later snow was covering the ground.

Snow on our cars as we leave for work on Monday

    The cold continues to bring me down this week. We did a group ride in Sango on Tuesday. I felt horrible, probably due to my nutrition and the cold. I thought I was going to freeze to death before getting home that night. I just hung on the back and got in my miles for the day, then struggled to keep feeling in my fingers and toes on the ride back home. Things have not gotten much better since then, with me not having any legs on the trainer today. I felt like such a weakling and ended up ending the workout early as I just didn't have the legs to get my heart rate up for interval work. I was doing so good with sticking to my training plan, but the weather has wrecked it the past 3 weeks. I've been forced to get in riders whenever I can, not always when I want. I thought I would plateau on my progress, but instead I have seemed to regress. It's frustrating and has killed all my confidence going into the big crits later this month.

     I hope it warms up soon. I don't know how much longer I can take this cold weather. As I write this, I'm staring out the window at a cold downpour with the temperature under 40 degrees. I can't believe this is nearing the end of the first week of April. Normally by now I am riding in shorts 4-5 days out of the week. So far this year, I've ridden in shorts in Tennessee 4 times...and probably shouldn't have for 2 of those rides. There's a race at Cedar Hill Park this weekend. It's close to home and I had originally planned to race it, but I'm not sure now. I'll have to see how I feel on my ride this Saturday and then make the call. Until then, I'm going to go search for my motivation. It has packed up and left town so I must go catch it before it gets away for good.

Sports Performance Video

     We have a Sports Performance Program at the STAR Physical Therapy location here in Clarksville where I work. Blake Ladson runs the program and works with local athletes of all ages to improve their strength, jumping ability, speed and agility.

    Recently, I made a short video for Blake to use to promote the program. He's recruiting athletes hard right now. If you are in the Clarksville area and want to get better at any sport, check into Blake's program. Just check out the video below to see a few of the things he has to offer.

STAR Physical Therapy - Clarksville North Sports Performance Video

     I'm hoping to get better at these videos and eventually make a long cycling video of some sort. The videos are fun to plan out and film. The editing isn't always the most fun thing to do, especially with the program I have, but I'm getting better at it. Look for more videos to emerge here in the near future. Check out my YouTube page for more frequent updates and postings.

Perseverance

     The first race of the year is in the books for me. It felt good to be back on the road traveling somewhere. I really enjoy the traveling part of racing. It just feels good to me to be on the interstate blasting along with some bike destination in mind. I love all the stress and anticipation that comes with racing. The planning, the late-night packing after work, the going over the bike three times before the race, the holding of the bladder on the drive, the constant fuel mileage calculations because the fuel gauge in the car is broken. Those are all things I look forward to.

     It was a beautiful weekend for the races in Union City, GA. We drove down on Saturday morning for an afternoon circuit race. We arrived a bit later than normal after getting stuck in some traffic in Chattanooga. Union City is just southwest of Atlanta. It really isn't a bad drive for us, taking just over four hours to get there.

     The circuit race was advertised as a crit. on some fliers and a circuit race on others. I wasn't sure what to expect. The course map showed 0.99 miles in length, so that meets the distance criteria for a crit. Shannon was excited because we were racing at the back of a big mall. Oddly enough, it was named the Shannon Mall. Well, she wound up disappointed by her mall as it was closed. Actually, it was abandoned.

    I got in my warm-up on the course and on the trainer. It was super windy, with gusts blowing 20-30 mph at times. The course was sort of horseshoe-shaped. It had 6 turns, all right-handers. We began on a false-flat straightaway that gently curved left, straight into the stiff wind. Three turns followed the front stretch before a long, straight back stretch that was downhill and had a sweet tailwind. A 90-degree turn followed the straight where the course then turned uphill for a short climb through the final two turns. Then it was back onto the front stretch into the wind to complete the lap.

GPS of the race course. Race direction was clockwise.

     I was surprised to hear we were using circuit race rules. That made no sense to me with the course being so short. I guess they didn't want to deal with having a wheel pit and doing free laps. Our Pro/1/2 race was scheduled for 60 minutes. We started a bit late due to trouble getting the annual Mayor's photo completed on the course. They pulled a big fire engine out onto the front stretch by the finish line and had the townspeople and riders stand next to it for a picture.

The Mayor's photo

     We had a few over 30 riders on the start line. There were four Pro riders there so things were sure to get ugly. And they did. I started on the second row, but had trouble getting my foot in the pedal and dropped back right away. Riders started attacking before the first turn and a break had established itself by lap 2. The UnitedHealthcare of Georgia team had missed the break. I knew once they got across, this break was gone in windy conditions such as this. All the other big teams had a rider ahead. A UHC rider attacked at the end of lap 2 and I attempted to bridge with him. He gapped me, but I put the power down and stayed close to him. The gap to the break was huge and I couldn't hold his pace all the way across. I looked down to see 191 on my heart rate monitor. I had told Shannon I wouldn't go with a break in the first 20 minutes. Blew that plan!

Pro/1/2 group on the backside of the course

First lap breakaway

More riders join the break

The group heads down the long back stretch

     I had to drop back for fear of blowing up. The group was chasing hard and I went right to the back. I almost got dropped at 12 minutes into the race. The pace was furious and guys were popping. I had to close several big gaps to stay on the back. This is where I could see an improvement from last year. I am way stronger and now able to sit in the wind for a minute to close a gap.

     I struggled until about 25 minutes in, when the pace finally slowed. We were averaging 24.9 mph at the halfway point. The break was long gone now. After 35 minutes we got lapped by a Hincapie/BMC rider who had jumped off the front of the break. He went straight to the front of our group and upped the pace. Our average speed had dropped to 24.6, but he single-handedly brought us back up to 24.9 mph. I was having trouble doing the back-to-back accelerations up the hill and then again out of turn 6 into the wind of the front stretch. I finally got gapped at 42 minutes and fell off the main group. The pace blew the group to pieces. I was out by myself like a lot of other guys who got dropped. Most of us got lapped a second time. Since it was a circuit race, we were not pulled. But it seemed as though only some circuit race rules applied as groups on different laps were allowed to work together and we were not forced to complete the same number of laps as the leader. I didn't get the rules, but I did two extra laps after the race to make up for me being lapped twice.

Two riders alone in the closing gaps

Another small breakaway group. The wind really tore the group to pieces.

Me in the group.

2 laps to go for me.

One of the breakaway groups sprints for the finish

     I was recorded as 26th out of 27 finishers on the results. I was disappointed and frustrated. It was not the way I had wanted to start my year. I was pleased to see some positives like being stronger into the wind and seeing higher heart rates, but I thought I should be able to finish with the pack and better than 26th. I felt like I had worked too hard this off-season to still finish in the back. I guess my time hasn't come yet and there is still some more persevering to come before I finally catch my break.

Video: Pro/1/2 Men at the Union City Mayor's Race Circuit Race

     Shannon and I chilled in our tiny hotel that night after driving a lap of the road race course. Our room looked like it was likely a closet at one time. It was so small! We watched Skyfall, the latest Bond movie before hitting the sack for the night. We were up early the next morning. The road race started just a few miles from the hotel which was very convenient for us. I had no expectations after the circuit race failure. The distance for Sunday was 73 miles. I was tired and expecting to get hammered. I didn't even put extra wheels in the wheel truck because I was expecting to get dropped and be behind the truck. We were to do three laps on the course. I was hoping to make it through the first lap. I told Shannon to only expect me to hang for one lap with the group, but I would still do all three laps even if dropped early.

Road Race Course was an out-and-back with a loop at the end.

     I did a slow warm-up since my legs were tired. That was not good as the pace was wide-open the first 2 miles. We were rolling 34 mph at one point in the first mile. Things finally slowed down before the first big hill at mile 5. I was worried about being dropped here, but managed to stay on the back of the group. The pace was fast, but I was ok holding on the first lap. It was a chilly morning, but the sun quickly brought the temp up into the mid-70s for another beautiful spring day. A 9-man break went away at mile 9 and was never seen again. Our chase group was whittled down to 20 by mile 20. A group of 6 then got away from our main pack at mile 25. They quickly built up a 2-minute lead as we started lap 2. I was thrilled to be in the group and was content to let the breaks go.

Pro1/2 Men on the line

Pro/1/2 start

Lead break near the end of lap 1

Two chasers

What's left of the main peloton in the Pro/1/2 Men after lap 1.

     Chasing commenced by the Hincapie/BMC team. Over the course of the second lap, they pulled the 6 riders back. I was feeling good now, even taking a few turns at the front around mile 44 as we started lap 3. The chase continued for the first half of the last lap. We cut the break's lead down to 1:30, but then they began to pull back away, beating us by 3:00 at the end. Our group started attacking again with 16 miles to go. This time I was active at the front, jumping across several gaps and making sure I didn't miss a split. I was getting better and the others were getting tired. I had no muscle burn. Then came the twinge of a distal hamstring cramp. I was in denial at first. I couldn't really be cramping with this little bit of fatigue could I?

Cat. 3 group

Cat. 5s

Me on the front of the main peloton nearing the end of lap 2

     Three small hills awaited at 4 miles to go. That was my last worry spot. At least that's what I thought. The wind split the group about 2 miles before the hills. I was at the back after dropping my chain briefly. I missed the split! I attempted to bridge, but the cramp showed its ugly face. At first I only cramped at the top of the pedal stroke. I rode through it for a minute as I pulled myself closer to the group ahead. Then the cramp worsened and locked up my left leg. I poked the cramp with my finger to maybe get it to relax, but it wouldn't let go. I started pedaling with the right leg only, but I couldn't do it fast enough to catch the group ahead. I was caught by the chasers, almost getting dropped right away as the cramp still had my leg locked up.

     I finally got a chance to stretch and the cramp subsided. And it never came back. I rode at the front over the last hills, then took advantage of my course pre-drive the night before. My group missed a turn and I made it. I yelled at them, but they didn't listen. Everyone there seemed to think they knew how to go, but none of them did. We had all missed a turn early in the race as the course was poorly marked. Well, my knowledge of the course helped me get away from my group and I even caught the group ahead, which had split into some smaller packs. I outsprinted a few guys on my way in, taking 16th. I was happy with that. That's not a bad result, especially in a race where I expected to be dropped in the first 20 miles. And my legs felt great at the the end. If nothing else, I have endurance this year! We averaged 24.5 mph for the 73 miles. I topped out my heart rate at 186 at mile 5. Not bad for tired legs. I even felt good on the drive home, having a lot of energy left to unpack once we got home. My legs were tired, but my entire body was not. Sometimes I get home totally drained.

Video: Finish clip of the Pro/1/2 Men's road race

     It's been a crappy week. The weather has been rainy and cold, and I've been really busy at work. Good thing is that this is my rest week so I didn't need to ride much this week. Tomorrow kicks off my next block of training, this time with short, intense intervals and sprints. And of course some racing. I'm on the fence about what to race. I had planned to race Chickasaw on Sunday, but the weather looks like it will be a mud-fest. I just put a new drivetrain on my mountain bike and I really don't want to destroy it on the first ride. The Hell of the South Road Race is tomorrow morning and I am leaning more towards it. The forecast is for rain tomorrow too. It looks like Chickasaw may be a muddy mess no matter what the weather brings on Sunday morning, so I may take my chances with an early race tomorrow and hope the rain holds off until we get in our 78 miles. I'll make the call in the morning. Now it's off to bed to rest up for whatever the weekend ends up bringing me.

This Is Now

     The season is upon us. I am writing this just one day before my first race of the year. Tomorrow we head down to Union City, GA for my first ever try at the Union City Mayor's Race. I'll be doing the crit. tomorrow afternoon and the road race on Sunday morning.

     I am excited to race, yet nervous at the same time. My off-season preparation has gone about as good as anyone could hope for. With the time that I have to train, and with the weather being as crappy as it has been lately, I am very pleased with how my training has gone and feel that I am about as good as I can be right now without turning into a full-on bike hermit.

     My training has been almost entirely on the road or trainer this year. I have mountain biked a whole three times this year, with two of those happening this week. It's just been too wet or muddy to ride the trail. I toughed out a lot of cold road rides in January and early-February, but the past two weeks I have been on the trainer mostly due to rain and/or snow almost every day in some form or another. I've heard a lot of people talking about how this has been a warm winter, but those are the people who have been sitting inside on their couch watching reality shows instead of living for themselves. This winter was not the worst one I have trained in by any stretch of the imagination, but it was worse than the last four or five. It has made me really earn my mileage this year.

The only time the snow accumulated this year was barely enough to cover the grass. Here's our little house all dressed in white.

The back of the farm looked like a white tundra across the fields

The ground was warm where the dirt was exposed, but the snow did stick to these gum balls.

Looking into the woods at snow-covered trees.

     The trainer has been somewhat enjoyable I will have to say. For the first time in my life, I rode the trainer with purpose, not just logging time, but doing workouts. I finally accepted that the first two weeks of my intensity block were going to be inside or not at all. It was either put out on the trainer or be slow come race time. I have put in quite a few interval workouts inside and I can feel a huge difference. Some of the best triathletes in the world say that there is nothing like a good trainer workout to improve power and fitness. I'm starting to believe them. I have learned to settle into a hard pace, pushing a bigger gear than usual and just suffer like a dog. No downhills available for recovery. Just good, hard work for the entire ride. It's been a good time to catch up on all the early-season races in Europe. Most of the races get posted on YouTube right after they happen.

Shannon on the trail on one of the warmer days this week

Shannon crosses the creek on our backyard trail

A dirty Snoop running for the trail

     My heart rate has always been lower on the trainer due to weakness in my legs. I could never sustain the pace needed to give my heart a good workout because my legs couldn't keep pushing the gear on the trainer without a break. That would explain why my time trialing has always sucked. My previous best heart rate max was 184, set several years ago during a Spinervals video workout. I went a few years without even getting close to 184, then I hit it twice last season. Both of those times came within a week and both were while warming up for races. I then hit it again this January during my first interval session of the year. Last week, the record was finally broken. I first cranked out 185 on my seventh of ten 3-minute intervals during a workout, then broke it again with 187 on the eighth rep! I was so pumped! Two days later I hit 185 and 186 during intervals.

    So the question became how would all these numbers carry over to the road? Well, first let me talk about my road heart rate values. I have been unable to get into the 190s for a max heart rate the past two seasons except for one race in 2011, where I hit 191 and took 2nd. In the past, hitting 190+ in the finish sprint has been good for me. In 2010, I cranked out a max of 193 six times, which resulted in three wins (including the Cat. 3 Road Race State Championship), a 3rd, a 4th, and a 5th place. Not too bad of a streak! I would gladly take a top 5 right now just to get some momentum going. I cranked out 191 during a group ride the other day when I attacked on a hill and soloed for a few miles off the front. The local group has been giving me heck so far this year since I usually ride 20-30 miles of hills before I join them, but the training appears to be paying off now as I still did the distance, but smashed them on every climb this time around. I have a 51-mile loop through some very hilly roads that I have been using for my race-simulation rides. I knocked 19 minutes off my best time last week on a windy day. Things are looking good, but it'll take a few races to really shake out where I stand after the winter.

Geese in the pond.

Snoop on the dock keeping a look out for a fish using my phone. I dropped a phone while on the dock a few weeks ago. It sank good. Like an anchor.

     One more thing to mention about training. I've dropped two more pounds, putting me lighter than last season, almost as light as I was after getting that nasty stomach virus last March when I hadn't eaten in three days and was dehydrated. I hate salads, but the green is helping with the lean. My core is also much improved now thanks to continued yoga and adding in TRX. I made my own TRX strap and have been doing full-body workouts 2-3 times a week. Of course, I'm hitting the glutes hard. I'm far from strong in them, but I'm a ton better than last year. I know I haven't mentioned glute training in a while, but I'm still working on my own glutes as well as developing programs for athletes at work. I'll post more about this soon.

    On another note, I figured out part of the reason for my lack of motivation last season. It was definitely stress, mostly due to work. When in school, I used stress as a tool to ride harder and more often. Riding helped me let off steam. This work stress was different. It was frustrating and made me feel hopeless at times. I didn't recognize it at first, but now I see it. We made some management changes at our clinic and that has helped tremendously. It's hard to work for a boss that's only out for himself. Getting rid of that boss relieved a lot of my stress. It also put me in a position to possible rise up in the clinic and take on some new responsibilities. I thought I wanted this. I worked my butt off the past few months to prove I was ready for the job. But it has gone unnoticed in many ways. It was back to frustration and the feeling of hopelessness for a while before I realized that it just wasn't worth it. I've decided I like just being a PTA and treating patients. More responsibility is not what I need under my current supervisors. We have already had several misunderstandings and disagreements caused by their lack of communication and setting of unrealistic goals. I want to just do my job and go home, where I can spend ample time with Shannon and more time on bikes. One day I want to rise up and direct  my own clinic, but today is not that day and neither is tomorrow. Stress is still there every day as we continue to have problems in our clinic, but I have identified it now and I won't let it defeat me again. This is now! This is the time to concentrate on my dreams and passions and go for them. I'm going for my goals today. I'm no longer planning to improve myself, I'm improving myself today. How can I change tomorrow if I can't change today?!

     I've been a home-body for the most part, just tooling around the yard during my free time and occasionally doing some fishing in the pond behind the house. I saw two concerts last month on back-to-back nights in Nashville. First night, Dina and I went to Marathon Music Works where we saw a heavy-metal show including Shadows Fall and one of my favorite bands ever, Hatebreed. I doubt Dina really knew what she was in for! We had our eardrums blown out and left strutting like a rooster. Hatebreed just makes you do that. They have some of the most motivating, butt-kicking lyrics and riffs around. The last line of the paragraph above was from one of their songs. As is this blog title. If you ever need a good kick in the pants, just play some Hatebreed really loud. They'll remind you to stop being a girly-man and go after whatever it is you want in life.

     The next night, I took Shannon for a hard rock show when Sevendust came to town. It was my third time seeing them and they continue to put on great shows. They are also one of my favorite bands, so I got to see my two favs in two days. Lacuna Coil and Avatar opened for Sevendust. I didn't know much about Avatar, but after hearing them live I have really taken a liking to them.

     That's all for now. Sorry for the long delays between updates. I've been spending more time training than on the computer so the blog has been pushed to the side. I'll post race updates though so be on the lookout because the season is NOW!