2009 Kick Off Ride

Duane, Montana Mitch and I headed out for our 21 miler to Yonah Dam and back ride yesterday. Temps were in the 60's and the sun was shining bright. It was perfect weather, accept for headwinds coming from what seemed like every direction.

The last time I rode my bike was on November 11th last year and I ended the year strong. Duane and Riley pulled me to my fastest average pace ever at 19.5 mph. I started out this season almost 3 mph off of that pace but after 3 months off, I feel pretty good about the first ride of 09'.

Course: TRB
Trip Distance: 20.39 miles
Trip Time: 1:12:32
Average Speed: 16.87 mph (19.50 mph was my fastest last season)
Max Speed: 25.99 mph
YTD Miles: 20

Tuesday Stats: Team pulled me to victory!

Today I acheived my fastest average mile per hour. Blew it out of the water. Duane and Reilly pulled me way past my fastest time to date when they found out that I was so close. Thanks guys!

Course: TRB
Trip Distance: 20.54 miles
Trip Time: 1:04:37
Average Speed: 19.50 mph (0.46 avg mph than fastest before)
Max Speed: 30.60 mph

Saturday Club Ride

Great ride today. Cold start but the hills warmed us up real quick!

Check out Toccoa Spinners Cycling

Course: TRB plus some back roads(Tugaloo River Basin)
Trip Distance: 26.93 miles
Trip Time: 1:38:33
Average Speed: 16.40 mph
Max Speed: 42.89 mph

Keep Spinning!

The response has been terrific for the weekly group ride. I never thought it would take off this fast and it was just something that was thrown together to be quite honest. I've given the group a name, "Toccoa Spinners." Originally I thought THC (Toccoa/Hartwell Cycling) would be a good one but then I remembered that THC is the main ingredient found in marijuana! So, with that being said, it's got a new name.

Tuesday of this past week we had a turnout of 12 riders which was fantastic.

Tuesday Stats:
Course: TRB (Tugaloo River Basin)
Trip Distance: 20.55 miles
Trip Time: 1:06:53
Average Speed: 18.45 mph
Max Speed: 31.77 mph

Saturday, Duane, Alan, Kim and I set out for a 30 mile ride that incorporated more climbing. These climbs weren't too difficult at all. I've just spent too much time out of the saddle this summer to be ready for any kind of an upward grade. Having a group to ride with will keep me more accountable to getting more ride time in. It's easy to cancel on yourself, but not so easy to cancel on friends.

Saturdays Stats:
Course: TRB with some of the side streets thrown in, don't know which ones.
Trip Distance: 27.96 miles
Trip Time: 1:43:41
Average Speed: 16.34 mph
Max Speed: 42.47 mph

Tour de Tugaloo is this Saturday. I Can't wait!

THC - Inaugural Ride

Today marked the first ride of the "official" unofficial Toccoa/Hartwell Cycling Club. My friend Duane and I were just talking last week about the amount of people we know in the area that ride, but no weekly local rides were put in place to bring out the masses. So...I organized one last Friday, sent out invites on Sunday through email and low and behold, we had 9 riders this past Tuesday. Heck of a turnout for the first "organized" unorganized ride!

The ride in the next city near Toccoa is the Tuesday Night Throwdown. The majority of the riders in that ride are racers from the UCBI Team who all come out with something to prove and attempt to one up each other from night to night. They are all great riders and extremely nice folks but they just leave guys like me in the dust only to be discouraged when I get back to the parking lot. Thankfully, the THC (Toccoa/Hartwell Cycling) is anything but. Do we go fast? Yes. Do we push it? Yes. Do we push each other? Yes. Do we take it easy in parts and talk through the ride 2 by two? Yes. Do we have a sprint line? You betcha! Folks, that's what the community of cycling is all about; friends coming out to ride and have fun doing it, not getting back to the car discouraged because you got left in everyone's dust. This past Tuesday night is going down as one of the best group rides I've taken part in.

THC will take place every Tuesday night at 5:30PM leaving from the Broken Bridges Park on the Georgia side down Hwy 123 towards SC. When the time changes or it starts getting dark before 6:45PM (2 weeks from now), we'll probably move the ride to Saturdays.

One more thing, and this is for Kim, Duane, and Reily...you guys need to be side by side at the start of the sprint line next week. My money is on Kim!

Today's Personal Stats:
Course: TRB (Tugaloo River Basin)
Trip Distance: 20.90 miles
Trip Time: 1:09:07
Average Speed: 18.10 mph
Max Speed: 30.33 mph

Amazing ride today, beautiful too.

Course today was a good section of the Tour de Tugaloo that is to take place on November 1st.

Today's Stats:
Course: TRB (Tugaloo River Basin)
Trip Distance: 20.44 miles
Trip Time: 1:07:46
Average Speed: 18.10 mph
Max Speed: 29.01 mph

2008 Dahlonega Six Gap Century

Just two years ago I ascended the southern Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia for what turned out to be my first 100 mile epic century. Well, the time has come for me to do it one more time.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the event. 100 miles, 11,200 feet of elevation gain, 6 mountains, and 2,500 friends alongside. Seeing that I've completed the 6 Gap two years ago, I've already got that t-shirt so this year I'll be participating in the 3 Gap Century instead with is roughly half the distance and elevation gain and covers just 3 mountains.

I'm signing up at the last minute and have to hit the training harder over the next two weeks. I haven't been as diligent this summer on the bike as I have been in the past few years but 50 miles still should be no problem. Just this spring I was knocking out the exact same 3 Gap route in 2 hours and 30 minutes. It'll be interesting to see what my time is after being quite lazy this summer.

This is the route and elevation profile.



Wish me luck!

I would have missed these mountains

Some of you may not know but I was planning on moving to New Orleans this Saturday until God (thankfully) stepped in and changed those plans. I'm so glad God controls my life, even though I sometimes (all the time) think that I do. Man, praise our Father in heaven!

5:30 am came way too early and I headed out for Turners Corner, just outside of Cleveland, Georgia. I rode the Turners Corner 3 Gap again. I picked up an iPod and this was my first ride with it. There is something motivating about listening to music when I'm riding. I think it takes my mind of the burn in my legs and the razor blades in my lungs. I didn't see a deer, a snake or a turtle like I did on my last TC3G ride but I did have a red fox dart out in front of me! Wow! I just haven't seen too many of those in my life and they are too beautiful to me.

The TC3G is by far my most favorite bike ride. It's just too dang beautiful. I definitely would have missed these mountains.

Today's Stats:
Course: TC3G
Trip Distance: 35.18 miles
Trip Time: 2:31:22
Average Speed: 13.95 mph
Max Speed: 38.99 mph
Elevation Gain: 3297 Feet



It's awesome to think that today I climbed 3 out of the 6 tallest mountains in Georgia. Every time I crested the top of these mountains the Appalachain Trail crossed the road in the same spot. When I ride this loop I stop at the top of the first climb up Neels Gap to refill my water bottle in the thru hikers hostel, the first one on the hike from Georgia to Maine. In doing so this morning I made a new friend, a cute little grey cat all cozy on the couch.

After cresting the last climb, Woody Gap (which from this direction isn't much of a climb) the reward for my legs climbing those mountains is whats after the top of Woodys. That decent back toward Dahlonega without a doubt is some of the most fun cycling anyone could ever do. On that decent the score was cars - 0, Jon - 6. I passed 6 cars going down that mountain! Ha! The turns are banked just right that you can lean into those curves and give it all you've got with barely hitting the breaks.

What a ride!

Same as always

I waited until 7:30pm to go ride today. I wanted the day to cool off a bit. Today was the first "speed work" I've done since the race a week and a half ago. With the exception of the mountain ride last Monday, today is it. My time and speed on this course is pretty consistent. I have another race Thursday night. Holla.


Todays Stats:
Course: LLL
Trip Distance: 9.31 miles
Trip Time: 0:30:56 (0:30:38 is my fastest. I'm only 18 seconds off...geez)
Average Speed: 18.36 mph (18.66 is my fastest on this course)
Max Speed: 38.64 mph (Fastest max to date on this course)

Make the Adjustment

Make the Adjustment


Talk about Tiger Woods dominates the airwaves this morning. Tiger has been labeled by some as the most phenomenal golfer during this time and perhaps of all time. He finds a way to consistently win. When Tiger Woods is in the field other players can not relax because they know that he will, more times than not, overcome obstacles to finish well. Tiger Woods does not play a perfect game of golf by any means. In fact, he made many costly mistakes during the US Open on yesterday. He was also hindered some by the pain in the leg on which surgery was performed a few weeks ago.

One announcer said something that I feel compelled to share. She stated, "the thing that makes Tiger Woods so phenomenal is not that he does not make mistakes, but he is so good at adjusting his game to over come the mistakes that he makes."

What a tremendous life lesson that is. None of us are exempt from mistakes. But all too often we concentrate so hard on the mistake that we are not able to meet the next challenge that life brings our way. Some of our pain results from our falling down.

Some of our pain may come from our having been tripped down. Whether you are experiencing setbacks from pain or mistakes it is possible for you to win at the game of life.

My prayer is that you take a few minutes to really assess the situation or condition that you are in, figure out what needs to done, chart a new course and then...make the adjustment

Blessings and Peace

Children's Songs

God is so good.

God is so good.

God is so good, he's been good to me.

~ Who said children's songs were just for kids?

Epic

The Princeton online dictionary defines the word "epic" as some thing that is "very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary." My ride today surpassed the ordinary. It was the most beautiful, enjoyable, and incredible ride I have ever been on. Today I climbed the Turners Corner 3 Gap which consists of 3 climbs; Neels Gap, Wolf Pen Gap and Woody Gap. Neels is the first climb in the Dahlonega 6 Gap Century and Wolf Pen and Woody are the last two. The chart below is the diagram of the elevation:



I woke up at 6am this morning and fixed myself a bowl of rice and eggs which turned out to be great fuel for the trip. On the way, I grabbed a cup o'jo (coffee). Fuel for the trip: Clif Bars, my homemade gel, Gatorade, and water. It turned out to be perfect.

The climb up Neels Gap (also known as Blood Mnt) is a 7.81 mile accent to the Walasi-Yi mountain crossing where a lot of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers resupply their gear and sleep for the night in a cozy hostel. Just before you get to Walasi-Yi you climb past a sign marking the Appalachian Trail crossing. Those signs are blessing from God letting you know you're almost at the top of the climb.



Being on top of Neels with so much energy left felt great. The climb didn't feel nearly as tough as the last time I climbed Neels. The next stops were the top of Wolf Pen and Woodys. I cannot begin to tell you how thrilling it is to fly so fast down those mountains. It was a rush. I had my Blackberry with me listening to music the whole time. That was the first time I've ridden while listening to music. I think it added a little 'umph' to my pep.

I saw some amazing things today and one not so amazing. I came upon a motorcycle crash and thankfully the guy was ok but he did have to go the hospital. Shortly after I crested Wolf Pen and started my descent a huge deer ran out right in front of me. That was pretty neat. I made other friends along the way too. One a black snake and the other a gigantic turtle!

I never lost stride today, I never got tired or sore. Praise the Lord!

Todays stats:
Course: Turners Corner 3 Gap
Trip Distance: 35.13 miles
Trip Time: 2:30:14
Average Speed: 14.12 mph
Max Speed: 39.35 mph
Elevation Gain: 3297 Feet

Below are pictures from today's ride.

Climbing Neels Gap



Neels Gap overlook



Start of Wolf Pen Gap



Top of Wolf Pen



Woody Gap overlook

Stats posted

Stats for the Race Of Truth are posted online here. As you can see, I utterly stink at racing. :-)

I just want to get my time under 30 minutes, that's all I care about when it comes to cycling. For some reason they gave me a finish time on the second race when I didn't finish at all.

Last year there were 4 categories for the races: Women, Masters (over 40), Elite, and Open. I've raced in the open class. This year they have added one more category to make it really competitive across the whole spectrum of categories. That category is Handicap. The handicap is calculated from a rider's fastest time. The actual calculation is essentially the same as that devised by the British Cycling Time Trials organization (until recently known as the Road Time Trials Council or RTTC). In general terms, an arbitrary base time is subtracted from a rider's best time to determine the actual handicap. In this case, the arbitrary time is 17 minutes for a 10 mile time trial course. This is really good news and here's why. If I had finished the second race 14 seconds faster than the first race I would have won that category this past week. HOT DOG! I can actually win! Theoretically...

Race Two: Green

When you hear someone use the term, "green as grass" what does it make you think about? For me, it makes me think of the fire department back when I was a career firefighter. As a rookie, we had some of the best training in the country, but that didn't matter, once we got on shift we didn't know didly squat. Compare it to a doctor going to medical school. That doc can have all the classroom experience and training in the world, but until that doc puts their hands on a patient, they don't know didly.

Well, when it comes to cycling I feel like I don't know didly. I made a huge rookie mistake today. I showed my true colors, green. I've been looking forward to tonights race all week long and I got a big fat DNF. You know what that stands for? Did Not Finish. How about that?

So what was my rookie mistake? Food. I thought that I should load up on carbs, after all, carbs are the ultimate energy food. That's true, but chicken fetuchini alfredo, 1 banana, a cliff bar, and 1 energy drink 4 hours before the race makes for an "upsetting" performance to say the least.

I pushed it tonight, hard. So hard that I finished my first lap in under 15 minutes. 300 yards later my head was so light that it felt like it was floating 50 feet above me. Then came the urge to unleash everything that I had eaten just hours before. Then my heart raced like mad. Then, I stopped and let my body recoop, turned around and headed back to the parking lot.

Tonight wasn't a total loss. I learned a very valuable lesson. I spoke with racer Scott Hefner after the race and he told me his routine for eating the day of a TT race. Eat whatever you want the night before, whatever you want for breakfast, and then, no later than 2pm for a 6pm time trial mix a bowl of white rice with some scrambled eggs and eat nothing else after 2. He said the rice and eggs are full of carbs and protein, yet light enough to digest quickly and not make you sick during the race. He said he eats the same way for big events like a 50 miler 3 Gap accept he eats a little more than one bowl. Lesson learned, I'll have to try it out on the 19th.

Tentatively I'm planning on a rematch with the Helen 3 Gap on Monday. If I eat right the night before and morning of, I should be ok.

Eager

Man! I wish the race was tonight! I'm ready to roll. Maybe it's the coffee? I just drank 2 big cups.

The Mark of the Beast

Today's ride had nothing to do with speed, cadence, watts, power output or trip time. I had to do with one thing only, endurance.

The High Lonesome, that's what most riders call it. I rode Hogpen Gap today. I had originally set out to ride the Helen 3 Gap but halfway up Hogpen, I knew I had an empty tank. I wasn't going to stop and go back until I at least made it to the top of Hogpen. I know what my problem was, I hadn't fueled right the night before. The only thing I ate for dinner last night was 2 bowls of Cheerios, not the best fuel for a ride of this magnitude. I was setting out to ride 3 of the tallest mountains in Georgia today on the equivalent of fumes.

You might be wondering why I titled this entry like I did. Well, when I reached the top I looked to see what my average speed was climbing that mountain, yep, you guessed it, 6.66 average miles per hour. That number explains how hard that climb was. It's been almost 2 years since I climbed Hogpen.

Hogpen is 7 miles of climbing with grades of 7% or greater the whole way, topping off at 15% in parts. Miles 3 through 5 are the hardest. That's what I call the "stretch". If you can make it past mile marker 5 on the climb you'll be alright. In just 7 miles, you climb 2,540 feet up. That's half a mile folks. I just didn't have the gas in the tank to make it through 2 more hard climbs. Check out the elevation chart below, or you can click here, just make sure to check the box marked "display elevation" on the left.





Todays stats:
Course: Helen 3 Gap
Trip Distance: 23.41 miles
Trip Time: 1:56:27
Average Speed: Don't know, reset my computer for avg mph on Hogpen Gap.
Max Speed: 40.85 mph

I had fun though, and again, that's all that matters!

Race One

Such a good night to ride, temps were perfect. I felt great tonight, probably too good. I say too good because you're not supposed to feel that way in a time trial race. You're supposed to be hurting...bad. Tonight I pretty much stayed in my comfort zone as far as heart rate, lungs and burn go. I should have pushed it more. But, this gives me a good gauge to start the race season off just right.

I nailed it tonight. My avg mph wasn't what I was shooting for but it was my fastest avg mph to date, 19.54 mph. My goal to hit was 30 mintues or less. I finished in 31.06 according to the computer on my bike (which isn't the official time). So starting off this season I'm 41 seconds faster than my fastest time last year. I can handle that. Now I just need to shave off another minute and 7 seconds by the end of August. I'm going to tell you, that's going to be hard to do but if I keep at it, I think I can.

I'm not the fastest guy in my class, not even close, but I don't care. I'm more or less racing against myself. I love riding my bike and that's all that really matters.

Race two is next Thursday, June 5th.

* Date: 5/29/2008
Course: Race of Truth Time Trial
Trip Distance: 10 miles
Trip Time: 0:31:06
Avg Speed: 19:54 mph
Max Speed: 38.30 mph

Hey Jonny, do you like apples?

Well tonight, I blew my fastest average mph out of the water, so how about those apples?

I rode with the team tonight and there was nothing terribly special about tonights ride. Actually, it was quite 'unspecial'. I didn't feel like I was at peak performance, I got dropped by the team at mile 6.12 and I just felt like my lungs were 100 yards behind me. I rode 15 miles solo, and that means I had a lot of time to think. One of the thoughts was the posting title of tonights ride. Feeling discouraged I first thought of the title: new shorts, new wheels...same lungs and same legs.

I didn't think that I was riding as fast as I was, but a computer can't lie. I was frustrated to the point that I turned my computer function to the mode where I can only see the time and the mph I'm going at that moment. One thing about the computer though, on all screens it displays current mph and if you are going slower or faster than your average. I didn't look at it much until the end thinking that I wasn't going to come close to finishing in the goal I had set for myself.

The finish is at the top of a nice climb and at the base I looked at my computer. I scrolled to see what my average mph was with just that last climb to go. I was astonished, it said 19.29 mph. But here's the bad thing, there's no way to maintain that kind of pace going up a climb and it would drop like a brick if I didn't get out of the saddle and give it everything I had. I reached the top, heart pounding, lungs ready to explode and my stomach not feeling too good either. My computer read 19.04 mph. I had beaten my goal by .04 mph. I had just beaten my fastest time by .38 mph. I've never, ever broken 19 mph as an average speed. Yeah, I like those apples.

As for the new wheels, my goodness they're incredible. It's almost like they just don't want to stop rolling. I'm very happy with them. Imagine if I had felt up to peak performance tonight. What could my time had been? Hummm? I'll just have to wait for the next time.

Thursday night is the first race of the season. I have to bust an average of 20 mph wide open to beat 30 minutes. My fastest time last year was 31 minutes 47 seconds. I'm a lot faster this year that I was last year. I've been riding a lot more.

Praise the Lord for another glorious ride. Praise him for the rain that came to cool me down too.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Todays Stats:
Course: TNT
Trip Distance: 21.90 miles
Trip Time: 1:10:37
Avg Speed: 19.04 (0.38+ fastest ever)
Max Speed: 37.02 mph

One more point to throw in here. Dustin Mealor from the team told me that last week, the team posted their fastest avg mph ever. Almost 25 average mph.

Good heavens that's fast.

Race of Truth schedule posted

Finally! After long deliberation and baited breath anticipation, the Race of Truth time trial series schedule is posted. The dates are:

May 29, 2008
June 5, 2008
June 19, 2008
July 3, 2008
July 17, 2008
July 31, 2008
August 7, 2008
August 21, 2008

As you can see, the first race will be this Thursday night and starts at 6:45pm. I'll be riding with the team tonight and I am oh so eager to see how well these new wheels perform with them being ready to roll now.

How Great is Our God?

How awesome is the love of God? So often I stand amazed at how God works. I’ve often told people that God’s love chases me like a rabid dog, it never gives up. One thing that amazes me about God is how much he cares for us, not just in the majors but the minors as well. God’s word admonishes us to cast all of our cares upon him, and it says, “for he cares for you.” It doesn’t say, “only the things which are really important” or, “only those things that involve x, y, and z”. God’s word says “all things.” Just thing about that for a moment… God cares so much for us that the things that we would find as merely insignificant or to small a thing for the creator of the universe to be bothered by, he cares about. He cares about them so much that he asks us to cast ALL our cares on him. I love the Lord. He is so good.

Let me give an example of how much God loves.

I was driving down to Atlanta today and I had some idle time and I wanted to spend it with God. I turned off the radio and I just began praying for people. First is started with my wife, then my stepson, then some friends and so on and so forth. I then prayed for myself. Specifically, I thanked God for his kindness to me even in the face of my disobedience. Remember the rabid dog analogy, it applies here. I also thanked God for the many friends that I have had. Some people are blessed with a few good, close friends. For some reason, God chose to bless me with dozens upon dozens. I know why. I needed them and still do. Every friend that God has placed in my life has been an instrument of his love in one way or another. I thanked God for my friends. I finally asked the Lord to help me live a life as a testimony, that everything I say, think, or do would be a testimony of him to others. You see, I don’t see myself as one that has a shinning testimony.

Why am I saying all of this?

I got out of my meeting today, in Atlanta, at 5:30pm. We all know what that means on a Friday afternoon, one thing, traffic. God’s love played out marvelously through his providence this evening and here’s how. Follow me on this if you will and bare with me, I’ll have a point. When I left the meeting I stopped to go to the bathroom before heading home. When I reached the parking lot I spotted one of the sales managers that I know and we stopped and chatted for about 5 minutes. From that point I headed to my car and changed from my shoes to my flip-flops and out of my business shirt to my t-shirt (come on, it’s Friday). I then headed out of the parking lot and I thought that taking GA-400 might be the best way home considering traffic on a Friday so I headed that direction. I changed my mind and luckily there was no traffic on the 5 lane road that I darted across to make my way to 285 to then go to I-85 and head north. Once again, I changed my mind and thought, since I’m headed this way, I’ll stop by the mall and kill an hour and let the traffic die down. So I headed toward Perimeter Mall. Once again, on the way there, I changed my mind once I saw 3 big letters R*E*I. Come on! I love that store! I darted across 3 lanes of traffic (this time the road was full, I just happened to be quick) and made my way into the parking lot. I could definitely kill an hour in here! Final destination? You guessed it, the bike department at REI.

Where in the world am I going with this?

I had been in REI no more than 1 minute and the love of God was shown in the providence of God beautifully. I was checking out some gear and I looked up and there stood a friend that I have not seen nor talked to since Spring of 2001, Ryan Tabor. You see, this is my point: I had tried off and on to find Ryan over these last several years. On the Internet, myspace, people search, etc. To no avail, I still looked occasionally. His name came across my mind sometimes and I would think, “man, I wonder how he’s doing? I sure hope he’s still walking with the Lord.” You see, Ryan and I were both pretty new Christians back in 2001. I had just finished my freshmen year at TFC and was working in an ATL warehouse for the summer, that’s where he and I met. We were the only two white dudes in the whole place. Not only that, we were brothers in Christ, so we bonded instantly. We spent that whole summer together. We talked about Christ during our breaks, shared our faith with our co-workers, admonished one another and encouraged one another. We ate lunch together everyday. We just became really good friends. Somehow we lost contact over the years but God cares about the little things. God is good isn’t he? I found my bud. Oh, and as to the question I wondered, about if he was still walking with the Lord? He now works at Northpoint Chuch in Alpharetta, Ga…you know, the church that Andy Stanley pastors. Wow, God is so good. It was good to see you again my brother! Let’s just not go rock climbing anytime soon…and that’s a whole nother’ story.

First ride

I had a meeting in ATL this afternoon so on my way down I stopped by the shop to have the initial tensioning done to the wheels. As it turns out, my rear wheel was a little out of dish (whatever that means) but Joe took care of it and made them perfectly true. I heard some scrubbing on what sounded like one of the rear break pads when I got out of the saddle this morning to hammer up a climb. The wheel being out of dish could have caused that sound Joe said. Everything should be as smooth as silk on the next ride.

Initially I could tell a huge difference in the lack of rolling resistance on the flats this morning but I really couldn't tell anything on the climbs just yet. That's where I need the improvement the most. I feel like I posted a decent time this morning considering I did have more head winds than normal. I was hoping to blow 19 avg mph out of the window but I didn't. There's always next time.

Date: 5/21/2008
Course: Lake Louise Loop
Trip Distance: 9.29 miles
Trip Time: 0:30:57 (19 seconds off fastest time)
Avg Speed: 18.37 mph (0.29- than last attempt)
Max Speed: 37.38 mph

As it turns out, the time trials are definitely taking off this coming Thursday. I'm really hoping that I can finish in under 30 minutes in the first race. To do that, I'll have to have an average mph of 20 or greater. Can I do it? We'll just have to see. That will boost my confidence waaaaaay up.

Dubs X 2

The wheels are here!

That's what I'm talking about

What a difference a day makes. I got off work tonight at 7:30 and had just enough time to knock out a quick ride before it got too dark. I wanted a rematch with Lake Louise Loop, the one Joel and I did yesterday, the one that frustrated the dickens out of me. Today I rode the fastest I ever have. The hills seemed like they were nothing today. What a contrast between yesterday's ride and todays, seriously just one day and two ends of the spectrum.

If you look at the link to loop and on it you will see the section of road that goes right to the east of the lake. When I hit that section, just a short flat stretch, the sun was just at the top of the trees off to the west and shinning right on the lake. The wind was blowing just enough to create small ripples across the water. It was breath taking. One moment of the amare.

The distance was just a tad longer today for some reason, about 4/10th's of a mile. Yet it only took me 36 seconds to shave off that extra amount and polish off a finishing average mph 0.11 mph faster than I've ever ridden. The new wheels should come in tomorrow. I'll be excited to see if those actually help me shave off any time or if it's all hype. For the $$$, it better not be hype.

One last thing, I rode with some new shorts on today, my other shorts were 2 years old and worn out. I purchased Pearl Izumi's with the 3D chamois. Man are they comfortable. I could barely feel the seat.

Date: 5/21/2008
Course: Lake Louise Loop
Trip Distance: 9.31 miles
Trip Time: 0:30:38
Avg Speed: 18.66 mph (0.11+ fastest avg mph to date)
Max Speed: 38.13 mph

Posting this kind of time on this course with all the hills, I should be able to meet my goal in the time trials this season. My fastest time in the TT last season was 0:31:47, that's nothing to be proud of. I'll be racing in the "open" class and the fastest any one rider can finish in that class is in 27 minutes. If anyone in the open class finishes faster that that, they are bumped out of the open and into the elite class. I'm really hoping that I can finish in under 30 minutes for my first race. We'll see. I did 9.31 with more hills today in 0.30.38. I've got a shot I guess. Again, we'll see. The first race may be next Thursday, it's still tentative.

Frustration

Set out for a quick ride with Joel again. Today felt like the worst I have ever ridden. The stats may not appear that way but the body did, mainly the lungs. The loop we did was a lot of climbing and Joel left me in the dust. I was frustrated. Mama said there would be days like this.

Date: 5/20/2008
Course: Lake Louise Loop
Trip Distance: 8.91 miles
Trip Time: 0:30:02 (very quick ride)
Avg Speed: 17.81 mph
Max Speed: 38.13 mph

8.9 miles in 30 minutes flat out ain't going to cut it if I'm going to do well in any of the time trials this summer. Granted there are not as many climbs in that short 5 mile loop but it's an all out fast as you can go pace for 10 miles (the loop twice). To have any respect in my category I need to be around 28 minutes for a finishing time at 10 miles. The first TT may be next Thursday. The schedule isn't set in stone yet but as soon as it is, it will be posted here. I more or less want to do the TT series this summer because it's fun getting out there and riding with a lot of people. Even though you are by yourself the entire race and it's illegal to draft it's still fun in the pre-race to hang out and talk and cheer others on that start before hand.

What is it with wanting to be fast? Every time I ride with Joel I find myself thinking, "man I wish I could hang with him." Just last week I wrote about the guy who bikes for the "amare"...the love of the sport. It is hard to remind myself of that looking at the backside of a friend I'm riding with who's way out in front of me. It is enjoyable to be able to ride with someone (when I've been able to) and carry on a conversation instead of mentally beating myself up cause I can't hang. O' Lord, bring me back to the place of the amare.

Props

Hats off to my friend Joel. He left Toccoa and rode up to Anna Ruby Falls which is past Helen on Saturday, round trip, 80 miles. Way to go man! I made a course for that one too called "Helenback". Maybe one day if I have the time, I'll do that one too.