note to self - fix your own chain!

This past week was full of good rides, failed ride attempts and excellent makeup rides. We made it out to our ‘weekly’ night ride on Tuesday... Last winter we rode practically every Thursday night no matter what the temperature. It seemed to always be freezing cold but after a couple laps we would all stand in our steam clouds while talking about how hot we had gotten. This year has either been exceptionally mild or we’ve been much lazier. I have gotten a good number of night rides in but I haven’t seen my own steam at all this winter… It was a beautiful night in Conyers and five of us were there with lights fully charged. The parking lot and the infield of the horse park were becoming covered with dense fog. The lights lit up the fog and limited our visibility making me think this ride was going to fun. We had escaped the fog right as we entered the woods and there was an immediate fifteen degree temperature difference. Throughout the trail there were patches of cold clouds attempting to block our way.

Conyers seems to hand out failures in pairs… On my birthday we had planned on riding three complete laps, one for each decade. We ran out of spare tubes after I got two flats on the exact same root on two consecutive laps. We ended up heading back to the house and kicked off the best birthday party ever just a little early. Tuesday night I broke my chain on the exact same rock where I left a link only a couple months ago. This latest failure has reminded me to buy some QuickLinks and makes me wonder how long it will be before Conyers takes my other collar bone.

Wednesday night is track night and this past week was really great. There were at least twenty people putting in some winter laps. I’m new to the track so I’m just happy to get into some pacelines and eavesdrop on the more experienced guys. I took off a little early so that I could have my favorite spinach salad at Ace’s with a side basket of curly fries. And a couple LoneStars – the puzzles are fun.

I woke up Saturday with 35 miles of Bull and Jake mountains in mind. After a Kirkwood breakfast and some dog park time…. I ended up only having time to make it to Blankets Creek. The place was completely slammed and I was quickly reminded why I don’t ride Blankets during daylight, especially on the weekend. It was actually really nice to see the number of people interested in riding and the number of families appreciating some quality time. It was really crowded, but apparently not many folks venture down to the South Loop.

Sunday I woke up with every intention of catching the airport ride. I ran around in circles all morning trying to get breakfast for Buckley and myself which meant a trip to the grocery store. I knew I was cutting it close, but unfortunately I cut right through it and missed the start. Later that morning I was lucky enough to get an invite to Chicopee and my afternoon plans were made. I broke a chain within the first mile and was again reminded to BUY SOME QUICKLINKS! We rode every inch of Chicopee at a killer pace and I was happy to get home and crash. My legs felt abnormally heavy and it appears my reliabilibuddies are on a mission to take out their revenge on Snake Creek. I guess we are going to ride hard for the next couple of months…. all business I guess? Not sure how I feel about that.

Snake '08 - Version 1.0

This is a time trial series where they take the best time of three attempts. There is a 17 mile and a 34 mile option. The trail is so tough that they expect you to have serious mechanical problems for at least one of the attempts I guess. This is the only 5 star difficulty trail in GA (according to Kurt's book). I registered for the 17 mile option which puts me onto the back 17 of the 34 (the ‘impossible’ half).

I had never ridden the Pinhoti before and from what I had been hearing, the trail was impossible. I wasn’t intimidated by the trail, but I was a little intimidated by the 250 bikers there. Everyone looked really tough…

So – I went out really hard with three goals in mind.

1- Ride as hard as possible until I get to the ‘impossible’ parts. Make up time where it’s possible.
2- Always have a rider in sight and work on passing them. We were let out of the gate ~1 minute from each other.
3- Finish before my 2.5 hour playlist.

The ride was fast in sections and very technically difficult. I’d pay money to watch someone clean a couple of those climbs. I ended up with 2 crashes, 2 hikes and several dabs.

Result – I did not get passed. I passed probably 40 riders. I finished with 9 songs left on my playlist.

http://www.nwgasorba.org/Snake2008/Snake08_JanuaryResults.htm

Now I have to go back for Snake2 and 3 in Feb and March to try to improve my time and defend my standing. So far I’m the only rider that has broken the 2 hour mark. I’m fully expecting some competition from some unfortunate riders who may have been dealing with a series of mechanicals.

This is what a sub-2hour effort on the Pinhoti looks like:
(**it's not pretty**)



I should mention that I rode up to Dalton with three of my ‘bros’. My accountibilibros… We have ridden a ton of miles together over the past year and have watched each other improve. We each have our own style but somehow we always finish a trail at the same time… [Example: We rode in the Fool’s Gold 50 mile event (http://55nine.blogspot.com/2007/08/fools-gold-100-50-mountain-bike-race.html ) last summer and after 6 hours of riding we finished within 10 minutes of each other.] We are shooting for taking spots 1-4 once the series is said and done… after January we are sitting in 1,2,4,and 14. Aaron had three flats in Snake1, so we expect to see him up top next month if he can keep his bike healthy.