now what?

again, the seasonal odo rolled past 1k.
finally, 'base work' is done.

but what's that mean? mtn bike miles
don't figure in to that. Cohutta? not part
of it. so now what? take a step back, let
the body find the hunger again. lots
of pain dealt out down in those GA
hills, mind not quite ready for that
battle, yet. the traveling circus visits
the backyard this wknd, good route,
clocks out midish 40's. some dismal shit
on the Valley side of Ridge Rd. Making us
earn it, as usual. Rollin' the fix, hope the
legs find some spark. Opening slog on Piney
will suck, fireroad descent after Ridge
will be slummin' for sure. So you suckers
better roll it balls out, otherwise don't
be surprised when you see me coming.
couple more lazee dayz, and I think the
hunger'll be back.

So, who's camping?

sunday.

just what I needed.

good flow, good trails.

good peeps, long nap.

stayed off the ground,

which is a good thing.

take a breath.

when you get sucked into bullshit on line drama, over bullshit stoopid bike races of all things. gotta try to step back, and take a breath. don't get lost staring at just this.stop and look around. lots of things to see.take a step back and breath.

picked up a new bit of kit.

took it out for a lunch ride..

out the door to Twirlytop and eventually riding some sick new singletrack, which just happens to be the opening loop for next wknds race.

a picture for the spancers. then up Bendersville proper to Brush and quick lap up ColdSpring for lunch along Canyon. Long spin home thru the Marsh Run-Letort lollipop stem for a sweet six hour loop. need to figure out a decent external mount for the camera, otherwise, new pack was rockin'.

stay away! PeeYay sux.

TomiCOGS Sweep Cohutta 100 Fixed Gear Class

For Release, 4/20/08: TomiCOG Factory riders, Tomi and Dicky lay waste to the fixed gear field at the 3rd annual Cohutta 100. Torrential southern day long monsoons drenched the Cohutta Mtns and set the stage for a dreary start to the day. Despite the conditions, the early portion of the race found the two stealthy riders sneaking into podium contention, sometimes even helping to set the tempo of the s.s. pain train, wooo wooo! But eventually all trails must end, and the two Quixotic journeymen went off in search of their personal windmill dragons and tales of glory on crazed viking battlefields.

Tomi's long ride ended in nine hours and twenty one minutes, two minutes faster than his previous fixed best at the Wilderness 101! Dicky eventually came to terms with his choice of running a 17, and broke thru the 10hr threshold on only his second attempt! Both riders were quoted as saying at the finish that "It was really hard.....kinda sucked in fact......gotta beer?"

It has been questioned though, whether Dicky's choice of going shirtless from the final CP gave him an unfair aero advantage. USCF/FCC/NUE Basic Rules #6.a-4c states that: Any rider who dares to expose a nipple in order to gain an unfair advantage either thru aerodynamic superiority or as intended to startle the competition will be found to be in violation of Rule #6.a-4c.

2008 Cohutta 100 Fixed Gear Podium: Tomi & Dicky

photo c: Namrita O'dea

20 odd minutes.

where do I find them,
where did they go?

the day went well enough, I guess. got stoopid at the start and stretched my legs trying to make the lead group, dangled in front of the other stroogling chasers and had clear trail ahead into the singletrack. only passed by a couple folks, some good groove with Jimmy Mac and amazing morning scenery.

then as usual, at aout the 45 minute-hour mark the main groupd of ss contenders came together. got into a good groove with the crew and was sitting top tenish into cp1. splash n go, then off again. quick inventory check at the two hour mark and settle in with Dicky and Elk over the next hour. scenic creekside racer chitchat, rolling the gear up and along. then it steepens and it hurts me to watch Rich will those pedals over top of that 17 and head off looking for my own quiet place.

make it to cp3 at 4:20 elapsed. and there's Topher. so he's either slummin', or I found a good groove over the last hour plus. either way, I might just be rolling back into ss contention of sorts. road goes up then goes down. and down. and down. and down. and down into fixed gear slumming hell. spun out at 20 and immediately bogged down and standing at 6. waves of cramps roling thru the legs dependning on the demands of the cadance.

if you want to become intimately familiar with every single muscle group in your body, battle cramps on a fixed mtn bike for 6 or 7 hours. yeah, the beer to water ratio was titlted to the fun side the night before, and yeah, did go out a bit hard maybe, but ya gotta get it while the
gettin's good. the fireroad is gonna suck anyway, so make the most of it.

3 to 4 was pure fireroad descending hell of the first circle sort. every damn rider I thought I had finally put away on those climbs came by at 30 to my 15. fuckers. finally to cp4. fill the again empty bottles and grab the fresh gel flask out of my bag and get rollin'. hook into a fun game of leapfrog with Danielle. Which caused me to miss the stealth beer stop. Was worth it though to keep moving forward. She finally dropped me on the only flat portion of the course somewhere before cp5.

most of this time I was zombie pedal steady gunnin'. still soome good scenery, but it was one damn roller after another and another and another and another and another and another and aonther and up and down and up and down and up an down and down.

EZ Up tent at a left hand turn, is this cp6? no? damn. they did have ice cold coke in their
cooler though. finally to cp 6 fow a swig of warm Cola, and into the woods. Still don't know why I didn't take that 30 seconds for a qucik pss-pss out of the tires. I guess sometimes that switch is flipped, your nine hour goal is passed and you move the goalposts.

"How deep can I go?" Leave the tires be & I let that damn bike hammer me thru all of the last ten miles. Hands tingley numbish, triceps cramping, shoulders jacked and an occasional back spasm/cramp tossed in on the good jolts. It was kinda miserable.

then finally onto the bike path, head down into an 'aero' tuck cuz my hands were toast and really can't hold the bars too much, rolling it home in 9:21 elapsed, 21st ss.

what a day.

more later, I have some opinions to share about some related topics....

one for the thumb.

I banged out a long winded race report,
and, well, whatever....

spending time with really cool roadtrippin' buddies and the extended family/clan of endurosufferhoundfreakers and meeting even more of the same makes it all worthwhile.

I would rate that as the second hardest fixed ride I've done. The downhills are relentless, you hammer your way up the climbs trying to put or take as much time as you can, only to have 'em all go whirring past at 30+ as you're spun out slummin' at 15.8 trying to recall exactly when were these brake pads new???? And on and on and on.

Biggest regret of the day was not racing with my camera, every so often, treated to a view, another insane scenic vista. Hard to fathom that you're in TN/GA at times, incredible landscape. Always remember to look around, ya might miss something otherwise. Morning mist and a low fog lit by the muted rising sun and then a shimmery glimmering south east exposure wet leaf benchcut as the sun broke free for what seemed like just that section of trail, bigggg overlooks and climbing into the clouds.....damn, what a day.

But still, beyond all that goodness there were some questions left unanswered out there. 9:20ish elapsed, no idea on where in the standings, wayyy back in the ss I'm guessing. Not sure yet what to think of that, but I think I've got some work to do. And saying that in mid April is like, well, duh.

Congrats to the cabinmates on all of their fine
performances, inspiring on so many levels, ya'll rock!

doubts

sub 9????

do I change to a 'faster' rear tire?
am I ready?

do I drop a tooth on the cog?
am I ready?

stick with the fat love, rollin' on 2.4's.
I am ready.

stick with the 19, gonna tune that spin.
I am ready.

sub 9?
meh, we'll chase that for real
when the engine is fully tuned,
this is dress rehearsal.

this'll be my 5th fixed hundie,
let's go get one for the thumb.

training? riding?

yesterday: 50.x miles, 1:40 battling the 15-20mph west wind with the 40:15. 1:20 to get home once I turned left. Totally silent stealth fix spinning along Pine Rd at sustained 24mph is lovely, 16.8mph avg, mid 120's avg hr. ride 'nutrition' was handled by two bite size Paydays.

today: 28miles of beating the snot out of myself, 4hrs elapsed. some tempo work, some climbing work, plenty of dizzy blurry downhill ninja pedal work. fun sunday ride with the 'cakes. avg hr: 153, 45min above 176, 1:35 below 150, includes the 40minutes of stoppage time. hit the ground once, got in over my head on Graves and executed a poorly timed pedal strike instead of what should have been a shmoove wheelie drop.....like I said, dizzy & blurry.

now I know.

Bucky. Missing real singletrack,

Jake flashes his O face.

This guy is 48.

from the comments....

You can do one of two things. Fight the system and complain about it or you can embrace it and exploit it. I choose to do the later.

It's all about target marketing and the majority of people in this country are sheeple. It’s great; they do what they are told, read at an 8th grade education and have a short attention span. The best thing about this group is that they provide a lot of purchasing power to buy new things and do what they are told. People in corporate America and at the top recognize this and get their cut.

The cycle will continue.

Riiiiiight, so unless you, Mr. Anonymous, are also making the conscious choice of a Robinhood-esque existence, where you're passing on your gains from being part of the system, you're just as much an ass and no different than the rest of them. Fuck. that. ".....recognize this and get their cut" means, to me, that you know that what you're doing does not benefit the 'greater good' and only serves to enrich you personally, at the expense others. So how is this any different from the war & oil profiteering? Exploiting a system based on exploitation means what? Looks like you're all on the same team to me.....

And yeah, I know that I'm no angel when it comes to this, none of us are when you dig deep enough, it comes with the job. But to say that it's ok just because you understand the implications of your choices, doesn't mean that those are sound decisions....

Why do we fight?

Is a movie you should find,
and watch. And think about.

And also read this article:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/05/media/index.html

and it's no wonder that we're being
overrun by WalMartian Sheeple.

Who owns the media? GE has a big chunk.
Aren't they also a huge defense contractor?

How much fucking oil does the
US Miltary itself consume everyday?

gotta feed the beast.

and these assholes have been at it since I was born,
they alllllll go back to those heady days of Vietnam &
Watergate. look it up, it's all the same players, it's
about time those bastards did some time.
Watergate, Iran-Contra, Savings & Loan,
the Past 7 years.......
oh, and Monica! omg!!!! impeach impeach!!!

How far have they gone this time?

fuckingmotherfuckers.
think about it too much and you just
wanna walk right the fuck off the grid.

it's an endless fucking circle, isn't it?

C-C-C

Decent wknd of scouting.

Looking at a route,
looking for my legs.

They disappeared up on Fender.

Opened a door or two
and found some quiet.

I have a vision for something hudge.
Know the links and have a handle on
the time it might take, 15+?.....
bring lights.

It's wrapping the mind around it.

cuz this wknd hurt,
and it was only 50 & 40 couple.
Replace the 18mile roundtrip
doorstep commute, and looking
at an additional 25+ in the woods,
probably from the south side of 30.

should be neat.

shelled

fuck me.
7:15 elapsed from
Caledonia to here.
Route: the other Blue Blaze-Sting-fireroad
to Lollipop. All of Lollipop, then fireroad
back to Camp Trails, the cross Ridge at
Fegley to newish/oldish? enduro link.
3-mile, thur the Tumbling Run spring
cleaning to Lewis Rocks. Larry & Martin
head back to Quarry Gap, we soldier on
out across Rattlesnake, into Nowhere and
serve up some Community Service.
Water at the Furnace, back up Bendersville
Rd proper then left and out the mind
numbingly quiet Piney Mtn Ridge slogfest
to the always rewarding Ridgetop rippin'
down to TaggRunn and home via Marsh Run
with a Letort finish.
5:45 pedaling to the doorstep,
snack breaks and two tire issues.
not quite 50miles logged.

I would love to tryt to piece together
a Meeshowslow hundy.....
damn it could be fun.

fkna.

steel. is. real.

when you hit the deck, and discover
that your fork now looks like this,
what to do?Tried to round up a proper replacement on short notice, and I could go on a retrogrouchy rant about the current state of the bike industry, but we'll save that for later....or never. Instead, what I hoped would be an ez swap turned into many, many trips up and down the stairs, one bike in the stand, other bike in the stand, back n forth, strip & compare, measure, measure. Measure, measure, measure, measure. And now tickled beyond pink, cuz this is the best riding road bike I've swung a leg over since the old Colnago Super. A true classic that begs to be ridden as intended, out on the open road, all. day. long. Maiden voyage was with a freshy fresh 15t and new chain racing the sunset to the top of King's Gap. What a smooth comfortable ride, not twitchy racer boy style, but all day puttin' in the miles cruisin'. Perfect for my current & future intentions, if I hadn't been underdressed for the post sunset low 40's, the grin woulda been much bigger.
damn, so freakin' psyched.