Wine for the Climb

SORBA Chattanooga is hosting this event to raise money for new trails at Raccoon that will run from the base of the mountain to the top. Whether you're a biker, runner, or other type of trail lover, come enjoy the evening ... (or make a separate donation to SORBA!) We need to raise $75k!

Leadville 100.... I survived!

Yes, I did it!  Report, pics, etc to come soon. 

Here's a great link to a video & pics of Dave & Lance - when you see these two struggle, you know the climbs are bad!

Amanda and I heading down to the start at 5:45am

Tawnya & I riding the red carpet in together

Me & Tawnya, happy to have made it!

the countdown has arrived

actually it's been going on a long time. too long. i'm at the point where i'm ancy. over the wait and just ready to be at it. it's a bit scary to think how much i've prepped for this one race. yeah, i've done bigger/longer stuff, so 12 hours should be totally doable. but all the unknowns just make the butterflies chase eachother: altitude. weather. the crowd factor (riding the course with 3 people is much different than 700+.)

altitude. during my training trip out here 1 month ago (yeah, that one i took that i never wrote about here - oops. check out pics here.), the altitude had minimal effects on me. no headache, no nausea, no extreme fatigue. not to say it didn't tire me out some - i certainly felt it, especially on some tougher sections where my exertion level would shoot up. i'll need to be careful there, as it seemed to kick in my asthma a bit. (my plan is to get off my bike and walk a few sections and save my breath, rather than try to muscle up it, lose all my breath, and be on the side of the trail slumped over trying to find oxygen). 

there's all kinds of theories on acclimatization. 3-4 weeks minimum. go the day before and surprise your body. day 4 is the worse. do this, that, etc. sure, let's quit our jobs and just move out a month before so we can be ready. but seeing as how that's not possible, we just have to make a decision. i flew out to steamboat on the 1st (to see my friends during the relay), where i've been doing the taper thing all week around 6800'. i'll have 7 days at this elevation, then driving up to leadville (10,200') friday morning. last minute. who knows if this will be the right decision. just gotta go with it and believe you'll be ok. sure, i felt ok during the training trip, but what works one time won't necessarily work the next. fingers crossed and i'll continue to hydrate and rest lots. (so far i've been feeling good, although some light arrhythmia today. nerves?)

weather. mother nature is always the big unknown. amanda said they've been getting showers every afternoon. sure, no problem. maybe it will even make the ground a bit tackier (the elevation gain/loss on the course didn't seem to be a problem during the pre-ride, but rather the dryness and looseness of the terrain. quite unlike anything back east!) then today the weather says flash flood warnings out there. oh joy. well, i hope it just gets out of her system and we're left with dry skies; then i can deal with the temperature change more easily. right now, the highs are in the mid-60s and lows right around 40. sounds nearly perfect! the descent off columbine will be a kicker though - that will be around 6 hrs in, topping out at 12,500'. sleet/snow/hail here are not uncommon. 

crowds: sure, any race gets crowded at the start. but take 700+ people and one nasty climb up st. kevins... and what was a challenging climb before becomes even more so when you can't pick your line but are left to whatever your are forced to take in front of you. yeah, that's going to be fun. not. then the start line itself. i'll want a good starting position so that i'm not stuck too close to the back - when i'm going to be fighting to make the time cutoffs, the pack-of-the-packers are certainly at a disadvantage and i don't need any wasted minutes. at the same time, since i know i'm not going for the gold buckle, i don't want to be too close to the front and be "one of them"... you know, those annoyingly slow people ahead of you in races that leave you cursing them as you desperately fight your way around.

so those are my thoughts right now. at least the ones that are clear enough to write down, as a zillion things are flying through my head. i'm tired of thinking about it, of talking about it. (sorry if you've tried to chat with me and i've been in la la land). now to try and get some quality sleep. 

beware the death cookies

2 thursdays ago i played hookie and met up with some friends to go mountain biking out in tellico plains. zeke and i stopped at a great bakery/coffeeshop downtown (i'm not sure the name of it but i highly recommend!)  then headed to our meeting spot at north river campgrounds, where van and carey were waiting for us. the day began with a 2.5hr climb on forest service roads (with a little paved mixed in). yeah, what a way to warm up! the grade was never that bad, but consistent, climbing from around 1100' to 5000'. our efforts were rewarded with our arrival at an scenic bald covered with wildflowers. in the distance we could see the cherohala skyway (where i thought i would be today). 

after some refueling, we backtracked briefly before hitting some singletrack. now this isn't the groomed flowy stuff i've been riding as of late; it was rough, overgrown, barely used, raw stuff. it reminded me of trails we'd hit on remote adventure races.. the road much less traveled. then throw in the rocks/boulders, and it became very pisgah-esque. that's where the "death cookies" (named by carey) entered the picture. we'd be riding along, then the randomly placed loose rock would jump in front of your wheel and just stop it. as long as you could see around the overgrown brush, you could navigate around these suckers, but every once in awhile they could catch you by surprise. luckily, no unplanned dismounts!

the ride was awesome - quite nice to escape to some place new & explore without much of a plan. looking forward to the next mid-week rendezvous soon i hope!

bald river falls

carey & van

zeke & carey

kimsey mtn loop

after living up here for nearly 2 years, i finally connected with zeke for a ride. i originally met him many moons ago at a race somewhere - adventure race or mtn bike race, i can't remember which. after our first meeting, i ran into him again and again, always greeted with a big hug & smile. it was good running into him at the cohutta race, to reconnect and plan.

hiwassee river

our plan today was to ride about 5 hrs in cherokee national forest. finally, i'd be riding much of the adventure24 race course i sent many folks out on. we parked at gee creek campground, right off the hiwassee river. two of zeke's riding buddies also joined us (chris & jason). i tend to get a bit nervous riding with people i don't know -  hoping that i don't hold them up too much. luckily jason & zeke were tapering for the mohican 100 next weekend (so their taper made for a solid ride for me :)

i really should have busted out the camera earlier, as there could have been some great shots. to start, we had a choice of 3 routes to get us to the apalachia powerhouse bridge: a road that would take us 5 miles out of the way; an overgrown rutted out road with "puddles like la ruta"; or a train track. the latter won out. it wasn't a long section, but time passed so slowly when i was on there. train tracks are anything but smooth! most of the time it was just bumpy, but when the tracks spanned a bridge over a feeder creek, the gravel inbetween the trestles had washed out a bit causing an awful jarring. add to that trying to keep your ears alert for any oncoming trains and panic nearly sets in - yes, NOT the time to stop for a kodak moment! thankfully none decided to ruin our parade. the moment we could get off the tracks we did. phew! nice way to get the heart rate up quick! (needless to say, on the way back, i chose the ruta road. it wasn't all that bad... i did have to portage the creek which came up to my hips, but after 4.5 hrs of riding it was rather refreshing.)

our course was a lollipop. once we crossed the bridge (seen below), zeke led us on a great loop that i will have to check out on some maps for future rides (i remember FSR 66, 80, 68.... and a sign for lost creek campground). there were 2 pretty significant climbs, lots of rollers, and gorgeous scenery everywhere. we passed a few creeks that got chris and jason excited as they belong to the crazy cult of creekboaters (honestly, that seems like a death wish....) 

in all, i had a great ride. zeke commented on my solid climbing skills; i interjected with "but my descending leaves much to be desired". "you took the words right out of my mouth." of course i did. how many times have i heard this? well, at least i'm aware of my problems and maybe one day i can overcome them. (definitely one day!!) luckily i didn't keep them waiting too long - it gave them a good excuse to find some shade and wipe the sweat off. today was by far the hottest day of the year - i felt like my face was dripping off sometimes. i easily drained my 100oz bladder, and had only a few sips left in my bottle. 

we finished up with a quick dip in the river too cool off - the water was freezing so i didn't stay in for long. refueling at the ocoee gondolier completed the days adventure.

some totals:

4:38 ride time

54 miles

elevation gain in dispute.... zeke thinks it's around 5500'; my watch showed 3500'. but i haven't calibrated in a long time and i'm not sure how this affects tracking...  regardless, a solid effort!

zeke & jason

Cohutta 65

one of the key races i was using as a benchmark for leadville was the cohutta 65. (once upon a time i was thinking i would do the 100 mile option, but that 6 wk break off my feet earlier this year had me rethink that plan...)  

while not the full monty, the 65, just shy of 11k of elevation gain, was still going to be a respectable day. the rain overnight and during the first hour of the race added another twist to the day. luckily it wasn't that cold (although there was a bit of snow here on monday!)

we started at the ocoee whitewater center at 7:15am with a light drizzle. after a quick 3 miles down hwy 64 (a nice climb to break up the field of 160+ riders in this distance), we turned into the brush creek singletrack trails. i actually haven't ridden this section before and i'd imagine it would be quite nice and flowy if it wasn't for the thick, slick mud everywhere. after some speedier guys passed me, i settled into a nice pace, yo-yo'ing with a few guys for the next 2 hrs. all was going well until i wiped out hard on a bridge. we had lots of short wooden bridges going over creeks & such and i really did try to take them easy; i'm not exactly sure what happened here, but next thing i know i lay my bike out and we're sliding across the bridge... i see a pole and think "this will not be good if my body slams into this". luckily my bike hit it first - but that just meant i hit my bike... groin into the handlebars and stem. yeowsers. i layed there a minute taking some deep breaths (people making sure i was ok), but when i saw a girl pass, i was back on my feet.  time to go!

i was a bit slow for a bit, trying to get my balance again. things hurt for sure. i was a bit slower than anticipated getting back to the WWC; now time for some tanasi trail action... by the time i was up bear paw, i was able to pass the girls that had passed me when i was down. once i hit the forest service roads, i was back in my element. it did seem to go on forever - funny how things didn't look that familiar even though i've ridden here several times this year. i was alone for a long time here, just doing my thing and riding hard. 2 voices were constantly in my head - matt's voice saying "attack the hills" and jeramie saying (in response to me wondering how he thought i'd do) "well, depends on what cathi shows up".  early on it was "cathi that crashed hard and was in pain". but now it was "cathi that was on a mission". i wasn't there to just ride; i wanted to race.

finally the turn from 221 to 62 (the "big frog loop") came, along with the aid station with our drop bags and the smiling & energetic ken radley (always good to see a familiar face on a grueling course!) i actually didn't need anything in my bag - i had been filling up with heed at some earlier stops and did so again here (i actually like the light taste of the stuff - i do get tired of the gatorade/powerade sweetness, which was what i had stashed...). some quick lube on the chain and i was off again - i has seen a pink jersey when i pulled in and really wanted to reel in that potential girl. which i did soon enough - along with 2 others on this section. that was energizing! i hooked up with a few guys that had a solid pace and good conversations for a bit. i suck at remembering names sometimes... there was the singlespeeder from atl that knew some of the addictive crew... and a bike zoo guy from knox with cool checkered arm warmers... 

once back on 221, i just kept on... my legs were feeling fabulous, although the shoulder/neck pain i get sometimes was now setting in  - at least that made me forget about my pelvis. the big neverending climb came and went without problem - with the leaders of the 100 mile passing me here - damn they looked fresh! 

finally the last aid station before the final singletrack section. hooray! they didn't have any heed, so i just kept the 1 full bottle i had, figuring it would be enough for the last 12 miles or so. about 10 minutes in, i started hearing some noise from my bike... not the hiss of flat tires (like last weekend), but something else. then without warning, chain suck. aaah, so that is the sound of a bone dry chain that doesn't want to move. what sucked even more was the fact i didn't have any lube on me. every 5-10 minutes my bike would seize. sometimes i could get through it, but half the time i was going up a hill or over some rocks/roots, so it royally f'd me up. for once i was totally thankful for every descent i could find - if i didn't pedal, i didn't have problems. i passed lots of people sidelined with mechanicals (including a friend with a snapped derailleur), but no one with lube. so basically this last section (which initially i was worried about, not knowing how tired i'd be going through it, then was excited about because i was feeling great), ended up sucking royally, taking at least 30 min longer than it should have. 

thunder rock express could not come soon enough. i got through that easily and was thankful for the fsr at the end - that signalled about a mile of road to the finish. liz & evan were right there waiting for me - i tried to look fast for him :)  (erick was with ethan, who was napping).

it was definitely cool to have my little nephews up from orlando so they could see aunt cathi ride bikes (inspire them young!) after some wrinkles getting results posted, i ended up 5th in the women's 65, with a time of 7:32:06. (this would have been 56 out of 100 total riders in this distance - always like to see how i compare to the guys ;). while i'm definitely happy with this, 4th place was only 32 min ahead, so it could have been an interesting finish without the mechanicals.

me + my # 1 fan evan

desperate for drink

ahhh, hydrated & happy (i swear this isn't a coke commercial)

ken helping me out with a post-race shower

So now... the next day... 

I am definitely happy with my race - my body felt great (except for the crash of course) and I was happy with how my legs responded. my nutrition and hydration was on. what to change? well, carry lube!! other than that, just continue on with matt's plans, whatever they may be. (it's working so far!) i did see an old friend, zeke, at the race and i hope to catch some long rides and leadville knowledge from him in the future. i am a bit sore - that great post-long-workout soreness where you know you did something good... but then my left knee that i landed on is aching good (the cuts aren't too bad), along with my neck (and not the part that was sore during the race - maybe i hit that when i fell too?? hmmm)

I’ll be interested to see how this experience relates to Leadville. I’ll have 4.5 more hrs to tackle 35 more miles and 3000’ more elevation gain. Altitude will be the determining factor I think, as my fitness track seems to be right on.

getting dirty at blankets

blankets creek dirty duathlon (directed by local adventure racer lisa randall), i jumped at the chance to race on the trails i learned to bike on. they are just north of atlanta (in woodstock), so it was one of our local stomping grounds. after the bodbikegroup xmas party, we rode out here and i was surprised how much better i felt on the trails (yeah, i've improved a bit in the 2 years since i'd been here! ;)   so this could be a good race for me!

first, i'll admit i slacked off with registering and before i knew it the race had filled! i got on the waitlist immediately and luckily a girl i knew couldn't make it, so i was in. phew! i was able to crash at a friend's house, so i drove down friday afternoon and was able to squeeze in a meeting with a client before meeting some people for dinner.

saturday morning came early and my plan to arrive at the race an hour early to get a decent transition spot backfired; oh, i was on time, but so was everyone else. i found a spot about 2/3 back - which technically didn't make a difference as we all made a full loop around the pit. after claiming my spot, i spent the next half hour catching up with friends instead of organizing stuff and testing my bike (afterall, i just had the failed brake lever replaced! fingers crossed the hoff had it all finetuned!) 

the race started in waves to alleviate potential backup. the women went off 5th. as we waited, i checked out my competition - fellow bodettes jackie & mindy, multisport specialists kim & marisa, and sorella badass kerry. it would be a tough day! 1 minute after the masters men, we began our run. i darted to the front and found my pace. from the parking lot, we ran straight back to the dwelling loop, running it counterclockwise. i caught the back of the pack guys quickly, which energized me more. 3 women did pass me (although 2 were in the relay division so i wasn't as concerned), but i was feeling strong and steady... that is until about 2/3 around the loop when my heart did that weird palpitation thing it does sometimes (like in the Waterfront Tri last summer and Hogpen Hillclimb 2 years prior). it was a very pronounce flutter, followed my a strange draining feeling throughout my body, leading to a bit of dizziness and my vision narrowing. scary, but at least i've gone through this before. i slowed, then stopped when i kept tripping. out of a lack of knowing what to do, i grabbed my inhaler which seemed to help settle things. i started jogging again after about 1.5 min, and was up to a run another minute or so later, although somewhat guarded. as we hit the stick of the lollipop that would take us back to the TA, kim caught up with me and we ran it into the pit together. (run time: 40:49.. approx 5 miles)

race pics by Wilderness Adventure Photography

after a speedy transition, i was on the bike racing down to the right side of mosquito flats. this would have been a nice flat warmup, but there was a bit of a backup and of course its not always easy to pass on singletrack. i was a bit concerned, hoping this wasn't going to be signs of things to come...   the course next took us through part of the new north loop (SORBA-Woodstock is doing a ton of work on this trail system, with this being their newest concentration - great job!!) kim passed me here, which was no surprise as she is an awesome cyclist; i had planned on chasing her anyways. next we hit the dwelling loop, again going counter-clockwise. this was interesting as all of times i've ridden this loop (like nearly a zillion), i've only been on it once or twice this direction. this will be interesting! luckily by now the crowd had thinned and i only had the occasional rider to pass (and vice versa). i had passed a few girls, so it was only kim in front of me - until kerry snuck by. grrr....   but a few minutes later (very near where my heart thing happened), i passed her on the side of the trail dealing with cramping. it did not sound good!  i crossed my fingers that the twinges i felt in my calf would not forth....

after dwelling we hit the south loop, which i have not been on in years. it is considered the advanced loop, with a few tricky technical spots and rock gardens - my favorite (not!) i was actually pretty impressed with my riding, easily hitting things that i don't think i could before. but sometimes i paid a price - the power to get through a section would cause my left calf or right foot to cramp up. yeowsers! yeah, they didn't stay away and i was left with a dilemma: power through a technical section and cramp, or get off & walk it (& feel like a tool), but not cramp. i ended up doing a bit of both... and at one point (with me off the bike and cramps attacking), jackie pedaled by. i cheered her on and got back on my bike. this loop seemed a bit long, but then again i couldn't hardly remember it so i wasn't sure how to pace myself. finally we started weaving through the pines and i knew we were close. after the drop off the hill (fun to zoom down even if i don't catch any air), it was home james! i boogied it back in (although not catching anyone), finishing with a total time of 1:55... good enough for 2nd place in my age group (right behind jackie) and 3rd overall woman (kim won).  woohooo!!

we cheered on all the other finishers (it was a perfect spring day!) then got ready for the 2nd big event of the day: Outspokin' Bikes had donated 2 sweet fsr specialized bike to give away. lisa devised a crazy race on clown bikes. it was hilarious! a young guy no more than 10 or 14?? won one, and the girl marisa i know won the other. congrats!!

the awards ceremony was short, sweet, and highly profitable. lisa really outdid herself the amount of prizes she was able to get for the race - over $14,000 of products & gear, with Outspokin' donating over $9k themselves. (Thank you!!) We got to pick our own prizes, so i immediately went for a Thomson gift certificate (good for a seatpost or stem!) and the collective's roam dvd  (the collective makes THE best videos out there if you haven't checked them out yet). then i was also awarded the fastest transition time out of everyone there - yep, more than 200 of us out there and i was #1. hehe! i snagged some tifosi sunglasses. (i also won a bottle of monavie juice - intriguing stuff, where one shot it gives you all your fruits & vegis for the day. and it's yummy!)

team amino vital! taylor & dayton raced the men's relay, placing 2nd. 

lisa (the RD) + me, 2nd place age group / 3rd overall woman!

that night, my mtn biking friends had a party, so it was good to kick back, catch up, and drink a few. i drove back to chatt the next day and had a good (although slightly uncoordinated) recovery/easter ride with the hoff at raccoon. 

sunday training days

i haven't kept up with posting things lately but that doesn't mean i'm sitting back being lazy - on top of lots of training, work has been super busy too. i'll write more about this past weekend's duathlon soon, but here's a quick visual recap of the previous two weekends...

shannon, jeramie and i hit the cherohala skyway for some road bike action. after fueling up with momma's pancake breakfast, we drove over to tellico plains and parked near the ranger station at the base of the skyway. our plan was to ride up, over, and down to snowbird for a snack, then ride back up, over, and down. jeramie's modest estimate was 5-5.5hrs. well once we got to the top we realized it was going to be closer to 6.5-7hrs... daylight would have been tight and the skyway isn't a place to be caught at dusk. plus i don't think we'd have brought enough clothing for the temps at the top an hour or two later. (and not sure any of us had the legs for 10,000'+ feet of gain today!)

totals: 4.5hrs, 57 miles, 6625' elevation gain (started around 680', topped out at 5390' at Santeelah Gap)

the sunday before (that would be the weekend of the CPZ race i did not do), a group of us headed over to the ocoee for a tour of the big frog 65 race route. sunday's weather was great - clear skies, but still chilly; a good bit of snow still on the ground. didn't take too many pics - i had to work hard to keep up with the seasoned riders i was with. that is until my front brakes totally failed. a piston in the lever fell out; no trailside fix for that. luckily we were only 5 or 6 miles from the end, so i took it easy/safe. (thankfully i noticed this problem before a big downhill!)

totals: 4hrs20min, 38 miles, about 4000' elevation gain

shannon, me, micah, jeramie, jamie

my ghetto feet warmers

(forgot my booties so i was at the mercy of jeramie's leftovers. 

micah called them "grover feet". hey, they did the trick...)

time to get high in the sky

they say be careful what you wish for; it just may come true. well, after 5 anticipation-filled weeks of wondering, hoping, and thinking about every what if in the book...... IT has happened. the participants of the 2008 Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike "Race Across the Sky" has been announced. AND.... I MADE THE CUT!!

jeramie called me at work to congratulate me. i really had no clue what he was talking about at first...then i was jumping up and down in my cube at work. (they all think i'm crazy anyhow.) i thought we had a decent chance to get in - there's actually a group of us from Chatt that turned in our applications as a team. it's great that i'll have local folks with the same goal to train with. but what's even cooler is that my cousin Amanda, who lives in leadville, got in as well! (i recognize the names of several of her friends too).

to make sure i stay on task, i do have a coach that will be whipping me into shape and keeping me focused. this is the first time i've had one, but i'm super excited about his plans for me. (he's a pretty kick ass athlete too... his focus on off road endurance events of many disciplines is what made him attractive to me. while my focus is the L100, i don't want to stop running and plan to still do some adventure races and duathlons.....)

if you have any altitude tips, please send them my way (the race is between 9000 & 12,600'!!). i'm trying to figure out when to head out there for the race (maybe 8 days before??).. and possibly planning an early summer training weekend out there with some locals.

(now to figure out how to actually fall asleep tonight!)

a very dorky xmas

I headed to N.Ga for the annual BOD xmas party this past weekend. It was good to see everyone and catch up. A few pics are below. On Sunday, Clifford, Matt & his friend Chris went biking at Blankets. Wow, it's been over 1.5 yrs since I've been here. It was a bit weird, remembering the trail (as I used to ride here a few times a month) but not having it exactly as I remember. Matt also took us on a tour of the new North Loop that is under construction - very nice! SORBA Woodstock is doing a great job down there.

Rusty & me

me, Clifford, Mark

the gals: tracey, amy, lisa, natalie

trev's handy work, always in demand during the gift exchange. 

regulation championship cornhole set

wall art made from barbed wire, scrap metal & a chainring.

humbled.

this past weekend i joined fellow vixens lisa & star (both headed to the Leadville 100) and colleen & her husband franklin for a big ride that i've been wanting to do for awhile: the cohutta death march.

it pretty much lived up to everything i've heard: painful. brutal. epic. the death march is a ride that circumnavigates the cohutta wilderness management area in north georgia. the ride is on forest service roads, with tons of elevation. since it was a loop, the gain/loss equals out, but it certainly did feel like we went uphill a heck of a lot more! about 2hrs into the ride we ran across jeramie, who was out doing a diff loop. (i just talked with him and he said he saw a nice big bear hanging out on the road where we had just come from. we didn't get to see any wildlife though.)

the pace was solid and the leadville gals put a hurtin on me. they've been training so much; their fitness level right now is quite impressive! i'm definitely not there, but managed to hang on, although i was looking at spandex-clad butts most of the day. we really lucked out with the weather. the morning started off around a cool 62 and didn't get much above 80. the clouds increased as the day went on, but the rain stayed away from us. about halfway through, we used franklin's filter to refill our camelbaks from a creek (at least this one could be classified as running water, unlike the puddle i used at the UOG earlier this summer). we kept well fueled and hydrated, but my legs still burned constantly. my pack was also hitting my lower side back funny, which was quite annoying. with 2 hrs left, we came across some houses with people outside that kindly let us use a well to refill our paks once again. i really wonder what they think when they see us ride up... i'm sure we looked/smelled grande...

not much more time to go and things have been pretty uneventful. no crashes, no bears, no bad weather, no freaky motorcycle guys... then on a nice descent (and i have to say, i'm getting much better at them, with the new bike & hydraulic brakes...), where i had a decent amount of speed, i hit a wasp of sorts. and of course it stings the crap out of me - the inside of my lower lip to be exact. yeah, NOT fun. i've only been stung by yellow jackets a few times, and this was much bigger and too black to be one of those. not knowing if i was allergic to this thing, i hightailed it down. when i met up with everyong at the bottom, i had tears running down my face, was trying desperately not to hyperventilate, and my lip was throbbing so much i couldn't talk (like when you leave the dentist with half your face numb). i took a benadryl to help with the swelling... it did the trick. but it also sucked every last bit of energy i had. there was about 45min of riding left and it was sooo hard. my eyelids were heavy, legs not wanting to move like before. it was like the sleepmonsters coming after 20hrs of adventure racing. not fun!!

we made it back to our cars finally and hit a cracker barrel for dinner, consuming massive amounts of food. (i had all but passed out in the back of the car before, then had to fight off a food coma!)

i'm still pretty sore and tonight's tuesday night ride was not an easy one. but, it was a great workout, and as i said, very humbling.

a few stats:
80 miles
approx 8000' of elevation gain
8hrs 16min ride time
(total time about 1 hour more)

steppin up the training

so with the Montana race around the corner (in exactly 2 months we'll be done with it!), i really need to log a lot of miles and elevation. this past weekend, i joined star & lisa (both training for the Leadville 100 mtn bike race) for two days of biking. on saturday we headed back to the ocoee for a 5hr ride (about 4 hrs on forest service roads and 1 hr on singletrack). then on sunday when our legs were nice & tired, we hit the road for a 5hr ride from red bank to graysville (79 miles). while i took today off, i decided to register for the Cherohala Challenge, a 115-mile road ride in the Smoky Mountains in 2 weeks.

Here's what they say about it:
THE Challenge: 115-Miles
The Dragon: US129 with its famous 318 curves in 11 miles.
Cherohala Skyway: a road with the highest average elevation of any road its length east of the Mississippi.

These legendry ribbons of pavement are joined by scenic, rolling, country roads in Tennessee and North Carolina and together create an unforgettable epic ride.

The 115-mile loop begins/ends in Tellico Plains at an elevation of 900 feet. The route twists through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests and climbs to 5,300 feet with over 9,000 feet of elevation gain. Enjoy some long descents after reaching the top, but before you coast into town, you will contend with "the sawteeth", over a dozen 0.5-1 mile rollers.

And check out this profile - ouch!!

memorial weekend....

since the whole car clutch fiasco last week, my weekend plans went topsy turvy. instead of hitting a wedding down in hot, smoky florida, i was able to hang local and indulge in a few days of fun. i couldn't justify spending money on a race saturday, so instead i helped out and ran sweep for the first 16 miles of the inaugural scenic city trail marathon here in chatt. (mostly on the jones gap segment of the cumberland trail we've run a few times.) while the pace was slow, i got in a good run on a hot day.... however, i have a few mysterious welts on my legs that are a bit annoying and i see a huge patch of poison ivy surfacing on my forearm. big props to joey and the boonies for putting on a great event!

on sunday, i joined jeramie, jim & star for a long mtn bike ride out at the ocoee. after a delish pancake breakfast at cracker barrel, we headed to thunderrock campground, where we ran into fellow adventure racer kim moore from georgia. she joined us on a killer 4.5hr tour of some great forest service roads. we did see a black bear cub bounce off the road at one point, but luckily no momma was in sight. i swear we did more ascending than descending. my legs were sore from the previous day's run so i struggled a bit and bowed out of the single track finale (the snickers marathon bar i had towards the end wasn't sitting well either). after refueling at subway, we headed back to our cars at the cracker barrel... where jim's clutch decided not to work all of a sudden! (eek! i swear i had nothing to do with it!) luckily i had just renewed my AAA membership and used it to get a tow back to town. afterwards, the tow dude checked the clutch fluid levels, which happened to be low. topping it off with some brake fluid proved to solve the problem and jim lucked out. (unfortunately my problem was not that simple... or cheap!)

today i recovered and worked.. yes, worked, even though it was a holiday. my colorado cousin amanda arrives in the morning so i'm taking a few days off to show her what the east coast mtns are like!

update on the commuting last week: while it only equated to 2 full days, it was great. only some minor close calls with idiot drivers (nothing too close). i was definitely in super casual mode at work, but luckily i can do that. and i love being able to get stuff done around my house with my computer not being there! i'll definitely be making more of an effort in the future to do this more.

The Birthday Ride...

The weekend may not have gone as "planned", but today was a great day. I finally was able to hook up with SORBA-Chattanooga to help with some trail building up at Raccoon Mountain. It was a small group since it was Mother's Day, but we got a good section on the new trail from East Overlook to Laurel Point looking great. After 3.5 hrs of manual labor, we worked up an appetite and ate lunch. Then I set out for my first trip on the new sections, which now allowed 1 complete loop around the reservoir. I rode it clockwise- which worked out well for many areas (EO to LP was nearly all downhill, and I got to go down Grindstone), but this turned the expert section even harder.... and this isn't my forte to begin with. Yeah, it was slow going and some walking, but I had a fab ride, even if it was a solo endeavor. (I'm starting to like doing this, esp somewhere that is close, gets good cell coverage, and usually has other riders around just in case).

Animal count: 1 wild turkey (that surprised me as much as i surprised him), 1 4-5 foot black snake slithering away, and 1 tick.

Here are some pics I took of the rock path on the side of the dam... pretty amazing! (taken with my phone - didn't bring the camera unfortunately).

Happy Birthday to Me!

OK, so the timing is merely coincidental... I've been doing some design work for Lynskey Performance (hopefully one day their site will go live!)... in the meantime, here are the fruits of my labor: their 310M, an absolutely stunning handcrafted titanium frame! Hopefully I'll be headed down to the Mango Bike Shop soon to help out with the build... I'll move some parts over from the Kona & Trek, then sell those to finance some shiny new parts.

a snowy recovery

So this week has been a bit lazy, but it's ok - I need a bit of a recovery, right?? Wednesday, Chattanooga woke up to a nice coating of snow - a nice (little) taste of what I'll be seeing next week in Colorado! Most of it melted by the next day, but some was still stashed on Raccoon Mountain for today's mtn bike ride (about 13 miles).





So this brings me to the rest of my recovery. I was feeling good, stretching, taking epsom baths, had a massage.. did a light session on my trainer on Tuesday. Thursday I wanted to hit spin class, but it was full so I did weights and hopped on the treadmill for a light run. I did a 5min light run, but my right shin area was feeling a bit off. I stopped & stretched, then did another 10 minutes before I realized I just couldn't do any more. Today's mtn bike went pretty well, but towards the end (where there was more climbing), I started to feel it a bit more. Not a bad pain at all, but more of a sensation that just doesn't seem right. a light tightness.

I stopped by Fast Break (local running store) to talk to Joey. His thoughts are that it is Anterior Compartment Syndrome. Bascially, the muscle becomes inflamed and too big for the sheath that surrounds it. When this condition is acute, bad things happen (that I'm not going to think about, but ironically, this was a condition shown on the Grey's Anatomy 2 days before Mountain Mist.) If this is what I have, it's not severe at all. But, I must be careful so it doesn't continue to be inflamed. That means... more rest. Ugh!! Not what I want to hear when I have another event on the horizon. I'll play it safe though, as this year is ramping up to be pretty good and I don't want to sit out and watch for 3 months like last year!

mtn biking at sewanee

here are a few pics from a mtn biking trip up to the Sewanee Perimeter Trails, located on the University of the South campus. great singletrack (will be nice to come back and see the improvement in my riding - lots of tough stuff here!) very scenic area!