Pimpin' Ain't Easy

I've been really stoked lately to be riding my bike as much as I have been able too. Fitness is coming back slowly, and although not a lot yet - the weight is coming off. I forgot how hard it was to train 6 days a week. It's not an issue when I don't have other outdoor activities to do. When we get a bunch of rain and the rivers and creeks start bumping up with a lot of water, or a good size snowfall comes through and the snowboarding looks good then I run into problems. For instance, the whitewater kayaking is looking real good right now.

The problem this time of year is it's creeking season. Why is it creeking season? Well, mostly because the temps are lower, and we get more rain. This allows the rivers and creeks to be at optimum or above optimum levels to run. Your saying, "that's great, get your 190 pounds in the boat and paddle then!" Just hold the phones a minute there kimosabe. First off it's cold. How cold your asking? Colder then a well diggers ass. You know how it feels when it's 38 degrees, cloudy and the wind's blowing? Now go jump in a river for 3 hours. You getting the picture? Luckily, they make these cool things called drysuits. It keeps you mostly dry, but the neck gaskets choke you out and you still feel the icy cold water when you get flipped over.

Tough to get these things on or off, and they do cut the blood supply off

Once you get all geared up and talk some of your paddling buddies (who are either a.) as stupid as you or b.) as stoked as you - it's a really fine line between them) into going with you it's usually not as bad as it sounds. I feel like getting geared up while it's cold is the hardest part. After that, you warm up as you are working your way down river. Your probably still asking yourself why it's a problem that this time of year is creeking season since the cold weather doesn't deter me much. Well, the real problem is in my head. I want to be preparing for the upcoming mountain bike race season, but I also want to progress as a paddler. Makes it tough to focus on either thing intently. So I end up playing this back and forth game in my head. All the while looking at the weather forecast and the boating beta page that measures the volume of water in all the creeks and rivers in the Southeast. Check it out: www.boatingbeta.com

This year, 2012, it seems like kayaking won a lot more then biking. Good news is that I became a much stronger paddler. The other side of the coin is that I gained weight, lost a lot of fitness, and didn't race at all on the bike in 2012. I'm hoping to be able to better balance out the two this year as I have goals on the bike and in the boat. Either way I figure that at least I'm outside enjoying our planet and doing something I love!

Doing Things a Little Differently This Year

Well, 2013 is just around the corner and in an effort to keep it fresh and clean I decided to switch things up. I want to race this upcoming year, but I wanted to keep things on the fun side and not get too serious about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna go to work and train hard. I want to be competitive, but gone are the days of doing things in my training that I don't like to do.

First order of business was to sell the road bike. That's right, it's gone. I know, I know, training on the road helps get you strong - which is why I'll ride on the road, but on one of the mountain bikes. This way I can ride on rougher roads, sidewalks, grass, way right in the shoulder - in other words, away from cars and congested roads. I was either going to pull someone out of the car one of these days or at the very least grab the phone out of their hand and smash it on the ground. Seems I had an incident almost every time out. Since it's hard to train from jail I figured I should get myself off a road bike and away from putting my life in someone else's hands.

Now that the road bike was out of the way, I had to think about what else I wanted to change. I have always been a spinner when it came to choosing a cadence. I have a really efficient rotation of the cranks, which is great, but I have always lacked power. I wanted to get rid of my little girls's legs and build some trail crushing power. I could do a 12 week long training block geared towards building power, but that just sounds like a job and not much fun. What to do, what to do? Oh I know, me, over here, I know, me, me, over here. So what did I tell myself to do? Go ride the shit out of my single speed bike. It's gonna build power, and I have a blast riding it. Problem solved - well actually not yet, but it will be. I'm even going to try and race as many of the Winter Short Track series races in the SS class that I can make it too.

See website Here

I'll get worked a little as I'll be training through the races (usually will be riding a 3 hour endurance ride the day before) and it's an open class so there will be some stronger CAT 1 guys in the race. Looking forward to it though - should be fun. A big plus is that maybe my little guy can come race his strider in the kids race and hopefully stay around to cheer me on. The course here is very spectator friendly as it's only about 4-5 minutes per lap.

Once the short track is over I've got my sights set on some of the Southern Classic races. My thought right now is to keep on keeping on with the SS bike and race the SS class in these races too.

Southern Classic Race Series Schedule

As of the moment I'm thinking I'll race Tsali, Riverfront, Uwharrie, and then see how I feel about the rest of the summer. More about the Tsali trip later - hoping for a mini-vacation with some riding and paddling. 

 The plan right now is to ride enough to lose weight, gain some race fitness, and hopefully be competitive. I do however have other goals not involving riding. They involve a kayak, whitewater, and more adrenaline then Travis Pastrana can jam into a red bull can! More about that later, as well as an epic vacation this summer to California and Oregon where Mrs. Jonnynails and I will be riding bikes for 3 weeks. I'll update my race schedule as events unfold. Look for race reports to start rolling in the third week in January!!

It's that time of year

Fall has finally arrived and for me it signals the start of trail riding season! Yeah, I ride my bike all year long, but when fall gets here there is just something about it.

What about it? I'm not sure, but it triggers the desire in me to ride for fun. Just go out and do fun trail rides until I'm jelly legged. Go to hot into turns and drift the rear wheel through the leaves. Session a jump line. Maybe even build some new features behind the house? During the winter I'm usually putting in lots of miles getting ready for endurance and cross country races. On top of that I try and get some time out on the snowboard. Spring and summer bring races, high intensity training, lots of whitewater kayaking, and eventually burnout on training at some point. That's what is great about the fall. It's like a renewal for riding. I don't really need to "train". As long as I'm out riding it's all good. The weather is perfect, the trails turn into hero dirt, and I'm stoked on mountain biking all over again. I usually get up into the mountains more this time of year then any other. Which reminds me, there is a new spot in Boone, NC called Rocky Knob mountain bike park. Rocks, jumps, drops, and steep mountains. What else you want? Hitting it soon for sure.

Fall is also the time of year when the new goodies start finding there way into my garage. What kind of goodies you ask? Next year goodies that are releasing early. It's good to be in the bike industry! First up this year is a perfect bike for Fall riding. Why? Because it puts the "T" in trail riding. I'll give you a hint, it has something to do with a beer can......give up? Ok, here is a pic

Photo taken from MTBR.COM

That's right a 2013 Santa Cruz Tallboy is on the way. What made me make such a decision your asking? All you have to do is ride one and it sells itself. Super playful bike that is very snappy in the corners. I have never cornered a 29er like this bike. I'd say it corners better then a lot of 26 inch wheeled bikes. Looking forward to destroying some NC singletrack on this bad boy!

ORAMM in the house

ORAMM went off this past weekend. For those of you who don't know what ORAMM is, it stands for the Off Road Assault on Mount Mitchell. Still scratching your head? Mount Mitchell is the highest peak in the Eastern US at 6,683 feet. The mountain is in North Carolina smack dab in the middle of the Appalachians.

This race uses mountain bike trails and fire roads to go up the backside of the mountain. When you (or should I say "if you") finish ORAMM you will have raced for 63 miles and climbed over 11,000 feet. You also will have descended some technical western North Carolina singletrack. ORAMM includes such trails as the famous Kitsuma, as well as star gap, heart break ridge and climbs up Curtis Creek rd. The climb up Curtis Creek is miserable. It seems to go on forever (9 grueling miles) as it takes you to the Blue Ridge Parkway with 5-9% grades, which means you are grinding at a snails pace. This elevation profile is no joke!

I did not get to do ORAMM this year. I just haven't gotten the time in on the bike. I'm hoping to saddle up next year and check it off the list. If you have been reading my blog you know I signed up for the Swank 65 this November. It is my hope that in training for that race I'll "jump start" my return to racing and be able to get back in top form for 2013. I would like to congratulate my friend Bruce Stauffer for getting 6th at ORAMM this year with a time of 5 hrs 41 minutes! Nice job.

So annoying

Every time I try and get ready to start training for a race over the past year I either A). get sick or B). break something. Over the last 12 months I've:

1. had a surgery to repair a hernia
2. hyper extended my back
3. tore a muscle in my chest
4. stomach flu
5. 3 head colds
6. 1 sinus infection
7. broke a couple ribs

I'm trying not to complain, because even with these aliments I still have it pretty good compared to a lot of folks. It just pisses me off is all. I'd really like to be riding my bike more and getting in better fitness to get back to racing. Instead it seems I'm assuming the position:

Signed up for a big race, the Swank 65, and even got a week's worth of riding in. Then my main man (my son) get's sick and of course I'm next in line. Now the whole family is sick. Feel bad enough right now that this will probably keep me off the bike a week or two?

I keep reading about my friends out at races doing very well. I'm super stoked for them and at the same time want to be out there racing with them. I guess all this stuff is suppose to make you stronger? The old proverb "that which doesn't kill you" kinda thing. I'm still waiting to see how that plays out. Meanwhile I'll just keep blowing my nose until I look like this guy:

So I went ahead and bit the bullet

That's right folks, I actually committed to racing my mountain bike again! How you ask? Well I went ahead and signed up for the Swank 65. The race isn't until November 11th, giving me plenty of preparation time. I really love being up in the NC mountains, especially in the fall.

Nevermind the evil temptress in the picture, this is a bicycle race really deep in woods of the Appalachian Mountains. Just like the temptress in the picture, the woods in this area known as Pisgah National Forest invite you in with it's singletrack. Once your committed it then delivers a "mama said knock you out" punch. I mean with 7,000 feet of climbing in 38 miles, what do you expect. Check out the famed climb up to Farlow gap at mile 20 on the elevation profile! This climb is over 3 miles of pain up an 18% grade.

What this elevation profile doesn't tell you is the extreme difficulty of the trails here. Deep stream crossings, log foot bridges, baby head rocks everywhere, boulder gardens that would make a pro downhiller cry, and steep hang on for dear life technical singletrack where at times you cannot miss a turn or your gonna fall off the mountain. It deserves, and will get all of your attention and focus.

Cove Creek foot/ride bridge (yeah it's skinny)

Farlow Gap (one of the easy sections)

more Farlow Gap (what line you taking?)

With all the technical riding here it puts me in a dilemma. Would be great to ride the longer travel bike for the descents, but the XC race rig would climb way better, and there is a ton of climbing. It would be tough lugging the longer travel bike up the climbs as it's heavier - but going down would be a blast! My guess is (actually I'm certain) that the lighter XC rig is going to be faster overall. I guess I could just get one of these and have the best of both worlds:

Yes, that is a 2013 Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er that only weighs 25 lbs and has 5 inches of travel. Crazy perfect bike for this race and for trail riding in general. What are the odds that one of these is in Jonnynails garage soon as they become available?

I'll keep the blog updated with some pics of my training rides up in Pisgah between now and race time. Stay tuned.

Finally stoked to get racing again

I've actually been riding and training a good bit lately. I decided to register for the Rivers Edge 50 miler, which is held at The Wood Run Trail System in Uwharrie National Forest on August 25th.

Check out the site here: http://www.charlottemtnbike.com/ then click the "Rivers Edge" tab

This race consists of five 10 mile laps on some fun NC singletrack. 50 miles is a chunk to bite off for my first big race back in a while, but for some reason it just didn't sound hard enough. So I decided that I'll race it on my singlespeed bike. Lucky for me they have a singlespeed class - too bad for me that most of the guys in that class have this kinda determination:

Should be fun though. I've been riding the snot outta my SS (singlespeed bike) lately and really enjoying it. I'll be on my race rocket, a Niner Air 9 carbon SS with Industry Nine wheels. The bike impresses me more and more every time I ride it. I'm always shocked at how well it gets through rough sections and rock gardens. Super stiff and holds a line like a roller coaster. Better then my old Trek Superfly 100 full suspension 29er! Stay tuned as I'll talk more on that when I do a full review on it in the very near future.

The name of my beastly bike you ask?

I like to call it Orange Crush

You draw your own conclusions as to why it got it's name

Most of you probably think I'm nuts for riding a SS bike. Your saying to yourself, why would you just want one gear when you could have a whole bunch? Truth be told I also like the geared bike, but SS'ing is fun because.....
- it's a challenge (try it and see)
-it's simple (no gears to shift - no mechanical issues regarding shifting)
-I feel like a kid again (my BMX bikes had one gear)
-I can only rely on my own power (see above-no gears to shift to make it easier)
- I feel like I'm on my moto (gotta hold momentum and pin it thru corners and tech sections)
-sense of achievment (again, it's a challenge and not for the faint of heart - or in this case the weak of legs)
- the reaction of my friends when they try and keep up with me on it (lots of cursing in my general direction)
- the look on the guys face with 27 gears as I motor by up a hill and disappear

So, I have 8 weeks to get ready for the 50 mile race. I just hope that I can stay healthy and injury free. Some of you know this has been difficult over the last 12 months. I feel like I have a chance to get a podium spot if things go right between now and then. Check back later for more updates along the way and to see my review on Orange Crush.