Happy Halloween...
Got to go to this haunted house....just keep clicking things in the rooms.
http://members.thai.net/sinthai/room.htm
Friday, October 28, 2005
Ok...I have got secrets but do I have to wear a costume?
I have discovered a huge breakthru in training for me, buttttt.....I can't tell you guys about it since I may have to race you at some point, but it does involve alot of pain once a week. My substainable power has dramatically gone up and after yesterday's ride I am excited about my prospects next spring.
I don't like to go to costume parties and my friend Donna wants me to go to one tonight. It just seems silly for adults to dress up, get drunk and act stupid. I would rather go to Natchez and attend "Ghoststories" where several authors will tell stories around a bonfire.
I have discovered a huge breakthru in training for me, buttttt.....I can't tell you guys about it since I may have to race you at some point, but it does involve alot of pain once a week. My substainable power has dramatically gone up and after yesterday's ride I am excited about my prospects next spring.
I don't like to go to costume parties and my friend Donna wants me to go to one tonight. It just seems silly for adults to dress up, get drunk and act stupid. I would rather go to Natchez and attend "Ghoststories" where several authors will tell stories around a bonfire.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The Piney Hills, Contusions, and Pink Ribbons, Just enjoy the ride fella.
Honestly I thought it would be funny if I took my pink 4th place ribbon to put with the other trophies at the coffee shop that the other guys bring in after their weekend races. But these guys went too far. After all I paid for it in blood, sweat and loss of skin.
I got to Ruston La on Saturday after a 5.5 hr drive(it was supposed to be only 3hrs but I had to go back and get my seatpost and seat). When I arrived there were several hundred mountain bike racers from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. I have never seen that many serious athletes on bikes before. Saturday I pre-rode the course wondering if I was going to be able to finish the 10mile course. I am not much of a mtb'er and the course had some technicals, including a ski-jump hill with ramp called "Tomac Hill", pretty(scary) fun.
I entered the clysedale division and I asked the guy at the registration if should ride a different class and he asked, "How fast can you ride the course?", I said "hour and ten minutes on my pre-ride" and he said "Just enjoy the ride then"...lol. At the start I figured I might as well win the "hole shot"(the sprint to the single track) and I did...afterward I just laughed and waved the guys past me telling them I wanted to win something. In the first mile I passed a clysedale who was in third in front of me and he was stopped fixing a flat. I was very happy that I was going to get a podium finish and raced to hold my spot and kept my eye out on my six to make sure I didn't get passed by another clysedale. It was funny that I would get passed on the flats and downhills by other class riders but I either hung with them or passed them on the uphills. So that's good for my strength but shows my poor skills. I was not comfortable on the jumps or climbing the switchbacks.
When I crossed the finish I was happy about my performance(relatively speaking) but there was the guy with the flat at the water table laughing it up with 1st and 2nd finish clysedales...WTF! I said I thought you had a flat and the guy said, "Wasn't me". I knew what was up...he needed the points to finish in his state's overall rankings.
I finished in 1 hour and 7 minutes but here's where I had problems. First I crashed in the first mile, and afterwards my rear deraileur quit working( I had some problems before the race with it). So all I had then was my chainrings. Then after my first chain drop my front deraileur would only switch between the middle and big rings. I dropped a chain at least 5 times and twice it resulted in crashing. I lost between 3-5 minutes due to the mechanicals. The second place finish was 1 hour 2mins which would have allowed me to contend for 2nd, but if I had been more comfortable with the course I could have shave 1-2 minutes more at least. The winner was a hoss from Arkansas with 53 minutes, so he would have been safe anyway. If I had my bike checked out by a good mechanic before I raced I could have been contending for 2nd place. Lesson learned
I did win this ribbon and won a hat in the drawings and had a good time hanging out, camping, with other riders and I will go back next year to finish in 55 minutes.
A good note is that 5 riders from Jackson finished on the podium in a field that was from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, all competing for their states' respective overall titles.
Honestly I thought it would be funny if I took my pink 4th place ribbon to put with the other trophies at the coffee shop that the other guys bring in after their weekend races. But these guys went too far. After all I paid for it in blood, sweat and loss of skin.
I got to Ruston La on Saturday after a 5.5 hr drive(it was supposed to be only 3hrs but I had to go back and get my seatpost and seat). When I arrived there were several hundred mountain bike racers from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. I have never seen that many serious athletes on bikes before. Saturday I pre-rode the course wondering if I was going to be able to finish the 10mile course. I am not much of a mtb'er and the course had some technicals, including a ski-jump hill with ramp called "Tomac Hill", pretty(scary) fun.
I entered the clysedale division and I asked the guy at the registration if should ride a different class and he asked, "How fast can you ride the course?", I said "hour and ten minutes on my pre-ride" and he said "Just enjoy the ride then"...lol. At the start I figured I might as well win the "hole shot"(the sprint to the single track) and I did...afterward I just laughed and waved the guys past me telling them I wanted to win something. In the first mile I passed a clysedale who was in third in front of me and he was stopped fixing a flat. I was very happy that I was going to get a podium finish and raced to hold my spot and kept my eye out on my six to make sure I didn't get passed by another clysedale. It was funny that I would get passed on the flats and downhills by other class riders but I either hung with them or passed them on the uphills. So that's good for my strength but shows my poor skills. I was not comfortable on the jumps or climbing the switchbacks.
When I crossed the finish I was happy about my performance(relatively speaking) but there was the guy with the flat at the water table laughing it up with 1st and 2nd finish clysedales...WTF! I said I thought you had a flat and the guy said, "Wasn't me". I knew what was up...he needed the points to finish in his state's overall rankings.
I finished in 1 hour and 7 minutes but here's where I had problems. First I crashed in the first mile, and afterwards my rear deraileur quit working( I had some problems before the race with it). So all I had then was my chainrings. Then after my first chain drop my front deraileur would only switch between the middle and big rings. I dropped a chain at least 5 times and twice it resulted in crashing. I lost between 3-5 minutes due to the mechanicals. The second place finish was 1 hour 2mins which would have allowed me to contend for 2nd, but if I had been more comfortable with the course I could have shave 1-2 minutes more at least. The winner was a hoss from Arkansas with 53 minutes, so he would have been safe anyway. If I had my bike checked out by a good mechanic before I raced I could have been contending for 2nd place. Lesson learned
I did win this ribbon and won a hat in the drawings and had a good time hanging out, camping, with other riders and I will go back next year to finish in 55 minutes.
A good note is that 5 riders from Jackson finished on the podium in a field that was from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, all competing for their states' respective overall titles.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
It's on.
Ok...I am confirmed for racing this weekend. I am going to Ruston, La to race mtb, and I have only been on a trail with my mtb 3 times this year. My expectations are to campout, ride alot, and hangout with like minded people for 3 days. I am going to have take a leave from my deployment for Socom3 but that's ok....they can do without me. Here's my clan.
Ok...I am confirmed for racing this weekend. I am going to Ruston, La to race mtb, and I have only been on a trail with my mtb 3 times this year. My expectations are to campout, ride alot, and hangout with like minded people for 3 days. I am going to have take a leave from my deployment for Socom3 but that's ok....they can do without me. Here's my clan.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Creaky Cranks and maybe a race too.
I haven't accomplished a whole lot this week. I have only been on my road bike once this week. It's in the shop this morning, because of an annoying creak in the cranks when I am putting on the power. I don't think I will be getting a whole lot of sleep for a while because of Socom 3..a video game where your online competing. We call it Socrack because it's addictive.
I hope to be racing next weekend in Ruston, La on my mountain bike.
I haven't accomplished a whole lot this week. I have only been on my road bike once this week. It's in the shop this morning, because of an annoying creak in the cranks when I am putting on the power. I don't think I will be getting a whole lot of sleep for a while because of Socom 3..a video game where your online competing. We call it Socrack because it's addictive.
I hope to be racing next weekend in Ruston, La on my mountain bike.
Monday, October 10, 2005
What a great weekend.
My weekend started with going to the fair Friday night, cheating death on some rides, eating great greasy fried fair foods. Saturday with a great group ride (The Gravity Ride) out of Clinton, which was an almost perfect ride, with a comfortable pace, and a plenty of hills to play on and then recover again with the conversational pace. The ride was followed up with coffee and beignets at the Gravity Coffee shop, and fun conversation. From there I went to Stamp's Home of the SuperBurger. I had been listening to people talk about how good the burgers are so because it was a weekend I had to try it. The burger was good, but the sweet potatoe( Ok..so you say pot-a-toe) fries were awesome. The whole week I had been eating on a calorie restricted diet so I had been fantasizing about what I would eat on the weekend. That was followed up by a nap and then yardwork for the rest of the day while I enjoyed the weather. I woke up early Sunday, sat on my porch swing, drank tea and watched the sunrise. Then on to church and afterwards, lunch at Abner's(hungry lush), with another nap, and some time goofing off in the yard enjoying the weather and a rare chance to walk barefoot in the yard and that night, Supper club with some friends to watch Desperate Housewives. I loved the weekend.
My weekend started with going to the fair Friday night, cheating death on some rides, eating great greasy fried fair foods. Saturday with a great group ride (The Gravity Ride) out of Clinton, which was an almost perfect ride, with a comfortable pace, and a plenty of hills to play on and then recover again with the conversational pace. The ride was followed up with coffee and beignets at the Gravity Coffee shop, and fun conversation. From there I went to Stamp's Home of the SuperBurger. I had been listening to people talk about how good the burgers are so because it was a weekend I had to try it. The burger was good, but the sweet potatoe( Ok..so you say pot-a-toe) fries were awesome. The whole week I had been eating on a calorie restricted diet so I had been fantasizing about what I would eat on the weekend. That was followed up by a nap and then yardwork for the rest of the day while I enjoyed the weather. I woke up early Sunday, sat on my porch swing, drank tea and watched the sunrise. Then on to church and afterwards, lunch at Abner's(hungry lush), with another nap, and some time goofing off in the yard enjoying the weather and a rare chance to walk barefoot in the yard and that night, Supper club with some friends to watch Desperate Housewives. I loved the weekend.
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