99 problems..

Ever have one of those days that you would just like to start over?? Um, yea....

Meant to get up early today and get about 80 or so, and due to drowning my sorrows after the pens loss last night, I didn't get out till a little after noon.  You'll have that.

Made it about halfway through a 40 mile loop, nicked a rock, and bye bye tire.

Usually, I carry 2 tubes, a patch kit, and a dollar bill for use as a tire boot.  It has saved me more than once. I walked for a minute to the nearest parking lot, look at the giant hole in my sidewall, and wonder if the dollar will hold it together.  Pull out the NEW tube, and pump it up a little bit.  Aaannnndd it doesn't hold air.  Apparently I had had it in my seat bag for a little too long, and wore a hole in the side of it.

Remember how I mentioned that I usually carry 2 tubes?  Yea.. not today.

So anyways, I think to my self, "wow, good thing I grabbed those patches and the tube of glue.  Fuck, this tube of glue dried up."

I sat there for a while, and looked up on the phone how far of a walk it would be to the nearest bike shop.  Seven miles to ProBikes in monroeville.  Um, no. Ended up calling CB for a ride home.  First, and hopefully last, time that I'll have to do that.

Oh yea, I think I'm done with continental road tires too.  They sure are comfy riding them, but this is the third sidewall I've destroyed this year.

On the Rocks at French Creek

This weekend I found myself headed east to French Creek State Park, to race the 6 hour endurance version of On the rocks at French Creek, part of the Mid Atlantic Super Series.

As the name of the race suggests, the majority of the trails were pretty rocky! It was a nice surprise to do a long race that wasn't on a ton of gravel and double track. With the exception of the first climb, the entire race consisted of fun, technical trails. Well, the downhills were fun at least, but after every downhill comes an uphill. Most of the climbs were just about as rocky as the downhills were! Fun stuff.

Going into the race, I had set a goal for myself to do 6 laps. Looking at the results from last year, I noticed that only 1 person managed to get the sixth lap in, and I thought that it would be fun to try and do it on my singlespeed.

Despite the 20 minutes or so of heavy rain just before the race, and the few scattered showers in the morning, the trails were holding up pretty well. At least I thought so, until I started my second lap. After about 50 people had ridden the trails, there sure were some slippery sections on some of the climbs. There also were additional races starting just about every hour, so that added another challenge to maintaining my pace.

I kept my pit stops short, just spending enough time to grab a fresh bottle every lap, and a mouthfull of food every other lap, and it seemed to work out perfectly.

In the end, I got 6 laps in about 6:50, and finished in first place in singlespeed, and second overall. There were only 3 of us that managed to get 6 laps in, and I feel really good about the outcome of this race.

Next up, I think I'm going to attempt my first 12 hour race, at the 12 Hours of Tsali, near Bryson City, NC in 2 weeks. This should be interesting.

Monthly mileage

It was time yet again to total up my mileage for the month. I slipped a little bit from my March total of 999 miles, and ended up with about 873 for the month of April. I did ride my mountain bike quite a bit more this month, and spent a hell of a lot of time driving to a few races, so that probably made up the difference.

I think that maybe it's time to start doing some of those workout things, to try to work on a few of my weaknesses. "Ride lots" might not be cutting it quite so much anymore. I sure am crushing those base miles though!