Georgia: Day 5 & 6

Sorry I haven't posted sooner.. I've been too busy crying for the last 12 hours having just returned to Chicago, and sub 40 degree temps... :(

Day 5 was Wednesday. The guys were headed off to do the 6 gaps ride, and I was off to Gainsville to meet up with Eddie and Namrita ride some more trail. Eddie promised a less intense day than the Fools Gold course.

We met up at the Chicopee Woods Park. The plan was to ride the trails until we got bored. Unfortunately about 10 minutes in, Eddie had a mechanical that took his bike out of commission. Namrita and I finished out the short loop while Eddie headed back to the car. He attempted a field repair, but to no avail. Namrita, trooper that she is, offered up her Jaberwocky so that Eddie and I could ride on. A quick parts swap and we were off again. And, yes, guys can ride pink bikes!



The trails were pretty sweet. Nothing terribly technical, lots of up and down. Great riding for my 3rd trail day of the year. Boy do my handling skills need some work. Chicago is making me soft!



We rode for about 2 hours. We swung back to the parking lot, and Namrita was back from her run. Perfect timing. We said our goodbyes, and parted ways.

I can't thank those guys enough for showing us around this week. Without them, I'd have seen a lot less trail time. Thanks again you too. If you're ever in Chicago, drinks are on me!

Day 6

There was no avoiding it. It finally came. We barred the doors, turned up the TV and hid our heads under the covers, but it would not go away. Our last day in Georgia.

Dan and Tim hid their pain by driving back to Kentucky to get another day of riding in with a buddy there. For Scott and I, there was only one thing to do. We'd done just about all we came down to GA to do, except ride to the top of it. Brasstown Bald. The highest point in the state of Georgia.

We parked at the base of the climb, a steep 3 mile climb. We met up with some of Scott's friends from Northwestern. We started of with a ride down and then back up Jack's Gap to warm up. I was behind from the start having to pump up my tires at the last second. At the bottom of Jack's I latched on to a group of 3 that was just behind Scott. We were riding at a real good pace for the 5 mile gradual climb. But with Scott just in sight, I decided to gap up to him. Just as I reached his wheel, a little out of breath, I began to wonder if that was such a great idea with Brasstown looming ahead. We continued on, eventually reaching that hard, steep right turn onto the road up to the top. Ugh!

I'd heard that the beginning was aweful, and if you keep going it gets better... Until you hit "The Wall". Sure enough, after a few minutes of pain, the road leveled out (and by leveled out I mean got slightly less steep). Onfortunately I started the day with arm warmers on, and now I was paying the price. I'd alread pulled them down, but they had to go. I feared if I stopped, though, I might now get started again! I stopped at the best point I could and lost the arm warmers. I pushed mt bike back onto the road and, closing my eyes, pretended it was September and did my best 'cross mount to get as much forward momentum as possible. Surprisingly, I was able to keep up the speed.. for a while.

Eventually (Inevitably?) I was passed by one of the kids in our group. Her name was Michelle? (yeah, yeah... This girl was STRONG!) She didn't exactly fly by, but she was riding with purpose. We eventually came to the base of "The Wall". I think the grade at this point is about 20%. When my speed fell below 4mph, I figured I'd go just as fast on foot, so I hoofed it. I watched Michelle? as she fought tooth and nail to climb that wall. It was inspiring! She pulled out every trick in the book, but she maid it to the top without dismounting. My hat is off to her! While I was off the bike, I grabbed this pic of our destination.



As soon as I crested the wall, I hopped back on and resumed the suffering. One of the Northwestern guys who couldn't ride that day was driving up and down the road shouting encouragement as he went. Much appreciated! If nothing else it was a good distrcaction from the pain! One more pass and they were telling me I was near the top.. SPRINT!! So I sprinted! Ok, by this time my sprinting was pretty relative, but I gave it all I got, and soon was up at the top admiring the view from the top of Georgia!



The Northwestern guys offered us a ride down in their car. Are you kidding me? I only suffer up these climbs so that I can ride down! And the ride down was SCREAMIN' fast. I wish I could've done shuttle runs all day! But alas...

Scott and I decided to call it a day to get a jump on packing and rest up for the long drive home. A good meal, bad nights sleep, and 12 hour drive later, we arrived back in Chi-town.

It was a great trip. I had a great time hanging out with Dan, Tim, and Scott! Got some great riding in, including finally getting some good dirt miles in! I can't thank Scott enough for sharing his time share with us! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Georgia: Day 4

Decisions Decisions.

Even with the easy day yesterday, I'm feelin' like I could take the day off today. Everyone's feelin' about the same I think. It's a little warmer today, but not much. And to top it off, Tim's eyes have been bothering her something fierce. So we all found things to do in the morning to stave off the eventaulity of having to decide to ride or not in the afternoon.

Dan, Scott and I headed into Dahlonega to hit up Lifetime Bicycles. Scott's thinkin' of getting new cleats, and after the Fools Gold fiasco, I'm thinkin' of picking up a new hydration pack to make sure I've got enough water and food carrying capability before mountain biking again. I ended up picking up a Fox hydration pack. My old Camelback Mule is about 100 years old, so it's about time for an update. We picked up a Hot'n'Now pizza for lunch, and then picked up some sundries from Walmart.

Returning to the condo we found Tim dressed and ready to go. He waited for Dan and Scott, and off they went. As Timmy so eloquently put it, I've had some bike neglect issues to address. Normally my bikes are fairly well maintained, and if I hadn't been travelling all week before the vacation I would have had time to make sure both bikes were ready to go. Luckily Dan was able to make my Raleigh's rear wheel ridable despite it being seriously out of true. So I decided to stay in and make sure my single speed was all set to go for riding with Eddie and Namrita tomorrow. Drop to 32x17, install my Reba suspension fork, and a new chain just for good measure. I also finally put on a set of chain tugs to help line my rear wheel up and keep it in place. My last bike had an eccentric bottom bracke and verticle drops. So much easier for gear changes and wheel/tire changes. My next bike will have an EBB again.

Finally I decided to check online to see what trails were in the area and maybe ride to one. I found the Helen to Unicoi park trail. It starts right in town and is a 7 mile or so loop. I had about 2 hours of daylight left, so I figured I was safe to go.

It's just a short ride to the trailhead. There was a nice big bulletin board at the entrance, but no maps. Once on the trail it was extremely well posted. At least in terms of direction and to let you know you were on the trail. But, as I've found common in Georgia, the mile markers seemed to make no sense, giving you no idea how far from or to some point you were.

The ride starts with a long climb out of town. It was switched back pretty well, but still pretty steep, especially to these raw cityboy legs. It's an old jeep trail that's being reclaimed and tightening back up. All the climbing finally led me to this view over Helen.



A screamin' downhill followed from this point. Man do I miss ridin' trail!! It was about this time that I realized I was going on on MTBR.com review trusting that this was indeed a 7 mile trail, and that it did indeed loop back to where I started. After Danielle and Namrita's ordeal, I didn't want to get caught out in the dark too. Gauging the best I could from the cryptic mile markers, I figured I was about 1/2 way done, so I decided to press on. I passed a couple signs for the Unicoi Lodge, and prayed for the best. Before too long, the trail looped back on itself and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

All in all it was a pretty nice trail. Intermediate only due to the steep climbs and fast descents. The best part is how close it is to town. I may hit this trail up again later in the week with Scott. Tomorrow I hope to meet up with Eddie and Namrita at a trail of their choosing.

Georgia: Day 3

After yesterday's pounding on the legs, I was in for a little lighter fare today. I think we all were. Looking at the map, we decided to try a little route that circles Helen, promising only rolling hills, no sustained climbs.

It was another chilly one today, but we were all shocked - frozen at the door wall in fact - trying to comprend the white flakey stuff falling from the sky. That sum'bitch snow followed us all down here! (Then again, it wouldn't exactly take a bloodhound to track Timmy's scent... :0 ) Much grumbling ensued, but we managed to saddle up none the less and head north.

We took a detour into Unicoi State Park just to see what there was to see as falls were promised at the end of the road. The scenery was nice, and the riding somewhat spirited. I don't know what buisness I thought I had teasing these lions, but I don't think they took me very seriously.

At the end of the road there was nice picnic spot with a view of the river, but I didn't see any falls.




Riding out of the park I got to taste the speed of the road again, but one stout climb and I was jetisoned off the back of our little foursome. We turned left out of the park and headed into some beautiful rolling countryside. I made some hard efforts, and eventually latched back on, for about 30 seconds. Again I watched the three pull away. I'd like to think there's something to the fact that I was riding a 'cross bike with 'cross gearing and larger 28c tires that is weighing me down, and not just that I'm a big fat azz who's too out of shape to keep up even on a "slow" day.

Eventually I could see up ahead that Scott had dropped off of Dan and Tim's wheels. I pushed it again, trying to catch up, and even thought I was making progress, only to look up again and find him nowhere in sight! "Damn, he's flyin' today" I thought. That sneaky bastard.

Finally I came to the end of 386, and turned onto 197. There was a sign for a store up ahead, surely the place where they'd be waiting, if they were going to wait. I got to the generaly store/restaurant in Batesville, minus waiting bike riders. This was sort of a "every man for himself" day, so I was not suprised.



So I grabbed a snack and pushed on. This, after all, was a rest day so I was done chasing. I'd noticed on the map a covered bridge, so I decided to do a little sight seeing. If you click the first picture, you can see the snow falling.





I continued on and made the right at 17. Almost home I was surprised to see this historical site on the left that I hadn't noticed before. This is why it's great to get out of your car every now and again, you miss too much behind all that glass and steel. I think that cow was more interested in me that I was in the mound.





When I got back home, sure enough, Scott was there waiting. Turns out he had taken a turn off of 386, making it seem that he had dissappeared in a blaze of smoke and tire rubber. :D

That night, we headed into town for dinner again. After an exploration of Lewis and Clark proportions to find an open restaurant, we managed to find a pretty decent burger joint. Drinking was in order...






More to come soon!!

Georgia: Day 2

Welcome to Georgia, hope you brought your climbing legs!

I can sum up this whole post very easily. 70 Miles. 5 hours. 8000+ feet of climbing.

The day started innocently enough at the Huddle House in downtown “Little Bavaria” (also known as Helen, GA.)

It was a beautiful day. High forecasted at 58 and not a cloud in the sky



The train pulls out of Helen, prepped for the first climb of the day. 10 miles up hill. It started gradually, but it wasn’t long before I was showin’ the pain face… I've never climbed for so long. It was like sitting in an ice bath. Eventually you just become numb to the pain... I thought it would never end.



The payoff was a sweet, wide open 2.5 mile descent. Keeping an eye out for oncoming trafic we used the whole road, tucking and pulling G's on the corners. Big headwinds, ‘cross gearing, and lack of road descending experience conspired to keep my speed down around 40mph all day, but that didn’t keep it from being fun as hell! Here’s a shot of me with the big s#@t eatin’ grin after the first descent.



The guys trying to keep up… ;)



Mercifully there was a store along the route to rest and re-fuel. And better yet, I was able to pick up a sweet coon skin cap to add to my collection.





From here we rode across Wolf Pen Gap, followed by another screamin’ twisty descent. I could do this all day long, if someone wanted to drive my fat azz up to the top of each hill...

There’s a famous mountaineering shop near the end of the Appalachian Trail on Blood Mountain, the top of Neel’s gap to service hikers on the trail. This is the view from their patio/overlook.



From hear it was back the way we came over two climbs, and then a 10 mile descent back into Helen. It’s awesome descending down the tight, banked road faster than cars. I’ll remember that one for a while.

We rapped up the day with a stop at Paul’s Steak House in town. Cheers!

Georgia: Day 1 (or Oh. My. God.)

It looked like the planets were going to align, and Scott and I were going to hook up wit Danielle, Namrita, and Eddie for some mountain biking on our first day down in Georgia. The plan was to meet at the start/finish for the Fools Gold 50/100 at 11am Saturday.

Namrita and Danielle’s Wild Ride changed our plans. I’m bummed we weren’t able to meet up, but I’m glad they’re OK.

However, Eddie did come out to show us around his course. He was an awesome guide, putting up with our late arrival, and, shall we say, some minor mishaps. There are so many clichés I could use to describe our ride, but I think the most accurate thing to say was that my ego wrote a check that my body just couldn’t cash.

Granted, my frame of reference for a 50 mile ride in IL is a far cry from a 50 mile dirt road/trail ride in GA. When Eddie said we were going to ride the Fools Gold loop, 50 miles, I thought, “No problem, I’ve ridden 50 miles. I’ve got 5 hours in the saddle. I’ll be fine”. What I should have been thinking was, “How am I going to survive this?”

Had I had more time prior to coming down to Georgia, I probably would have worked up a good healthy fear of what I was getting myself into, and setup my bike to save myself as much pain as possible. Like, say, a nice easy 32x17 gear, and, oh, a little suspension up front?? But no. My dumb a$$ thought going rigid would be cool, and I never go below 34x17, so why would I now?? (Hello, mountains)

Our ride began with about 4 miles of climbing on some pretty rocky dirt roads. Unrelenting, but manageable… Until about 100 yards from the top. I just couldn’t’ turn the pedals over with enough tempo anymore to keep myself up. Shoe leather time. I told Eddie that Scott and I may have bitten off a little more than we can chew, but he assured us that it got better from here. I’m glad we listened. Lets just say that I now know what folks mean when the talk about a screamin’ fast fire road decent. We hauled azz down the other side of that climb. And the rest of the ride did get better. There was a little issue of Scott’s flat, for which we had to bike back up to the top to of a sweet decent. But that just meant we got to tear it up again! It was amazing to watch Eddie disappear down the dirt roads. Granted he had the right tires, suspension, and 29” tires, but he’s just damn fast.





Getting some single track dirt under my tires for the first time this year was almost a foreign feeling. And roots? How are you supposed to ride over these things?? ;)

All in all it was a great day, despite some other issues. Mainly that I was a couple bottles shy of having enough water for the day. I had plenty of food, but not enough water to process it. By the end of the ride, about 4 hours and 30 some miles, I was toast. Hopefully I’ll never make some of these mistakes again, but I doubt it.




Cooling off in the river after a hard day's work.



Dan and Tim came in tonight, and we’re headed out for some road action tomorrow. For now, I’m drinking plenty of water… ;)

Georga: Travel Day

The day finally came. And with the forecasted weather, it couldn't have come at a better time!!

Scott and I left bright and early at 8 am. The weather was already starting to come in.

About 30 minutes south on 65 and it started to warm up and get sunny. I passed the time on the drive no by watching the miles go by, but by watching the temp climb into the 70’s…










We worked our way through Indianapolis and Louisville, and made a left turn to I-75. Once we were on 75, the choice for our lunch stop became clear…

Scott had NEVER eaten at the Waffle House. It’s unfathomable! So an All Star breakfast later we were back on the road…




There were 2 hours of side road driving on some fantastic twisting road that had Scott just about putting his “brake” foot through the floorboard on the passenger seat. Yet, we arrived safely at about 9:30 and found our accommodations. Pretty sweet compared to other time shares I’ve stayed in. At least all the furniture matches.




There’s no internet in the room, though, so I have to go down to the “community” center for wireless. So I’ll be posting the first few days all at once.

Packed!

1 26" mtb, 1 29er, 1 road bike, 1 cross bike, tools, riding gear and clothes...

Scott and I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow. And just in time, too. They're calling for up to 7 inches of snow by tomorrow night!!

The forecast for Helen, GA is high 60's and mostly sunny all week!!! =D

Guiness and Thai

Everything goes good with Guiness.. ;)

St. Patricks Day

Ok, not quite, but close enough. With Saint Patrick's day coming on Monday, the Chicago parade took place today. I decided to ride my bike downtown to see what all the hubub is about.

I picked up my new camera yesterday. I took this chance to test it out. My favorite new toy is the stitch assist and photostitch software. Super easy panoramas. I can't wait to get up to the top of Brasstown Bald in GA.

I checked out the parade, but couldn't get a good vantage point for pictures. I did however get some great pics of the green Chicago river.

Training camp

So, part of the team is off in CA this week for spring training. Some of those of us stuck back in the windy city decided to hold a camp of our own.. Minus the nice weather, elevation change, and tan lines... The goal, ride every day of the week and post our miles. I started strong with about 60 miles posted over the weekend on the single speed. Then Monday I got sick. Just before the best weather of the week is about to roll in. I thought I'd be back on the bike by today, just in time for the predicted 50 degree temps. No luck. In fact, I didn't even go into to work today. I'm taking time to recover now so that I'm good and healthy for Georgia.

Speaking of Georgia, I'm gonna pick up a new camera before the trip to capture the good times. I've been wanting to get a point and shoot digicam for a couple years now. One that's nice and small to fit in a jersey pocket, and takes decent pictures. I'm thinking of getting this.

Look for a new look soon. Inspired by our new kits and a friend's link to this blog from his.

So, here's hoping that spring comes soon. The woods are calling my name.

Slow News Day

Not much going on these days. Not riding nearly as much as I'd like, but I'm hoping that will change for the better soon!!

The most exciting thing to happen recently is our new team kits arrived. Check it out!





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