Ah crap, I’m tired.

The double-u eludes me.

Conditions were perfect. Low temperatures and clouds kept things nice and cool. The nasty horse trail was removed from the course this year which was a huge improvement. The course was fast and fun.

I rode hard from start to finish but maybe not hard enough up the first climb. I watched Shane S ride away feeling confident he would not stick it. Oops. He stuck it and finished 4 minutes up on me. Oh well, I felt good. Finishing time of about 4:07 which is about an hour faster than last year. Jeremiah Bishop rode the 100 in about 7:45!?!? SHAZBOT!! Next year, assuming the conditions are comparable, I want to break 4… or maybe attempt the 100? That’s crazy talk right there!

Those Addictive Cycles guys at Sag 2/3 were awesome. Got me in and out both times fast.

Mingo is the Fools Gold Bull Fighting champ, but don’t mention it to Big Worm.

Some of the highlights.

Friday afternoon ride.

Some racin’.

Some bull fightin’.

Some grillin’.

Dadgum I’m tired.

More pictures here.

I wasn’t planning on racing but I wandered onto goneriding.com Friday and noticed the race in Macon. I verified with the crew that the Pig Trails were fun and decided to dash up Sunday morning to race and be back home for supper with the family.

On the road at 6am but since my trusty old m-frames finally broke I had to pickup some eye protection. Some $4.89 Winchester shootin’ glasses from Walmart fit the bill. 3 hours later I was parking the mama-mobile at the Pig Trails.

I watched Big Jim and Ice Berg run away with convincing wins while Big Worm suffered through 3 laps to their 2! Can’t a clyde catch a break?

There was some drama in the 30-39 expert. Pro Andy Johnston managed to get a downgrade to expert this year. I hear it was so he could get a national championship and race masters worlds. I don’t really understand how he could get a downgrade…. doesn’t seem like the rules would allow it. No matter.

They say go and everyone is dukin’ it out for position through the first mile of grass. I made it into the woods around 6th or so. That first lap was a little klutzy without a preride but I managed to keep it together and start the 2nd lap in 3rd. The hand-up’s from Worm and Berg were flawless.

2nd lap was kinda klutzy too and I did a nice 180 when my rear tire let loose on one of the fast hardpack corners.

On the 3rd lap I finally got the course kinda dialed and kept it smooth. When I came through to start the 4th lap Big Worm reported I was 35 seconds off Andy. I was pretty sure he was going just fast enough to keep a gap on me but I decided to chase him and see if I could sneak up on him. Unfortunately he saw me coming and opened it back up a bit. From there I just put it on cruise control and finished it out.

I love the Pig Trails. I’m a sucker for fast trails but this one has a little of everything. Some open/fast, tight/fast, tight/rooty… just a super fun trail. I’ve added this race to my annual must do list.

This was one of those races where you fall into the zone and just don’t feel the pain, so at first I was kind of irritated about Andy. I just felt fast and that is a rare feeling. I’m over it though… I can’t worry about things I can’t control. Besides, he’s already getting enough boo’s and stink eye’s from his fellow statesmen anyway. I would feel a lot better if I knew he had to work for it though. He claims I made him work for it, but I’m not buying it.

I’ll just keep working hard and maybe next year I can make him work for it.

The BikePosse rolled to Birmingham in high numbers.

We met at the Orifice.

Ken was testing out an innovative new eyewear configuration. That’s PRO.

I felt great on the pre-ride. I love this course. We ate then chilled out and watched some reality tv.

I decided to race with the young whippersnappers in the 19-29 class. I got a good start but 100 meters in someone pushed my bars and nearly steered me into a wide eyed little boy on the sidelines. I’m sure we both had our “OH SNAP!” faces on. The Birmingham News had a story about the race along with a video of my race just after the start. I’m at the back. SHAZBOT! Look for the Atomic red near the back.

I think I got by about half the guys on the road before the singletrack and from then on I just rode hard. I was passing guys but I couldn’t tell if they were pro’s or experts. I only had one dark moment. I didn’t put a bottle at the start finish so I went without until the neutral feed on the climb. The base of the climb to the feedzone I was really hurting. When I got to the neutral feed I downed half a bottle of gatorade and gulped the rest on my way up. In about 10 minutes later I was good to go and able to attack the last couple climbs pretty good.

With about 4 miles to go I caught a pro who told me I was first expert. I found that hard to believe but I started being real careful through the rock gardens anyway. It turns out I was second expert behind super mtb wunderkind Seth Kemp.

It seemed extra hot/humid this year and times were slower across the board. My time would have put me 8th of 27 in the pro’s which must mean the pace of the pro start must have been fast to blow all those guys up. I don’t really have anything bad to say about my race except next year I’ll put a bottle at the start/finish.

Here’s a little photo montage. Photos of all the racers here.

I hit the race with the Tallahassee Super Couple Jim and Kristen. Jim saved a turtle.

The ride up was smooth like butter until we got about 30 minutes from Heritage Park and the skies opened up for a 45 minute thunder storm. Standing water everywhere.

We spoke to a sport rider who claimed to have walked two of the big drops and crashed hard once. He had cancelled his hotel and was heading back home to Ocala. That had me a little worried. Despite the mud, roots and tricky conditions on the pre-ride I had a lot of fun slippin’ and slidin’ around the course. I think it helps having Red Bug to practice on.

By 11:30 on Sunday the course was mostly dry except for a few deep mud holes. Fast and fun. This course is a true mountain bikers course. There is no faking it. Every skill you have will be tested. Fast downhills, steep up/down switchbacks, rocks, roots, long super steep rooty climbs, big rooty drops and off camber ups/downs. Throw some wet on it and you’ve got yourself a serious challenge.

An uphill grassy start was perfect for me. I had my best start ever entering the woods third wheel. I was super pumped. Unfortunately a bio-mechanical put me at the back about 10 minutes in. I’m used to being at the back though. I chased hard to make up the 1-1.5 minutes lost. Really hard.

Made it into 5th place about 1/4 into the 3rd (last) lap and there I stayed. Dissappointing placing but I ended up only 2 minutes off Trent the Mad OX who won again. Trent is on fire! My super dork podium streak continues! The other fellas look like they’re raising their hands in triumph while I look more like, “please don’t shoot!”.

Jimbo rode his rigid 29 singlespeed to 9th. That’s hard core, but I’m hoping to get him on gears and at least front suspension. If you see him, back me up. Kristen was also 5th after a 2:50 effort. Yowsa! I think expert women should have done 2 laps. A 2:40 winning time is a bit long for an XC race. 1:50 would be more like it. Three of the expert women were out there over 3 hours. That’s approaching marathon numbers.

Add this one to the list of must do Dirty South Races.

Crit
The crit was way more fun than I expected. The herd thinned quickly so myself and another guy were able to bomb the corners and ride a smooth pace. He was slightly faster than me in turn 3 so I decided I’d rather lead it out than risk a gap in turn 3. So I pretty much lead the last lap and when I came out of turn 3 nailed it. I thought I had gapped him on the hill but he ended up beating me by .001 second.

Check out my mullet flowing in the wind.

I also got this photo of the elusive Juancho who was providing security for Big Worm.

Road Race
Driving the wheel truck for the 3’s Ice Berg and I were talking about our race. I said, “I wish the climbs were longer to break it up more”. He said, “Not me, I want it to come down to a sprint”. That’s pretty much what happened. My plan was to wait until the last climb and try to gap everyone but I just couldn’t wait that long. Darien took the lead up the first big climb and the feeling of getting out of the sketchy pack was awesome. Ahhhhh, clean air!! I was finally having some fun. So I hit all the climbs hard hoping myself and a few others could separate ourselves from the pack. It didn’t happen. I think everyone had the same plan of waiting til the final climb.

I decided to ditch my plan and just ride the front. I couldn’t stand the idea of going back into the pack of sketch monsters. Luckily right before the final climb Some Guy #1 and two JEEP guys came to the front. It was nice to get a break. I upped the tempo at the base of the climb and was keeping a steady hard pace on the right side of the road. I knew an Atomic was on my wheel so I figured even if I blow someone will come out of it good. Right near the top where the climb pitches up I hear, “on your right”. I thought, I know that voice. BANG! Ice Berg goes off like a shot. Brilliant attack up the gutter! There is a moment of hesitation as if they expect me to chase him. He get’s probably 5 bike lengths then the two JEEP guys and Some Guy #2 take off. I jump on their wheel over the top of the climb where JEEP guy #2 blows. I squeeze around him and get back up to the 3 in front. We come into the neighborhood each of us a bit gapped off the other. No positions change and Ice Berg takes the win.

It was pretty awesome to have a front row seat to the Ice Berg win. In my head I was thinking, We could not have planned that any better. We must look like friggin pro’s with our logisticalizing stratergery. Carl C told him to sit in a jump at the steep pitch and he did exactly that.

So yeah, I burnt a bunch of matches in the last 5 miles or so but I wouldn’t change a thing. In fact, in hindsight, I probably would’ve worked the front more if I’d known Ice Berg had the legs for a sprint. I probably would have blown off the back on the final climb but at least I would have had more fun.

Probably the biggest mistake we made as a team was not strategerizing before the race. We should have been sending riders up the road at every lull and made the others chase. We had numbers but we really didn’t use them.

Afterthoughts
I was thinking about why I had so much fun in the crit but not so much in the road race. There’s no glory for a 35 year old mtb racer in a cat 5 road race, so placing isn’t an issue. I think it comes down to the fact the crit was more like an MTB race. Adrenaline pumping in the corners and riding with competent bike handlers. The road race was pretty much the inverse of that until the last 5 miles or so.

Shout outs to Big Worm. He didn’t finish very far back. Darien was 6th. Which is strong for a guy not riding much right now.