Where we roll, buddy.

Can't wait.

Gonna miss the cool dudes who couldn't make it.

But I think It'll be every bit as epic this year. Whole new passle of like nuts.

Hope to avoid having to use the McGuyver skills this time.

In other news: New arrival in the family. More details on that later. Time to finish packing.

O yea, and an interesting thought for you next time you're buzzed by a careless motorist:

"I too have chased down idiots in cars. Screaming at them is never satisfying enough as they don't care. Next time I'll likely do what a friend of a friend once did... He beat the motorist and then U-locked him by the neck to a parking meter and dropped the keys down the sewer." -boulderbird

DG

3Flat/6Hour

I've been finding some interesting quotes lately. Like this one from Woody Allen: "Eighty percent of success is showing up". Well, that might be true, but that last 20% sure seems to be divided up a bunch.

For instance:
The Spoke Pony 3/6 hour mtb race was last weekend. Trail conditions were about as good as it gets there, weather was nice, camping was good. Feel pretty decent going into it. I know the course. I've been on the podium here. But I made a mistake, I put my Stans tubeless setup together the night before. And it didn't seal so well, as I found out on laps 1 and 2. Totally shot myself in the toe there, I knew better. Always work the kinks out of your equipment in training, dummy. (Yea, like I've got time for that)

And then for some reason on lap three I noticed the front der wasn't shifting so well. Thought maybe the cable was slipping, but I was in the middle ring so that's really all I needed anyways.
Later that lap it jumped into the granny and wouldn't shift, so I was forced to stop again. I looked down. The eccentric had worked its way loose and was slid over about 3/4" ....doh!

After that it was smooth sailing. Well, other than the fact that I had put myself in the hole pretty far. With all the stopping for mechanicals and riding way over the threshold to try and catch the twenty or so people that passed by.

At least I didn't hook any trees or fly off the bike for any reason, that trail hurts to fall on. I know, I've tried it. Unfortunately so did Syd. (Sorry Sydney, we truly didn't want to jeopardize your health or future races, but you'll thank us after the bruising goes away and you're flying down some comparatively mild rocky trail in AR.) Even Squirrel made mention of magically ending up running without his bike into a tree. Somehow I escaped the bruising. I feel fortunate for that.

End result? A fun weekend with friends(aka: "passel of like nuts") on dirt and rock. Yes real dirt. Not snow, not gravel, not mud. Dirt. And rock. One of many successful (by another definition) weekends to come this season. Congrats to all that raced.

The definition of success--To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded.--Ralph Waldo Emerson


DG

Flat #3 for the weekend

Better now than in two weeks. Better fuel mileage at 50mph anyhows.....

What goes down must come up

40,000ft of climing in 535 miles.

It's tough for me to wrap my mind around these numbers for some reason.

Squirrel's gravel century had about 6500ft of climbing in 100.

RAO has about 7600ft every 100.

Squirrel's route didn't kill me off by any means, but multiply the distance by 5, speed by 2.5 and see what happens?

Makes TransIowa look a little easier.

I see alot of hill training in my future ;)

DG