The Journal of a L.O.S.T Rider

Whats harder, Riding your bike into the mountains, ascending for miles and then descending for miles. OR. Riding 100 plus miles of flat terrain? Riding the Flat is WAY harder and I will tell you why. When your riding in the mountains. You may spend several hours going uphill, and the entire time your pedaling and pedaling. But when you get to that 5 or 6 or even 10 mile downhill, your doing nothing but coasting. When your riding Flat Terrain for miles and miles, there is no break and the pedaling is constant. Everyone constantly says the phrase, "This is the hardest thing I have ever done on a bike," And I have to say for the moment, it was for me. I totally underestimated the magnitude of this ride. I totally underestimated how time consuming the dirt portion would be. Totally underestimated and miscalculated what would happen if we got lost in terms of rationing my supplies and my water. So ya, it was an enlightening experience for myself. I learned a lot about self supported touring and most important, I learned a lot about me. Lets Just say this, first mistake of the day for me, 3 hours of sleep is not sufficient rest for an undertaking of this magnitude.
Being a person who values his Indigenous beliefs. When I started the day with a sighting of the Thunderbird, I knew it was an Ominous Omen. Lil did I know what laid ahead.
My weapon of choice, the beautiful Salsa Mamasita, equipped with very skinny road touring tires. That would be my second mistake of the day, I underestimated how rough the dirt roads would be and the tires were translating every rock and pebble and crevice into my frame and my body. Not so Fun. :O(
Dave Snow's Dos Niner. Sweet ride, great paint job.
Congrats to Dave who finished 3rd overall in his class for the Florida State Championship series. He was showing his XC skills at the start and he was hauling some serious butt. Eventually, I had to tell him to go on without me and call me when he finished, because, the lack of sleep thing started to get to me eventually.
This was the common view on the clockwise route towards the lake. Not much to see, everywhere you looked you could see for miles and miles. It was a little daunting to say the least.

More vastness to look at.

I don't know what was worst of the off road portion of the ride. The rocky parts or the grassy parts. One section would rob you of momentum, the other one would rattle me needlessly. At this point I was regretting my tire choice.
I started practicing my rolling self portraits, here is me, early in to the 40 miles of dirt roads.
And more, doesn't look so bad and I bet it wouldn't be if I would of had some fatties.
Here is a shot, check out the skinny road/touring tire, just feeding me suffering on the dirt roads.
Yea, sweating is good. Cause at one point, I had to ride without water for close to ten miles. When I finally met up with Dave again, I was drinking water from a trailer park water faucet as if I had been traversing the desert. Pretty funny.
Dave Snow and his Snowy cranes. These birds would fly, then land, and he would approach and they would get up and fly some more, it was pretty funny.

The Cranes again.

Just look. It goes on into the horizon. Eventually, it was mentally exhausting for me to try and wrap my mind around the magnitude of the ride. It helped to break it down into section by section which turned out to be my saving grace in the end.

Wicked dead woods on the left.

Eventually, after Dave took off. I straight up laid write on the pavement you see here and took a well needed 20 minute map. Lets just say after miles and miles of dirt, you then had miles and miles of relentless headwind. The Nap, helped and I started rolling and feeling good. Even though I was fighting a head wind or a cross wind I was enjoying myself, Finally.
There is my favorite riding partner. He is the only one that cant out ride me and never leaves.

More self portrait shots.

And even more.

I took a picture of this for one reason only. This was the Stank Swamp. It smelled like rotten baby poo and it would come and go, for miles. AWFUL!
Finally, a refuge, I made it to Clewiston and I was pretty happy. I restocked on water and took a picture of the map.
Followed up by a shot of me feeling good, with the self timer. Check out my nashbar handlebar bag. I had to modify it on the fly, and I wasn't even able to use it thru the dirt sections cause if I activated the shock it would rub the front tire. Eventually I strapped it to my back till I got back on the pavement. Thank God I had electrical tape, cause I was able to use it to reinforce the stretchy strap and pull it over my stem to keep it off my front tire. Not long after this, I got tired of fighting the wind and laid down and took another 20 minute nap. I must of looked like some weird hobo laying on the ground. But except for the occasional passing boat, there was no one around to see.
Sunset. I strapped on the light and readied myself for the night. Applied the bug spray and got ready for any possible cold. The cold never came. About 10 miles after this, I turned towards the north and the wind that had been just crushing me turned into the sweetest Tailwind EVER. For nearly 30 miles or so I averaged anywhere between 14 to 16 mph.

The bridge at the Miami canal, straight hauling ass.

And even better shot.

The night riding was the saving grace of the ride. It was the best, it was beautiful and poetic. Seeing the lights in the distance of the cities, seeing the views of the big lake finally, it was just splendid. The speed, the sights the sounds, were poetic. Eventually after Pahokee, I had to get off the trail and take the road, which was nice, till we turned out of town towards Port Mayaca which was a nasty rough road. On this road, it was pitch black and I got chased by not one set of pit bulls, but two. It almost killed me to go that fast after riding 90 miles. I eventually got worried about Dave and thought he would have called me a long time ago. So I placed a call around 830 and he was 20 or so miles up the road and he had finally finished. Not wanting him to sit and wait for 1.5 hours or more for me to finish, I told him to come on down and get me. In retrospect I know I could of finished it, I had the strength the speed and the determination. There were times I wanted to quit, but I had no choice to push on. Now, will I ever do it again, Yes, cause I want to complete what I started, but, this time, I think I will start in the dark, sleep till the morning on the trail somewhere and then ride out into the morning.
Laters...

Self Supported

Honestly, I don't think that people understand the gravity of those two words.

Imagine, how much more of a race the Tour De France would be if it was self supported. If those riders had to provide or arrange their own lodging for the 2o some odd stages, carry their own food, water and fix their mechanicals. It would completely change the race.

As it is, some people think it would be tough to do the Tour DE France. As well it might be, but c'mon, you got a car full of supplies following you the whole way, your team mates blocking the wind, how hard could it really be.

How many of you have done a self supported ride. I know there are tons of people who have done it, but Off road, how many have done it. I personally don't know many who have. Now some would argue that their 20 to 30 off road rides are self supported and I would agree. Your carrying your own food and water for the distance then congratulations, you are self supported.

Now, the past couple of days, those words have haunted me. This Saturday I'm going to venture on the longest ride of my life, some of it off road, 110 miles, completely self supported.

I don't know how I feel about it. But I have been doing some math.

I did the Horrible Hundred, 102 miles, in 7 hours and 40 something minutes. I got to do 8 more miles then that on Saturday. So lets round it up to nine hours. 200 calories for 9 hours, is 1800 calories that I have to carry.

So here is what I plan to carry on Saturday:

My emergency epic ride mechanical kit. Refer to the Pisgah posts to see all that is in that kit.
Some bug spray for sure and a light, just in case I run out of sun.
A rain jacket for sure cause I hear its going to rain.
Some sun block.
100 oz of water. I also now have the option to carry an additional 50oz in the same pack by just putting another bladder in the storage area of my camelbak.
I can ride 45 miles off road easy with 100oz of H2O. So I may carry the 50 and just plan on restocking. Or should I just carry 1500z so I have to stop less. Decisions, decisions.
And the 1800 Calories of food. I plan on dividing that food, amongst, granola bars, trail mix, Cajun trail mix, gummy worms and some candy bars.
Finally, my music, with some speakers so as not to shut the person who is riding with me out.

I will have a large saddle pack to put my emergency mechanical kit in. My handlebar bag for everything else. And my camelbak will carry my water and nothing else.

Self support at its finest.

Whats also a Lil bit intimidating about this ride is that there is no bail out. If I get tired, I still got to pedal my way out. So determination is the only mindset that I shall have, because this is a ride that I MUST finish, no two ways about it.

I will take tons of pictures and I will of course share. I just hope I don't end up brain dead like I did after the Horrible Hundred.


Laters..

Episode 1: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

I went to a party this weekend. A real party, with a beer tub and tons of people I haven't seen or spent time with in years.

That is not the strange part.

I got to do a make up thanksgiving dinner with my brother William and his family. My brother is an amazing fellow and a huge influence on my life. He is also a commercial airline pilot and he had to work for the holiday so it was nice to chill and relax. I rode my bike over to at least get some miles in. It wasn't enough.

But, that is not the strange part.

Early Sunday, I slept in. Was planning to go to the last race of the series, but felt very guilty about waking my poor Lil wife up super early on her day off when she gets up at 4 am everyday of the week as it is. So I skipped the race and the ride and just spent Q.T. time with her.

OK, still not the strange part.

That Sunday evening, we visited some friends hung out and relaxed. My friend told me that his Uncle, spends a good amount of free time, filling out Lil forms for every single contest and giveaway he can find. He says he remembers as a kid, spending hours over his house just filling out entry forms. Consequently, the dude wins free stuff all the time and all types of free stuff.

That IS stranger than fiction.

Amazing.

Time to Get L.O.S.T.

I am planning to do four 100 mile races next year. And I am in the process of preparing myself. Which means, lots and lots of miles and hours and hours of saddle time.

While scouring the net for a ride that would provide 100 plus miles of terrain with some off road and road mixed, I came across a link to the Lake Okeechobee scenic trail aka L.O.S.T.

Since my discovery, I have been planning and preparing for the 110 mile circumnavigational trip around the biggest lake in Florida.

This Saturday the 15Th, I will undertake the trip.

I bought a sweet Handlebar bag to experiment with for the trip. I plan to take my camelbak and freeze the night before 2 bottles of Gatorade for a variety of drinks. According to the map, there should be water every 20 miles or so.

On my Mamasita, I plan to put some touring/cross tires I have that are super slick. I was a lil concerned they would give me trouble in the dirt, but I remembered how I used to ride my road bike on dirt roads all the time and this is supposed to be shell based double track and pretty hard packed.

I will fill you in with photos and a report once my mission is completed.

Laters...

UnIfIcAtIoN rIdE

I finally did it and looped all the off road that I scrounged together in West Volusia, with the forced road connections and completed the ride. The totals speak for themselves. I didn't feel so good today on the ride, but I recently fell off the wagon and started sneaking a soda here and there and eating fast food. And today I could totally feel it. Time to get back on the wagon and cut out the crap.

The ride went smooth and it was good. The most amusing thing I witnessed was two Male Gopher turtles locked in a battle for Dominance. I wish I would of had my camera.

Here is my Garmin Data enjoy:

Unification Ride

2007 Horrible Hundred: Photo Journal

My COCK pit for the next 102 plus miles.

The weather was a tad chilly that Sunday, but I knew, that by the time I started riding, the weather would be perfect. As I made my way onto the event parking lot, I spent a good moment laughing at all the roadies who were decked out in leg and arm warmers as if it was cold enough to warrant such equipment.
There was a huge sand pit in the parking lot where we were sent to park. It was obvious to me, that if you didn't have the proper equipment you could easily get stuck. Well, first, a minivan got stuck and they pushed them out. Then a Lil mini suv got stuck and they pushed him out. Then right as I was finishing getting ready, this VW bug got stuck. Personally, I don't think men should be allowed to drive VW bugs as they are clearly chick cars. And Secondly, Its obvious, Roadies and dirt don't mix.
This guy tried to pull him out, but the rope broke.The Start: I don't know how many hundreds of people were there, but this was about 1/4 shot of the crowd at the line.Before the start there were two people flying over head on these.For the first 50 miles or so, I kept my camera tied onto my grip. I guess I was hoping to catch a bunch of action shots. Eventually I got too caught up in trying to ride with a group to save time, so I ended up with this one action shot early in the ride.

This was at rest stop one. Lots and lots of people who need a drink.

Me at rest stop two or three I forget, I know I was 47 miles into the ride at this point and the infamous Ron Bennett aka one lap, took this picture. I did the entire ride on my 29er in preparation for all the off road hundies I will do next year. I figure, If I'm going to ride 100 miles in the woods, I need to find out how comfortable my bike will be for the long haul. What did I discover, yea, I think I could do it, though I spent many a minute wondering.
Here is the photographer from the previous shot. After this stop, I saw him at OZ stop. After that one, he decided he didn't want to push himself anymore and ended the day with a miserable metric.

Here are the ride totals. Hope you enjoy!

The Brown Feathered Cannibal

I must have been six years old. I remember, every morning, peeking out the window, looking up at the adobe attic vent and there he was, every day.

I remember, meeting with him and his friend. He was covered in a white glowing coat. He sung me a song that night and told me many things. About life, about death, about history. He also told me about Kain and that he would be a dark haired big and healthy boy.

I remember seeing him at my college graduation on the way there. Seeing him in the middle of the day, sitting on a tree, on the side of the road.

I remember one evening, my friend showed up with a sacred package. Inside was his cousin. He had been hit by a car. I did the honorable thing and gave him a blessing, clipped his winds and saved the feathers, cleaning each one and everyone by hand. I buried him for 90 days and went back and got his skull, it was a fair and meaningful exchange.

When Kailan was born, the doctor said a small flap in his heart had not closed. I spent many a night praying very hard, that he would be OK. They called it a heart murmur and said it was a pretty natural occurrence, but he had to stay in the hospital a couple of days and had to have a couple of x rays of his chest and follow ups to make sure that his little heart closed up. The first night we made it home, I had a visit outside my window and heard him giving my son and myself a heartfelt welcome.

On night rides, sometimes, I would come across two or three, running the trail with me. On solo rides at Snow hill I would hear him singing me songs in the distance.

Not too long ago, It was about Eleven in the morning. The blue jay's were screaming and I could tell they were mad about something. And sure enough, there he was, chomping on a fellow blue jay that he had somehow snatched up. And although they complained, they could do nothing but watch as he consumed their former family member. Eventually, they left. And then it was just him and I. I walked up, and took a picture, and as he stared deep in my eyes, I stared deep in his. I thanked him and walked away.

We all have a Guardian. Some are not lucky enough to ever see him or ever meet him. Me, I see him all the time. And he just happens to be a Cannibal.

Flashback: November 3, 2007 The Final Countdown: The last days of Razorback.

Note: Its important while reading this that you have this tune in your head.


Razorback. The Best Trail in Florida. And its no news to anyone now that its gone. Denial was a way to describe the way I felt and still do. I don't want to believe that its closed.

Razorback. My last ride, was a battle to conquer sections of the trail I never conquered. I did a dusk ride and a night ride and I kicked the place's ass. The only climb I didn't make and will apparently never have the chance to make is clay climb.

Everything else I cleaned at a cosmic level it seemed as my spirit was determined unconsciously pouring all my effort into cleaning the trail. All my good fortune did not go unpaid as I crashed after a sick nose wheelie in the last pit before the last climb. It was a scary crash, but thankfully, I came away unscathed as did my bike.

Razorback was a place that I had much pride in being able to ride well. It was the first place I got my first top five finish. It was the only trail that one day would make me feel like a hero and others would make me feel like a zero. The first place I ever raced the yellow wave. The first and only place in Florida I raced a 12 hour at. It was a trail I truly loved from deep inside.

Razorback, the loss of it, is a blow to the Florida MTB community. And although we will always search for a replacement, I don't think we will find it.

I camped there too many times to count. Luckily I had a chance to participate in the last goneriding event that was held there.

That night as we all drank well past our fill. And as we all witnessed the tomfoolery that was afoot and the fireworks and the good times. I appreciated every turn and granule of dirt and stone that made up my final ride. I marveled at the corners and pummeled the climbs, realizing that it was all too soon going to be a thing of the past.

Here is to you Razorback, may your path to the other side be one of complete benefit. May your path to the otherside, be one where you see your family members and spend time enjoying the proverbial happy hunting grounds that await.

AHON!

Flashback: October 26th, 27th and 28th Pisgah National Forests

I wonder along from one cycling adventure to the next. Wonder along from one self created goal to the next. This is what I choose to do with my cycling. My warrior spirit runs deep synonymous with my adventurous spirit which takes me from challenge to challenge.

Well, earlier this year, reading Bike Magazine, I stumbled over a small sidebar article about the Great Divide Race. Well, I seemed to have remember reading about it the previous year and remembering about it catching my attention. Mainly the part about no entry fee.

Then I remembered back even further, early in my cycling career reading about John Stamstad and how he had done the ride, etc.

Well, while looking at Namrita O's blog, I read a note about the race starting soon, I don't exactly remember what it said.

But I stumbled across the site, and read, and read, and was hooked for days. And since then I have continued to investigate and ultimately I have the desire to do the Great Divide Race. I set a self goal of 2010. But, it may not be realistic. We will have to see what happens.

Fast Forward about a week to October 17Th where I received an message from Luis, fellow MTB'r and adventurer, asking if I was interested in heading towards Pisgah for the weekend of the 27Th.

Now I had planned to go do my first 12 hour race at pine log that weekend. But, since I had broken my finger, and the thought of riding in the mountains vs. riding laps on a flat trail, had me really leaning towards Pisgah. In the end it was a no brainer and I told Luis that I was all in.

It was a Renegade Run. Meet at his place around 9pm on Thursday, drive all night, a straight ten hours to Pisgah. Find a campsite by the luck of the Irish, set up camp, rest, and ride in the afternoon/evening.

Short Ride Friday, Epic on Saturday and a short ride Sunday Morning.

Now the creator works in mysterious ways. Riding in those mountains takes some serious climbing and some serious navigating. Not only that, but depending on your route, it takes some back country riding skills as well. All skills I need to start developing if I ever desire to undertake the GDR.

Well, Luis is apparently well versed in all these skills and it turned out to be a very productive and educational weekend for me.

Turns out, Luis' Birthday is the 23rd and mines is the 24Th. So this was turning into a birthday celebration getaway for each of us. The drive to his house was smooth and the drive up to Pisgah was smooth as well. With the exception of me being unable to keep awake for the entire ride and feeling a Lil guilty that I was not an acceptable co pilot, the ride went perfect.

We were going to stay at Mills River, but turns out, just for the heck of it, he wanted to check out if Davidson River would have any available spots. Luis shared with me a tale of him arriving to that park at 5am only to find a line halfway around the base of the mountain. He says Lima, His wife, didn't get them a spot till 12 hours later.

I told Luis I felt good about getting a site, and sure enough we pull up and there were plenty of sites available. Despite a Lil mix up at the beginning we ended up in a pristine spot. The campgrounds were super nice and I would definitely stay there again.

We set up tents, and got some sleep. Woke up and went shopping, came back, got ready and rolled out.

Now, to me, this was all new, but after some searching and some speaking, this is actually a very familiar destination to alot of people. I guess, in many ways, I'm still a virgin MTBr. We started with a long fire road climb behind the horse stables up Black Mountain. I don't know exactly how long the ride up the road was. But I do know that from the camp site to the fork near the top ended up being seven miles. Now, we started Hiking. Which is not a Florida rider tradition, but from what I later learned, a common practice amongst Pisgah locals. And we hiked and Hiked till we reached the top. The view was spectacular but dark was approaching. Now Luis tells me, "O yea, that's it from hear on out, its downhill,". Well the downhill lasted about 10 seconds before we made the turn and hit the steepest section of hike a bike that we had encountered all afternoon.

We stopped, put on our lights, and kept going. Eventually we started downhilling. My finger at the time, was still in its process of healing as it is now. But it was much more tender at the time. And although I had 100% grip on my left hand, my right hand was only about 60%. Usually, I'm a unstoppable downhill assassin. But, before I departed, my mother, gave me the most Ides of march warning I have ever heard from her to be careful. And it kinda stuck with me the entire weekend. Not only was I a Lil crippled, but I was now being extra careful on every descent. So, poor Luis, was not only having to wait on the uphills, but on the downhills as well.

We eventually made it back to camp with 13 or so miles under our belt thus completing our day one adventure.

Day one rounded off with a campsite cooking extravaganza workshop. Luis, utilizing his small portable burner and fluid, made the best Angel Hair pasta spicy marinara mushroom sauce combo I have ever had. It was tasty and although we both ate till we were full, there was still left overs. Not long after we both went to bed and I got terrific rest, whereas Luis, spent the night cold.

The next day we got up and got ready early. Ate breakfast which consisted of a couple of cheese sandwiches for me and prepared our packs for the epic. Now I got my Epic pack done up pretty good, I can carry on my person and my bike 3 water bottles and a 100 oz camelbak. On my bike in the fanny pack:
2 tubes
4 inches of chain
2 powerlinks
4 CO2 cartridges
1 Multitool

In my camelbak:
1 Roll Of electrical tape
1 Lighter
1 LED Headlight
1 Long Sleeve Rain Jacket
1 Full Polar Water bottle
3 Granola Bars
2 Gels
1 Cell Phone
1 wannabe Leatherman tool

What I need to get for the future is a map and a water filter.

Regardless, I was ready for anything and anxious to get the days adventure started. We roll out and start with the same climb we did the day before up Black Mountain. The plan, was instead of forking right at that spot we would go left pass the infamous Gingerbread house and along the ridge to a route that Luis had been plotting.

Well, I made it up the climb way quicker on this day then the previous day. We paused momentarily and continued happily on our way. The day went great. We got lost climbed and descended many, many miles. And the Vistas were spectacular. My climbing legs had really come in. Sometimes we would climb together, others he would ride away. Same with the downhills. There were some downhills you could really cut the bike loose, but since I was concerned with crashing, on the technical downhills I really took caution and care to not harm myself. It was a real bummer not to be able to unleash an assault on the downhills like I usually do, but regardless, the mission was to make it one piece. I had two forced dismounts, but no serious crashes. One was on the ridiculous boulder filled descent on Bennett Gap, where I started to feel the bike going into an Endo and chose to push away the bike and bail then trying to ride it out. On that particular crash I panicked gripped with my right hand so hard, that I actually bent the splint I was wearing on my broken finger. On the dismount the back of my testicles got rubbed by the back of my seat which caused quite a bit of pain, but I survived.

Some of the spots we came down, I would lose my Momentum and be forced to walk. But it was all good. Close to mile 34 or so, I ran out of food, and I was low on sugar. If I had a coke or something I could of mustered more motivation. But Luis could see on my face my motivation loss and we made our way back to camp. That completed our ride for day 2 and it was another fantastic epic ride in the mountains.

We had Burrito's for dinner, fire at the camp and plenty of beers. The night ended shortly after before the fire started dying down. We had some good campfire laughs and conversations and shortly crawled our ways into our tents and spent a really cold night. I Had to completely submerge my head inside the bag to stay warm since my bag was only rated to 40 degrees. Luis, was even worst off then I was and said he barely slept cause of the cold.

The next day we wanted to ride, but we both decided to just pack up and roll out. We packed up drove another smooth 10 hours back to Tampa. I packed up my car and drove home. Thankful and grateful for the great trip and weekend I had out in Pisgah forest. I have some more plans for that place. I'm plotting a little overnight 100 mile trip across the mountain and maybe even a race or two out there. We will have to see.

Check out Luis pictures.

Till Next time,

Laters....

Flashback: July 14th 2007 Orlando's First Alleycat Race.

One day while browsing the web I came across an event posting on the Retro city cycles web site for an Alleycat race in Orlando, properly entitled the Rat Race. A month or weeks before I had heard of one going down in Tampa and I was going to prep my Monocog and go, but frankly the thought of riding a 26inch wheeled bike again didn't have much appeal to me. So when push came to shove, I never showed up, nor made the effort to attend.

The Orlando one was different. It clearly said, All Bikes Welcome. Now that appealed to me. In my mind, I pictured a big festival type atmosphere close to the start location in downtown Orlando with bands, beer and Vegan BarbQ. Well it turned out to be a Lil different in the end, but I didn't know that at the time.

Underground was a label that I thought only existed for certain Genre's of music or Skateboarding and BMX. What I didn't know about was the existence of a deep rooted fixed gear Underground cycling scene. The Vibe: Punk Rock, with an appreciation of the origins of cycling and the future of cycling. In fact, I would almost call some of what I witnessed performance art.

Regardless, the morning was stormy. The afternoon even stormier. DanO owner of Retro City Cycles said to be there early to make sure to get a spot in the race. Well, I got there at three, had to trudge thru rain with my lovely wife to get there, and made it into the race. My number was 51. The guy handed me a map, the same map everyone else got, to meet at the Cemetery I believe, by 4pm.

Well I run and get my car, and pull it closer to where we were waiting and start getting ready. I saw a couple of people I knew. Dan O of course and his wife. His Friends. John Moorehouse. And my old team mate from Bikeworks Ben Foreshee. Yea, you know, I heard mumblings about what the race was like and I was busy formulating my strategy cause, I'm a racer at heart, Doesn't matter if its a footrace, bike race, canoe race or car race. My strategy was simple, follow. Pick someone and follow cause I don't know downtown and I didn't know if I would be able to read my map in a pinch.

Well, I read the map and rode to the start and got lost. Very lost. Asked at a convenience store for directions and rode some more. Finally got a mail man who pointed me in the right direction and I hammered at 20 plus mph to the location and I made it, just in time. About ten minutes after I got there, the race promoter showed up. Same guy that took our money asked if anybody didn't want their spoke card. Apparently, we were now exceeding the 100 rider mark. OK, no biggie.

He asked us to place our bikes in the grass and walk about 100 yards away from them. We did and where explained the rules. Maps would be given. The same maps for everyone. Make it to that spot, anyway you can, by any route you choose, and then get the next map. Follow the rules of the road, not important. If you get pulled over by the cops, O freaking well. If you see a man down, help your fellow rider. On his mark Run to your bikes and go to the first location. Frankly, I didn't even look at the map. I folded it and put it under my left hand glove and got ready for the run.

He gave us a Go Mutha Fu**as and off we went. I had only done one Le man's style start and it was at the 12 hours of Razorback and I ran slow, like paced myself, and I screwed myself for it. Well, I decided to haul ass and run like I had stolen something. And it worked. In typical Le Man's style fashion I watched as several people tumbled and fell. I grabbed my bike and watched many people just hauling ass, but one person caught my eye. John Moorehouse, with some fixie guy in tow, and me following taking the off road route. I was on my bike of choice for any scenario, my Salsa Mamasita, aka the bitch, aka the beauty. So, part of my strategy was to jump the curbs, take the stairs, cut through lots, use my off road skills.

John cuts through the park, the fixie dude hangs a left at the apartment complex and I follow John to the back where I see him straight send a 3 foot grass drop to a small decline. Well before I could ponder if I wanted to do it or not, off I went letting my 29 inch wheels guide me safely down the drop and the decline.

Shortly thereafter, we approach an underpass, where there are people riding down the road, on all sides and we join the pack. As quick as I join, I notice the check point is right there and the maps where being handed out. I grab a map and keep it moving to the next stop. The pack seemed to be heading straight down magnolia and I followed and chose to take a cut across a lot, down a small grassy downhill into state road 50 down a road, I hung a right and saw the pack on Magnolia, but to my left I notice I had somehow, by luck, stumbled on checkpoint 2.

Checkpoint 2 was tricky. You had to either shot gun a beer, take a shot of whiskey or wine, or if your straight edge, a shot of maple syrup. Being a true to the bone MTB'r I chose the beer, turned to leave, witnessed a fixed gear tangle crash and started to follow another group down a road and around the Bend.

The road was wide open and I was in full attack mode trying to chase down a group of riders in front of me. I eventually merged onto a road, where I almost crashed into the back of a car, did a sweet little slide and went right into checkpoint three. Now the distance between this checkpoint and the next was a Lil longer then the first three. But when I got to this one I got hit with baby powder.

No problem, the next checkpoints where all a blur. Somewhere between checkpoint 8 and 9 I was following a fixed gear rider thru a Lil park across a pond over a board walk. Now major props to fixie dude, cause he picked his way over the wet wood clean. As for me, I hit the wood and slid out. It all happened real fast, but my reflexes have the incredible skill of breaking down a crash into slow motion, and I quickly noticed that my head was heading towards the guard rail. Now I'm thinking, if I hit my head just right, I could potentially break my neck. So I ducked my head and let go of the bars and wrapped my arms around my head, Ala Tornado under the desk style. My forearm and knee took most of the impact. But I came away OK. Got up, walked off the board walk to the road, looked left and saw the next checkpoint.

I grabbed my map and kept rolling. The distances between the last couple of checkpoints where the farthest of them all, but I always had the good fortune of following the right person. Even though I would see groups head off in completely different directions I somehow always made the right pick.

Before I even knew It, I was at the end. The chaos was done. It had been a full out sprint for the duration. I had seen people crash and people get ticketed by the police, but I finished with a handful of people, my guess is somewhere between 10Th and 13Th. That's about how many people were there before me.

Turns out the location I was at was where the after party was to be held. In retrospect I wish I would of asked cause then my poor wife could of waited for me there. It took forever for her and I to meet up and by the time we did meet up, I was tired of waiting and so was she so we rolled out.

The race was a blast and I'm looking forward to the next one. My Garmin Forerunner's off/on button broke in the crash and in the end, was a total lost. A little bruised but none the worst I did great in my first alleycat.

There is another alleycat scheduled for in December. If your in the area, and you dare, I strictly recommend it. I was going to make my Raleigh 29 into an alleycat machine, but since all bikes are welcome, I choose to ride my Mamasita. Why not, its the Swiss army knives of bikes.

Till next time....
Laters...

Holloween 2007!

I raced home after finishing my work related duties scooped up my eldest son Kain from school and headed straight to Wal Mart to pick up some last minute Halloween supplies.

The list was simple, Glow sticks and hopefully some ugly mask. Well I scored the glow sticks, but no ugly mask to wear for me.

Got home and prepared the fleet for the evening rounds of trick or treating. Costumes and glow stick laced wheels, plus free candy is an unbeatable combination. Paloma, my wife, was riding the Fetish, Kain the Monocog, Gabriel his 16inch Giant, Kailan his BMX Diamond Back and daddy on the Mamasita.

Kailan was dressed as a vampire.
Gabriel was Optimus Prime.
Paloma, a commuting cyclist.
Me, Modern day Geronimo.
Kain, a punky teenager.

Two glow sticks on each wheel and glow string necklaces for the boys for added visibility. The plan was to park the bikes at a central location where they could hit two or three houses for trick or treating. Well, the plan worked great and we were the talk of the neighborhood as our glow stick laden wheels lit up the night.

We hit as many houses as we could until the boys were complaining that their pumpkin tricking and treating baskets were too heavy.

Paloma had suggested we pedal 1 mile up to the pizza shop and enjoy some fine Italian Dining. The food was great and the laughs were a plenty. We mounted up to ride home and were greeted by a nice late Halloween rain shower.

It was fun and exciting to ride as a family thru the rain. It was an excellent evening and a great experience. I spent the entire time just appreciating the wonderful blessings I have in being able to enjoy such wonderful experiences with my family together on bicycles.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as I did.

till next time,

Laters....

Flashback: October 19th 2007, Friday at the Dew Tour

I'm starting a new series of post that I will do momentarily called Flashbacks. What they are for all purposes are post that I wanted to do and didn't get around to doing that happened a long time ago or awhile ago.

The first is about my 2007 dew tour experience. The day before, my friend Aaron had called me and asked me if I would be interested in attending the Dew tour. He had apparently scored some VIP all access pass tickets from his place of employment. Of course I couldn't turn the offer down and he gave me confirmation later that evening that we were all set to go the next morning. I am lucky in that my job allows me a certain amount of freedom with my schedule and it was a piece of cake to get the following day off.

I picked him up at his house, we met up with another of my friends Jake, and we took off towards the TD waterhouse in downtown Orlando.

It was tough to find parking since Jake's modified super tall truck doesn't fit in any parking garages. Eventually we found a spot close to the entrance and we made our way inside pass the line right thru the VIP entrance. Immediately we hit the drink stand and quickly made our way to the street park course. Turns out the prelims had been rained out the day before and we got to watch the event from the perfect viewing area.

A serious street session went down, and the skating was top notch. I was really impressed with the Florida Locals that showed up to compete against the Pro's.

Shortly thereafter we made our way up stairs to the penthouse to get some of the free food and drinks that were available for the VIP's. After we had our fill we made our way all the way down stairs to where the tunnels for the athletes are located. We walked around and made our way to the very top of the Vert Ramp. I was amazed at our good fortune and spent the rest of the times watching the pro's practice and hang out. It was truly an honor to be up there hanging out with skateboarding legends and seeing and meeting some of the pro's I admired growing up. The list included, Chris Miller, Andy Macdonald, Bob Burnquist, Sandro Diaz, PLG, and Neal Hendrix. There were some other guys there as well as some younger kids that I didn't know but were all straight killing it. The spot we were standing on led to the Huge roll in that was ten feet taller then the 30 foot deck of the ramp. That deck we were on was 3 feet taller then the top of the ramp and these guys were flying over our heads. It made me wonder what it must feel like to be that high in the air and to have time to plan your next move cause the hang time is so long.

I didn't have a camera with me but I did manage to snag some pix with my camera phone and I put up the best three on here.

I got one of Bob Burnquist on the opposite side of the ramp.












One of some young kid that was ripping it up.






And one of Andy Macdonald.

Enjoy, I did.

laters....

Check this out!!

Already got some cool GPS Edge 205 data to share.

The Discovery ride.

And

The Kids Loop.


When you open the links click on the different views offered by the dashboard on the left and your able to see everything from total distance ascent and descent stats, to speeds, distance and elevation profile, pretty sweet!!!

Lucky me, got two new toys!!!

My Birthday is October 24Th. Its true I'm getting old. But the good news is, I got myself some presents!!! Yay! I Rock!

Edge 205 O yea, all kinds of cool stuff I can do with the motion based.com site is superfly!
And I have been officially Wobble Naughted. So far So Good I totally dig it!

Stay tuned for the new things my new toys will allow me to share!

It's Official!

I broke my middle finger!


I have only broken three bones in my life and they all have been on my same right hand. Late in the 80's I got in a fight with a kid on the school bus and I punched him in the head and broke my knuckle bone that sits in front of my middle finger.

Early in the 2K, I was road riding down the cady way trail in Orlando. I was riding with my friend Alex. Well I knew the end of the trail was near and I decided to launch an attack to beat him to the finish line. So I start mashing and I got my head down doing a cool 26mph in the start of my attack, when I look up and smash right into a fence. I managed to turn at the last minute and deflect the impact into my handlebars and shoulders, but it eventually rebounded me off in a launched twisting motion towards the ground at a very high speed, landing on my wrist and upper back. Three month's later when the pain still had not gone away I went to the doctor and he told me that I broke a tiny little bone in my wrist and they would need to do surgery and install a titanium screw to repair it. Well six months later, I was healed but I lost some range of motion in the process.

Last Saturday. Saturday the 13Th of October 2007. I met up with my friend Magii and his friends and family and we went Canoeing down the Wekiva river. I was all about it and ready to have a good time. He told me that there was a rope swing and after ten minutes of paddling we were there. He promptly ascends the tree and swings away successfully. Looked fun. Looked dangerous. Both things I like. At first I was not interested but then my warrior spirit got the best of me and I was compelled to ascend the tree and prepare for the jump. Well, the view from the top, was scary as balls. But Magii coached me, told me what to do, and forgot to tell me or remind me to pull my feet up in the middle of the swing. Once I was up there it was too late to back down, so I went for it. My feet hit the water, forced me into a river related face plant, creating an Apex with my middle finger as the fulcrum, cleanly snapping my finger.

Well, after swimming to shore I knew right away it was broke. I pulled it straight, got in the boat and calmly paddled 4 miles to our lunch picnic stop. One of the people we were with had a first aid kit so I was able to splint the finger. On the following Monday, they took the X rays and confirmed my diagnosis. O well, what can you do!


Well this a random pic off the net, but you get the Idea!

Third Stop From the Florida State Championship series: Jaksonville Hanna Park.

This was Kain's first race in years. We have joked it would be cool for him to race in skate shoes and a bmx helmet shirtless and see how many xc hardcore guys he could beat. Well they didn't allow the shirtless thing, but he did real well finishing 8th beating half the field.
This was Kailan's first race ever on a 26in wheeled MTB. He has a sweet ride handed down from his brother. Specialized s works with all the best stuff I could afford to put on it. He finished 7th and rode with a strong spirit the entire race.
I honestly believed Gabriel would win his race since he is such a powerhouse on all the rides we go on. This is after all a four year old that has done 12 mile road rides under his own power at 8mph avg speed. I don't even think he understood it was a race and still managed 6th place.
I just love how fast he looks here on his single speed!
Kai looks so focused he passed the girl you barely see on the screen left.
Gabriel enjoying the sites cause, he wasn't really racing I don't think
I included video clips of all their starts, they all started great, that's for darn sure!



Me I'm happy I didn't race. Truth be told, I'm not in the points race, my focus is the 12 hour race I have coming up on the 27th and then its back to base miles with my eyes on the 6 hours of carter or the 12 hours of razorback next, whichever comes first. I admire everyone who went out there and did battle especially Kain. He did the best he has ever done in a race and I think its cause he has improved his skateboarding, which has in turn made him a better technical rider.

The rest of team bike works cleaned house:

Brian Hastings: xc3 40-49 2nd place
Sean Wallace: xc2 19-29 2nd place
Tony Deal: xc3 30-39 6th place
Osias Lozano: xc1 19-29/pro 10th place
Chad Bobbitt Jr: 9 to 11 kids 8th place
Alexis Bobbitt: 6 t0 11 kids 10th place
Kailan Tai Rodriguez: 6 to 8 kids 7th place
Kain Rodriguez: xc-J 11 to 14 8th place
Gabriel Cruz: 3 to 5 kids 6th place

And that's it for the finishers. See ya guys at Gainesville maybe, if not I will keep you posted on my latest misadventures.

till next time, stay smooth and stay fast!

Dear Sir,

The guy that came up and gave me the huge compliment on my blog. Thanks, I appreciate hearing that kind of feedback. I was caught by surprise, I guess, although I type things on the web, I sometimes fail to realize that people actually read the blog. So my apologies for not introducing myself or getting your name, but again, thanks, that was an awesome moment for me.

The Grim Reaper of RAZORBACK: My first yellow wave experience.

This weekend I made my Yellow Wave debut at stop number two of the Florida State Championship series. I arrived around 4pm on Saturday, the whole ride up there it was raining, but when I got to Reddick, it was bone dry. Hey, I'm not complaining, I love Reddick, but its better with traction.

I brought the Beast, which is my Raleigh Single speed, and decided I would give the single speed class a go. Now I honestly think I'm a fast single speeder, but I was really given proof of the super human single speed level that can be obtained.

I camped out Saturday, brought all I needed and decided after much reflection to just blow up my air mattress and lay it on the floor and enjoy the open air sleeping experience. My pre ride was spectacular. I felt strong and fast and snappy and just plain dangerous on the bike. Got back to camp, watched the end of the Team Time Trial which proved to be a bit of a disaster to my team, but looked fun nonetheless, to see the other teams riding together and motivating each other. Eventually, after hearing about Osias Crash, and Chad's Crash, and Tony's ultimate show of sportsmanship, giving his front wheel away so that "O" could finish the lap, I showered up, cooked dinner and sat in my chair listening to some good ole Howard stern on the radio. After a couple of beers and preparing myself for the possibility of rain, I decided it was time for rest. I had the citronella candle right next to me and the bug spray on my left. During the night, anytime a bug bothered me I sprayed the area they were trying to get at. My rest was Ok, but I never really slept as good as I would have at home. I'm so used to sleeping on my tempurpedic mattress, that the air mattress was a little uncomfortable. In retrospect, I should have deflated it a little, maybe that would have prevented the lower back pain I experienced throughout the night.

I felt good in the morning. Got on the line and started noticing that the competitors I was racing against were a little more serious then I was. The one dude I lined up next too had a single speed full on carbon fiber hardtail, by default the thing must have weighed 18lbs. The whistle went off and I hung in there for a minute, then on the first climb watched the entire group just ride away from me. Admittedly, I was out classed by the competition.

I was OK with it. My legs had no juice for speed, but they had plenty of juice for a steady ride. So steady ride is what I did. I was passed many times and made sure, to get clear as soon as I heard someone coming. Just cause I was out for a leisurely Sunday ride, didn't mean anyone else was. At some point, I figure I must have been the DFL(dead F-word last) person of the yellow wave. Then something interesting started happening. I started passing people. Riders who were broke down with twisted wheels or flats. One guy that was walking around in small circles looking completely lost. Ryan Woodall, aka the Ryno, who apparently had the mystical magical two tire flat combo. One guy who I actually stopped and asked several times if he was OK, cause he was laying there bloody arm, surrounded by a dust cloud.

While I rode, I gave myself the nick name the "Grim Reaper". Truth be told, if you saw me during the yellow wave and I was passing you, chances are your race was done. And even funnier was, that none of the people I saw, did ever catch me again to cheat death so to speak. It was pretty amusing.

My team mate, Brian Hastings, got third place. Way to kick butt. Turns out, of all the racers from my team in the yellow wave, by just finishing, I managed the second best finish of the wave for my team. Heck, I guess my long haul enduro skills payed off in the end.

After, my team mates and I met at chili's where we enjoyed some good food and good conversation, it was a blast and I was glad I went.

My next race is Gainesville, which I love, where I will ride the Beauty aka the bitch, aka the mamasita.

Till next time, stay smooth, and stay fast, and wash that ass Sucka!