Getting Ready for Clear Creek

I woke up early today for my final practice ride at Clear Creek before the big event next Sunday. Several teams were on hand from Memphis and Jackson, each taking advantage of the good weather and fast trail conditions. Teams from as far away as Mobile will be in town for the big race.

It was obvious people were sizing each other up to see who has game and who doesn’t. I got there before most everyone and took my first lap solo. The trail is crazy fast right now. The crew did a lot of work out there to get ready for the race, and the trail has never been in such great shape. The first 3 miles are insane! The only thing that might slow someone down is the first mud hole on the ATV trail. It has developed a deep rut in the middle from all the riding today. With all the rain coming due to the approaching hurricane, it's going to fill up with water and will be deeper than it looks, so I need to remember to use caution there.

I managed to turn a 58-minute lap on my first run despite losing my gears. My front derailleur cable came detached from the holding screw, and I was stuck in the granny gear for most of the first lap. When I reached the trailhead, I reloaded my camelbak, corrected the cable problem, and went out for a second lap with about ten other people. I latched onto the back of the train to see how fast the pack wanted to push things. Someone dropped the hammer early and instantly split the line. The two riders in front of me seemed to be taking it easy, which I found slightly annoying. One of them finally picked up the pace and went off the front, and I eventually got around the other on a climb. After a few miles, I started to pass stragglers, usually on climbs. I could see the main group through the trees from time to time, but could never close the gap. I finished my second lap in 58:41. That is still a respectable time.

My Cat is my Buddy

My cat is my buddy, and I love him very much. He came into my life one morning as I arrived at work. He was a small kitten then with big ears and big feet. He came to me meowing his little heart out from across the parking lot, scared, lost, and alone. I picked him up and he immediately adopted me.


One small cat changes coming home to an empty house to coming home.
-Pam Brown

Rain, rain, go away.

Rain, rain, go away,
I really need to ride,
Rain, rain, go away,
Go far away and hide,

Rain, rain, go away,
I really want to ride my bike,
Rain, rain, go away,
Please go take a hike,

Sigma 1106-DTS

I’ve resisted putting a computer on my mountain bike for as long as I’ve resisted getting a cell phone. Okay, so I actually put off the computer for a few weeks longer than the phone since I purchased a cell back in July. My reason for not using a computer on my mountain bike is I felt it was more of a distraction than a benefit. Railing single track requires ones undivided attention and glancing down at a computer could be disastrous. I also never felt the need to know how far I’ve traveled or how fast I’m going. It’s just never been a big deal for me as far as mountain biking is concerned. I’m totally the opposite way with my road bike. I track and record every road mile.

After some thought on the subject, I’ve now decided to try a computer on my mountain bike to see if it will help me during races. What I’m most interested in is monitoring my average speed and using that to keep my speed/pace up when the group strings out. Maybe it will help.

Stanky Creek and the Forgetful Mind

I‘m not sure what it is with me and water, but I‘ve had issues with it for a while now. I ran out of water at the Mississippi/Louisiana Road Championships this year and popped like a soap bubble on the next to last lap. Last year, I forgot to bring my bottles for the Red, White & Blue Metric and the Fall Colors Century in Memphis, having to cut the century short and buy drinks at a convenience store for the metric. I also ran out of water at the 2007 Clear Creek Challenge where I folded like a bad hand at a poker game. You would think a cyclist couldn’t forget something like water. It’s like forgetting to put gas in your car, but here I am. I know some people forget their cycling shoes and helmets from time to time, but forgetting water is a worrisome habit.

I knew it was going to be a long day when I realized my Camel-Bak was at home shortly after arriving in Bartlett for the Stanky Creek mountain bike race. Fortunately, I had enough common sense to pack some Propel Fit Water and an empty Kenda water bottle I bought in Vermont. Adapt and overcome became my mantra for the day.

My group went off the line like the Oklahoma land rush. I knew this race was going to be fast, but I didn’t expect everyone to drop the hammer right out of the box. Since I was worried about running out of water, I decided to adopt the “Tortes & Hare” strategy. I would race at a comfortably fast pace and try to avoid maxing my heart rate. I would also take a sip of water when the trail allowed for one hand steering.

My race was rather unremarkable, going into the single track in the lower half of the group. The tight and twisty nature of the first few miles gave me some problems, which is something I expected. The group started to string out after a few minutes, and I was somewhere in the middle with one other rider. I decided to let this guy set pace for a lap and keep him in my sights. About half way into the first lap, I noticed he started to look fatigued. He would open a small gap on me when the trail got tight, but I would always close it on the straight-aways and anytime a small hill came into play. He let me pass, but I wasn’t sure if he suckered me into setting pace or if he was running out of gas. I decided to attack and opened a good gap that he couldn’t close. Once he was out of sight, I settled in and went back into my “Tortes & Hare” mode. With roughly one mile to the finish, I began to hear the distant sound of gears clicking and cracking twigs echoing through the woods. Not wanting to take a chance, I turned up the heat and cranked it to the line.

I finished my day with 6th place.

Bike Bling

Hey Kids! Do you want to look like a major mountain bike racer and impress everyone at the start line? If so, get yourself a “Big Air” co2 canister and strap it to your seat post before your next race. Nothing says “endurance athlete” like a 40 gram can of compressed air hanging off your bike. Naturally, this will do nothing to make you faster, but it will definitely make you look like a serious bad ass. Just be sure to have a good excuse if the guy wearing a t-shirt on the rusty Huffy hammers you.

Clear Creek Trail

Sometimes I forget just how much fun the Clear Creek trail can be. Perhaps this is because I'm not out there much since there is a great trail network right in the middle of town. This is almost a shame because Clear Creek is easily 20 minutes from my front door, and I helped build this trail. Another reason I should ride more often at Clear Creek is Bike Magazine selected it as the best trail in Mississippi. The Clear Creek trail is a 9.5-mile loop of fun, high-speed, single-track that runs through a hardwood forest nestled next to Sardis Lake. With around of 1100 ft. of elevation change per lap, Clear Creek offers a series of rolling hills, switchbacks, and enough trail obstacles and terrain changes to keep things interesting. This trail has just about everything a good mountain bike trail needs from off-camber sections, to small rock gardens to crazy fast flats. The highlight of the trail is a switch back commonly referred to as "The Big One" by locals. You'll know it when you come across it. It might not look like much at first glance, but you'll either be grunting your way to the top or pushing your bike.

On September 7, Oxford Cycling will host the Clear Creek Challenge, and I plan to ride out there as much as I can to get ready. Unfortunately, I only have three weekends, and I have a race in Memphis on one of these. Since I’m using the Stanky Creek race as a tune up, I’m considering riding at Clear Creek the day before, which is something I normally wouldn’t do.

Online Registration:
http://www.racesonline.com/index.cfm?fu ... ce_id=6697
Race Information:
http://www.oxfordbikeclub.org/ccc.html
GPS Data:
http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip ... pId=127958
Bike Magazine Article: (.pdf scan of article, 3.55Mb)
http://www.oxfordbikeclub.org/Files/bike_mag.PDF

It had to be a cyclist!

It had to be a cyclist! The first Olympic athlete to fail a drug test at the Beijing Olympics is cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno of Spain. Fortunately, she did not compete in the women’s road race having withdrawn before her event. She was tested on July 31 and left the games that same day sighting an anxiety attack as the reason for her departure. "A Spanish cycling federation official who accompanied Moreno to the drug test in the Olympic village told AP that she emerged from the test crying and asked to return to Spain immediately, even before the results were announced. (LA Times)" Moreno was officially kicked out of the games on Monday (8-11-08) after her “B” test came back positive for EPO.

She has not only disgraced herself, but she has embarrassed the entire cycling community and sullied the already tarnished image of a great sport. The International Olympic Committee warned cycling officials before the Beijing games to clean up their sport or run the risk of having it dropped from future Olympics along with other drug-tainted sports like weightlifting. This latest doping scandal will only add fuel to the fire for critics of cycling and possibly discourage team sponsorship in the future since companies will not want to risk having their corporate names smeared. The UCI and WADA simply must do more to clean up the sport along with the various national governing bodies. If banning a cheat for two years isn't deterrent enough, then perhaps, it's time to get law enforcement involved. At the end of the day, no one can do more to repair the image of cycling than cyclists themselves.

Scouting Stanky Creek

The Legend of Stank Creek mountain bike race in Bartlett, TN is approaching. It's not a course that favors me, so I'm using this as a tune-up race for Clear Creek in September.

The trail is mostly flat and fast with tight corners in the first two miles. This doesn't bode well for me since I'd rather do climbs. There is a downhill known as "The Drop" roughly a mile into the trail. It's not especially hard, but it's not something you want to hit blind either. You'll come upon a large creek crossing at around two miles. Getting down is easy, but getting out is problematic because you will lose speed in the creek bed and the angle of the opposite side is steep. There is also a small amount of water on the far end. Dust off your cyclocross skills!

There are rooted spots peppered throughout the trail system, but it is mostly smooth sailing, favoring big gear mashers and hardtails. The only "technical" parts are the creek crossing I described earlier and the downhill. Having said that, there are several "man-made" obstacles out there, but they aren't especially noteworthy. My advice is to avoid the man-made burm and to go around the log piles when the trail allows. There is one sketchy looking log pile close to the end, but the trail goes around it.

The trail surface is generally hard and dusty. There is a good bit of poison ivy in parts along the back five miles of the trail. My advice is to avoid going off the trail if there is anything green in the area.