Catching up.

I haven't posted in ages and I really don't know why other than it just slipped my mind. In any event, my training is s-l-o-w-l-y coming along, but I'm worried I won't be ready for Bump 'n Grind in a few weeks and may have to skip it. I don't see the point in going all the way over to Birmingham, spending all that money, only to get thumped like an overweight cat-3. I'll know more as race day draws closer.

In other news, The Mississippi River is still overflowing its banks and threatening cities from St. Louis to New Orleans. The ensuing flood is expected to be the worst in over 70 years and is drawing comparisons to the great flood of 1927.

The clean up continues from the tornadoes that hit the area a few days ago. I fortunately didn't sustain any damage, but an area maybe a mile south of my house got hit rather hard. I noticed several demolished homes and broken trees as I rode south of town.

How did THAT happen?

I managed to get out to the Whirlpool trails after work today for a planned two hour training ride, but things just didn't work out that way. Not 30 minutes into my ride, I magically get a 5 foot long, 4 inch thick, log jammed between the chainstay and spokes of my rear wheel. ... A log - Seriously!

I didn't have my camera with me, but I promise it looked like this.

Can't Catch a Break

I was supposed to start getting super serious about my training today, but it seems I can't catch a break. It's like something always happens that throws a wrench into my training plans. I had planned all week on going out to Clear Creek bright and early today for three laps or more of hard endurance training, but not two seconds after I woke up I did something to my right shoulder. I literally opened my eyes, started stretching as I woke up and WHAM! I get a sharp pain in my shoulder and couldn't move without hurting.

Another day in Oxford, Colorado

Snow Ride

We got somewhere between 8 or 9 inches of snow Sunday night, and I didn't want to chance the car on the roads, so I mountain biked to work and got to experience a little Colorado like weather in the process. If I lived in the mountain west, I would definitely invest in one of those super fat-tire snow bikes like the Surly Pugsley. Riding through deep snow was a tom of fun and surprisingly easier than I expected. My Mooto XZ 29er plowed through it with very little problem and the deep snow actually seemed to help stabilize the bike.





In other news, I'm still working on changing up my blog, so that's why I haven't posted in so long. I need to come up with a new name that hasn't already been taken, which isn't easy to do.

Thinking Ride

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, so on Sunday I decided to take the mountain bike out for some gravel road exploring in the Holly Springs National Forest. It’s easy to think when you’re in the middle of nowhere specific and the mind is free to drift with the currents of contemplation. As I rode along with only the sound of crunching gravel under my tires and the occasional slap of the chain moving between cogs, I began sorting through all the emotions and options racing through my mind.

1. I’m not thrilled with the prospect of teaching in the public school system given all the emphasis on standardized tests and the general state of schools today. While I love the idea of teaching and opening up young minds to learning, I do not want to get into the political power struggle that now envelops public education. It’s become too easy to blame the teacher for everything, and I’d rather not have my career hanging on some standardized test score. I could offer my own solutions to the problem, but that’s another post altogether.

2. I can’t help but feel that I don’t fit into the general political/social climate of the Deep South. I’m way too socially liberal compared to the populace and the things I enjoy doing most (biking, hiking, learning about different cultures, nature, and watching documentary films) seem to be uncommon pastimes here.

3. I could always go back to school and complete my Ph.D. to teach at the university level. The only negative I see here is the “publish or perish” mentality at so many colleges. I’d rather teach and let others toy with theory. Taking the adjunct route would likely involve a serious pay cut.

4. I need a best friend. It’s not easy being single in a small college town and an introvert on top of that. I need to make an effort to put myself out here more often. Take a chance needs to be my new mantra. This is going to take some effort on my part.

5. I could always go back to advertising, but I left that cut-throat world long ago and really have no interest in ever seeing it again.

6. I can stay the course, ride out the storm, and hope for better sailing ahead.

When you are in deep thought, it’s easy to get lost inside yourself and actually get yourself lost for real. Somewhere between sorting out the things in my head and trying to navigate poorly marked Forest Service roads, I missed a turn and kept pedaling north. I knew I was headed in the wrong direction when I saw the highway 30 radio tower in the distance and the sun was to my left rather than my right.

That’s when it happened.

I looked down from the tower to see a small group of zebras in a pasture running away as if being pursed by a pride of lions. “There are no zebra in Mississippi”, I thought to myself. I stopped along the side of the road and immediately reached for my camera. I just stood there on the side of the road looking at these magnificent animals and completely forgot about everything. The world just stopped and so did my worries, if only for a moment.

I hate when I forget the camera

I did my first group ride since moving into the new house and managed to forget my camera. I'm mad at myself because the group stopped along the way to tour the North Mississippi Fish Hatchery. It was really interesting. I never knew Koi are used as feeder fish. Anyway, I managed to get 80.67 miles at a brisk pace and a pretty good tan line on my legs.

Northern Routes

I took advantage of the great weather today and set out to ride my old northern routes. I used to ride north of town almost exclusively when I lived in the apartment, but haven't managed to go that way since I moved back in December. Now that I've worked out a way to get to these routes from my house, I plan on getting north of town more often in the future.

Just one of the many hay fields north of town.

These silky pockets are caused by web worms. They are quite common this time of year.

I think I saw 4 or 5 cars once I got away from town.

This is a private air strip on Ridge Road.

Harvest time.

I stopped to feed the horsed on Ridge Road.

Kudzu. This stuff grows about 12 feet per year and can completely envelop everything.

Lots of smooth pavement and no cars.

A Pain in the Ass.

I went mountain biking Saturday and got stung by either a hornet or yellow jacket. I was a little less than a mile from getting back to the car when I felt a hot nail going into my butt. Yes, I got stung in the ass. Anyway, I unleash a string of obscenities and almost crashed trying to stop. I grabbed the back of my shorts thinking maybe a spider got in there but that didn’t help and the pain got more intense. I’ve been stung by a wasp before and that felt like somebody placing a hot match against my skin. This thing was much worse. It literally felt like a hot nail being jabbed in me.

When I got home, I iced the area down and took some Advil. I now have a red place on my butt about 4 inched around and it’s starting to itch.

Trying to get back in the groove.

I decided to test myself today by riding my mountain bike from my house out to the Clear Creek trail and back to town where I'd pick up some more single-track at the Whirlpool Trails next to the Ole Miss campus. My calculations put the mileage around 52 miles, but it actually turned out to be more. I felt good until just over the 40 mile mark but it wasn't too bad. By mile 50 I hit a wall but was still able to pedal through it. All in all, I did pretty good for someone who hasn't trained or ridden much this year.

The Moots waiting outside the garage. It won't be that clean again for a long time.

Entering the park at the Clear Creek recreation Area.

The return "leg" from Clear Creek on 314.

60.11 miles on a mountain bike in 5:19:09. About 37 miles of pavement, 22 miles of single track, and the rest was power-line.

A Slow Ride at Clear Creek

I had planned on going over to Tupelo for a mountain bike ride at Trace State Park, but decided to go out to Clear Creek for a lazy ride instead. As desperately as I need to train for the 6-hours of Herb, I just felt more like being lazy and enjoying the outdoors.

Labor Day Weekend Implosion

I got out of bed this morning at a semi-reasonable hour and eventually gathered my gear together for a few laps at Clear Creek so I can prepare for the upcoming Clear Creek Challenge. I managed to keep up a semi-race pace for about the first 25 miles, but imploded somewhere between mile 25 and 27, probably because I only had a bowl of cereal for breakfast. After my implosion, I decided to go into tourist mode and snap a few photos on my way back to the trailhead.

Armadillo

Where the trail meets the lake

Sardis Lake

One of many fast downhills

New Bridge at Whirlpool

I finished a new bridge on the Whirlpool Trails yesterday with Jason, he's from England and races cat-3. This new bridge spans a spot that is always a muddy mess during the Spring and Winter months. I've wanted a bridge here for a very long time. We now have a way to connect the Fruit Loop to the Weldy Trail. ... The blur riding across the bridge is me doing the test run. Yeah, I'm desperate for post material.

93-miles and a New Route

I went on a nice 93-mile ride today with a couple of teammates and pushed a rather brisk pace for the majority of the trip. I recall looking down at my computer at one point when we were rotating on a flat section and seeing 28 mph. We spent most of the time in the 21 to 22 mph range not counting sprints to various city limit signs along the way.


The area along 76 and from Ecru to Hurricane is all new to me. There are some nice rollers out there and one flat stretch east of Ecru.

Sunday Iron-Butt Rainout & Monday Road Ride

Sunday:
I didn’t make it to the Iron Butt 100 in Memphis on Sunday and judging from some of the photos I've seen not going was a smart move. I don’t mind a damp trail but shin deep mud is just not my thing.

Since the Iron Butt didn’t happen, I went to help with a local crit on the Ole Miss campus where I worked a section of road for the cat-5, cat-4, and open women’s races. I hung out at the finish line for the cat-1,2,3 race and enjoyed watching the action.

The cat-4 race reminded me just why I gave up road racing this year. I basically don’t miss all the nonsense that some people bring to these events. It can be a bit much. The cat-4 race, for example, was little more than a moving cloud of noise peppered with obscenities, arguing among teammates and adolescent testosterone. The amusing part was watching the largest cat-4 team in the race completely self-destruct by chasing down every break from their own teammates. Give me single-track!

Monday:
Today I decided to get in some long miles on the road bike and set out to do my 244 loop east of town.

About 10-miles into my ride I encountered this truck spraying goodness knows what on the side of the road. Keeping my distance, I waited for the wind to shift then gave it my best sprint to get around the rolling chemical spill.

While out on county road 202, I noticed a lot of these flowers on the side of the road and decided to snap a photo of them. I think they’re Black Eyed Susies, but I’m not sure. Let’s hope the chemical truck took a different route.

I snapped this photo on the return leg of my trip because it reminded me of a Cézanne painting.

When I got back to town, I stopped by the shop to shoot the bull and get some water. The guys were busy building up this Moots YBB 29er. I think there are five or six people in town with Moots bikes now, but I’m the only person with a Moots ZX.

Clear Creek Trail Damage

I went out to ride the Clear Creek Trail and inspect the damage from a severe storm that hit the area on June 12. The trail is in some seriously bad shape right now. I think it's going to take a couple of chainsaw crews and several people with leaf blowers and weed-eaters to repair all the damage. There's also some erosion on the trail in a few places and a lot of "face slappers" out there. The only bright spot is the giant mud hole at the far end of the double track has finally dried out, so we can at least work on installing a culvert or small bridge there.

The Clear Creek Challenge (SCRS #7) is out there on September 20, so there's still time to get the trail back in prime race condition.