Adventures and Such

Do you like adverse conditions and technical terrain? The Snake Creek Gap Time Trial series delivers just that. It's a two part series with one race in January and a second race in February. Located in North Georgia, the weather can be anything from sunny in the mid 50's to mud producing monsoons to temps in the 20's with snow and ice. It's a point to point race so they do run a shuttle early, from the finish line to the start. The distance options are 17, 34, and 50 miles. I opted for the 34 miler because, as Carey Lowery says, it's the meat and potatoes of this course. Also, I've only raced this once before, maybe 4 years ago, soon after I had just started riding; I wanted a comparison of my times. I started eye balling the weather about 5 days out, and it was looking kind of promising. A little rain on Thursday, ending Friday and dry with sunshine and temperatures around 50. But, in true Snake fashion, that changed. The rainfall totals increased and it ...

Cross Florida Individual Time Trial Well, I've finally gotten around to writing this recap of my 2019 Cross Florida Individual Time Trial (CFITT) presented by Karlos Rodriguez aka Single Track Samurai. I did this race with Michael Rasch last year, with a 10 hour overnight stop at a hotel around the halfway mark, and wanted to go back this year and actually race it straight through without sleeping. It is 296 miles of multi-surface terrain, including paved bike paths, single track, service roads, two track, sugar sand roads, and a little paved road. I was planning to shoot for a top 3 finish, maybe around 26'ish hours being the goal. However, life had other plans for me.  The weekend prior to CFITT was Mainx24, which just so happens to be my favorite day of the year. This is a 24 hour celebration of the rejuvenation of Chattanooga's Southside Historic District. To put it briefly, a close friend of mine threw his 7th annual Mainx24 onesie kickoff party and things...

Many much thanks go out to Kim Murrell, with Chilhowee Outdoors, for putting her blood, sweat, and tears into this route, as well her other routes (Vista 300/Mountain 420). This is one that I've ridden in two halves as well as an overnighter with Joe Urbanowicz several months ago, as some TNGA heat training. But I've yet to give it a go in one ride. The Grand Depart was scheduled for 10/19/19 but, unfortunately, had to be cancelled due to numerous people backing out for various reasons. I swapped a shift with a colleague so I could attend the GD, but unfortunately, life happened and we had to swap back, making it impossible for me to make it anyways. But that was okay. Two days before the scheduled grand depart, the weather was looking prime (albeit, a bit chilly), I was off work, and Melissa had plans and gave me the go ahead to knock this thing out. YESSSS!! So, I notified Kim of my Independent Time Trial (ITT) intent the day before and began studying the route. I quic...

My favorite time of the year has FINALLY arrived! Not only is the  Roost Racing  5 Points 50 my favorite race of the year, it normally means fall weather is arriving as well. And boy did it! I had considered riding to the race from my house but decided against it, with the possibility of rain in the forecast. Plus, I knew I wouldn't have near as good of a race if I did that.   After piddling around the house and garage, preparing my race nutrition and liquids and all the little things you have to remember before a race, I finally laid down around 11:30 or 12:00 am. Remember, not a planner. I quickly realized, I didn't really have the pre-race jitters as I normally would. Odd.  Morning time rolls around. I laid in bed awake for a few hours just listening to the not-so-quiet oscillations of the ceiling fan, playing out race scenarios in my head, and stirring up the pre-race jitters. I checked the time time on my phone. 6:05am, which was five minutes...