Two Wheel Blogs

Let me start by saying I will NEVER again race a race like Syllamo on a fully rigid bike. In fact after the race I vowed never to ride a rigid bike again ever, period. Let me start by saying that for some reason someone told me not long ago that Syllamo wasn't near as hard as Ouachita. That person was a little mistaken. Syllamo's Revenge made Ouachita feel like child's play. Don't get me wrong, Ouachita was a challenge, but this was the hardest race, hardest ride, hardest effort I've ever put out in my entire life... Syllamo's Revenge went down with a bang in 08, and I absolutely can't wait till next year.

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I knocked the dust off my MTB today and took it out for the first MTB ride I can recall in a long time. The excessive rain this year (and ice storms last year) has had me riding road quite a bit, and I have not even thought of riding the trails until today. I was surprised at how good the trails were (only a few mud holes that always are present this time of year).

It was a great ride, made slightly better learning a few lessons in the process.

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I feel if that is the only thing I've had my mind on... More and more of it. Seems like you get a day or two, trails look like they might dry, and them bam! Rain, and more of it. Our race got cancelled today. Last night as of 8:30 it was looking like fast dry trails. Nine hit and the rain began, covering the Perry Lake trails.

I woke at 8:00 to find out it had been cancelled and did what I do every morning I find out a race has been cancelled... I went back to bed. I woke up at 11ish and started looking for somewhere that wasn't getting hit with the giant storm moving through. Blue River looked like the best bet so around 1 I hit the road to Lee's Summit.

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It's hard to believe that all the anticipation, excitement, and nervousness of my first "big" race of the year is now over. Another race under the belt, one that will find it's way onto my calendar for many years to come. I trained, well, I wanted to train... Usually I was left to the road due to wet trails, but that's just been the way its been. The 2008 Ouachita Challenge Sunday was the longest mountain bike ride I've done this year. It was all good though, I was fresh, and thank god because if I had a repeat performance of last weeks 6 hour race, I would be in for a long day.

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I got home just in time... I had but one playlist in mind, titled Ball Breaker. You don't ride to this list unless your ready for some pure self induced pain. I was willing, and ready to go get some. I grabed the TT bike, and hit the road shortly after 5. I had one route in mind, a 30 mile out and back. That's 15 miles one way, 15 back. A hilly course, but a fun one. My goal, to do it in a hour and a half. That's a 20 mph average, and with the wind and hills, I knew it was going to be tough.

I've had this barrier last year that I couldn't quite get over. Its to ride a 2 hour road ride with a 20 + mph average. I'm just not that strong of a road rider, and I've never been able to accomplish it. Of course there are no flat courses around here, so hills are always in the plan.

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No need for me to say much here. I stumbled onto this video today, and I was impressed.

These guys are fast, and they have skills needed for passing people at break-neck speed on downhill single track.

Personally, the only way I could be more impressed is to see someone ride back up!