Training Days in the Georgia Heat > 3 months to go!

More Preparations for the Big Ride  - 24 Hours of Georgia

I have a feeling I'm going to need all the Emergen-C I can get, to help me recover and battle the heat we have been facing here in Georgia for the last few weeks.  Luckily my wonderful sponsors just sent me a bunch of Awesome goodies!  Most of it will be given out at the Chainbuster Race at Tribble Mill Park in a month.

I'm getting several 20 or 30 mile rides in on the bike during the week, and aiming to up my long distance Saturday ride from 60 to 80 miles this weekend.  The goal here is to gradually bump up my comfortable long distance ride so it gets closer to 100 miles.  This way, when the 24 hour race arrives in October, my 125 mile goal will be that much more attainable.  

Last weekend, I arrived at Chicopee Woods in Gainesville earlier than usual.  I had my daily nutrition planned out in full thanks to CarboRocket.  Plenty of water reserves in the back of the car, and some gels for added energy.  The ride started around 8:25 am.  One lap of every trail at Chicopee is right around 21 miles.  This "lap" as I call it, has approximately 2400 feet of climbing, and several of the hills are moderately technical climbs. Two of these hills on the Copperhead loop are wicked at a glance, and overflowing with roots, twists, and rocks, as well as being fairly steep.  The Saturday loop also means that at the end of the lap, riders are directionally challenged to ride up "Granny Climb" which is a little over half mile uphill climb entirely on gravel.  Gravel sucks.  But it's great practice for races like Fool's Gold, or Southern Cross, which have a large quantity of riding on forest service roads.  (as well as climbing on them)

First lap went smoothly.  21 miles done in just under 2 hours.  The gearing on my Singlespeed steed 34x20 seems just spinny enough to allow me to climb ridiculously steep stuff, at the same time allowing me to reserve energy for the long day ahead.  Second lap was 2/3 of the way through and going smoothly as well, considering I'm riding rigid, until I took one turn and my drive-side Crankbrothers Eggbeater came apart.  I was cranking at the time it happened and the knee jerk reaction of the entire foot sliding off to the right caused me to yank my foot back towards the bike.  Little did I realize the spindle of the eggbeater pedal was bare now, and I nearly punctured myself in the calf with the broken pedal.  I pulled the "egg beater" part of the pedal off my shoe and slid it back on the spindle.  Keeping relatively smooth strokes, I finished the remaining 5 miles back to the car.  Broken Pedal spindle pic:

broken eggbeater - 6 months old. FAIL

I was intending on spending less than 40 bucks on the lowest-end eggbeaters as a replacement, so I could get back to my laps (and my goal of 80 miles).  Adventure Cycles in Flowery Branch had other ideas.  They were out of stock on all the lower items and the only eggbeaters they had were the 2Ti, which are about 300.00 more than I would want to spend, especially after nearly getting pierced by the 120.00 pair.  They did have a pair of Candys, which are like eggbeaters with a metal platform around the pedal for 89.99.  I didn't have much time to drive around and shop competition at all corners of the earth, so I broke down and got the Candys.  Here's a pic for inquiring minds:

My awesome girlfriend Nikki G met me at the bike shop, and followed me back to Chicopee to ride the 3rd lap of the day with me.  We checked wunderground.com on the way and it showed weather to be clear for the next 2-2.5 hours.  The warning still said "Severe Thunderstorm Warning" under the map though.  With about 4 miles to the finish of lap 3 I heard thunder rolling in.  Not good.  The whole day it had been in the 80's but humidity was very high.  I'm sure by the creeks it was close to 80%.  I switched gloves every lap, to keep wrinkly fingered control of my bike.  "Nikki G.,  we better hurry.  That thunder is getting closer" I told her.  "I'm scared"  she replied. 

Nikki G. getting ready to rock the Typhoon lap with me at Chicopee

It was getting dark quickly...   A mile later and more thunder.  Closer to us still.  When we crossed the final creek, before the "Granny Climb" I told Nikki that if we feel a strong breeze and feel the temperature get suddenly colder, we would be getting soaked within a couple minutes.  I was very much correct. The wind started up as soon as we got on the gravel.  By the halfway point, we emerged in a short clearing, and the wind was blowing straight through the opening in the trees, small bits of leaf and debris were flying sideways at what I can only guess to be over 50 mph.  It was like the video you see from the beach during a hurricane. Right at that clearing the rain started.  We had about 3/4 mile to go, and some of it by singletrack.  I welcomed the cooler air and the shower, as I'm sure I needed one by this time.  Nikki G. had never pedaled up a gravel hill faster in her life, I'm sure of it.  I looked down at one point and I'm pretty sure she averaged 10mph for the whole "Granny Climb".  She really thought any moment we would get blown off the earth or struck by lightning.  What a fun training day!!!

some storm damage from a nearby neighborhood

In addition to the gale-force winds and high humidity, we saw 2 different 3-4 foot whipsnakes, 2 eastern box turtles crossing the trail, and a large doe running off into the woods.  I love being out in the nature, and if I had a choice, I wouldn't want to train any other way.  Here is a pic of the whipsnake we saw at Yargo a few weeks ago, same type as we saw at Chicopee last weekend.  Look at the pine cone as a size reference...

Thanks for reading!  More to come soon!!!

Training for a 24 hour race, Oh, and that little 9 hour one before it...

Sure, there are short 1 lap, 2 lap,  or 3 lap races.  You can finish a race in the time it takes some people to pour a cold drink and eat a hot dog.  I prefer pain in much longer intervals.  I first heard about these '24 hour endurance' races a few years ago.  There apparently hadn't been one in Georgia for several years, due to a small event turn-out for a few years in a row.  I'd much rather race my first one on a course local enough that I could get to it to practice a bit, and learn the course a little.  So in stepped Chainbuster Racing and Dirty Spokes Productions, the local race promoters.  They teamed up to bring the 24 back to Georgia!  So, in October 2011,  the 24 hours of Georgia will be held at the Georgia International Horse Park, in Conyers.

I'm not excited about the Lemans start.  A Lemans start means that the racers all must run for several hundred yards (sometimes longer) before mounting their faithful racing steeds and riding off into the woods.
It's pretty humorous to see, since all the bikers are wearing helmets, camelbaks, and of course the infamous cycling shoes.  Cycling shoes dont bend so everyone runs kind of like ducks.  Definitely a sight to see, but not one I'd like to be seen in... 

My Sponsor "Emergen-C" just agreed to send me more packets for distribution at the next race.  The 9 hour Endurance at Tribble Mill Park in Grayson Ga.  They are sending me new flavors, and some water bottles and other cool items.  I CAN'T WAIT!  That's pretty exciting.  I've been riding 50 or 60 miles every weekened on the dirt in preparation for the Tribble Mill race,  and I'm hoping I can get 10 or 11 laps.  If it's 8 miles per lap that should be around 80 or 88 miles.  More if there's time.  I think after my steady increase in mileage on the single-speed steed lately, this should be a very attainable goal.  I'm hoping I can have the distance ride bumped up to 100 before the 24 hours of Georgia.

The local trail system in Gainesville, Chicopee is about 20 miles per lap.  It has around 2400 feet of climbing per lap, making it a decent practice course for doing distance training.  5 laps is 100 miles, and that means that I will only be half as bored as if I rode 100 miles around Fort Yargo (11.7 miles per lap)  or 21 laps at Big Creek Park in Roswell (4.5 miles per lap).

Still trying to get nutrition down.  CarboRocket seems to be working WAYYYY better for me than HEED, or PERPETUEM ever did.  I've tried a few other things and they didn't cut it either.  My favorite flavors so far are the Half-Evil 333 mix in Raspberry Lemonade.  My second favorite is probably the lemon-lime of the regular standard-evil CarboRocket.  Good stuff for sure.  Organic, it breaks down very easily, and it STAYS down even on hot and humid days.  (a major WIN for the Atlanta area climate to be sure)
As well as the drink mix is working, I read in more than one place that eating solid foods from time to time help with the "Psychiatric" aspect of racing a 24 hour event.  I can see that.  I also can see the value of taking breaks and maybe even a nap.  Wondering what types of bars to bring, maybe I should bring a small grill and grill up some turkey burgers or something similar that will break down easily.

Rigid.  I had issues with my RockShox Reba Race, so I borrowed a steel rigid fork, and kinda liked it.  Not feeling very well about using  someone else's fork, I had to find a good deal on a rigid fork of my own.  The ultimate choice would be the Niner Carbon fork, but nobody had them, and Niner.com was out of stock.  I found a guy on Craigslist that was trying to sell one in almost perfect condition, and got a great deal.  The bike is now Rigid.  (not to be confused with fully rigid)

Alligator brakes.  Here is a simple rule to remember about break rotors.  The more brake-surface area your rotor has, the longer your pads will last.  If you have a 160mm front rotor for example, and it only weighs 76 grams, as opposed to the 175 grams+ the original rotor weighed, you will go through many more brake pads per year.  They sure do look cool though...   Oh, and they are stoopid light.