A great start to a BAD weekend

Saturday, my parents came over and I got to run out for a ride on Kitsuma. Before leaving, I felt like I hadn't slept good and kinda weary. The trail was in fantastic shape and devoid of any other riders. Tacky, smooth, fast...oh, the joy! At the gate to old Hwy 70, I saw a sign that just made me shake my head in frustration: "Downhill skaters, please use caution!"

Wow! I hate that they paved old 70. It made no sense to me why you would run an ugly strip of black top up an existing concrete road bed and call it a "trail". Just a joke. It takes a 15 foot wide, old concrete road that was perfectly fine and narrows it to an 8 foot wide piece of black, blistering hot eye soar. And now cyclists FLY down it while people with baby strollers push up it in half the corridor at twice the speeds. And now skateboarders are ripping it up. Stupidity and narrow mindedness!

Anyway, the whole ride was so much fun and when I got back to the truck, I felt a little woozy from the effort. At first I thought it was the heat and my hard effort. But when I got home, I hit the shower and everything went downhill. My head, shoulders, eyeballs, neck, back, even my brain ached. I spent the next 36 hours sleeping, tossing and turning, sivering, hurting, showering some more...and sleeping! Just a wicked virus of epic hostility. I'm just starting to feel a little better this morning, even though my eyeballs feel like they're gonna pop. Ick!!

Countdown to Clemson - A borrowed pic says it all

I'm pretty sure this pic was pilfered from Brado, but it explains what's so darn fun about that wonderfully manicured hill that is Clemson's DH Track. 3 berms, 1 pic....nothing else you can say!


www.clemsonfreeride.com and click on EVENTS.

Horse trails are 'sorta' fun to ride in the morning!

Nothing much to report today. I woke up in time to take a short ride near the house this morning. It was a steam bath of gorilla mist and cool breezes and a little sanity on the climb. Plus I got the hook-up on a set of brakes from a casual friend and for the first time in 9 months, no brake drag. That might sound trivial to some, but I've had ghetto brakes front & rear with 2 bent rotors and non-functional pads forever that make my bike a noisy drag on climbs and pathetic to stop.

Anyway, the trail back down was well used by the horses, no doubt doing just like me and hitting the trails hard in the good weather. Damp horse trails are like riding in wet beach sand and poo...challenging, rewarding, filthy, slow! hah hah. But I'm happy to be riding!!!!

Heartbreak Ridge with Matt Griffin

Saturday was play day for me. Ryane was at the Biltmore house with her friend and the girls were with grandma for the night. The plan was to do some DH runs with Mueller & crew, then meet Ryane at 5:30 to get in an awesome date night.

1pm rolled around with no call from Mueller, so I assumed they were MIA and sleeping in like college dudes do. No biggie since Matt was ready at the drop of a hat to check out the brutal old toll road to Heartbreak Ridge. We even set up a mini-shuttle at the bottom of Mill Creek to cut out the climb up to Ridgecrest.

I wasn't my fittest ever, but felt fine and had plenty of food. But at the 2nd hunting cabin my thighs cramped so bad, I couldn't even walk the bike. Called out for Matt, but he was rolling on like an animal. It kept up for the rest of the ride and I was in MISERY. I wasn't dehydrated or hungry with plenty of food and water. Then the hamstrings hit within 2 miles of the top, forcing me off the bike for good.

Up top, we were running SO late. We ran into 3 latino males (cop speak) walking in seperate directions with huge army duffells on their backs, one headed toward a closed parkway alone? On the DH, I was in for much worse. My quads seized, forcing me to sit down for about 80% of the descent. On the flat pedaling, my inner thighs cramped forcing me off and to the ground again!

We made it to the bottom at dark and I locked us out of my truck. Matt was forced to hammer the climb up Mill Creek Rd in the pitch black while I stood there shivering like an idiot.

In the end, I was 3 hours late to meet my wife, who was scared I had become a statistic. She's still upset, but glad I was safe. Now I remember why I've always done that ride in the morning...with a GROUP!!

Dragging along

Lost a little motivation during that brutal cold snap and fighting to get it back this week. Wish me luck!

Haven't been so mopey in a long time. I just keep seeing everyone else riding their DH bikes, showing off their new builds and it kills me that I'm sitting here without my buddy of 15 years, a DH rig.

I've gotten to the point where I contemplated last week selling my road bike and my trail bike to start amassing money for a DH bike. The wife smacked some sanity back in me on that one though. Gotta work harder!!!

My DH bikes and race kits through the years! Wow.

My First ever National. Borrowed the goggles from Toby Henderson, bought a billet 46 tooth big ring that day, the helmet was free. Spandex and a t-shirt. Airwalk clipless BMX style shoes (first of their kind).



Year Two. Top of the line helmet with visor, riding glasses, White Bros coil springs(no MCU) and damper, BMX flats, moto pants, shop sponsor jersey, moto gloves, V brakes!



Year Three. Mt. Snow 1997. Full face helmet w/ detachable chin piece. Tinted lens (useless), Shimano DH shoes & pedals, Intense DH/FR Uzzi (4.5" front/6" rear). Magura Hydro Rim Brakes! Free Maxxis Mobsters, Sun Rhyno rims. Thought I was the stuff w/ the grassroots Intense XC jersey. Answer DH armor underneath. No chain!



Year Four. Mt. Snow 1998. Same frame, upgrade to 6" Boxxer. First gen. Hayes disc brakes, DH shorts & DH knee/shin pads. New Shop...still an XC jersey. Legit DH helmet.



Fast Forward. Plattekill 2001. My first LEGIT DH bike. Big course...high speeds! Flimsiest rear end ever made!! But FAST in a straight line.



Sugar Mtn AMBC 2002. Sponsors galore. Free stuff. Pro deal stuff. Custom jersey. Team only colored frames. Mr. Dirt self seizing chainguide! A first year production upside down fork that seizes at the sight of mud! A reasonable 7.5" of rear travel! Light, fast, tech! Best year of racing EVER!



Skip 2003 til I can find the lost pics! Move on to 2004 and the most beautiful frame Turner ever made. Retired the ancient helmet and went to a full on matching kit w/ gloves, goggles, helmet, jersey and shorts. Finally broke down and bought upper body armor! Technology of suspension is ALMOST there. It's now the time of boat anchor 8" travel forks (top crowns that chopper the bike to the sky) and oil bath shocks that dials that often actually work. That is when they aren't breaking shock shafts. And the wonderful new frustration of 1.5" to 1 1/8" reducer headsets. Flush mount or not to flush mount? E13 saves the drivetrain...HOOOORAY!!!



Year of the Stormtrooper: 2005 Not just any old DH bike. Remote reservoir, custom designed rear shock specific to the frame. Works 888 with flat crowns...finally. Full on, fully adjustable and completely tuneable front and rear suspension. A bike worthy of being called a race bike. Not one broken part all year long. Geometry that is perfect. Unfortunately, bearing for ISIS BB's still shat themselves monthly even if steel pedal inserts don't allow the pedals to flake off on contact.



Vanity! 2006 and all it's excess. The bike and kit that reflects the excesses of my life. A Demo8 decked out to 11! Industry Nine wheels, Fox DH40, Cane Creek Double Barrel, externall BB's and bombproof cranks, fully adjustable brakes, gaudy kit, shiny white gloves and a love of the camera. The bike that could go faster than I ever could. What a shame...



2007 - The year it all came around. The kit goes from 1 extreme to the other, gaudy to subtle. And so does the bike. Not much to say really. The bike is sorted from the factory with great geometry, no pivot issues, shifting, braking and suspension are no brainers. Amazingly it took 13 years to get DH bikes to the point where thy simply work and do their job EVERY DAY!


Quit the process!!!

Looking back on old pics

I found several pictures from over the years and now that I've got a scanner, I'll be posting them as one. It should show a progression of me the rider, the equipment and the riding over time if I piece it together right.

In the meantime, here's a pic I spotted on my hard drive that sums up why I love racing.



I think everyone can relate to moments like this with your good friends....