Celebrations and whatnot

My parents came down at the end of last week to visit, and celebrate my brother's Birthday - hence I wasn't here yesterday.  This weekend was filled with celebrations and soccer... no bikes.  If I'm lucky, I will finally get back on a bike tonight for our weekly social ride out at the Whitewater Center.  I'm going to head out there early to get in some extra riding in (again, if the rain holds off and the trails stay open) since it has been WAY too long since I've ridden.  Really.  Like, so long I don't actually want to think about it and quantify it, long.  I've got some big events all smashed into August/September so I need to get some legs back underneath me here...

Come back tomorrow to see if I really did remember how to ride a bike.

In other news:

Dwayne has done me the honor of producing a Team Glow Worm decal, check it out!

You too can represent the Glow Worm with a kick ass decal. You can put it:
on your bike - be my teammate why don't you??
your car - keep people off your rear in traffic
the fridge - preferably the one with the beer in it, you know the one I'm talking about.
in the bike room/space/temple/garage - the Glow Worm will keep all your rides nice and safe
any damn where!

Team Glow Worm from Dwayne Hunter Design Company on Square Market

So tired!

Oh boy. The guys kept me out way past my bedtime last night. But it was worth it.

Got in my first night ride (half of the social was in the dark) of the season, and first ever at the USNWC. 

I also really dug, at least in the dark, the new end to weigh station and the new bypass to toilet bowl. 

Afterwards we hit up the String Bean, which is always good. I got a little crazy and had desert. It was so good I was a little slow in the picture taking. 

It was fried Oreos with vanilla ice cream and caramel. YUM. TheMutt was trying to get the waitress to send me a second order - something about fattening me up/slowing me down - I guess he is nervous about our head to head 6 hour coming up at the Brunswick Brawl. 

After beers and food we had a good debate about our local mountain bike club. I guess I kinda have to make it to the meeting on Thursday now. I try to go, but never seem to make it. Now is the time to start making it a must instead of a want/should. 

I'll throw this out there for internerds to sit with... I accidentally/randomly/cleverly dubbed Good Guy Greg with a new nickname last night, Old Man Sweeper. 

Curious?  Come on out to our Tuesday night socials and see what it's all about. Hey, if you ride with us long enough, or just have yourself a good time with us, you'll likely come out with a nickname. Between TheMutt and myself I'm sure we can come up with something that will either fit, or just stick!

Double Duty

Yesterday I had the day off... only a few more of these until the start of school so I figured I needed to take advantage.  I thought about going for a nice big mountain bike ride before the social ride that evening... but nothing jumped out at me as I didn't really want to do multiple laps to get miles...  Georgia had been neglected, I can't remember the last time I rode the roads... so there it was, my decision was made.


I don't know if it was the heat, the fact that I hadn't ridden the road in a while, or some combination of the two... but I was hurting.  To add to those two factors, I drank coffee prior to the ride.  No, I didn't have to make a potty break!  I don't typically drink a ton of coffee because the caffeine really does get me jittery, leaving me feeling a little weak with jello legs.  It was no different under effort.  Not exactly a desired state to be in on a road bike... jittery, jello legs, with cold sweats ON TOP of the hot sweats from the heat... it was bizarre so I had to stop and eat something to try to get me out of the mess of a state I was in.  



Luckily, after my stop, and a quick pep talk from my coach, I was feeling refreshed and powered on.

Strategerizing with my Coach.

I had some good efforts left in my legs and ended up enjoying the ride as I got further into the country roads.  I stopped again for a water refill.  I think I started the ride under hydrated (with the coffee not helping) and was playing catch up throughout the day.  In fact, I'm still trying to recover as I down glass after glass of water this morning.  Remember kiddos, Hydrate The F Up!

When I got home from my road adventures I could feel the cramps coming on.  So I quickly got to downing some post ride potions.  I had my half milk/half water protein shake.  Finished another bottle of water.  And a tablespoon of mustard for good measure.  As soon as I had the mustard all threat of cramps vanished.  It's absolute magic I tell you!

Then it was time to stop sweating and wait for the group ride.  I could still feel the toll in my legs so I was glad it was a social ride.  Still a bit of slippage in the EBB (although maybe not as bad) so it looks like I'll give the Glow Worm a nice cleaning today and dismantle it in preparation for a new arrival.

The idea was bikes, beers, and burritos.  Instead we ended up eating italian... yeah I know, weird.  BUT, thanks to the culinary misadventure I now know where in Charlotte all the pimps go for their cleaning needs.  Yes.  I said pimps.

when social is

too social.

We were FINALLY able to get in a ride ON a trail after all the constant raining we've had.  We hit up BYT.  It was in pretty good shape, all things considering.  A few wet spots, a little slickness out there, but definitely good to go.

I got over to the trail real early with the idea that I would get in about an hour or so of riding before the group ride.  That was, until, I realized I had left my jersey at home.  It being a social ride, I couldn't just wear my t-shirt as I'd need something for the post ride festivities.  So, back to the house - right in the thick of traffic - to get my jersey and haul ass back to the trail to make it on time for the ride.  No extra riding : (

Had a good sized group with a couple riders having never ridden BYT before, including one who hadn't been mountain biking before!!  For those who aren't local, BYT would have to be our most technical and challenging trails around.  It's the kind of trail that can beat you down physically and mentally.

The group split up from the start with the idea that we would meet up periodically throughout the trail.  Before the first meet up spot there was a flat.

As soon as he landed you could hear air blowing out of his front tire.

Luckily another rider (on a 29er) had a spare 26" tube to get him back up and running.  The flat fix pulled the social group back and left the fast guys itching to go... so they went.  We made our way through half the trail out there before it was getting a little too dark out in the woods and we decided to make our way out to get food and beverages.

It was great seeing everybody since I haven't been out in what seems like forever... but I stayed out way too late.  Getting up this morning was hard on both my mind and my body... good thing I'm basically just watching training videos on the new computer system for the school all day - fun!