Chad's News - Cycling in North Georgia

Weight Weenies Unite! ...and the Super Bowl

2012-02-07T16:51:00.000-05:00

I guess I had better describe what a weight weenie is before I declare my allegiance. After all there may be newbies reading this and I don't want to...wait...should I define "newbie"? Forget it. A weight weenie is a roadie or mountain biker who obsesses over the weight of their bike. More specifically they obsess over the individual parts that make up the bike. Like the frame, fork, components, saddle, wheels, etc. I myself have never obsessed over the weight of anything accept myself so that means I am not by definition a weight weenie. However I have many friends who are and my wife has an opinion I shall not share.

GIANT Anthem 29er with American Classic wheelset

Back in the old days before carbon fiber and even before titanium a weight weenie would do crazy things like drill holes in their stems to shave weight. Now-a-days it only takes one thing to reduce the weight of your ride...money. Trust me folks, it takes a lot of money to play the weight weenie game today. That's because so many components are made from titanium and carbon and those two materials are expensive. But it's not always hard to reduce weight. You could do something as simple as replacing the bolts on your handlebar stem with titanium ones for around $20.00. That's good for about 8 grams. But the big payoff in weight savings comes by replacing larger items like the wheelset or frameset. You can cut 2 pounds off a mountain bike with the right wheels.

GIANT Advanced SL Carbon with Ksyrium SL w/ Ceramic Bearings

Which brings me to my latest purchase and it's consequence. I bought a brand new Park Tool Scale so that I might better understand if certain choices I make are worth while. I soon began to realize that knowing how much everything in my shop weighs, weighs on me. I'd weigh my bike with one set of wheels and the other. Then I'd weigh the wheels. Then I weighed the cassette. It was getting out of hand. So to put things in a little better perspective I started weighing things in pounds. The differences don't seem as drastic that way and then I don't stress as much.

GIANT Advanced SL with Zipp 404 Tubulars

This picture helps me illustrate the disease of weight weeniedom. A weight weenie would desperately try to find the item he needs to replace that will save him that 5 ounces. He'll barter his way to replacing the aluminum stem for a carbon one so he can see that 15 change to a 14. Me...I'd just take the pedals off the bike. It was interesting to note that there's almost a pound difference between my Ksyriums and my Zipp tubulars. And the Ksyriums have ceramic bearings with a SRAM Red 11/28 one piece cassette compared to the Zipps with steel bearings and standard SRAM 11/25. Mind blowing!

OK. Not really.

Here's the thing. I could have the lightest bike on planet earth but without the legs to push it...I'm just another roadie. It's like having a $4,000 rifle and being cross-eyed. Obviously you don't own the gun to shoot it, you just like owning a really nice gun. It's great to show off to your friends. It's fun to tinker around with. You can add a scope or maybe a nice camouflage finish. And I think that's quite alright. It's just not me. If I'm going to spend money on something then by golly I'm going to use it. Heck, I'm going to use it up. That's probably why, unlike a typical roadie, I don't have a basement full of bikes. I mean I've had a lot of bikes but never at one time. When asked "How many bikes do you need?", the typical roadie will say "One more than what I have right now!" But I'm not that way. Not really.

OK maybe just a little. But not nearly as bad as some people.

Embacher Bike Collection

So I'm glad I bought the scale. It's fun to play with. After racing on the all the different bikes and wheels in my possession I know whether or not a pound makes any difference. And in most cases it doesn't. It's all about the legs and lungs and heart. The scale just confirms it.

So to my weight weenie friends I say...keep it up if it makes you happy...and I'll buy your old stuff. :)

SUPER BOWL

2012 JCCHS SUPER BOWL GAME

When I was a freshman in high school I invited all my friends over to my house on Super Bowl Sunday to play Two Hand Tackle and then watch the game. The only rules: No girls and no booze. That was 24 years ago. Since that time we've moved the game to the Jackson County High School football field and just in the past two years started bringing the kids. My Dad can't believe it! We never know who will show up. But whoever does is treated to some great fun.

For three hours we played this year. No score is kept. No penalties are called. Just trash talking, laugh till you cry, out of breath hands on your knees type of football. When we finally thought to take a group picture some had already gone. It was a great day with great people. I can't wait to do it again next year.

This weekend it's the Ride to Helen 'n Back! Join us for a NO DROP RIDE as we tackle the mountains again. Pun intended.

Thanks for reading!

Chad Hayes

Velcro Therapy and Chicopee Woods

2012-01-31T16:04:00.001-05:00

I've got a problem. I injured my neck muscles acting like a middle schooler this weekend. It was a lot of fun until I got up the next morning and discovered that my 40 year old body doesn't react well when multiple attempts are made to flip upside down in a Velcro suit. Our church put on a "Winter Weekend" for the youth and we were a host home. We kept nine middle school girls at our house. Yep. Sure did. And during that time we fed them, held Bible studies, and shuttled them to the events planned by the church.

Velcro Therapy

Blackshear Place Baptist Church is a pretty big church. With that size comes the ability to compete. When you think about all the things that compete for our kids today it would seem impossible for a parent to control it. Especially with teenagers. Especially teenagers with smart phones. So our church takes the approach that whatever we do for the youth we do it with the same quality that the world does. It's evident in the facilities, the music, and even the events. If you don't have kids you won't understand how big a deal it is. Everything changes when you have kids. A person's view of how and why to live a principled life changes as you pass through stages in life. Crawl, walk, teenager, high school, move out, college, get a real job, get married... raise children. Notice I said "raise" and not "have children". One of my favorite quotes, "Any fool can make a baby but it takes a real man to raise a child." - Chris Young

Molly and I are serious about winning.

So when you finally have the responsibility of leading a child through this world it changes your perspective on everything. You take a greater interest in where the world is heading. What kind of people is it creating? What do they base their decisions on? Who's at the wheel trying to force a direction on you and yours? Suddenly you have a reason to fight for the principles you believe will result in a better future for someone you love. A child who will be here long after you and your wife are gone. We all say we care about other people but until you have a child your burden for world change is moderate. You fight for things that ultimately don't effect you much which clouds your judgement. But when you have your own child out there and their innocence is at stake. Well. Your opinions change. Unless your children aren't your first priority in which case I feel sorry for you.

This weekend I got to see, yet again, how hundreds of children with like minded parents have real fun. My faith and reasoning were reaffirmed. We are blessed to live in a country that allows parents to choose what they believe and pass it on to their children. A country that allows us to fight for and promote the principles we believe in. I'm also glad there's still a vast majority of folks who believe God's Word is the way to live your life.

Chicopee Woods Trails, Oakwood, Georgia

A few good men joined me at the trails on Sunday afternoon for what can only be described as a power packed 3 hours of fun and endurance. And we were not alone. The parking lot was full of great spirited riders from all over North Georgia. I met Trace Nabors at Gainesville College and we speculated on who would show up for our ride because of it's declared value of 3+ hours. Who would be up for it? Hmm.

Trace Nabors and Chad Hayes

We left out around 2:10pm with Dustin Mealor, Craig Tinsley, Chad Edwards, Bill Mashburn, and Matt Williams. Don't ask me why we like to ride from there over to Chicopee Woods but we do. I guess it puts a little twist on what are otherwise the same old trails.

Chicopee Woods Trails, Oakwood Georgia

L-R Chad Edwards, Matt Williams,Bill Mashburn, Dustin Mealor

We hammered our way through the Red Tail Loop before I even thought about eating anything. Cliff Bars are so much more tasty on the trail. A few equipment notes for you: I was on my GIANT Anthem 29, Trace was on his Gary Fisher 29er, Bill and Matt were riding Specialized 29er's, Dustin was on a GIANT Anthem 29, and Chad and Craig were riding GIANT Full Suspension 26 inch bikes. It was a chilly 52 degrees and the wind was blowing. We kept a nice fast endurance pace and everyone stayed pretty much together. Tales of woe were shared and plans for more woe were drafted.

After Red Tail we rode White Tail and took the dreaded Copperhead Gap. This was formerly known as ZigZag. It's the most brutal section of trail out there. Our group held together well until then. Craig decided he'd had enough and once we reached Flying Squirrel he had decided to shortcut onto White Tail and climb back to the parking lot. We all kept riding the Squirrel to it's end and then picked up White Tail.

The intersection of Copperhead and Flying Squirrel

The final climb back to the parking lot is a famous one. There's a large creek crossing and a short rocky section before the gravel road climb actually starts. It takes some skill to navigate without putting your foot down. My goal has always been to traverse the water and then climb the slick rock to the bench without stopping. It's tough enough without wet tires. I think the thought of going down on those rocks scares most people into not taking the risk. I tried...and failed...again. The only bike I've ever consistently made this section on was my Jeep All Wheel Drive. Seriously, it's a mountain bike with built in spider gears that allow you to push both wheels when you pedal. I'll show it to you guys in a post some other time.

Chad Edwards

Matt Williams and Trace Nabors

We climbed out of Chicopee Woods and after 3 hours made our way back to the cars. Everyone was tired. Accept Trace. He had plenty of energy. What a beast. It was a great day to ride with friends. I'm especially impressed with Matt who is kind of a newbie. He had some cool new glasses on anyway.

After the ride I went home to wash the stinky off. And then right on time I was whisked away in the back of a children filled SUV to eat at Mellow Mushroom in Gainesville. The Hayes and Pattillo's... at it again. Boy was I ready for that. I really like that place. It's got real ambiance. Even some panache. And the food is good too.

While we waited on our food we talked and laughed and carried on like families do. But I guess not all families as evidenced by the photo below which has been doctored so I don't get sued. In case you can't tell, the kid is watching a DVD with headphones while his parents ignore each other. Totally unbelievable.

Family Time

Well, that's what I did this weekend. My life is not all that impressive but it's not all that uncommon either. I hope each of you have a great week!

A Dead Last Finish is greater than Did Not Finish, which trumps Did Not Start.

Chad Hayes

What to ride in 2012

2012-01-24T16:22:00.000-05:00

I've been asked by my friends what I plan to race and ride this year. What are my goals? Will my training change any? So I thought I'd go throw a list of events I hope to do this year and maybe comment on them a little bit.

Before I do that I'll tell you what I did this weekend. It's nothing as exciting as say, riding in the rain, but I believe it will inspire you guys or at least make you feel better about your mental stability. On Saturday morning I got up at 5:00AM to go to Road Atlanta and help my daughters school. It was the WLA Run Road Atlanta (World Language Academy).

Long sleeve shirt for WLA Run Road Atlanta

Let me set the scene. It was 48 degrees and raining. It was foggy. If there was ever a morning for sleeping in and making up a sad excuse this was it. I didn't think anyone would come out and run in the rain. I was miserable just standing in the parking lot waiting for nobody. But I was wrong. It turns out runners are every bit as crazy about their hobby as we are.

There was a 10K run which began at 8:00AM and then a 5K run at 9:30AM. My wife Lisa helped at registration. It stopped raining for the 10K start which was led out by the Road Atlanta Corvette. I thought that was really cool. It's a 2.5 mile course by the way and as they rounded the back side of it the bottom fell out. I stood under the pavilion roof watching and waiting for the nearly 100 runners to come sloshing down the hill onto pit road. I don't like running but I felt a sort of kinship with these guys. I've been in races in some miserable weather too so I started yelling words of encouragement to them as they ran by.

Running in the rain at Road Atlanta

Many of them started waving and smiling. Others were either concentrating really hard or were angry at the situation they had placed themselves in and therefore had no reaction to my encouragement. So I decided to look around at the expo. There were two different dentists promoting oral hygiene, odd but OK. The Safe Kids folks were giving away bike helmets. I love those guys. FRS was there giving away drinks and my favorite chews. I asked the FRS guys where Tim Tebow was and one guy said "who?" Come on dude, he's your spokesman!

The run was a great success even with the downpours and thunder. Heck if it were a bike race the weather would just make it that much more epic so I guess it's no different if you ran it. Some folks finished and walked around in the rain laughing and talking about the one piece of clothing they should have brought. Others, who had one thing in common...cotton, walked straight to their cars and drove home. You see...cotton, while a perfectly comfortable material around the house, is the worst thing you can wear while competing. It holds your sweat and gets heavy. When it's cold outside it makes you colder. And a soaked cotton shirt sticks to your belly. As you run it creates an indention where your belly button is. Imagine running in the rain and trying to keep your 10 pound cotton shorts up. Pretty funny stuff from the pavilion I just have to say. But my hats off to all those guys. They all finished what I know was a tough course. The awards on this day were definitely earned. Great job runners! And great job WLA!

2012

Before I make this list I need to give you guys a disclaimer in case you show up at one of the events and I'm not there. It's basically a wish list. I hope to do everything on the list but life happens. My list of priorities is short and my love for my family is BIG! Thankfully they love me too and I usually get to race a whole bunch during the year. So here's my list of things to do as it stands right now.

Feb 11th - Winter Bike League from Athens to Baxter's Multisport in Gainesville (and back).
Feb 18th - Chainbuster 6/9 Hour MTB Race at Tribble Mill Park in Lawrenceville, GA.
Feb 25th - Hincapie Training Series Weekend #2 in Greenville, SC. Road race Saturday, Crit Sunday morning at the BMW Test Track.
March 10th - Dirty Spokes Duathlon at Ft. Yargo Park, Winder, GA. with my daughter!
March 17th - Chainbuster 6/9 Hour MTB Race at Conyers Horse Park.
April 14th - State Crit Championships - Macon, GA (this is a big fat maybe)
April 22nd - Gone Riding XC Race #1 at Conyers Horse Park (another big fat maybe, Sunday)
April 28th - Athens Twilight Crit, Athens GA - my 3rd attempt to qualify for the evening race.
May 5th - Chainbuster 6/9 Hour MTB Race at Fort Yargo, Winder, GA.
May 12-13 - LAP Century and Gainesville Omnium. Ride Saturday morning, Race in the evening.
May 26-28 - National Road Race Championships in Greenville, SC. Planning Hotel stay w/ family.
OR May 27 - Hartwell Challenge of the Century
July 7th - State Road Race Championships Fairmount, GA
July 21-22 - Brenau College Omnium, Gainesville, GA
July 25-29 - Georgia Gran Prix. 4 day stage race beginning at Road Atlanta.
Aug 18th - Chainbuster 6/9 Hour MTB Race at Paynes Creek Trails, Hartwell, GA.

I'd better stop there. The list looks so big to this point I feel I'll be in trouble since it doesn't include any Century rides that may pop up. There's a beach vacation in there somewhere and we'll be putting on a BPBC Spring Ride again which has a tentative date of May 19th, 2012.

I'm also swayed by my friends. Just like anybody else I have a certain group of friends that I'll jump off a bridge with so if any one of them is dying to do a particular event I try to do it too. There are roadies who like the solitary ride and roadies who need people with them. I'm the latter. I mean who's gonna back up my "fish" stories.

'11 Hincapie Training Series, SeanP, StephenS, Me, DavidS

Let me tell you a little bit about the Hincapie Training Series. Way back when I was a child my first race was at this series. As you can imagine I was scared to death. I'd been riding with groups of around 15 people and then got to the starting line here with 50+ racers. It was a scary feeling let me tell you. I got 4th place that day on the heals of a CAT5 crash caused by some goofball who crossed the yellow line to move ahead with less than 1 mile to go. The others in the peloton were so distracted by him speeding up the outside that they crossed all into each other. It was like the crash happened all around me. I found myself sprinting with a few others at the head of the race and took 4th. My first race convinced me that I needed to hurry up and get out of Category 5. Here's a video from last year. It's a preem sprint I lost. :(

Here's a picture of the BMW Test Track race. It's really a great race because the track is wide open. Plenty of room to dodge catastrophe or advance at will. I blow up every time on the back stretch on the last lap. The draft plays a big role in this one. If you pull out to early the head wind will make you pay.

2010 Hincapie Training Series BMW Test Track

I hope to see a bunch of great friends there this year. It's a great way to start the season in a big way.

Thanks for reading! See you all out there soon!

Chad

When is it too cold to ride a bicycle?

2012-01-17T15:52:00.001-05:00

Joe Elam breaks his 40 degree rule. Ben Eavenson is blissfully ignorant.

Here in North Georgia we rarely get cold enough weather to really ever make riding outside completely out of the question. A serious roadie will always give the proper consideration to any ride in any temperature if the right people are committed to being there. Some don't even need other people to be there. Some roadies actually like the solitude that cycling provides. For you non-cycling males it's like the solitude derived from mowing the grass (riding mower) on a nice autumn day. You can just settle down in your "nothing box" and ride. The difference being that we roadies actually get some exercise.

This weekend temperatures were going to start out in the 20's. Who wants to ride a bicycle when it's 27 degrees and blowing? Plenty...here's the list: Joe Elam, Ben Eavenson, David Latty, Stephen Sisk, Trace Nabors, Benny Bohanan and many more. I sarcastically dubbed us the "Real Men of Genius".

David Latty the organizer/route man.

When you're standing outside the car, wrapped up in your winter cycling apparel, everything seems completely sane. "It's just a little cold but we'll warm up after we get started." Joe prayed for us and we shoved off. Within 100 meters we began descending the first hill. HOLY SNOW CONE, BATMAN! My joints started hurting. My forehead was stinging. My chin was...missing. Has your face ever been so cold that when you talk it sounds like you're drunk? "No zir, Mizzter Ovvizzer, I haven bin drinking." That's how it was for the next hour. We actually looked forward to the hills because at least then we could generate some heat and ease the wind. We made it to Lula where Ben had a mechanical problem with his bike. I think his bike was trying to bail him out of this ridiculous polar excursion but it didn't know that we bring along our own bike mechanic. Silly bike.

Joe reattaches a broken cable in Lula, GA.

We pressed on as the sun came up higher in the sky. As we passed houses on one open rural road I could see smoke coming from some chimneys. I thought about how warm it must be in there. I thought about how warm it must be back in my bed at home. I thought about hot chocolate and warm biscuits and soft fleecy clothes. I thought about how great it would be if I could feel my pinkie fingers. My thoughts were interrupted when a sweet old lady swung open her front door and yelled, "Y'all can come in here if ya need too!"

After about an hour of torture we all began to warm up and have friendly conversation. Subjects vary on a ride like this. Trace and I debated the effects of frostbite and questioned the actual need for pinkie fingers. I argued the merits of the pinkie fingers and further stated that given the choice I'd rather loose my pinkie toes. The fact is who would know...if you have no toes.

In the end the ride was a success. The frost bitten Real Men of Genius made it home with all appendages in tact. I'm glad Joe broke his 40 degree rule but I doubt he'll do it again. Hey Joe, we finished in 40 degrees, does that work?

On Sunday it was 55 degrees at 2:30pm so I called a Family Biking Day!

Family Biking!!

Thomas and Jessica Pattillo

Parker and Jill Mashburn

I ran the trail in pursuit of Erin Grace who is getting better and better at negotiating the roots. Then I took on the trail myself for a "Daddy Lap" on which I was taken down by some slippery leaves in a corner. My helmet saved my cranium but did little to stop the impact on my shoulder. So after trail running/pushing the girl for an hour and then my crash and burn I was done. A trip to my favorite burger joint Cheeseburger Bobby's was all I needed. The weekend was complete and my body was shutting down for the evening.

Family biking is not ALL about the biking.

And now here's a little message for the loser's who did this to the bridge at Gainesville College:

Stupid is as stupid does.

My Dad once told me that I could have fun as long as I didn't destroy anything. Especially if it didn't belong to me. Whoever did this and spray painted the dock evidently has no Dad. At least not one that's worth anything. Whoever did this probably needs a hand up...after they get a back hand. Whoever did this should have to stand and watch something they enjoy broken to pieces and then made to earn a new one. Whoever did this should stop believing popular society's lie that loser's are rebels and rebels are cool. Whoever did this should take control of their life and strive to be a winner. They could start by fixing this sad act of vandalism and keep fixing things until they've created a new, winning pattern for their lives. Whoever did this is on a wide road to nowhere. What a stupid thing you did. I hope it haunts you unless or until you make it right. My children and I are very disappointed in you.

January 21st is the WLA Run Road Atlanta! I'll be helping the folks there put on a 5K, 10K, and Fun Run at the famous Road Atlanta race track. It's not cycling, but it's going to be fun!

Thanks for reading!

Chad

An Extraction Distraction

2012-01-08T22:25:00.000-05:00

My riding plan for this weekend was in question all week. I eventually settled on a mountain bike ride with my friend and teammate Trace Nabors. On Thursday it was still good to go. On Friday I had an appointment with my dentist, Stephanie Greene, to check out my back tooth. It was becoming increasingly sensitive to cold and heat. When I got there I was all smiles and giggles. When I left there, on my way to the oral surgeon, I was... not. Just to be clear, my mouth is in pretty good shape. I brush'em twice a day whether they need it or not. But here's a little nugget of truth you can file away; if there's a cavity under a crown it won't show up on the xray. My thought was to get to the dentist before a little sensitivity became a real costly problem. Oh well. Under that crown was evidently some toxic waste because she had to leave for a minute to clear her head. When she came back she sat next to me and delivered the bad news. My next stop was to have my tooth extracted in preparation for an implant. Yippee.
This little adventure was about to ruin my day. But at least it gives me some material to blog about.

Waiting for the bad news.

I arrived at the oral surgeon's office to find two sweet ladies smiling and laughing. I was their last patient for the rest of the day. It was 12:45pm. I filled out all the forms in triplicate and they called me back. The nurse hooked me up to the "system" which promptly started beeping at her. It monitored my heart rate. She stared at the noise maker for a few seconds and then walked over, tapped a button to shut it up and looked at me. "You must be a runner." she said. "Your heart rate is so low the machine thinks it's a problem." I told her I'm a competitive cyclist which my wife will tell you sometimes is a problem. The Doctor came in and began to look at the xrays from Stephanie's office. "You want me to pull that thing out now or schedule a time for us to put you to sleep?" I decided that since I was still numb from having the crown cut off earlier and since he could enact some compound numbing AND hook me up with some HAPPY GAS that I'd let him jerk that rotten sucker out now. They both smiled and began happily preparing to commit an act of piracy on my mouth.

The Doctor couldn't believe it when I withdrew my phone for a picture.

Here's where things get a little cloudy. He numbed the entire left side of my face. Bill Cosby comes to mind for some reason. His nurse put the gas hose on my nose and I started to not really care. That gas is some amazing stuff. I closed my eyes and didn't mind at all that he was standing on my chest ripping the tooth from my skull. I could hear the grinding and smell the blood but hey...we're floating around the room...cool. It was like having an out of body experience.

Looking back on it I'm a little uncomfortable. I mean he could have pulled all the teeth out of my head to make a necklace and I'd have kept on floating. Anyway, he sewed up the hole in my mouth, I paid him to do it and left them there to laugh about whatever I said while under the happy gas. Then I did what any other red blooded American would do...I went to work. The way I figured it I had at least 3 hours before the Novocain wore off, I'm in accounting which doesn't require me to talk with the gauze in my mouth and finally...I'm a guy. I can take it.

I lasted more than 3 hours before finally succumbing to the pain and constant bleeding. I went home and slept as if I just won the battle to save middle earth. My weekend was then filled with salt rinses and playoff football. I did manage to get on my trainer and spin out 5 hours of endurance though. So... I didn't loose a single bit of fitness. If you are reading this and don't think that last sentence was ridiculous then you are as addicted as I am. Admit it.

IWBMATTKYT - If you know what it means you're an addict too.

Ceramic Bearings

For two years now I've periodically logged onto VCRC Ceramic Bearings Facebook page and asked when they plan to make a Ceramic Bottom Bracket for my Giant TCR Advanced SL. I became addicted to ceramic bearings early in my cycling career when I read about how all the pros use them. Ceramic bearings are harder, rounder, lighter and smoother than steel bearings of even the best quality. My first purchase was a bottom bracket for a Litespeed Vortex I wish I still owned. It's the only thing besides wheels that I've ever bought that I could actually feel the difference. So I wanted them on my race bike.

One month ago I received a message from VCRC that they wanted me to test their prototype SRAM bottom bracket. Umm...Yeah! And this weekend that bottom bracket actually showed up at my house!

VCRC Ceramic Bottom Bracket for GIANT road bike.

I called Joe Elam to tell him and we installed it on Monday. This will be a great test for many reasons. Since purchasing the Giant I've also discovered training with a power meter. I've become so addicted to it that I can almost tell you what my power output is without looking at my Garmin. I'm very interested to see if my power output changes based on the "ceramic factor". It may also be a placebo but if it really works can you actually call it that? I mean if you go faster because of physics OR because you think you're better than you are I say it's a positive investment. Although in this case there is no investment, but you know what I mean.

On with the NEW HOTNESS!

This weekend I hoping to test it at the Winter Bike League ride in Athens. Hopefully it will help me get through 80 miles in freezing temperatures. Otherwise I may call one of you from someones house near Homer, GA to come pick me up.

Have a great weekend my friends!

Chad

2012 New Years Ride

2012-01-01T21:10:00.000-05:00

Usually on New Years Day there's a ride out of Gainesville that's become a favorite for local old school roadies. When I got the word that it was not happening this year I decided to put together my own New Years ride. I put the word out and hoped for the best and well...the best showed up.

Top of Woody Gap

I decided to start the ride at 8:00AM from Turner's Corner General Store. I reasoned that if we met early we could get back by lunch and have the rest of the day to spend with family. However the weather once we returned made my plan seem...wrong. I mean when was the last time it was 64 degrees on December 31st??? Instead of starting in 32 degrees we could have waited two hours and started in 45 degrees. But it didn't matter. The guys who showed up were ready for the weather and ready to have a great time on the bike.

Dustin Mealor's wheel change.

I brought left over stuff from 2011 to give anyone that came so if you didn't brave the cold you didn't get the swag. There were goodie bags from the Lt. Governor's ride, t-shirts from the BPBC Spring Ride, and Joe Elam gave everyone a Habersham Bicycles water bottle. I also brought all my cold weather clothing in case someone needed it. And a big bag of medical supplies...in case someone needed it.

Mike Mahalic is a newbie who actually did something newbie's seldom do. He bought a good bike. Newbie's almost always start out on the cheapest, heaviest, poorest shifting bike they can find. It puts them at a considerable disadvantage right from the start. Plus if they actually catch the cycling bug they end up loosing all that money because they figure out what they have isn't what they need. They end up selling their first bike to another poor newbie. It's a vicious cycle. (pun intended).

Mike walked up to me and asked what kind of vests I had. I gave him my wintex Hincapie vest which later proved to be his new best friend. Another newbie in attendance was Trent Smith. He's an experienced mountain biker but was joining us on what was only his second foray on the road. He was riding a "newbie" bike. I basically had to completely redress him. He was layered up like an 80's teen idol. I gave him a thermal long sleeve base layer to go over his regular short sleeve base layer and then he wore a Hincapie wintex jacket. He did have some newly purchased LG lobster claw gloves on though.

Top of Neels Gap aka Blood Mountain

I opted for my new LG winter bibs and my trusty Hincapie cycling coat. It only seemed like too much during the climb on Wolf Pen when Robert "Young Punk" Loomis drove the pace up until my eyeballs popped out. Otherwise it was perfect.

We set out and climbed our first of three main obstacles for the day Neels Gap or as it's locally known Blood Mountain. This is a long climb. Although not super steep the time spent going up gets in your head. I could feel the nervous energy coming from our two first timers. Trent is a twenty something and a bit kamikaze so it was no surprise to see him powering along with the lead group. Mike however is more cautious. He was trying to pace himself in the face of the unknown. I give him 5 points for being willing to take on the GAP's. Trent gets no credit. He'd jump off the mountain if you told him it would be fun.

Joe Elam is the owner of Habersham Bicycles. He's a great friend and a good Christian man. I'm impressed so much with his integrity that I don't mind constantly shamelessly promoting his shop. Lately he's admitted to being a bit lazy and not riding much so I knew he'd be suffering as well. I've ridden with Joe many times and I can always tell when he's operating at his limit. His breathing becomes more like an epic battle of bodily forces. It's like his mind is saying "keep going", his legs are saying "you can do this", but his lungs are saying "this air is terrible!" He sounds like a sneezing horse. Like his body is rejected the quality of the oxygen in the air. It's very funny. He would say his body is rejecting the quantity of oxygen in the air. I like Joe a lot. Joe gets 5 points for breathing technique.

A good friend of mine once told me that riding in the mountains will teach you all the physics you need to know. A man who weighs 160 pounds may use less energy to get to the top than a 200 pound man but the heavier guy will use absolutely no energy getting to the bottom and do it faster. Keep in mind I'm talking in the context of group riding, not racing. My example in this case is David Latty. He was the heaviest one of us. But what a heart and what a strong rider. When we started the decent from the top of Blood Mtn. I got passed by him and had to pedal like crazy just to stay close. David did nothing but touch his brakes to scrub speed in the sharp corners. David scores 5 points for being fearless in pursuit of victory over the mountains. The other David (Mr. Shabat) scores points for sporting the new team kit seen here and resplendent with Hayes Automotive. Double points...because they're mine to give.

Top of Wolf Pen Gap

Our next and most testing obstacle (hmm...if that were a compound word what would it be) was Wolf Pen Gap. With pitches up to 13 percent and unending switchbacks this climb seems to never end. I have to say that Wolf Pen is my favorite climb of all the GAP's. There's no traffic, lots to see, and it's a better climb mentally. My favorite phrase when climbing is "It's like eating an elephant...one bite at a time!" If I'm climbing and hanging out it doesn't matter but if I'm resolved to climb fast I need to focus on taking steps up the climb and not just "where's the top!" So on Wolf Pen it's easy...go to the next switchback...then go to the next one...don't let your mind wonder where the top is. Concentrate only on getting to the next switchback. For me climbing is mental. Or...maybe I'm mental.

Anyway, we all rode together for a while and then like a big dummy I pushed the pace to see who wanted to hammer. Unfortunately Robert Loomis was all about it. He went to the front and shredded us all. Robert losses 10 points for beating up an old man. When I got to the top I turned around and went back down to film and check on everyone. I followed Mike Mahalic with the camera as he made the top.

Here's the VIDEO!

On the way down the final climb we were moving at the speed of sound when I heard a most disagreeable one. It was the sound of a cell phone smashing onto the pavement. All I saw was the back of someones Smart Phone sliding by my wheel. Once we stopped at the bottom, also known as the Stone Pile, I learned it was Robert Loomis' phone. Not good. He turned around and rode back up to look for the pieces. We all said a little prayer for him and headed on back to the General Store. Our beloved SAG Driver Ralph Atkinson followed him.

We returned to Turner's Corner General Store to find Seth (the Owner) ready to make us some cheeseburgers. When Ralph drove up and I changed clothes I went inside and bought a cream soda and a Zero bar. Don't ask me why, I just wanted it. Robert showed up with a fully functional, snapped back together smart phone and a smile on his face. Each rider found me to say thanks. We all stood around for some time enjoying the sunshine and talking about our journey. It was a nice morning on the bike for some and an epic undertaking for others but we all enjoyed the ride.

On the way home Stephen Sisk and I reminisced about some crazy weather we've ridden in. We've been caught in the snow 24 miles from home. We've seen the effects of 110 degrees on tires. The Gap's always produce a story. Maybe not for us today but I'm sure our friends made great memories. Above all we remained safe. Thanks for coming guys! 10 points for everyone!

Chad

Christmas and the Next Bike

2011-12-26T16:27:00.002-05:00

Christmas at my house is so much fun. I have two girls, 8 and 12 years old. They are what I like to call "low maintenance" because at this age they can actually do things on their own. With the proper inspection of course. What I mean is you can tell them to unload the dish washer, go take showers, brush your teeth, and get your clothes out for tomorrow and it actually gets done...most of the time. Which is still a far cry from having to change a diaper or keeping their fingers off the stove.
My wife Lisa may have a slightly less exuberant opinion of the girls direction following skills and I can understand that since she's with them all day, every day. But I'll probably never be as happy with things as I am right now. They try to please us. They are excited about EVERYTHING! They have great attitudes and don't really care where we go or what we do as long as Mommy and Daddy are happy.

This can't last.

I know that my status as the Greatest Dad in the World may be in jeopardy once the teenager lurking inside them comes to the natural understanding that they are in fact smarter than we are. It's coming...I can feel it.

But for now I'm loving life with the kids. We celebrated Jesus' Birthday with family and friends for three days straight. There's bad food everywhere in my house. Candy, cookies, cake, buttery salt filled leftovers all call to me when I walk through the kitchen. My system is totally confused. Normally I eat as healthy as someone like me can find. Wheat beagles, peanut butter, fruits and veggies. My only vice is the cookies at Subway. 3 for $1.00 I mean come on people. Speaking of Subway I've been really enjoying the new Fruit and Yogurt Parfait. You can get that with the meal instead of chips. Comes with a granola packet too! But then I blow it all by getting a cookie. Fresh baked cookies! I'm so weak.

The Gift

I received many great gifts this Christmas but the very best one came from my wonderful wife. She gave me a National Championship Jersey signed by my favorite rider George Hincapie. The story of this gift actually began back in September. I was trying to organize the Lt. Governor's Century and sent an email to the folks at Hincapie Sportswear asking for their help. They responded by sending me the jersey. When it arrived I was so very conflicted in my soul. Not only is it what it is, but it was even in my size. Say that ten times.

Me in my "Signed" George Hincapie USA Champion Jersey

I displayed it in my basement until the Century Ride where I reluctantly added it to all the cool silent auction memorabilia. During the day I was out supporting the riders and I asked Lisa to bid on it for me. When I finally returned, everything was gone and they were cleaning up. I asked about it and she told me it sold to someone with more money than us. Oh well. It went for a great cause.
Little did I know there was a conspiracy a foot. She did a great job of lying to me. And don't think that fact hasn't been on my mind just a little bit. A lie that it seems my own children were aware of because they all stopped their own Christmas joy to watch me unwrap it. I reacted perfectly by jumping around in the living room and then wearing it all morning. I tried to wear it to bed but Lisa wouldn't let me.

A gift from Jessica Pattillo

So by now you must be wondering about the title of this post. "Next Bike?" Well I've been working on my next project bike for a year now and I think it may be close to happening. Simply put it's a Ritchey BreakAway Cross bike. You see I have a dream. My dream is to travel all over the world and ride in the coolest places. I want to do Gran Fondo's and see the Tour of California. I want to go to Europe and climb Mont Ventoux. And on the less dreamy side I want a bike to take to the beach and race local cyclocross.

After many hours of research I settled on the Ritchey BreakAway design. It's a proven design that actually provides a great ride. At first I wanted the Titanium version. But then Ritchey released his new line of BAB's and I decided the new steel would work just fine.

The Next Bike

My process began with the purchase of a used Giant CX bike from Habersham Bicycles. The goal was to use all the parts from this bike to build up the frame from Ritchey. Originally I wanted the Ti frame so the black stem, seat post, and other stuff would work just fine. Then they came out with this beautiful white bike. Being steel made it considerably cheaper although a little more than a pound heavier. After many sleepless nights I decided that for its intended use this bike would be just fine. But to me one of the reasons this bike is so nice is because of the "wet white" finish and matching wet white stem and seat post. So I worked on selling and buying the correct accessories. Keep in mind that all of this has taken 12 months to make happen. Chad's next bike is not in the budget. I sold, bartered, and traded many things to make this happen including the original Giant frame. Now here's what I have:

What's not in the picture are the wheels. I have the original set of Giant CX wheels with Small Block 8 tires and for road trips I have a set of Ksyrium SL's. But I'm sure my Zipp 404's will look especially nice on this bike should I choose to run them. Now all I need is the frame.

What is a Ritchey BreakAway Frame?

Dinning on the West Coast

A few years ago I took my wife to California with me. We stayed with my aunt who lives in near San Jose. This was during the Tour of California and obviously that was what I wanted to see.

It's a great story for another day but the thing I want to tell you is this. I shipped my bike out there and it cost me a fortune. I wished I could have figured out how to pack it up so tight it would fit in a standard sized suit case and fly without extra charges. I'm dreaming again right?

Ritchey Ti BreakAway Bike

There are several other choices for doing the same thing. The next best thing to what Ritchey offers is to add S&S couplings to a bike you already have. This requires that your bike have a perfectly round top tube and down tube. I actually met a guy on this years Six Gap ride on Hog Pen with a coupling bike. Works great. But he had an old Ti frame and paid $1,000 to add the couplings.

Is the Ritchey dependable as a race/century/everyday riding bike? I asked the same question and after a lot of reading reviews I've decided it must be. BAB's have a tremendous following. Here's the newest review I found online:

I have just finished an Ironman on my Ritchey Ti Break-Away Frame! Thought I'd share my experiences. Beforehand I was weighing up the options - Ti Time Trial Frame requiring full bike box, or Ritchey Break-Away Frame, with road bike geometry but able to be packed into a suitcase. Two factors swung it. The first was the journey - car, bus, plane, bus, car, ferry, car arrive at race site. Hmmm, no brainer there. The Ritchey bike bag was going to be a lot easier than manhandling a bike box everywhere.

The second was the terrain, a tough mountain course on the beautiful Italian island of Elba. A time trial bike was not going to help much. But this was a fast, technical course involving complex multiple hair pin bend descents - could I trust the frame joints with a 88kg rider on board racing as hard as my incompetence as a triathlete would allow? Of course the only way was a test. So the week before I completed in a sprint distance triathlon on a hilly course that concluded with a fast, steep descent with two 90 degree turns, one on top of the other. It handled like a dream - smooth and creamy. And so I wended my way to Italy from the UK to start my 8th Ironman.

The Ritchey bike was quite simply an absolute delight to ride. I chucked it as hard as my nerves would allow into each and every bend. Each corner providing ever more reassurance of the competence of this frame. Now I like descending, I like descending a lot. In fact, I take it as a personal affront if anyone should even think of passing me on the way down (different story on the way up). I had immense pleasure reeling in other cyclists astride their full carbon race weapons - especially, as I was riding a folding bike.

So, what lessons have I learned? The joints are super strong and reliable. They can cope comfortably with heavy riders hammering the hell out of themselves. The Ti-Carbon Frame is the armchair of cycling - it's very, very comfortable, a touch whippier than a full aluminum frame but all the better for it. And yes, the bag is just outside airline luggage specifications - but after half a dozen flights - no one has challenged me yet. So, if you're sitting there thinking, "would I ride this bike when I am not traveling?" The answer is yes. I've just sold my other road frame, because owning a Ritchey frame means it's now redundant. I'm just plucking up courage to explain to my wife why I need to replace my single speed frame with a Ritchey Break-Away single speed frame.....wish me luck!"

Best wishes

Dom Irvine

So, I've pre-ordered a New Ritchey Steel BreakAway bike and I can't wait. They say it will be shipped in January but I doubt it. My goal was to race the Southern Cross race in Dahlonega in February on it but I'm not so sure now.

Southern Cross Race in Dahlonega, GA

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family!

NEW YEARS RIDE!

Join us for a GAP’s ride from Turners Corner General Store this Saturday Morning Dec. 31^st at 8:00AM. There are already around 15 riders coming including Joe Elam, Stephen Sisk, David Latty, Dustin Mealor and the newest of newbies Trent Smith. This will be a NO DROP RIDE. We’re just heading out for 35 miles in the mountains. If you ever thought of riding up there this is the time. We believe it should take no more than about 3 hours so that puts most of us back at the house before lunch. Bring a friend! Pass this email along to anyone you think may be interested.

Also, if anyone would like to be our SAG Driver I’d appreciate it. It’s always great to have a vehicle close by to take pictures and help out.

Address: 13870 Hwy 19 N., Cleveland, GA 30528

If you need anything (gloves, warmers, ect) let me know. I look forward to seeing all of you there.

BTW: I have some left over goodie bags from the Lt. Governor’s Century I’ll be bringing for everyone.

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Chad

Baxter's 1000

2011-12-17T21:38:00.000-05:00

Thursday evening my wife sprung it on me. I knew it was coming. After spending the entire spendable Saturday prior to this one riding my bike in Athens I was completely out of brownie points and excuses. So when she asked me to spend this Saturday watching our kids and the Pattillo children while they go shopping all day I quickly said, "Of course! I'd love to!" Not really a lie at all because I love them so much but I said it with a little more passion because, as they say, I may be dumb but I'm not stupid.

The question quickly became, "What am I going to do with these four kids all day?" My Facebooking friends at Baxter's Multisport posted the answer on Friday. They were helping the Marines Toys for Tots charity by having the 1st Annual Baxter's 1000. From 7AM till 7PM you can show up, donate, and then run as many miles as you like in order to help meet the 1000 mile goal. And you get a super cool Christmas sweatshirt! I'll show it to you later.

Molly runs for Toys for Tots.

My plan? Take them there and make them run until they cry. Then whatever else we do for the rest of the day will be just fine with them.

What?

You don't think I'm capable of such diabolical forethought? Well here's a little inside information for you people; that's what I do. I make a plan. If I have no plan I'm not happy. Spontaneous is not in my vocabulary. Also I'm a little, shall we say, surly. I'll make a quintessential crabby old man when I grow up. And on top of that I subscribe to the old school way of treating kids. You see when I was growing up and we went somewhere without enough beds the kids slept on the floor. My birthday party took place at my house and not every person who came got a gift. We got 1 hour of TV and then had to play outside with our imaginations. Consequently I'm not a coddler. In the real world there are winners and losers. My kids will learn that good things come to those who work hard. So on this day, before we move on to "make it up as you go" type of fun, we're going to run for charity.

Now before you go calling DEFAX on me it wasn't bad at all. They had a great time. The trick to teaching them lessons isn't in making them do something they don't want to do. It's letting them embarrass themselves by complaining and then rubbing their noses in it once it's over. To that end, I didn't tell them they could walk a puppy while they run. I didn't tell them there were free donuts and hot chocolate inside Baxter's. I didn't tell them that they would get award certificates and be treated like angels for participating. Instead I let it all play out. I challenged them to help me run 5 miles and that's all I said.

Erin Grace Pattillo walking the dog.

I think the puppies made the whole running thing fun. Well... obviously it did. EG and Ellie had a dog the whole time. Thomas was too focused on the task at hand to want a dog tripping him up. Molly (my oldest) was focused too. She and I plan on competing together in a Dirty Spokes Duathlon at Fort Yargo in a few months so she was thinking about that.

We ran and walked while listening to Christmas music being blasted out across the field. Once I figured they were tired we headed inside to tally up our totals and get some foodage.

Thomas, Molly, Erin Grace, and Ellie ran 2 miles each.

Baxter's is a cool place. They have massages and a fruit smoothie bar and triathlon stuff and cycling stuff. Nathan O'Neal was there working on bikes and sporting a really cool Oakley beanie. He's very excited about putting on some races in Gainesville next year. I'm looking forward to that too.

We fled the scene and headed to Gainesville College for some fun. My plan was to let them go where ever they wanted and I would jog behind them. EG is still figuring out how to ride so I knew I could jog and help her get around. We went here and there, stopping to play and then moving on. I was carrying my backpack full of drink and tubes and stuff. Then they decided it would be fun to ride the trail. But not the "normal" way. They wanted to ride it backwards. Somewhere about half way I began to feel 40 years old. The combination of the TforT miles, the back pack, and pushing EG up every hill began to take its toll.

Back in the truck and on the way home we made this little hip hop video. I expect it to go viral pretty soon.

Once back home I turned the kids loose in the back yard and began the recovery process. After a hot shower I was ready to sport the new Baxter's 1000 sweatshirt...from the couch.

Don't you wish your husband was hot like me?

Anyway...I felt the day was highly successful for many reasons. Not the least of which was to re-build my depleted supply of brownie points. Because I'm going to need them if I want to go do a GAP's ride or WBL on New Years Eve Saturday morning. I was glad to help Baxter's support a great cause as well. And as far as the kids go...they'll probably forget and lessons I taught them by tomorrow.

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens
Thanks for reading! Have a great Christmas!!!

Chad

Killing the day at the WBL

2011-12-10T19:51:00.001-05:00

The Winter Bike League begins every year in December and beckons to all who know about it each Saturday morning thru February. I missed the first one but this weekend I had the time and the OK from my wife to attend. I love going to Athens but man does it blow the whole day. For me it's an hour to get there so counting the ride time I usually don't get home until close to 4PM. It's a treat for many reasons. The ride is as old as I am. It brings out nearly 150 riders, or as the organizer likes to call them "Zealots", each time. There are usually some pro riders and local hero's in attendance. The full list of zealots is HERE.

Baxter's Multisport

The Baxter's guys were lining up early to participate. It was a balmy 37 degrees in downtown Athens, Georgia at 10AM. I parked at The Adsmith, a creative agency owned by my friend Kirk Smith. He's without a doubt a "local". I've joined him several times for the WBL rides and other rides that happen all year long in Athens. There are in fact about 5 bike shops in the Athens area alone. Being the quintessential college town that it is, there's great need for "cheap" transportation. Namely le bicyclette. Bikes are everywhere in Athens. Although our own brand of cycling is only a small percentage of the population we seem to be accepted more readily ,even on the outskirts of town where the rides usually go, because folks who live anywhere near Athens are used to strange behavior. And though it might seem odd to watch a long line of 150 cyclists weave through the square in your old town, there's a smile and a wave awaiting the zealots as they pass through towns in North Georgia. Well, mostly.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't detractors. Oh no. Many horns get blown. Many dirty carburetors get cleaned out in the passing lanes. Many birds fly and words of wisdom go unheard behind cold glass. It's always funny to me how on a back road to nowhere there's always a reason for a driver to be in a hurry. It's obvious when you look at these people that they aren't late for a board meeting. I think it's just that we're on the road they take every Saturday and we're destroying their routine. But it's only because there are so many of us.

Which brings me to another point. With that many personalities there's bound to be one or two conflicting opinions. There are a lot of decisions to make in a group that size. Stay near the front or hang out in the back? Ride two abreast or do whatever you want to do? To pee or not to pee? There's clothing questions as the day heats up. There's the question of what to eat, how much to drink. Did you bring something? Do you have money to buy something?

Some questions you must ask yourself before you ever leave the station. Am I physically ready to go this fast for this long? What happens if I'm not and get dropped in the middle of banjo country in the dead of winter? It's not as easy as a ride with a few friends. You may have good friends there, but they'll get lost in the sea of cyclists. You might find yourself pedaling along side some roadie who's angry at the world for not providing him with a 100K a year job straight out of college and so he spends his nights in a tent scribbling on cardboard signs with ignorant rhetoric about companies he wish he worked for.

But I digress.

WBL waits for a funeral to pass. No joke.

What's truly great about this ride is that it's massive. It gives the average competitive roadie like me a taste of the big peloton. The presence of the pro riders, the sprints, and even the occasional angry blast from the short of fuse just add to the mystique of the WBL. I like to meet different people and check out new bikes and new gear. There's always someone with the latest cycling fashion and there's always someone riding the oldest bike I've ever seen. You'll think you're tough until a 50 year old man pulls you home on a steel frame bike with down tube shifters.

The one and only store stop.

The weather on this day was bearable but this ride taught me the beauty of vaseline. I'll clarify that statement before anybody gets the wrong idea. Put some on your face and the cold wind won't sting your skin. I like this ride because it makes me nervous and excited at the same time. Kind of like riding in the GAP's.

What Happened
We left from Sunshine Cycles around 10:20AM and quickly snaked our way out of town. I wanted to ride near the front to see what it was like. I enjoyed how much smoother we moved through stop signs and red lights and hard turns. I did see some value in being able to react quicker to pot holes or junk in the road. But to be honest I think I missed out. The people on the front are...intense. They know the benefits of being there and guard their positions. Don't get me wrong I had some good conversations. But I had good friends farther back that I wanted to hang out with. I should've made my only priority being around them and just put up with the yo-yo effect. I won't make that mistake again.

After we swarmed a store and cleaned them out of Snickers Bars we headed for the first and only Sprint of the day. I was feeling really good so I asked Robert "Young Punk" Loomis if he wanted a lead out for the sprint. He wasn't too sure about it at first. I told him all he had to do was stay on my wheel until I pulled off. Easy. As we got within a few miles of the sprint I moved up to the front. Robert soon joined me and we waited for the whistle. People were getting a little antsy in the peloton. The yellow line rule was in affect. Our Captain for the day "Yo Simpson" gave instructions; "Go down the hill and the sprint line is at the top, at the first driveway!" Remember now, Robert and I have never been here. We have no idea where we are or how big the hill is that he's talking about. Once the whistle blew the sprint was on. I at least new we had a half mile to go so I didn't just take off. I fell in behind a line of about four guys. We hammered our way over the top and headed down the hill. The guys on front new better than to stay there and started slowing and asked others to pull through. I moved on up and we flew down the hill. I could see the top and it was a long way. I decided to start my sprint on the down and fly up the first part to maybe sling shot Robert off the front. I thought if he could get a small gap there would be no draft for our competition and it would simply be a matter of muscle and heart. It all went as planned. Robert held them off to the top and the driveway. We felt victorious! Then we learned of the crash...

Elbow of Sean Philyaw.

There was a huge pile up at some point after the whistle. As I hear it someone touched a rear wheel and started a massive chain reaction. I really hate it for my good friend Sean who broke his elbow. Really stinks Sean!

So the sprint was cancelled. We weren't sure that was the sprint line anyway so I guess it's ok. What it did do was give us something cool to build on for next season. Robert is STRONG, Robert is POWERFUL.

We finished the ride by following some local guys who knew the way home. We didn't know about the crash until we got back and waited on the others to arrive.

I hung out at Sunshine for a while but then had to leave and go shopping for my parents Christmas gifts. It's always cool riding back into Athens and through downtown. I love downtown Athens. It's torture though to smell and see all the food being served on the patios. I didn't even have time to grab a burger or a slice of pizza. Sigh.

Sean Philyaw has a great story that I'm sure is shared by many. I love sharing stuff like this so here goes:

In Sept. 2007, my physician diagnosed me with pre-hypertension and unhealthy cholesterol. Wake up call!   I thought, "my big butt needs to be around later to be a father to and have fun with my sons".  So I began going to the YMCA. I played sports throughout high school and college, but working out in a gym was unfamiliar territory to me. I did some weight training and the usual cardio machines that you find there, but I was not seeing the results I wanted. Two years later (Summer 2009), I dug out my old Litespeed, installed new tires and began riding again. I say "again" because I purchased the bike in 2005, rode it half a dozen times and then it began to collect dust.

Cycling for cardio had not crossed my mind up to this point, but I had befriended an old friend of Kelly's (Richard Scoggins) at the Y. He was 72 years old at the time and in great shape. I asked him what he did for cardio and he said, "I riiiiiiide my biiiiike, in a Gentlemanly drawl that only Richard can produce. Grogan can come close though. :-)

Richard kept prodding me to put new tires on the bike and ride it, so I did. Just having a riding partner made all the difference in the world and this time around, cycling stuck. Richard kept telling me about this guy named Kelly Parham that rode a bike across America.   I thought, what kind of nut job does that? Then I met Kelly in the Winter of 2010 and the nut job mystery was explained. At that point, cycling went in a whole new direction. I had someone take me under their wing and make fun of me. It really helped me to progress as a cyclist. Who was there my first time in the GAPS? Kelly was, and he made fun of me and my flailing legs. Near the top of Neels, I was dead tired and lost all control of my pedaling form. Kelly says to me, "You look like a rodeo cowboy, but keep at it and that will change". Kelly was, and still is, always encouraging and a ball buster in the same breath. Telling me and countless others that we are good cyclists, strong as a mules and "Keep at it you turds or I will kick your tails". One day, maybe when Kelly is 65, I'll finally be able to beat him and his big motor up Neels. ;-)        Out of curiosity, how many people has Kelly helped and gotten into the cycling scene over the years? Dozens? Hundreds? Who knows for sure, but I'm certainly grateful for it.

Seeing is believing: The attached "before" photo is from Christmas 2007 and I had been going to the YMCA for three months prior.   Pretty scary and funny looking too. Easy with the snickers and jeers please.   The attached "after" photo is from the Summer of 2011.

I'm still a work in progress, but aren't we all to some extent? Life throws things at you. Ups and downs, high and lows, tofu and cheeseburgers.  You deal with it and move on. Just like the 70 miles of rolling hills that lie ahead, you take it one climb at a time.

Cheers,

-Sean Philyaw

Well, that's all I've got for this episode. Keep spinning and taking good care of your families!

Merry Christmas!!

Chad

Hangin' at the Horse Shoe Drop

2011-12-04T20:34:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting here watching "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" with my girls. They've never seen it. At 9 and 12 years old they have a ton of Christmas programming to choose from. Animation has come a long way since I was warped by this one and the Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer one too.
I've always found them to be a little creepy. Sorry if this offends any of you. Some of my worst childhood nightmares came from trying to cross over the snow covered mountain and getting caught by the "Winter Warlock" or running from the "Abominable Snow Man" in my dreams. As their father it's my job to protect their innocence for as long as humanly possible so I've avoided these movies. But now I see that I've been too harsh. They keep laughing at it. I guess it's so old and jittery that they find it funny. Like a puppet show. I should have known since they can't sit still and watch my old Muppet Show DVD with me for long. They should be just fine sleeping tonight. I hope I will.

This Saturday my daughter had a birthday party where she and her friends painted beautiful pictures with real paint on real canvas. I was in charge of doing something with the boy, Thomas Pattillo. So...we went biking!
Duh.
I asked him where he wanted to go and he said Fort Yargo in Winder. Turns out that's been on his mind for a while. His Dad took him there.

Kelley Edwards and his boys Jared and Cade came with us. We met at 9:30AM and it was a gorgeous day.

Cade, Kelley, Jared Edwards, Thomas Pattillo, Me.

Jared Edwards

Thomas Pattillo

We warmed up on the new beginner loop located behind the tennis courts. Thomas was flying around the course and ended up washing out and getting run over by Jared. Not a very good way to start but ok, as I always say "that was our glitch for this mission". We headed counter clockwise on the trail and I started looking for the signs that pointed to the horse shoe drop. I love that thing. It's a blast. And so of course we somehow missed it. But in the interim we found another one that Kelley dubbed the "Baby" Horse Shoe drop. The kids tried it about three hundred times until each one made it at least once. It was a blast to watch. It's good that I don't have telekinesis because those boys would have made it every time. It was probably just as funny to watch Kelley's body language as he coached his sons through it without helping them. It's also funny to think about the difference between boys and girls. I mean, I'd have been in the ditch ready to push my girls so they wouldn't fall over or crash backwards. With the boys, Kelley and I were content to let them wheelie back on their heads. It reminds me of a Jeff Foxworthy quote:

When I was a kid, my parents had a 900-pound television on top of a TV tray. My dad's theory was, "Let him pull it over his head a few times, he'll learn. You wanna put a penny in a light socket? Try that out. OHH! Hurt like hell, didn't it? Don't do that no more."

Cade Edwards

The fun we had there was too much to take so we rode a shortcut back around to try and find the "real" Horse Shoe Drop. It was easy because the YABA folks have the course marked great and there are maps everywhere. We found the Drop and started trying to get the kids to do it. They were having none of it. They didn't mind sliding down on their butts and tearing up clothes but riding it was "too scary". No Evil Knievel's in this bunch I'm afraid. So Kelley and I had some fun and we moved on.

My knowledge of the trail system paid off when we skipped a large section around the lake by riding across a bridge. The boys thought that was really cool. Then Kelley and I decided to ride off in front of them and hide. They came to a cross road and began to panic. We listened to them yell for a while and then let them off the hook. Yet another bit of turmoil we would not have inflicted on the girls.

The road back would soon become hard for our group of young mountain bikers. We stopped at the top of the power line climb and had a snack before the tough section back. They were doing great and having a lot of fun. Ignorance is bliss. Listen carefully at the end of the video as I mention how much longer we have to ride. The silence says it all.

The remainder of the ride was a practice in perseverance. They were running low on energy but kept pushing to get back. I was actually very proud of them. All total we rode 11 miles and spent just under 3 hours out there. Great memories and sore bodies were made. In fact the next day at church the first thing Jared said to me was " I am so sore". They sat around telling "fish stories" about it all day.

Athens, GA - Winter Bike League

This coming Saturday I hope to join my friends and a few hundred others at a Winter Bike League ride in Athens, GA. This winter road bike series is a classic. It's what all other winter bike rides aspire to become. It's got mileage, it's got pro riders, it's got speed, it's got pee breaks and exit routes and sprints. There's even a Mad Chronicler (aka David Crowe) who invents words to describe each ride and it's participants. One visit to the website and you'll see how simple minded I really am as a blogger. One visit to the WBL and you'll see just how out of shape you are. So...I'm gonna go see.

The anti-Tebow bias isn't about football
Before I sign off I want to share a link to an editorial that sums up my feelings not only as it pertains to Tebow and the NFL but as it pertains to all Christian men who are trying to change the male role model in America, not just sports. The article says it all so I won't preach.

Sometimes I blog to promote a renaissance of masculine virtues. I want to bring back a time when men take center stage and strive for perseverance, compassion, family fidelity, community, responsibility and faith in God. Maybe it's a crazy dream. Maybe the world is too big of an influence for the throngs of lethargic men it has created to overcome. But I'd rather be the man with the answer who never shuts up than part of an apethetic silent majority too lazy to get this one life right.

Now it's time for a quote:

The struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.

RONALD REAGAN

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend and be safe!

Chad

Thanksgiving in Cherokee and Tsali Trails

2011-11-27T15:50:00.001-05:00

This weekend my family and I were treated to a cabin in Cherokee, NC with the Pattillo's. I say treated because Jess's Dad Mike Robb reserved it and invited us to go. Of course I was excited because I knew I'd get the chance to ride at the Tsali trails which are only about 15 mins away. More on that later because what I was really looking forward to was the kids enjoying a ride on the Polar Express! You see I happen to be "The Man". That's right, I'm The Man. I booked the Polar Express for all of us.

We left Bryson City on a real train and went to the North Pole, drank hot chocolate, ate cookies and sang carols at the top of our lungs. Santa got on board and gave each child a reindeer bell. Yes...I am The Man.

The conductor came by to punch the kids tickets. The speakers in the train car played the movie music and then read the story as the kids followed along in their books. It was worth every single penny. They haven't stopped talking about it yet.

That was on Saturday night but on Saturday morning I got up early and headed to the legendary Tsali mountain bike trails. It was a chilly 30 degrees when I left the cabin at 7:00AM and by the time I got to the trail is had warmed up significantly to 31 degrees. But I wasn't worried because I had my new LG winter mountain bike shoes. They've been waiting on a day like this to keep my feet warm and dry. It's funny, I went biking on Thanksgiving morning with the Elam's and Dustin and Todd. The only things that bothered me were my fingers and toes. That lesson helped me decide exactly what to wear for my assault on Tsali. LG head cover, Hincapie winter bibs, sleeveless baselayer, jersey, Hincapie Wintex Jacket, LG insulated gloves and of course the shoes.

Tsali Trail Head

All week long I was conflicted. I've been to Tsali only two other times. Each of them on Saturday. That means that according to "the rules" I'm supposed to only ride the trails to the left of the lake. I wanted to ride the right side but that's restricted to horses on Saturday's. Hence my dilemma. So I decided to get there and see who all was there...like a park Ranger. To my delight the only cars anywhere were trucks with no trailers. And nary a Ranger in sight. So I decided to pay my two dollars and ride the trails I wanted to ride.

Tsali Trail System

In my wisdom I figured that if any horse riders showed up they would ride the left loop by the lake first. I have no basis for that but I wanted to ride it first and not run into any horses so I headed in and began riding along the ridge line. What a great view! The leaves are off the trees and you can see just how high up on the mountain side you are. The trail is smooth and rolling and really fun. It didn't take long before I came upon a hunter sitting on the hillside staring across the lake at the other side. My bike is really quiet and the wet trail kept the leaves soggy so I pretty much sneaked up on him. I knew better than to yell "Good Morning" or something so I just rode on by hoping he wouldn't roll off the mountain. I don't know what he did.

After about 15 minutes I decided to make a video of some of the trail. Here it is:

I stopped on one of many Lookout Points to take in the view and eat a Honey Stinger Waffle. It didn't take long before I got cold and needed to keep moving. I shot another video for you guys here:

The trail loops away from the lake and takes you into the forest. As I rode I started feeling guilty about disobeying the rules. I really didn't want to spook a horse or get in somebodies way. Besides that I was hoping to run into some other riders I could talk to. So I decided to take the main trail back to the trail head and ride on the justified side. As I made my way up the mountain that lead back I rode up on another hunter. He was tip toeing down the trail in full camo. We're talking camo baclava, gloves, boots, and even his gun was camouflage. All accept for his neon orange sock hat. I've always wondered about that. Can deer see the sock hat? If so, what's the use in being completely invisible accept for your head. I mean I could see his head glowing through the trees and across the switchbacks. Guess that's why I'm not a hunter. I can only be an expert at one hobby at a time. Anyway I quietly passed him and just put my hand up for a greeting so I wouldn't disturb his sneaky mojo.


Tsali Left Loop

On a Tsali Lookout Point

Once back at the parking lot I saw there were more riders but they were all out on the trails. So I decided to do the Thompson Loop clockwise because it looked like a workout. I had pretty much rode like Alice up to that point. I was right. Lot's of climbing to start and then switchbacks along the lake. I wrapped up a great ride by pushing through at race pace.

By the way, I love my GIANT 29er. It's the perfect bike for all things. Lock it out for speed or run it loose for comfort. It's a sturdy rocket with tubeless tires OR a lazy boy on wheels. A bike for every mood. And don't be scared of tubeless if you haven't tried it. I've had great success running Stan's NoTubes sealant in mine. If you can't take the stress then carry a tube with you. I also removed the outer chain ring and replaced the space with washers. Joe at Habersham Bicycles fixed the shifting and poof, it's a double. I hardly ever use the small ring in the front so I moved the left side shifter over out of the way so I wouldn't accidentally shift small on a rocky downhill. It all worked great all season.

On Sunday morning I decided to go run around Cherokee before breakfast. Well...I got lost. I ended up on the other side of the river from the cabin. I just knew that right around the corner there would be another bridge that would save me but it never came. My knee started hurting and before I got back I was shuffling along like a 90 year old man. I think I ran over 267 miles. I saw every shanty hut and rusty car that Cherokee had to offer. The only other signs of life were the unchained blood hounds kept at bay only by the shear inconceivableness of a grown man shuffling down their road of no return. This, dear friends, is why I like riding a bike.

The jog of death not withstanding I had a great weekend. I didn't eat healthy. I didn't use my brain all that much. I watched a lot of football. Pretty much the typical palmares of the average American male...who is also a cyclist.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I'll be riding at Yargo on Saturday with Thomas Pattillo and the Edwards boys. Join us if you can! AND Sunday is Family Biking Day! 2:30pm at Gainesville College.

Have a great week!

Chad

2011 Currahee Adventure Duathlon

2011-11-20T15:27:00.001-05:00

This race effectively wraps up my season. Before it started I already considered 2011 a year of extreme blessings. That's a feeling I never expected to have. It's been a year I cannot explain. I mean I started the year on the lowest of lows after TJ was killed. My aspirations were gone. I expected nothing. All I wanted was to not let what happened cause me to loose my way. Too many people take a tragedy and turn it into an excuse to be a jerk. I didn't want to become bitter and loose focus on my responsibilities as a husband and father. Which to me is where everything else begins. I mean if you can be your best for your family then everything else like work and friends and even your hobbies will flow in the same direction. That's how this season of competition has been. Flowing in a good direction.

It's amazing how big of a roll your selfishness can play in life. I have always been a competitive person and for years what I wanted was to win by myself. I trained hard and used visions of winning solo to get me through some tough workouts. I flogged myself in races and did well sometimes. But this year...this year I didn't deserve anything great as far as racing goes. At least that's how I felt. I mean I wanted to keep biking and racing if only to stick it to the devil and his plan to make me a jerk. So I decided to continue the biking ministry that TJ was so excited about. I decided to race with friends instead of solo. I decided to have fun no matter what and keep my hobby in it's place. What happened after that has forever changed how I train and race. I've had more fun and won more races than ever, but all on a team. I thank God for my family, my friends, and the blessing of forgiveness. What a year! And what a blueprint for 2012!

The Map

Currahee Mountain is the historic location of the World War II training camp our military used in the 1940's. It's now part of a Georgia Wildlife Management Reserve that offers some great mountain bike and equestrian trials. For years now there's been an Adventure Duathlon there that's put on to benefit FCA. I've entered it many times with many friends. It's always a challenge for me because there's so much trail running. And I don't run. But I often read about cyclist's having a problem with bone density because of the low impact sport we choose so I try and use this event to motivate me to run. But I don't run. It hurts. My legs are so sore right now that I have to back down stairs because walking down them normally is killing me. And do you know why...because I don't run!

Running. I don't like running.

A month ago I mixed running into my workouts. As I stood at the starting line for the 2011 CAD I somehow new it wouldn't be enough. My team mates were Craig Tinsley and Boston Marathoner David Shabat. The only thing I new for sure was that Craig and I would be chasing David for three hours. And I was right. I also thought I was prepared for it but here's the thing; My treadmill doesn't help me practice running "down hill". You use completely different muscles running down hill. It became painfully obvious as the race wore on that my life was headed...down hill.

Craig Tinsley.

David Shabat likes to run.

Here's how an adventure duathlon works. Every team is given a card with 12 boxes drawn on it. This is called your "passport". The object of the race is to find the whole punchers hanging from orange banners in different locations in the Reserve. And yes the punchers punch different numbers. In order to find them you need a map. You can get the map only after running down a dirt road to volunteers who sign your passport and then running back to the start/finish to receive your map and get on your bike. The map also tells you which trails you can ride your bike and which trails you must run. Once we got our hands on the map we had to make decisions on which punches to go get and in what order. I took responsibility for planning our route...it's another "C" personality thing. We gave David the passport. We sort of knew he'd be first to most of the punch flags.

David and I were talking at the start. We agreed to take it easy and try to ramp up to a good strong pace. Then the gun went off and CRAIG went crazy! He took off like a mad man and left us no choice but to chase him down. He told us he wanted to start with a lead and try to hold it. He inspired David who shifted gears and left us both gasping for oxygen. By the time we made it back to get the map Craig and I were maxed out. And we'd only been running for about 15 minutes. It's sad really.

Of course one of the punches we needed is always located at the top of Currahee Mountain. This year the map said we could ride it. Hallelujah! Here's how the Currahee climb went.

Once we rode back from the top of the Currahee there was a lot more trail running to do. My team mates had chosen to change shoes between each discipline so that gave me some time to solidify my plan for getting us back to the finish faster than anyone else. This is where knowing the trails became invaluable.

Eat, Drink, and keep moving. Our recipe for success.

Special Tests - Here's the reason it's called an Adventure Duathlon. You may run or ride up to the next punch flag but before you can punch your passport you may have to complete a test.

I'm handing the camera to Clint so he can film our finish.

I remember one time a couple of years ago we had to get a car tire somehow over the top of a telephone pole. This year it wasn't all that difficult. Just a board walk and some pull-ups.

Solo Racers doing the repel off the mountain.

Our last hour of racing was perfect for me. After the last run we had alarge amount of biking to do in order to get all the way out to the last punch.It was a tough, steep road with lots of big gravel covered by leaves. I fullyexpected a special test at the punch location but to my delight there wasn'tone. There was however another team there. They were all staring at theirpassport. As we rode away I heard David expressing his condolences, they hadmissed punch #7. We tore out for the finish, they headed back to get theirmissing punch. I felt bad for them...sort of. Here's The FINISH!

At the finish we were not sure if another teamhad beaten us. We stayed in "race mode" for the final ascension overthe military net. Once we finished and celebrated a little I began to smell asweet aroma. A fine southern delicacy was being cooked for us by the FCAvolunteers. It's the one thing every man craves. Hamburgers! I had two. There were some nice baked goodies for desert too. We changed clothes and ate burgers while watching the other teams come in and try to get over the net. Great fun!

1st Place Team - Craig Tinsley, David Shabat, Chad Hayes

Special thanks to Clint Sanders for organizing another fine back woods adventure. Visit Sanders Drugs in Toccoa, GA where they have a ton of endurance fuels, bars, mixes, and supplies for we who feel the need to punish ourselves in events like this one.

Also thank you to Rob Attaway for taking some great pictures of us. He's a great guy with a big heart!

Have a very happy Thanksgiving everyone! This weekend I'm heading to Tsali mountain bike trails with my family and the Pattillo's. See ya real soon!

Chad

A Brutal Surprise at Oak Park, AL

2011-11-14T10:51:00.001-05:00

So here's the thing about mountain bike racing in a place you've never been. It's nerve wracking. But just like anything in life there's pressure put on you and pressure you put on yourself. I tend to put pressure on myself and probably always will until I'm just too old to have a chance at winning. And on top of that I choose really fast team mates who put additional pressure on me. What am I thinking!

Race#1 Heritage Park in February 2011

Here's what I was thinking at the beginning of the year about the Chainbuster 6hr Mountain Bike Race Series; Have fun, be competitive, don't make racing an endurance mtb race a new miserable experience. The best way to do all of those things was to NOT RACE SOLO! I did it the year before and was miserable (which obviously breaks rule number three). So this year it was important to find a team mate who shared my vision of how to race a mountain bike. David Shabat was willing and very excited. All year we've raced together. He trained hard and got better as the year went on. I'm really proud of what he accomplished this year as far as mountain bike skills go. We managed several podium places and scored enough points during the season to take 1st Place for the entire 6 race series. That's something neither of us thought was possible back in February when we started. To be completely honest the door was opened for our overall victory by two things; the rules and the absence. Let's start with the latter of the two.
All year long we've been chasing the "Gutbusters" Bill Lanzilotta and Alex Hagiano, and Team "Engine" Matt Hammond and Dave Chen. We've never beaten them. They are faster than we are and it's a fact. When they showed up we knew we were in for a long hard day. We might be ahead one hour and behind the next. The key to winning the overall as it turns out has a lot to do with showing up. Dave and Matt missed a race earlier in the year and the Gutbuster's didn't come to the last race in Alabama (a double points race). This becomes important later on in the story.

The rules. Let me see if I can sum it up for you. The key sentence in the rules is: At the end of the series if you have raced a minimum of 5 out of 6 races to qualify for the series we will then drop your worst scored race. The key point here is that the dropping of the worst score is mandatory. A team cannot decide to keep that lowest score. So I'll just let you do the math and look at the results. I say all this not because I think we shouldn't have won the overall. We earned it. We worked our tails off all year. But I have to recognize the fact that those guys ride like lightning. And it paid off with 1st place finishes in several races including Matt and Dave taking the top spot in our final race. However, they didn't show up at Tribble Mill and then had to drop their lowest finish. Hence we win by being the most consistent for 6 races. And the Gutbuster's? They just flat blew it by not showing up at the last "double points" race. So, the reality is that we are not the fastest riders...just the most consistent. Which according to Chainbuster Racing is exactly what the points system is designed to do. Reward the most consistent team or solo riders.

Oak Mountain State Park, Pelham Alabama

The Course

I was prepared for bitter cold that did not happen. When David and I arrived at the park we thought it would be much colder than it was. No wind. No frost. The sun was coming up bright in the sky. It was 39 degrees but warming up quickly. Soon after we set up camp there came the arrival or our friends Dustin Mealor, Trent Smith, and Todd Fisher (Team Spare Parts) and family. These guys were ready to have some fun. Having them there was a great relief. We were in enemy territory and needed some friends.

Team Spare Parts encampment.

I got ready and went out to scout the first few miles of the course. This ended up doing me absolutely no good for two reasons: 1. The start was a 1.5 mile parade lap on paved roads that basically cut off half the section I scouted. 2. The most difficult part of the trail was on the back side of the course about 4 miles in.
You can see in the 2nd video that I went out way too hard. I pulled the lead group up the road and then promptly found a place to crash! This gave me an idea. Slow down a little bit since you don't know the course. Duh!
I tried to chill out and ramp back up slowly. During that process Dustin caught me. He drilled it to catch up with the lead group and soon went on by me. I stayed with him until the time came to not stay with him. That time would be when the trail became something more like a moon crater. Or maybe the "lake" side of a dam. You know the rocks they use to keep the waves from eroding. That's what we rode across for half a mile.

One of many. But not my knee.

Up and down. Around the trees. Every turn was an "endoh" waiting to happen. There were people camped out up there. Waiting to see the carnage. Oh sure they rang cow bells and cheered for you when you made it down the drop offs without losing teeth. They stood ready to help in case you need life flight. But let's be honest. They were NASCAR fans. They were there to see the crashes. Only this part of the trail was a guaranteed crash fest. They didn't need to hope. They just needed to be patient.

Rollers are fun.

And so...I gave them what they wanted. I only crashed 4 times during the race. The first three on the first lap. Twice I washed out in the loose corners. But twice I found the rocky surface of this section too hard to navigate. It hurt my feelings and made me want to curse Alabama. If you can believe it I managed to catch Dustin after that and started talking myself into being happy. I noticed he had his cool video camera on the back of his bike and now I was the star. We were killing it over some big rollers and I just knew I was looking super cool in the video. Right up until I washed out in a corner and slid off the mountain. Nice.
The first lap was over and now I had to deal with the fact that the race wasn't. The course was in a word "brutal". My mind was swirling with doubt. My legs hurt. I kept drinking and eating. By the time David made it back I was ready to take on Oak Mountain without incident. I wanted to disappoint the NASCAR fans. I wanted some revenge.

After that successful lap I felt much better about the race. I took time while David was on course to look at where we stood. At that time we were in second. I was very surprised. The course was so bad I just knew we were behind a lot of locals who knew how to navigate the bad sections. But there we were, in the mix. As I stood and waited for David to come in Dave Chen (Team Engine) rode in and couldn't find his team mate. He had to go out again for two in a row. I didn't realize this until I caught Dave on the trail. He was suffering but working hard. I passed him on the climb and then managed to complete the rocky section without a problem. Once on the rollers and heading back to the start it started to sink in that we were in the lead. I handed of to David but he had a big problem, a well rested Matt Hammond took over for Team Engine and was flying after him. Matt not only passed my team mate somewhere during that lap but pulled a double. He did two laps and got the second one in with only 4 seconds of time left in the race. Very cool. I told you those guys were fast. Great job Matt!

Oak Mt. Podium

By the time the Series Podium happened it was too dark to take pictures of it. I've got some great audio though with a black picture. If anyone out there has a picture I'd love to get one.

Team Spare Parts fought valiantly and settled for 4th Place by a mere 50 seconds. They were not happy but had a great time none the less. Great job guys!

Todd, Trent, Me

David and I finished up an unbelievable year in great fashion. We celebrated by eating at Cracker Barrel. That's right, Cracker Barrel. I had Mamma's Pancake Breakfast with bacon and extra syrup. David had French Toast. We both drank caffeinated coffee and took a to-go cup for the road. 4 hours to get home. 5 for David.

Another good thing about being in Alabama this weekend was the look on all the Auburn fans faces as the afternoon wore on. We had a radio and listened to the Georgia Bulldogs whoop up on the War Eagles...I meant Tigers. Sorry. It was great to be a Georgia Bulldog!

This coming Saturday I'll be racing the Currahee Adventure Duathlon with David and Craig Tinsley. That should be a great story. Last year I competed with Craig and a team mate at the last minute, David Park. We raced for 5 hours and it came down to the last 3 miles. That's a story for another day but if you ask Craig to tell you about the finish make sure you have some time to kill. It was epic!

Craig Tinsley, Me, David Park at 2010 Currahee Duathlon

Thanks for reading! See you all out there soon!

Chad

Winter Riding in North Georgia

2011-11-08T15:14:00.000-05:00

NEW YEARS DAY RIDE - Gainesville, Georgia

It's getting colder in North Georgia these days. October was pretty tame but now I fear old man winter will be striking a blow to our cycling adventures really soon. But I'm confident that we all shall persevere. I say this because I can recall countless times over the years when the elements only served to fuel my childish desire to go beyond acceptable norms. I also say this because if one of my friends decides to ride in the snow...I'll probably go with him. I have the gear, why not use it? And here's the thing...I'm not alone! There are more than a few crazy people here in N. GA. that only need a small window, a tiny push, a double dog dare to do something on a Saturday morning that defies logic. You know who you are.

How's this for a list of things we've all done in the dead of winter:
1. Shoved off from the garage at the house and already can't feel your fingers.
2. Riding across "crunchy" grass and frozen mud.
3. Can't drink because your camel bak is frozen solid.
4. Peeing on your rear derailleur. (Crude, but true)
5. Fine in the sun, then ride into a valley and it's like "The Day After Tomorrow"
6. It's so cold my eyes won't stop watering!
7. Two sets of gloves means I can't make a fist. Can't grip the bar. Don't really care.
8. Have to suck on a Clif Bar to loosen it up to chew.
9. Pinky toe is just...gone. Other toes are dropping like flies.
10. Eskimo jokes. Lots of Eskimo jokes.

Feel free to ad to this list.

Winter Riding - Lance Carpenter, Gary McCarthy, Stephen Sisk

One of my favorite stories happened one winter Saturday morning on a road ride with Trace Nabors. It had snowed on Friday but not enough to stick to the roads. There was snow on the ground though and that gave me an idea. How about a GAP's ride with snow? Trace was all about it. So we met at Lumpkin County High School at 7:00AM and started our 45 mile ride in the mountains. It was 22 degrees. I had everything I owned on my body. Baclava and a skull cap. 2 pair wool socks and booties. I was not going to be cold...boy was I wrong. I lost my fingers and my toes before we ever made the top of blood mountain. The decent nearly killed me. I couldn't tell if I was gripping or not so I just pushed the hooks of my thumbs into the bar. If you know anything about the turn onto Hwy 180/Wolf Pen Gap you'll understand how scared I was at not being able to grab my brakes because my hands were so cold. I almost decided to blow on past it and turn around.

Trace Nabors and Me - Frozen Lake Winfield Scott

On the climb up Wolf Pen I realized that my pain was not shared. My partner on this journey was actually enjoying the ride. I thought, "I must find out what magical garments he has on." "Can you feel you're hands?", I asked. "Yeah!, they're good.", Trace answered. "How about your toes? How many do you still have?" I said as the pain felt like spikes through my feet. "Toes are good too." "How is that possible?" I asked. Trace answered, "I have warming packets from Wal-Mart in my gloves and on top of my shoes."
Doh!
If he had been a guy I just met I would've taken him down, robbed him of his toasty phalangie saving packets and left him for dead. As it was I just didn't speak to him for the rest of the ride. Especially after he told me he had extra's...back at the truck! I'm just kidding about not speaking. Trace can't help it if he's smarter than me. I was mad at myself.
We had to stop and get a picture with the frozen Lake Winfield Scott behind us. Proving once and for all that we...are...stupid.
That's a lesson I learned and have never forgotten. Now I keep some of those warming packets in my wallet. You know, just in case.

This weekend many of my friends participated in the Tour de Tugaloo in Toccoa, Georgia. I missed it this year to my regret because the weather was great. My friend David Shabat and his wife and son enjoyed a great time together that morning so I asked him to tell me about it.

David and Ben Shabat

David writes...

We showed up at the Tour deTugaloo start, at Yonah Dam, in full gear for the chilly, sub 50 degreeweather. Packet pickup was a breeze as the sun started burning the dewoff the grass, Toccoa Spinner - Sharon Mahon, led some of the cyclists throughsome pre-ride stretching. We got a little warmed up, hit the restroomsone last time, and hit the pavement right at 10 AM. It was a swarm ascyclists took up both sides of Yonah Dam Road, perhaps thinking this was aclosed road for the day. So, I bumped my pace sky high and continuallyshouted out to keep to the right, as cars and trucks were coming right at usfrom the opposite lane of this narrow, windy road.

After about 3 and a half miles,the crowds started to thin. I waited on my party to join me. Weclimbed the first hill of the day and made it over to Old Church (Riverdale)Road and took our first turn. A few miles later, we were at the first SAGat Traveler’s Rest. Then onto a very busy Rt 123 until we reached RiverRoad, in the unincorporated area of Westminster SC. We passed under thetrain tracks and were finally starting to warm up, as we climbed Jarrett BridgeRd and made our way to Horseshoe Bridge Rd, Jenkins Bridge Rd, and onwardthrough Westminster and Walhalla, South Carolina. The hills were rollingand pleasant as we blew through the miles, but never took off much gear due toheat (since it remained cool).

We SAGged at JenkinsBridge Rd at 123 and carried on. The hills weren’t bad at all and weenjoyed riding past many farms, not unlike rides we’ve taken in Habersham andHall Counties in Georgia. We made it back from Walhalla to Westminster,at about mile 40, my wife decided she’d had enough. Our good friend andToccoa Spinner, Kim Turpin, was right there with a vehicle to load Lenka’s bikewhile Ben and I pressed on. Oh yah, did I mention my 12 year old son wasriding this 100Km (62 mile) course? So, we continued onto Cobb Bridge Rd,and that’s where the fun began…

Climbs, climbs, and moreclimbs. People were groaning that the course was like some hidden awayThree Gap. Ben and I just smiled as we passed them and offered a cheerful“good afternoon”. Some people smiled back. When I told them they’llmake it fine because my 12 year old was doing fine, they got an extra burst of“shamergy”… yes, that’s the shame-energy you get when you can’t believe you’recomplaining and get passed by someone who should be complaining… So, a lotof shamergy on Cobb Bridge and then after we turned onto Unity Church Rd.

Unity is like a piece of Unicoion the downhills. Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn… Unfortunately, somevehicles took the turns wide and we played some last second shoulder hugginggames, but I used good cycling hand signals for Ben to know when to slow downand when to move from one side of our lane to the other, to avoid potholes athigh speeds. Once we made it back to 184, we took Old Liberty to River,finished River Rd, and SAGged at the River Rd 184 corner. There wereabout 25,000 bees on a few hollowed out decaying logs, RIGHT BEHIND THE SAGarea! Needless to say we were scared into leaving sooner than Benwanted. But, off we went, with just a few miles to go.

Ben was a total trooper, making it the 62 miles and screaming “WoooHooo!” as we crossed the finish line for what was a chilly, challenging, butvery exciting and fun ride. Ben can’t wait until next year, when he plansto make his poor old dad suffer…

David

Another edition of Chad's News is coming next week as I blow you guys away with news of our trip to the netherworld. Our foray into the abyss. Our incursion into the savage wasteland known as...Alabama.

David and I are joining forces once again to try and hold our podium position in the Chainbuster 6 Hr MTB Series Final. And then we plan to attack the trails the next day in a Dirty Spokes Duathlon. Stay tuned for the story of pain and agony. Woe...indeed.

Have a great weekend!

Chad

2011 Tumbling Creek

2011-11-01T15:00:00.002-04:00

I have a new reason to call this race Tumbling Creek. It's because I went tumbling in a big way during the race. More on that later. This race is put on by Gainesville SORBA at Gainesville State College trails every year. They have a great time doing it. I know this because all over the course there are creepy reminders that it's Halloween time. We're talking tomb stones with creative writing on them, spider webs overhead, warning signs about impending danger, and my personal favorite was a snake hanging from a downed tree overhead. This snake was dangling a cow bell. If you were so inclined you could smack it as you rode under the tree. Or if you sit tall in the saddle you'll ring the bell with the top of your helmet. How fun!

Kid's Race - Megan & Anna Nabors, Molly Hayes, Thomas Pattillo

This race is basically in my back yard. The College is only 5 miles from my house and I know the trail like the back of my hand. So does my teammate Trace Nabors. We entered the 2 Person Male Division against 12 other teams. However the only team that ended up really challenging us was the team of Dustin Mealor and Rob Butler. They were ready to drill it all day long and unfortunately for us that's just what they did.

The Friday before the race it rained. That made some places a little soupy but overall the course was only made faster. Especially as the race went on. The course was about 6 miles long and we figured our laps could be done in less than 30 minutes. We were right. We also decided to do the laps in the same order we did them last year, when we won this race. I'd start and do one lap and then we'd do two laps each until the last two laps when we'd do one each. You may want to read that sentence again. Last year it took 12 laps to win. This year it took 13.

Trace Nabors in the Field of Doom

To start the race they decided on a short run to the bikes and then we followed an ATV for a 2+ mile parade lap. My plan was to go out super fast and give us a lead. Unfortunately that was Rob Butler's plan too. He got to his bike and went full blast. All I could do was hold his wheel. I was about to pop and we hadn't even finished the parade lap! And I knew then that the first lap would contain TWO trips across the Field of Doom! Rob led the race until a wash out cost him his place in line. But he stayed with me so I knew it was GAME ON! As the race wore on each team worked through it's share of misfortunes. I lost about 30 seconds of time to Rob because of some uncooperative lap traffic and basically because I couldn't keep up with him. Dustin and Trace worked like dogs to keep it close. When I look at the results I can see just how hard Dustin and Rob were pushing.
Things took a strange turn during the 9th lap. I had just completed my first of two laps and was suffering badly. After exiting a horseshoe drop and powering up to speed I caught a large tree root with my pedal. The jolt to the side combined with the speed I was traveling on a slight downhill caused me to hop around like a bull rider. We're talkin' feet in the air, no steering control, cry out to Mommy type of crashing. I hit the ground and covered my head because I just knew my bike was going to come flying out of the air and hit me. I was knocked out of breath. I slowly got up, found my bike, put the chain back on and began my own personal pep talk. It went something like this: "The knee is fine keep pedaling." "Keep breathing deep." "Come on, Chad, be smooth and fast." "Just hold on to 2nd Place." I also prayed a little bit... although I'm sure God doesn't care if we win a bike race I'm just like any of you...I instinctively include Him in every desperate situation I face.

I've found that saying stuff to myself when things get really tough helps me stay positive. I first started doing it in a road race years ago. It was the toughest race I'd ever been in at the time but I found myself in the final group with an uphill sprint looming at the finish in 5 miles. Things calmed down in the peloton as everyone was trying to conserve before the hard finish. I started telling myself "I don't care how bad this hurts I'm going to keep sprinting!" I ended up finishing second. My first podium ever. I've talked myself up ever since.

My first Podium.

So I kept pedaling and consoling myself. I ran up on some lap traffic and was traveling behind them when we passed a rider using his hand pump to inflate his front tire. It was Rob! As you might expect I was energized. I shifted down and passed the lapped riders. I tried to remain calm and stay smooth because I knew he'd be coming. I managed to get back and hand off the timing chip to Trace with a lead of only 30 seconds. Dustin exchanged with Rob and gave chase. The race was still very close. Turns out Rob's tire was punctured and the Stan's glue sealed it but not until the tire had leaked out enough air to make it dangerous. So Rob picked a good spot to stop and put air back into his tire. That's the way it goes in endurance mountain bike racing.

When I jumped off my bike and ran through timing I was forced to remember my crash. My bruised knee reminded me. I went to our tent and started trying to get ready for a final lap. All season I've done the same thing before the final lap. 3 ibuprofen, 1 double caffeine gel. Works like a charm. Unless you bruise your knee. Plus I was more tired than usual thanks to Dustin and Rob. I was not looking forward to the last lap. Even if it was only going to take less than 30 minutes.

Trace put together two great laps and kept us in 1st but still by only 30-40 seconds. Dustin was mashing his head off to keep them in contention. When I headed out for my last lap I was determined. Determined not to let Rob catch me. Determined to give my teammate a bigger lead. Determined to ignore my knee. I could tell it was a bruise and I happen to know that while a bruise hurts...you can't do irreparable damage by continuing to use a bruised limb. It's just gonna hurt. My drugs and gel did the trick and I handed Trace over a minute lead for his last lap. To be honest, I think Rob went too hard in the beginning and then did the last two laps of the day. Besides that, he not only had to chase me but he continued to chase Trace on the final lap. He's the man! And he's a really nice guy too.

Trace finishes to his cheering family.

Trace brought it home for us. Dustin and Rob got 2nd. And my good friends Todd Fisher and Trent Smith took 3rd. What a memorable race! A true battle. I would have taken more pictures of the course decorations but I couldn't think about anything accept racing my tail off. You can blame Team Maverick and the Goose for that!

Our families were back from softball/flag football games and were cheering for all of us. You can hear the kids in the videos. I can't say enough about how great it is to have their support. We stood at the lake and cheered for the riders as they came through on their last laps. What a great day!

6 HR Solo Male - 1st Chad Edwards, 2nd Robert Rentz, 3rd Stephen Dean

Other notable finishes were my friends Chad Edward and Stephen Dean. They both competed in the 6 HR Solo Male category. I really thought Stephen would take 1st but a late flat tire cost him. Chad Edwards remained steady and strong throughout the race and it paid off in the end with him taking the top spot on the podium. Great job both of you!!!

2 Person Male Podium

I was DONE. I began looking forward to getting home, getting unpacked, and getting a shower. Then our plan was to watch the DVR'd Georgia vs Florida football game. My wife Lisa had been avoiding her phone and other update giving things all afternoon. Our goal was to get busy being lazy... and yell at the TV. My other goal was to get some serious food into my body.


Team Hayes Automotive Wins!

The next day after Church I cut wood for 4 hours with my Dad. When I was growing up my brother and I spent our winter Sunday's following my Dad around in the woods sawing up trees. This was relaxing and gratifying to him. My Dad worked 6 days a week and I couldn't understand working one more at home back then but I do now. It's the same mindless, stress free type of thing we all do. Fishing, hunting, riding a bike, watching TV. Men need that time to decompress. Of course some of us take it to extremes and end up forgetting our real responsibilities. Some of us actually never "compress" (Occupy Atlanta?). I enjoyed cutting wood with my Dad on Sunday. We talked a little and laughed a little and just hung out while still doing something productive. Very satisfying I'll have to admit. And now I have enough fire wood to keep my girls warm and cozy all winter. Nice.

I hope you all enjoyed another installment of Chad's News. Stay tuned because this weekend is FAMILY BIKING DAY!!! Join us at the College for a wild time with the kids and then a few "Daddy" laps.
Then the next weekend my team mate David Shabat and I are headed to Oak Park, Alabama for the final race in the Chainbuster Series. We're going to try and hold our podium spot in the overall. And we're considering staying the night and racing in the Dirty Spokes Duathlon the next morning. It's a tough call knowing that the very next weekend is the Currahee Adventure Duathlon. Can you say "Glutton's for Punishment!"

Have a great weekend!!!

Chad

Recon Riding and a Stealth Mission

2011-10-25T14:14:00.000-04:00

Whenever possible I like to pre-ride the course before a mountain bike race. There are plenty of reasons for it besides the obvious one... it's another excuse to ride my bike. On top of that you learn where the tricky parts of the trail are. You see how fast you can take a turn. You figure out which gear to be in for the climbs. And a recon ride keeps you from taking a wrong turn. Things happen especially fast on the first lap so if nothing else I try and ride the first 2 miles of the course before hand.

On a trip with Dustin Mealor and Chad Edwards down to Columbus for a State Championship XC Race we went and rode the course the evening before the race. We stopped at one particular section of granite that required a choice. The choice being 1. go straight over the rock 2. go to the right of the rock or 3. go left. After 15 minutes of trial and error we chose straight at the rock. It and many other decisions proved to be extremely helpful during the race. Having more oxygen would have been even more helpful.

So this coming Saturday is the Tumbling Creek 6 Hr. Mountain Bike Race to benefit S.O.R.B.A. (Southern Off Road Biking Association). I went to the trail after my daughter Ellie's flag football game to do a little recon. Turns out I wasn't the only one with that idea. When I got there my friends Dustin, Stephen, Matt, and Chad Edwards were strategizing with other riders. Actually they were guessing. Guessing where the course might go. Guessing how long a lap might take. We were pretty sure that SORBA was going to reverse last years loop and so we rode for about three hours in that direction. Dustin and I would push hard at race pace so we could see how to take certain corners and what kind of momentum you could use to get over hills. When we did stop we could always tell how far ahead of the others we were because we could hear Stephen Dean running his mouth. Many a conversation has taken place on the subject of how Stephen manages to keep up even though words never stop coming out of his mouth. He's truly amazing.

Hayes and Pattillo Pirates! STB

After a whole bunch of riding and talking I headed back home to change. In another life I'm actually Captain Jack Sparrow. The rest of my family are wenches, which I'm told is very inappropriate to say, accept for Thomas who became affectionately known as Captain Crunch. (He didn't like it...at all) The costume party was super cool. Bobbing for apples, college football, hotdogs, chips & dip, cup cakes. Certainly not "recovery" food but I have plenty of time for my body to get over it. Great time! Special thanks to "Mr. Jay" aka Kahmunrah for having us over.

Sunday after church I had a special request for a family biking day. So I loaded up the truck and we hit the trails. The weather was perfect and the kids were too. We spent a few hours in the woods and on the cool ropes course at Gainesville State College. Lisa (wife) and Jessica battled to the death on one of the wires. I won't say who won because I'm ashamed. It was fun to watch though.
I'm kidding about being ashamed, I'm just poking fun at my super competitive wife who was not happy when she lost her balance and kissed the mulch. I love her so.

Then I had a brain storm. I came up with a Super Secret Stealth Mission for my oldest daughter Molly and Thomas Pattillo to go on with me. I didn't tell them all the details. All they knew was that our mission would take place after sun down. OOOOH!
Around 6:30pm I loaded up their bikes and we headed back to the College. I put a light on Thomas's helmet and a light on Molly's handle bar. By the time we rode into the trail is was pitch black! Thomas was so excited he could not quit talking. "This is so cool!" I wish I had a dollar for every time he said that. Molly however was a bit apprehensive. She's a "C" personality like her Daddy. She needs to know every detail. I don't have time to type all the questions she had for me during our mission.
We made our way around the trail and as we rode up a long climb I noticed Thomas had stopped near the top. He was still talking about something but I had quit listening earlier when it became apparent that what he was saying was for his benefit only. Since his light was on his helmet it shown where he looked and when Molly and I got up to him I realized he was looking at deer. They were all around us! At this point I had still been trying to convince Molly that we were having fun and I didn't want to mess that up with thoughts of a deer ambush so I said "Keep going, we're scaring the poor things!"
We rode our way on out and as is always the case with a first time event it was great fun...now that we're done. As I put the bikes back on the truck Molly and Thomas were sky high about the "mission". They had to call the Mom's. They had to make a movie. So...here's the proof of our Stealth Mission!

Stephen Sisk participated in a great event this weekend called Spin for Kids. I'm so sorry to have missed this great time. You will be too after you read his recap.

Spin forKids

I started outlate Saturday evening along with Peter Kite for the annual Spin for Kids ridein Rutledge, Ga. to raise money for Camp Twin Lakes. This is a fantastic eventthat helps Camp Twin Lakes provide a network of camps providing life-changingcamp experiences to thousands of Georgia's children with serious illnesses,disabilities and other challenges each year. This was slated to be the biggestturnout with over 950 riders. Peter and I got up early for check in. Thecentury route started at 8:00am. I was getting ready for a cold morning ridewhile Peter enjoyed the breakfast buffet since his ride started at 10:00am.Once I got all my cold weather gear on I was ready for the start. It was agreat field of several hundred riders including several local Teams. I slowlymade my way towards the front of the pack since there was a lot of slowing andstopping in the back. I jumped on the back of a large group that included theLitespeed Team. They were setting a very good comfortable pace so I decided tohang on for a while. We made our way through several small towns and a lot offarm land. After Rutledge we made our way to Madison. This is a gorgeoushistoric town with lots of big homes and estates’, I was truly amazed at allthe architectural details. The volunteers at the SAG’s surprised everyone withbreakfast pizza and many other non-typical SAG foods. I really enjoyed thepumpkin cookies!. Once back on the road I broke off to jump up to anothergroup. I met one rider named "Ale". He and I seemed to set such agood pace that we eventually ended up by ourselves. It was a good chance tofellowship and hang out. We picked up several riders along the route and endedwith a great group. What a wonderful day, great route and wonderful fellowship.At the finish I was starting to smell the food from Taco Mac so I met up withPeter who finished his ride and we enjoyed a great meal. Once we ate and hungout we headed for the finish line to see everyone coming in from all the other rides.The highlight of the day for me was a chance to see a father and son on a threewheeled tandem finishtheir 47 mile route. As they came through the finish line the crowd eruptedwith excitement to see the son who had cerebral palsy pedaling as hard as hecould with his dad. The son was giving high fives and smiling as big as hecould. You could see the joy in his dad's face. That was truly what the day wasabout, in the end giving these children a chance to have a life changingexperience. It was a humbling experience for me to see. I'm truly thankful forthe ability to ride and to do it for a great cause.

BestRegards,
StephenSisk

I won't miss that one next year. That's what I love about riding!

Well...that's all for this installment of Chad's News! I hope you all have fun this coming weekend and enjoy the life God has given you!

Be more concerned about your CHARACTER than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your REPUTATION is merely what others think you are.

Chad

2011 Lt. Governor's Century for FCA

2011-10-18T15:02:00.001-04:00

Well, the preparations I detailed in my earlier posting "How to plan a Century Ride" were put to the test this weekend and I'm proud of the results. They say in show business that you can make mistakes as long as the audience doesn't have the script. As I look back on the event I'm grateful that our riders were kept safe, had fun, and liked the route. Nearly 100 riders traversed the course and more than a few of them put down some impressive times on a really tough route. Before I get into the details of the day I want to thank all the volunteers from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Lt. Governor's Office, Hall County Sheriff's Office, and Chestnut Mountain Church! You guys did awesome! I'd like to especially thank Roy Neill, Lisa Hayes, Jessica Pattillo, Jason Lester, and Tim Tipton for their help. You guys made me look so good!

Only follow FCA!

My wife Lisa and I got up at 5:30am to start our long day. I headed on over to the church to set up registration and check on things. By the way, you punks who stole our Event Parking signs are going to hell if you don't return them to the Church.

OK. Let's move on. We set everything up and cyclists started filing in. I was happy to see all my drivers/picture takers/mechanics/cheerleaders show up ready to serve. That would be Pete w/ Outback Bikes, Lance Carpenter & Gary McCarthy, and Phil Loveless. Thanks guys!!

I ran my mouth for an hour at the riders as they registered and got prepared. When the time came for announcements I let Lt. Gov Casey Cagle say a few words. Then Atlanta Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff spoke and guaranteed a win on Sunday. OK. Not really, but he was great. I could tell he really is a cycling enthusiast because he rode a Colnago. He and Casey rode together and seemed to have a great time.

Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff

Registration and Lisa my wife, she so pretty!

The riders were led out by two officers from Hall County who went above and beyond to see the cyclists got way out on course before they went about their duties. I knew it would start out cold so I had the SAG's ready to put warmers in bags and taken to the finish for the riders. Turned out to be a great idea but I must admit that I stole it from Joe Elam and his LAP Century folks. The route was tough. That's what everybody said. And I knew it would be. But the benefit was no traffic and not a ton of turns. Just rolling country roads. The riders who completed the Century had one mean ride. I was the driver backing them up and I had a great time. I met some really cool folks who were just trying to survive. One nice lady was having a bad day and finally succumbed to her oxygen debt and called it quits. Her husband was instrumental in that decision. She ended up having a great time helping me support the group her hubby was with. I have to tell you about another lady who actually put in 115 miles. She took a wrong turn in Talmo, doubled back, and then took another wrong turn and had to turn around. When I got the call about her I was fixing to pack up the Gillsville SAG thinking the last rider had gone through. I drove back down the course and offered to bring her up to the group that was at that time 20 mins ahead of her. She said, "No thank you, I'll catch up!" Oh...Kay?! I did some quick math based on how fast I thought she might be and started calling base camp to let them know it might be after 4pm before we were back. Boy, was I wrong about her. By the time she reached the SAG in Homer she was within 10 minutes of the last group. She caught them at the Plainview SAG and then proceeded to drop them and ended up finishing 10 minutes ahead of the final group at 3:00pm. Lesson = never judge a riders ability by their bike or how they look.

Riders assemble.

SAG# 1 in Talmo, GA

The FCA folks were great and kept the riders well fed all day. I think next year I'll make them compete to see who's got the most fun SAG. Now let's get into some rider pictures so those of you who missed this ride can cry and lament your decisions.

These guys were fun!

I love tandems!

And they're off!

Casey and Thomas enjoy the scenery.

There were many groups from different area's. Baxter's, Adventure Cycles, Habersham Bicycles, Northstar Bicycles, ISI Cycling, Bike Town, FTTE, and others. Everyone was breathing hard but having fun.

Life is easy when your security team can pick you up and place you near the front! I'm told that Thomas is in great shape and could have dished out some pain. Guess we'll never know.

Ready to ride!


75 Degrees is the best!

These guys were all about having some fun. What a variety of great riders we had!


Hubby

Now it's time to share a story from one of my good friends, Star Bridges. Star completed the 100 mile course and enjoyed several chicken sandwiches it seems. Here's his story from a riders perspective:

Chad,

Star leads into Pendergrass, GA

1st, you did a heckuva job! That was one of the best charity rides I've ever experienced. The route was well marked and we never missed a turn. That is saying something considering how fast we were going.
The freaking Chick-fil-A at the finish was an AWESOME idea! I woofed down 3 sandwiches and 2 cokes. That truly was the best post-century meal EVER!

Okay. Now for the recap:
A large group of 50+ formed 5 miles out of the church. Speed was 20-25 and moving. At 20 miles in I made a bad error and stopped for a nature break. This got me and another guy 8 miles of hard chasing, due to the lead group STILL hammering along without letting up. Mile 30ish saw the 100k riders split off, and it seemed the majority went that way. Most of the fast guys did too, except one guy on a TT bike that now saw an opportunity to truly use his bike to it's fullest potential. He kept our speed at about 25 mph.
In Gillsville we stopped for the Sag and shed clothing. David Sabat drove up and jumped out trying to get on after running a 5K in Toccoa. He almost made it, but his rear tire blew right when the group started off again. I helped him get the tube changed and we set off chasing with about 3 minutes to make up. We held a 20-22 pace for the next 20 miles. We got within sight of the lead group on the straightaway in Lula, but never could get any closer. We continually caught riders who got dropped from the lead group. When we pulled into the Sag at Homer, there were about 10 guys about to start out and we quickly refilled bottles and headed out with them. Chad Edwards complained that the TT Bike guy kept them hammering the whole way since Gillsville. No wonder we couldn't catch them! I was told the TT bike guy, Stephen Dean, and Trace Nabors had moved on 3 minutes before we got to Homer. The guys we found ourselves with now had no intention of trying to follow that Trigeek all the way back to the church. He must of hurt them. Main guy in this group was Sean Philyaw. He's on a new bike (Wilier) and kept us moving along well. As you can guess, I'm about toast now and we still have 45 miles to get back to the church.
Guys fell off along the way as I hoped our pace would somehow catch the 3 leaders. No such luck. We saw them at the Sag at the Plainview SAG but we all needed water and a breather and didn't jump in with them. The Trigeek looked fresh but Stephen and Trace looked worn. David Sabat had another flat at about mile 80 and told us to go on, that he was calling you for a rescue. This put us down to just 4 remaining. Sean, Me, a guy named David that Sean knew and this OLD GUY! Old Guy started freaking attacking on hills in the last 10 miles too! He must have been at least 60. Anyway, Stephen Dean bonked on Hwy 60 and as we came up to him his rear tire BLEW UP. Like, gunshot blew. He pulled off and said he'd wait for a Sag pickup because he was completely trashed. The rest of us continued but we never found Trace or the TT guy. You gotta give props to Trace for finishing in the lead. That was a really good ride by him.

Great time today, Chad. Thank you for doing so much to make is such a wonderful experience. I'm completely blown and will only wash the bike tomorrow. Take care.

Star Bridges

Other texts I got:

Great Job! - Mike Mahalic
Great job my friend!!! Everybody had a great time and loved the course!! Thank you very much!! - Casey Cagle
Fantastic ride, Mr. Organizer! BIG THANKS for a very fun, well-supported ride! You guys did AWESOME! - David Shabat
Great job with the ride! Lots of fun! Thanks! - Trace Nabors
Awesome first year event! Congrats! Get some rest. - Joe Elam
Very nice event! I could see it grow to be one of the bigger rides pretty quickly. - Bob Riordan

I'm satisfied. Like all big events in life you look back on them one or two days later and have even more appreciation for the experience. In Church the next day the pastor gave a great message about the Necessity of Revival. All during his teaching I thought about the needs in this country. A lot of things we think are "needs" are actually "wants". I want a better house or I want a better spouse. What we need is discipline. We're spoiled. And the "millennial's" scare me. They've grown up in the "self esteem" culture that's taught them that there should be no winners and losers. We should all get an award. Greatness is shameful. Having a messed up life is normal. Well it isn't! Hard work is normal. Commitment is normal. Integrity is normal. You don't just strive for average do you? Perfection is being married forever. Perfection is raising a child who honors his Mom and Dad. Perfection is what we should all be striving for.

In bike racing you have to suffer at times to get your opportunity at victory. And your victory may simply be in finishing. But why would you even enter the race if you're not committed to finishing well?

The answer for America is for men to quit being selfish and take responsibility for their home. Get their priorities in order. Be vocal about their beliefs and defend morality. Stop being so passive and take control. Focus on their spouse first and then the kids. Push filth out the door. Be a Man!

If you think this is fired up you should be glad I didn't write it on Sunday. I guess I'm just tired of excuses. The people I like the most don't give me excuses. They are trying to live exceptional lives. I just wish there were a lot more men like that. So that's my prayer. God, revive us with more men who want to live exceptional lives.

Thanks everybody for reading! I hope you have a great week...here comes the cold!

Oh and check out the rest of the pictures I took this weekend HERE!

Chad

24 Hours of Georgia

2011-10-13T09:43:00.000-04:00

I'll begin this post by telling you what the 24 Hours of Georgia is. It's a mountain bike race lasting from 11AM on Saturday to 11AM on Sunday. Categories range from Solo, 2 Person Male, 2 Person Coed, 3-5 Person Teams, and 10+ Person Corporate Teams. It's put on by two promoters; Dirty Spokes Racing and Chainbuster Racing. It's like nothing I've ever done before.

The journey to this race began at the bike shop. Joe Elam of Habersham Bicycles started months ago trying to coerce his "regulars" into creating teams and competing in it. He soon settled on two teams; a 5 Person "Competition" Team and a Corporate "For Fun" Team. We chose our team names and signed up for what is now another big check mark on my bucket list. Here were the teams:

Team Habersham Hillbillies - Trace Nabors, Trent Smith, Craig Tinsley, David Shabat, Chad Hayes

Team Habersham Bicycles FF - Joe Elam, David Laddy, Tommy Blackstock, Blake Duck, Preston Elam.

Since my personal experience was most closely with my team mates I'll only describe their personalities to you as best I can. But I'm no psych major so don't use this on any job applications.

Trace Nabors - I've known Trace for years now. We've raced together on several occasions and most recently won the 2010 Tumbling Creek Race. I like to say that Trace is like a diesel. He's got one strong, fast, powerful speed. He's not aggressive. If you want to take the corner first, be his guest. Just don't take it personally as he passes you when you fade later on. Trace is soft spoken and fun loving. He's a great Christian husband and father. He's a good friend.

Trent Smith - I met Trent for the first time last year. I liked him from the start. He's a newlywed and she's the best thing he'll ever have for the rest of his life. Trent is SUPER ACCENTRIC about everything. Biking is one of many things that make him happy. They are in that stage of marriage where you can just "make crap up to do this weekend". Do any of you remember that time in your marriage? I like Trent a lot because he gives 110% to his friends and his commitments. I'm guilty of spreading stories about the accidents he's had since picking up mountain biking. They're all true of course. I've got pictures to prove it. Anyway, Trent is young and new to everything we were about to do but he brought youthful enthusiasm with him.

Craig Tinsley - This guy is the best bike handler this side of the Mississippi. He will slip out of sight on a single track trail faster than green grass through a goose. Craig loves his kids and talks about them all the time. I've raced with Craig many times. Our best result was Second in the Currahee Adventure Duathlon last year. He loves to compete but doesn't like to be pressured. I think that's why he likes competing as a team. He's got an engine though and was made for endurance riding. I was glad he said he'd be on our team. Craig is a calm and confident guy who loves to ride and wants to win.

David Shabat - I can't say enough about this guy. We've raced together all year. We've won three Duathlons and the entire Series. We've been on the podium in the Chainbuster 6 Hour MTB Series several time this year. I've gotten to know David and he's the real deal. He's a tremendous family man who loves his wife unconditionally and can't get enough of his son Ben. David's passion in previous years has been running and he's competed in silly little races like the Boston Marathon and things like that. But at the beginning of the season I needed a team mate for a personal goal and David helped me out. He switched disciplines and has become a really fast rider. I'm fortunate to have him as a friend and team mate.

So that's our team. We were set to compete as a 5 Person Relay Team in a 24 hour mountain bike race. And we had no idea what to do about it.

I knew one thing... I wanted to record as much of the event as I could. I brought a super slim video camera and took pictures with my phone every chance I could. I also didn't want to arrive unprepared so I packed a few things like: a 6 man tent, 12 foot canopy tent, large cooler stocked with food and ice, large water cooler of ice water, small charcoal grill, small 2 cycle generator, my entire wardrobe of cycling clothes in one bag, a tote full of all my tools, spare parts, and lubes. I brought two bikes; my trusty GIANT Anthem 29er with American Racing tubeless wheels (with fresh Stan's glue in them) and my new to me GIANT Cyclocross bike which I set on a trainer for us to use to warm up. Oh and a radio so we could listen to Georgia beat Tennessee! (What's up Bill Mashburn?)

Our conversations in the week leading up to the race always had the same theme, Have Fun. No matter what happened we must have fun. We all agreed that if we wanted to look back at this with happy feelings we had better resolve to it now. An so...we did. There was no pressure. We had no lofty goals. Just go hard and see where we end up by morning. The only other thing we agreed on was to not have any dead time on course. In other words be there at the transition for your team mate and don't make him look for you.

Trace Nabors at the start under threat of Dustin Mealor

Trace agreed to start the race so I could film it. He and Dustin (Team Spare Parts) traded insults and even spit on each other before the start of the race. I think I saw Trace let the air out of Dustin's rear tire. Or was he just checking his tire pressure like any friend would do? Anyway, the start wasn't as important since this was a 24 hour long race so everybody seemed more relaxed. As we waited we noticed someone somewhere was beating an Indian drum. You know, like teepee's and war paint! It gave you the feeling of warriors preparing for battle. Trent was in love with it. He said he was getting one.

Trace saw the course for the first time on his first lap and still put us into third. We decided the order of riders would be; Trace, Chad, David, Craig, Trent and we'd rotate in that order the rest of the day. As the hours went by we found ourselves slipping down and up. Our worst spot was after Trent had a flat on his third lap at 2AM which dropped us all the way to 6th place. But then we started a new rotation and went to work. Night riding took it's toll on folks and we managed to creep back up into 3rd place by the time Craig finished his lap at dawn.

Here's a list of problem's we incurred: The big one was Trent flatting on the granite section. Craig dropped his chain several times. Everybody washed out and crashed at least once. I dropped my chain three times and then twisted it somehow requiring it to be replaced. A great big THANK YOU to Todd Fisher from Team Spare Parts for bartering me a new chain for a hamburger off our grill!

The Course = 12.3 miles.

The course was brutal. Once you left the transition area you rode into a tunnel that took you to the "Granite" side (right side in picture). The granite side was about 4 miles long and took almost as long to ride as the 8 miles of single track on the left side. It's funny how in the pictures it looks like smooth granite but actually it's really rough. There's also some steep grades to climb over there. In fact the one and only place I had to get off my bike was during the granite side. There's a 20% climb of about 100 yards with crazy roots and rocks. Once you made it back to the bridge you rode past the Start/Finish line and through all the encamped racers. We took advantage of this crossing and would encourage our team mate as he rode past. It also served to tell the next rider about how long he had to warm up. It really added to the excitement of the race for us.

As dawn approched we figured out that we were back in 3rd Place by at least 5 minutes! I was as excited as a man can be after being up for 25 hours. The rotation called for Craig to hand off to Trent and then based on time we'd only have enough for one more lap which would be Trace. We decided to let Trace go next and I would finish the last lap. Here's our logic: Trace and I were rested. Trace and I were riding 29er's which were well suited for this course. We both had tubeless tires which helped also. And we both were clocking the fastest laps.

Look at my face. Granite is not smooth.

Since Trent had flatted on the granite we thought it would be best not to take that chance again. So... two more laps of trouble free riding and we could seal the deal. Our team had worked all day and night for this opportunity. You can see how focused we were if you watch the video and especially the melodrama from Trent. He's is so funny. I like him a lot. The video also gives you an idea of what a great encourager David is. I could drop the ball a million times and he'd be like, "No big deal Chad, you're awesome!"

Obviously you all know how we finished. I'll never be able to tell you everything that happened during the night as we tried to encourage each other, remember to eat and drink, get some rest, and repair our bikes. I'll just have to rely on the video to give you some clue as to why I'll never forget this race.

This year continues to be a confirmation of God's mercy and blessing. I used to get really intense and focused on winning. It shouldn't surprise me that when I put biking in it's place... I enjoy it a lot more. And I have more success at it. We finished Well, 3rd out of 33 teams! But most of all we met our goal...We had Fun!!!

3rd Place - 24 Hours of Georgia - Craig Tinsley, Chad Hayes, David Shabat, Trent Smith, Trace Nabors

And now... the moment you've all been waiting for... the Grammy Nominated short film of the year...

24 HOURS OF GEOOOORGIA! - Bruce Dickman

AND HERE'S THE START
AND HERE'S THE GRAMMY WINNER'S VIDEO

Remember to cherish those you have in your life because you never know when they won't be there anymore.

Chad

How to plan a century bike ride.

2011-10-04T14:03:00.000-04:00

As you all know I'm a "C" personality. I need a plan. I like to be organized. It's a trait that has suited me well over the years. Most recently I'm helping Lt. Governor Casey Cagle with his Century ride. As you can imagine it takes a lot of planning. And a lot of doing. Think about this; there needs to be directional arrows painted on the road before every turn and a confirmation one after the turn. There could be a lot of painted things on the roads so you need to paint something specific for the riders to recognize. In our case it's the letter's "FCA". I've been spending my evenings painting 200 miles of road and it sucks.

Planning a Century ride of this size involves other things too. Here's a quick list:
1. Paint the roads.
2. SAG Locations (preferably with bathrooms available)
3. Volunteers
4. Registration; Online and Day Of.
5. T-Shirts and Goodie Bags for the participants.
6. Food. For the SAG's and lunch after the ride.
7. Volunteers
8. Advertising
9. Route Cue Sheets and Maps (Online and Day Of Print Outs)
10. Volunteers

I've organized three rides in my career as a ride director/promoter extraordinaire. The most successful was my first one and for much of the same reason the Lt. Governor's ride is going to be. My first ride was to benefit Officer Joe Groover who was shot in the line of duty.Not shot dead, just shot. (Your welcome Joe) His good friend Officer Kelley Edwards is also a great friend of mine and together we put on a bike ride and 5K run to raise money for Groover's family. We asked Blackshear Place Church to allow us to hold the event there and use their kitchen, bathrooms, ect. I developed the ride, Kelley worked the run and the event was great!

2008 Groover Benefit Ride

Where we did the best was in fund raising. You need to get companies on board to either pay for stuff or donate supplies. Well, when I walk into Publix with a Hall County police officer suddenly I get attention from the management. That's how it's been with the Lt. Governor's ride. I just tell Roy (LG's External Affairs Coordinator) what I need and he makes the calls. Magic! We need SAG supplies, POOF! We need signs printed, POOF! We need Italian lunch for the riders, POOF! Roy is like my own personal Jeannie! But let's be honest. When you start the conversation with, "This is Roy from the Lt. Governor's office" you don't get a busy signal. Consequently the ride is going to be great!
So lesson number one: Pick a great Cause! Lesson number two: Enlist men of Power! I'm just a lowly accountant who loves to ride a bike. Businesses can't get behind every man with an idea to raise money for charity. You have to be smart. When Casey came to me with the idea of putting on a benefit ride I jumped at it. Not because I needed more work to do, but because I knew that my work wouldn't be in vain.

Let me share with you some of the things happening at the LG's ride. Now remember, when we started it was a Century ride from "somewhere" with supplies from "somewhere", ect.

The online registration page is on BikeReg.com and has been updated as we've added new stuff.
The routes are built on MapMyRide.com so we can put links on the registration site and flyers, ect.
The routes keep the riders on back roads and out of heavy traffic as much as possible.

Talmo, GA - SAG#1, Cool little fake gas station.

The routes take riders through old towns in North Georgia where we've set up the SAG stops. All with bathrooms available!
Each route has painted arrows before and after the turns.
Route options: 28mile,50mile,66mile,100mile.
One support vehicle for every route!
Ride starts and ends at Chestnut Mt. Church. We roll out the back and stay on back roads.
United Health Care Race Team EXPO from 9AM-2PM where pro cyclists will provide bike safety classes for children, bike demonstrations as well as important information on eating healthy and staying fit. They will have bikes and helmets for the day's use and will also raffle off a child's bike and helmets!
The Lt. Governor's Greater Purpose Charity is conducting a Silent Auction for many items that nobody would ever give me if "I" asked. Signed cycling jersey's from BMC George Hincapie, Radio Shack, Garmin Cervelo. Signed football stuff from UGA, GT, Florida State, Atlanta Falcons.

Me and Casey

The CEO of the Atlanta Falcons and an un-named player will be there. CEO is riding with Casey. You can too!
Other bike shops say they will bring a tent for the EXPO.
Goodie bags will have lots of cool stuff in them.
FCA has great and fun volunteers for everything!

It's a ride director's dream! And Casey want's to do this ride every year! Next year it will be part of the BRAG tune up series of rides.

I have to admit I'm a little scared. I don't have complete control of this thing. At this point the event will happen whether I show up or not. But I want the riders to have a great time and get the best support. We'll just try our best!

Coming up this weekend is the 24 Hours of Georgia mountain bike race at the Conyers Horse Park. For those who don't know that's the course created for the Olympics in 1996. My legs are still aching from "Doing the Double" so I'm taking the rest of the week easy to prepare. I have four team mates for this race; Trent Smith, David Shabat, Craig Tinsley, and Trace Nabors. And there will be a ton of other friends there too. I can't wait!

2011 Good News for Gainesville Ride

I participated in a great charity ride this past weekend called The Good News For Gainesville Ride. We had a lot of fun. I rode with local celebrity Nathan O'Neal who told me about his new Promotion Company called DinGO Racing or Promotions or something. They already have two events on USA Cyclings calender. One is an Omnium in Gainesville next year on Mother's Day weekend. He says they plan on changing the crit course downtown and will treat the racers really well. Good on ya, mate!

Family Biking Day! Ellie, Landon, Thomas, Erin Grace

We had a great Family Biking Day! I'm not sure how many family's showed up but we had a blast as usual.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Have a great week everybody!

Chad

Doing the double - Part 2

2011-09-30T18:13:00.002-04:00

I've done two races in one day. I've completed a 5 day stage race. I ridden many 100 mile rides. But I've never competed in an endurance mountain bike race at my limit on one day and then an epic mountain climbing road ride the next morning. I was in uncharted territory. I had no idea how my body would react. After a thrilling day of mountain bike racing that put over 3 hours at my threshold into my legs I started thinking of one thing, RECOVERY!

Crit Racing is in Downtown Dahlonega...Finally!

If I wanted to have a good time riding with my friends I'd better eat, drink, and rest as much as possible for the next 13 hours. Not so easy when we still had to load up our tent and gear, drive to Dahlonega, prep for the ride, find food, and pack up the Lt. Governor's Century tent at the expo down town. Again my wife was unbelievable. We made it all happen and enjoyed the Crit races that evening while scarfing down a couple of burritos. Actually I scarfed, she ate like a lady. We saw a lot of friends and hung out with Star Bridges and Sean Philyaw.

Watch the CAT4/5 Race HERE

Sean raced the CAT4 race and got put out by the officials for fixing his saddle after it got bent. He hit a pot hole. "Officially" he should have ridden around to the pit area and then fixed it. OK then.

Historic Worley Bed & Breakfast

Lisa and I stayed at the Historic Worley Bed & Breakfast. It's because of great fortune that we had this room. I waited too late to start calling about rooms and didn't think I'd get anything. Then I had my call returned by Mrs. Francis. She started the conversation by asking what kind of person I was. It seems that the same people have been reserving a room for Six Gap every year. One of those couples couldn't make it this year and she had an opening. But in order to keep her other "regulars" happy she was giving me the third degree. Happily I passed inspection so Lisa and I stayed in a super cozy B&B. The next morning I got up and had Mrs. Francis' special cinnamon oatmeal, egg and cheese casserole, bacon (no I didn't), and many other things that on any other day I'd have made myself sick eating. Lisa is not a morning person but she got up, took me to the start, and returned to relax and enjoy breakfast and coffee with the wives and other guys who were only doing 3 Gap.

I forgot to tell you all something important.

My cell phone crapped out on me overnight on Friday. It was to be my memory recorder for the weekend. Consequently I had nothing to take pictures with for the entire ride. I also couldn't get the calls from friends trying to find me at the start. Lisa was not happy about me not having a phone for a 7 hour ride. I made Star text her and he updated her throughout the ride. I got some nice brownie points for that.

Here's a tid bit you can file away in your brains; Regular rubber balloons don't hold helium for two days. So the balloon I filled on Friday was entirely inadequate on Sunday morning. My friends Stephen Sisk, Benny Bohanan, and David Shabat had trouble parking and couldn't find us in time for the start. With 3,000 riders it's a wonder we ever found each other later but we did. The Lt. Governor Casey Cagle was there to start us off and we made our way toward the first major climb. I began eating and drinking. I also started my campaign to "wheel suck" as much as humanly possible. Lucky for me Star Bridges and Sean Philyaw were feeling sprightly and didn't mind pulling us along. I was worried about bonking. Normally I'm prepared and therefore very aggressive. My body was giving me good signals but it's a long day. My legs were sore but I had power. My heart rate stayed low and I felt good. I wanted to feel that way in 6 hours so I stuck to my survival plan. Eat, drink, conserve energy.

Food

Once we made the top of Neels Gap I went for the food table like a 4 month old to the peach flavored baby food. PB&J was my goal...and some fig newtons...and they had carry on bags of trail mix, yeah baby! The kind with M&M's!! I stocked up on everything, filled my bottles, and found my comrades.

Then out of the mist came my friend and team mate David "Sharp Dressed Man" Shabat. He was so very happy to see us. I'd like to think it was because he likes us but there's something inside me that says it was more than that. His first words were, "Do you have anything to eat?" David forgot everything. He had no food of his own. He had only one bottle and it's the one we got in our podium bag the day before. We all gave him some of our stash and off we went. This was our group: Star Bridges, Sean Philyaw, David Shabat, Me, Stephen Sisk, and Clint Sanders. Six companions. We were the Fellowship of the Gaps.

OK...that's kind of corny but I'm gonna leave it.

The draft became mine and David's best friend in the whole world. The draft is such a beautiful cycling reality for people like us. If this were a 1 hour race we would have both taken pulls and done our share of the work. However, this was 7 hours and over 11,000 feet of climbing. Not even President Obama could match our conservation efforts. We shall survive!

The turn in Helen, Ga taking you to Hog Pen Gap

Once we made it to the top of Unicoi Gap we were almost half way. The soreness in my legs had grown to a dull ache that only got worse if I went above 250 watts. That's a key factor we'll discuss later. On the climbs our group would split up some. Star, Sean and Clint made their way a little faster than the rest of us. We'd all re-group at the tops. I looked forward to descending Unicoi but the climb up Hog Pen was looming. It's a monster. I'm fond of saying that climbing a mountain is like eating an elephant; one bite at a time. We followed the "draft" as far as we could, which happened to be the start of the Hog Pen climb. Once the road turned up my legs began to tell me that my pain threshold was about to be tested. Eating this elephant took almost an hour at an average of 260 watts. I was in a fog. I think there were trees and I saw some grass. Otherwise I just stared at my Garmin and settled in to my pain cave. David was in his too.

There's a theory out there in cycling that says a rider who's suffering should picture himself putting the pain in a box. Close the box and keep pedaling. It's stupid but it gives your mind something to think about. After moving ahead on the Jack's climb, Sean told David he must have put his pain in a box. David then calmly explained that he doesn't have a box. He has a large chest with gold buckles and ornate jewels on the top. Inside the chest are six drawers lined with silk. His pain on this day was so great that he'd already filled three drawers and would run out of space by the time we reached the Wolf Pen climb. His goal in moving up ahead was to steal someone else's box while they were distracted at the food table. David is a real thinker. I like him a lot. Naturally I started looking for a rider who didn't seem to need his pain box. Stupid, I know.

Star Bridges, Me, David Shabat, Stephen Sisk, Clint Sanders, Sean Philyaw. Top of Hog Pen Gap

We made it to the top of Hog Pen Gap! My legs were angry with me. Otherwise I felt pretty good and I'd say David was doing well too. Once we ate PB&HONEY sandwich's we set out to bomb down the back side of the mountain. I was feeling fortunate and didn't want to mess it up so I took it easy and followed my friend Stephen Sisk. You can't help but to go fast. If you stay on your brakes you'll heat up the rims and pop your tires. I thought we were going pretty darn fast and then a motorcycle blew past us doing about 70 MPH. Almost knocked me down with the wind as it went by. I glanced back and then moved over to see what kind of rice rocket it was and... it was David Shabat on his Motobecane! Evidently he felt there was nothing to live for or maybe his brakes stop working once the bike goes above 50 mph or perhaps his mind finally cracked and he wanted to see if he could break the sound barrier. He was out of sight in seconds.

Next up was the Wolf Pen climb which started with us all together but we split up as usual...wait...no it didn't start with us all together. We forgot Clint! He climbs like a mountain goat but turns into a little girl on the steep descents! I was so focused on survival I didn't realize he wasn't there. I think we all assumed he was already at the top of Wolf Pen waiting on us. When I got to the top I got some food, filled my bottles, and sat down for a while before the big push for home. As I'm sitting there shoving food into my mouth Clint rides up?? Basically he waited on us at the bottom of Hog Pen and then again at the turn on Hwy 180. Then he climbed Wolf Pen at the speed of light to catch us before we could leave him again. I felt bad. He's a great friend and I'm just telling you that I had no idea he wasn't there.

The final 20 miles were really good. On the road to Suches we rode up on Benny Bohanan. We hadn't seen him all day and then there he was. We rode and talked for awhile. I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was obvious that David and I were going to make it to the finish so we began pushing a little harder. Clint and Star were there with us, still on the front, keeping us in the draft. After our final stop on top of Woody's Gap we had a great descent to the Stone Pile. The last 9 miles were really hilly and rolling. David and I were with Clint and we both had the same idea. Empty the tank. Clint pushed hard up the hills and we tucked in behind him. We actually took some pulls and finished up strong. Easy to do when you've been babysat all day by good friends. Clint even let me ride through the finish first because he knew my wife was there waiting on me. I wished I had thought of him after Hog Pen as much as he was thinking of me then. It was a great and powerful finish.

I rolled in under the tent where my wife was smiling and ready to give me a kiss. I was ready to receive it. After taking a shower in the school gym I was ready for spaghetti with my friends. Only Star, Stephen, Sean, and David stayed for lunch but it was fun to talk about the days adventures. I try to make these posts short so you guys won't have to read forever so there's no way I covered everything that happened. You'll just have to ask the remaining members of "The Fellowship" to tell you what I missed.

My plan of survival was successful. Things didn't go exactly like I planned but then nothing ever does. All my friends returned safely and I wasn't miserable all weekend. My wife proved once again that I out punted my coverage when I married her. Life is still good. Thank you God!

And thank you all for reading! Check out my blog everyday for the latest info on rides in North Georgia. Have a great week!

Chad

P.S. - There's been some really cool developments with the Lt. Governor's Century Ride. United Healthcare is bringing the team and the Health&Wellness trailer for the day. Check it out.

News Flash:

Asidefrom the ride that we hope you can share with your group, we would like toinvite you to UnitedHealthcare's exhibit from 9am-2pm where professionalcyclists will provide bike safety classes for children, bike demonstrations aswell as important information on eating healthy and staying fit. TheUnitedHealthcare team will have bikes and helmets for the day's use should yourchild not have one and we will also raffle off a child’s bike andhelmets! Remember, the children's bike safety expo is open toeveryone and anyone who wishes to come! We also encourage you to stick aroundand cheer our finishers home as they make their way down the home stretchand participate in the silent auction that includes really great items!

Doing the Double - Part 1

2011-09-27T12:06:00.000-04:00

This was going to be a great weekend. I wanted to declare to the world that 40 years of age is NOTHING! So I signed up to do a 6 Hour Mountain Bike Race with my team mate David Shabat on Saturday and then ride the 105 mile, 11,000 feet of climbing, Six Gap Century on Sunday. I've completed them both and so did my friend David. The story of this weekend is packed with greatness so I'm forced to report it in two parts. As with all things I write we'll begin in chronological order starting with...

Welcome to Hayesville!

Hayesville! That's right...my town. OK not really but it was fun to walk around in downtown Hayesville on Friday evening. I took Friday off work so my wife Lisa and I could take our time getting there and setting up. We went by the trail and left our canopy tent, I pre-rode the course, and we talked to the guy who puts on the race named Kenny. He's a great guy. I told him we had reservations at a swanky restaurant downtown named The Copper Door. As we parted ways Kenny's words were, "You kids have fun!" I like him.

We stayed in a house on the lake offered to us by my daughter's principle Mr. Moody. It was perfect. Nice and quiet. I slept like a baby and since the trail was only 5 minutes away and the race didn't start until 10am I was very relaxed...right up until Kenny began counting down to start the race. After pre-riding the course I knew the start would be super fast. He started us about a quarter mile up a paved road and then we took a hard right into the trail. For the next 2 miles the trail was mostly flat along the ridge line beside the lake. What that means is, as usual, getting out front at the start was key. WATCH THE RACE START

Wild Bill

As I waited at the starting line I was joined by our arch nemesis Bill from Team Gutbuster's (1st Place Overall) who was calling out a friend for riding a... CYCLOCROSS BIKE! I looked around and noticed at least two more of them. This was bad. You see cyclocross bikes are faster than all of us on pavement and even in a field. But once they get in the trails it's lights out. They are slower than the top 20% of the mountain bikers racing. Which is actually saying a lot. Those guys are good. I am truly impressed with the skill it takes to navigate a trail system on what is essentially a road bike. But not today. The goal must be to beat them into the woods. Otherwise who ever does will have a considerable advantage over the rest of us because we'd have to wait our turn to pass the CX guys on a single track trail. When the horn sounded we all found ourselves going as hard as we could and watching the CX guys ride away. They made it to the trail head and some folks got around them early. Not me. I spent the next 2 miles waiting in line. But that's racing I guess.

I had no idea where my competition was so I just went as hard as I could. David rode like a mad man too. When we finally got time to check we found out we were in 3rd. Only 1 minute down on 2nd. But the Gutbuster's were busting a gut and beating us by 2 minutes. As the day wore on we realized that our lap times were going to give us a decision to make. Usually we go fast enough that we get in 7 laps within the 6 hour time frame. Our times today were going to make it possible to get 8 laps...if David wanted to try it. As I powered through what I knew would be my last lap I thought about what I would do. If it were me...I wouldn't go for it. Only one reason: Six Gap the next day. But then what if the 2nd place guy cramps up, what if 1st place busts a gut? When I got back David was there ready to go for it. I should have known.

The minutes ticked by. Time was counting down. If you finish the lap even 1 second past 6 hours the lap does not count. 5 minutes to go. David's son Ben was pacing around the tent. 3 minutes. His wife Lenka asked me what I think. I say he can do it. 1 minute left. Oh well...he tried...what a great effort...it's been a long day. 40 seconds left... and here comes David flying around the corner of the road. He had 40 seconds to finish coming down the road, turn into the field and ride up through the finish line. It looked like a long way. David looked tired. Kenny was on the PA system counting down. We were all screaming at David to hurry. His son was trying to get the video started. I started asking Kenny if I could push him since I'm his team mate. David was slamming his weight down on the bike to get it up the hill through the field. When he got to me I ran behind him clapping and yelling "Go David Go!" I stopped running so I could watch as he passed over the finish line and see the clock.

David enjoys the moment.

5:59:46

We finished in 3rd Place. One of only 3 teams to get 8 laps. WHO'S... YOUR... DADDY!
That's probably not appropriate to say. My wife will not like it but I'm gonna leave it there. What a great way to finish a race! I was so proud of David. As we sat in our chairs waiting on the podium presentation I'm sure the same thought was going through each of our minds... Six Gap. But we didn't care. We'll just figure out how to get through it. Today we gave everything. No regrets...until tomorrow.

Chainbuster Jackrabbit 6 Hr Team Relay

So that's how we finished up. But there are other stories being told out there. Our newbie friend Trent Smith was on a 9 Hour 3 Person Male Relay Team and they took 1st Place!! I'm happy for you Trent!! I do however feel sorry for his wife. There will be no living with him now.

And Dustin Mealor entered the 9 Hour Solo Expert division again. This time finishing in 5th Place! Nice!

Stan White sporting the Habersham Bicycles kit and raced 6 Hr Solo Masters 50+ taking 6th Place!

One thing I especially enjoy about team racing is looking at the team names. If you're not promoting a business then you just make up a name for your team. Here's some of the better ones:

Team Trio of Woe                         Team Pot Roast
Team Wander Women                   Team Bob
Team Slow Spokes                        Team Flying Dirty Chickens

Bill Mashburn

Team Poncho & Lefty Team Biscuits
& Gravy

Our good friends Bill Mashburn and Jon Frame raced together for the first time too. The wiley veteran and another young punk pulled off an 8th place finish by completing 7 laps. Bill tells a great story of how he had completely shut down after what he thought was his last lap. "No way the Kid can get around the course in time for us to get another lap in!" Oops! Jon drilled it and caught Bill unprepared. And despite a bent chain ring Bill completed their last lap and bumped them up several places in the standings. Great job guys!

Jon Frame

The full results are on Kenny's site at Chainbuster Racing. There are also great pictures from Outdoor Event Photos.

Now let me tell you about the greatest gift ever given to a man on earth. I could write all day about my fantastic wife but since this is a cycling blog I'll just keep it to the facts from this past "cycle fest" weekend I shared with her. All you married cyclists listen up. It's my 15th Wedding Anniversary and I planned a long weekend getaway that included me racing a 6 hour mountain bike race and a 7.5 hour road ride in the mountains of North Georgia. Pretty stupid huh? Well guess who had a blast? Guess who got to relax and enjoy a little reading, a little competition, some sunshine, good friends, good food, and romance too? That would be me AND my wife, Lisa. How can this be you ask? What kind of bribery did it take? What kind of moaning and complaining did you put up with? How many times did she roll her eyes?... None! I have the most supportive, fun loving, and even competitive wife in the world. She was there for every cool thing that happened all weekend. Smiling and hugging and taking pictures. I'm sure you can all imagine how much greater the weekend was with her there genuinely having a great time with me. How blessed am I!? Lisa would probably say she was just being herself but I know the truth. The truth is it's my reward for keeping my priorities in order. It's my reward for always putting her first and making sure she believes that. I suffered a lot physically this weekend and will be stronger for it later. Lisa and I had some precious moments together that will help keep our marriage strong. I work harder on my relationship with my wife than I do at being a good cyclist. How about you?

In marriage, each partner is to be an encourager rather than a critic, a forgiver rather than a collector of hurts, an enabler rather than a reformer.

And by the way MEN... Romance is like playing Hide and Seek. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose, but you should never quit searching for ways to romance your wife.

This is only Part 1 of my great weekend adventure. Stay tuned for more this week!

Thanks for reading!

Chad

The GAP's

2011-09-20T09:59:00.004-04:00

The Six Gap Century held every September

There's a phrase that cyclist's in North Georgia use to describe a ride in the mountains that takes them over at least three climbs and possibly six. Those mountain climbs are called "The GAP's". They are; Neels Gap, Jack's Gap, Unicoi Gap, Hog Pen Gap, Wolf Pen Gap, and Woody Gap. If you do all six you'll have covered 70+ miles and 10,000 feet of climbing. The Tour de Georgia used many of the Gap's to add tough climbing and attract the best pro riders. At the top of Jack's Gap if you want to add the word "Epic" to the days ride you can take a turn and climb the famous Brass Town Bald Mountain. This climb will make you cry for your mommy.

Stephen and Casey get ready to climb.

I've ridden the Gap's many times and in many orders. You can start in Helen. You can start in Dahlonega. You can start at the Stone Pile or Turner's Corner. The beauty of the Gap's is that wherever you start from you can make a loop right back to it. The only thing you need to tell your buddies is where to meet. If you ride them one way this weekend you can do the same route backwards the next weekend and it's totally different. The Gap's are feared by some and revered by others. Every cyclist knows about The Gap's. But not every cyclist has ridden them. Such was the case for my friend Lt. Governor Casey Cagle.


Casey Cagle and Stephen Sisk climb Neel's Gap

He's talked to me about them on several occasions. "Do you think I can ride them?", "How hard is it?", "Do I have the right gearing for it?" The inquisition became greater after he found out he'd be starting the riders at this year's Six Gap Century. As we build up to The Lt. Governor's Century ride on October 15th things are getting very exciting. He and I have talked about what riders in Georgia like and how to make his benefit for FCA the best it can be. One thing he wanted to be able to say is that he's ridden the Gap's. So this Sunday afternoon we started from Turner's Corner and rode Neels, Wolf Pen, and Woody's.

Casey on Hwy 180 after the Wolf Pen Climb

Not knowing how he needed to pace himself was probably his biggest challenge. Neel's Gap is a 7 mile climb that took us almost an hour. I slowly paced us up while Stephen gave Casey some tips on climbing. And what a beautiful day! 78 degrees! Breezy! Sunny! Perfect for suffering. Once at the top it was time to evaluate. Do we turn around and call it a day or do we continue the journey? Reaching the top of his first "Gap" was a victory for sure but I think Casey knew he would've gone harder. There were still two unknown climbs to go and he was under some purely unintended peer pressure. He had no intention of stopping. As we got ready to leave I saw a guy coming down the stairs from the store with a goofy grin on his face. He was wearing a leather jacket like some Harley rider but was too small and gangly to make me worry. As he got closer I recognized him as my friend Stephen Dean. He was riding motor bikes with his father in law. I told him he should be on a pedal bike and he told me lies about his intentions this winter. I like Stephen Dean, he's funny.

We descended Neels and started the fun and exciting Wolf Pen Gap climb. Casey was taking it easy I could tell because he was able to carry on a conversation with us. We didn't care because we understood what he was going through. Being unsure of the obstacles ahead can drain you mentally and physically. You stay tense and end up using more energy. But Stephen and I also knew that once we got done he would be so excited. It's fun knowing how someone else is going to feel. I mean emotionally. Physically he may be telling a different story.

We rolled through Suches and up over Woody Gap and then a long fast decent down to the Stone Pile. All brand new to Casey. What a scary/thrilling ride it must have been for him. On our way back to Turner's Corner we worked on drafting. Casey rides by himself a lot so like all newbies he stayed back too far or rode outside the draft. He was uncomfortable being close behind another rider. On the way back home Stephen and I shared our thoughts on drafting in cycling.

Drafting Example

First off there's a trust between riders that is magnified on group rides. If you're drafting behind a rider you need to assume several things;
1. He knows not to hit his brakes. 2. He knows not to swerve unexpectedly. 3. He knows not to surge and slow, surge and slow. 4. He knows to tell you about dangerous objects or holes in the road and moves over slowly to avoid them.
You should assume these things until a rider demonstrates he doesn't understand his responsibility in this regard. You then have the right to correct him in a manner that reflects the danger of the situation he may have just put you in.
Beyond that, drafting is a valuable way to survive a hard ride and/or win a race. It's widely known that drafting a rider saves you 30% of your energy. In other words the guy on the front is working 30% harder to go at the same speed you are. If you aren't as strong as the guys you're with then you need to use all the draft you can. And believe me they don't mind. They'd rather you rotate off the front quickly than to blow yourself up and loose contact with the group. You can really over think the whole thing if you're not careful. Bottom line is ride in groups to get better at drafting.


Me, Stephen Sisk, Casey Cagle on top of Woody's Gap

Well we made it. Three Gaps from Turner's Corner. Another great Gap's ride for me and Stephen and an Epic ride for Casey Cagle. Time to eat, sleep and be merry. Now I'm pumped for the Six Gap Century this weekend! Something great always happens on an epic ride like that. I'll be at the start line with a white balloon so my friends can find me. Join us for a great time in the "Gap's"!

But don't think riding in the mountains is all I did this weekend. Oh no my friends! It was time for the Dawgs to catch up with all the other, smarter schools who start their schedules by playing teams you've never heard of like Kent State or Florida Atlantic or Middle Tennessee State. This week we took on the powerhouse of Coastal Carolina! This is the type of game you can get extra tickets for so we took the kids.

I've also spent some time painting the routes for the Lt. Governors Century for FCA on October 15th. It's going to be a great ride for a great cause. Stay tuned for some cool new announcements about the lunch after the ride!

Homer, GA is half way for the 100 mile riders.

During my birthday celebration week I garnered a lot of advice from friends and relatives. We're talking everything from "Now it's time to act your Age" to "Let the party continue..". I take all advice and give it it's due attention. For me there's advice that is battle tested and foundational. The people I trust in this world are on a very short list. I don't trust the Internet. I'm not a self help book reader. No, when it comes to getting guidance about my life there's always something solid for me in the Bible.

Titus2:2
Teachthe older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound infaith, in love, and in
endurance.

"Worthy ofrespect! What a goal for our lives whether we are men or women! Don't you wantyour life to reflect the character of God because our faith expresses itself ina life of self-control. This work of the Spirit in our lives happens only as wededicate ourselves to being what he is at work trying to accomplish in us."

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you out there!

Chad

Playing With The Box

2011-09-13T13:52:00.000-04:00

Normally I'd start my blog posting with the first notable thing that happened in my life last week. I'm a type C personality so I like things in order chronologically. But this week I'll shake things up a little bit and tell you about the last great thing.

In my 40 years of experience through marriage, having children, job, and life overall I've learned some things about, in this case, children's behavior. For instance I know that a child is just as likely to receive your expensive gift, unwrap it... and play with the box it came in more than the gift you spent your time and money on. You can't predict when this will happen either. This principle of child rearing can not be controlled or created. In other words parents, you can't just buy them a pretty box. My understanding of this phenomenon lead me some years ago to this conclusion: Let them play with the box and be happy. Your effort in gift giving paid off... just not how you expected.

Erin Grace, Thomas, Ellie

It's the same for most everything you plan with kids. Camping, biking, vacation, eating out. You make a plan so you have one but if it goes a little different just roll with it and make that fun. This was my plan for Sunday afternoon. I wanted to practice with my new cyclocross bike. I also wanted to take the kids riding. So I packed everything up and we headed to Gainesville State College to ride our bikes. That was the plan. It was me, my daughter Ellie, Erin Grace and Thomas Pattillo. EG, as we call her, was about to ride the trails for the first time ever. She's got a nice pink mountain bike and a determined attitude but I knew my currently non-existent cyclocross skills would be put to the test. For the next hour we made our way through the trail. EG is very small and I was sure she'd have a tough time holding on to the handle bars but she held on and didn't crash. The picture above is a pavilion built out over the swamp. We stopped here and my plan went from biking to baby turtle hunting. Of course the boy wasn't hunting baby turtles he was hunting snakes or wolverines or mountain lions or something.

If I hadn't been the only adult I'd have sneaked off and become a mountain lion just to see what Thomas really would do about it. Anyway, great diversion there. We rode more of the trail and eventually came out onto a nice flat wide open path where EG decided to crash monumentally. Her first serious crash on a mountain bike was on the easiest part of the trail. Perfect. When the dust settled we agreed she was OK and made our way back to the parking lot. Here's where I started making things up. There a cool ropes course down by the lake so we went down there and the kids played while I worked on my CX skills in the field.

Thomas and I rode around the lake together looking for cat fish... or was it barracuda... I don't remember but we didn't see any. The conversations where numerous and diverse. Kids have no filter when you put them in an environment like this so whatever came into their heads came out of their mouths. It reminded me of a country song "She thinks we're just fishin'" by Trace Adkins. We just hung out and let things happen. Thomas found a big stick which was so entertaining, especially for me when I watched him try to get it back to the car while riding his bike. EG and Ellie picked flowers for their Mommy's but I'm sure the Mommy's won't get them until they pull them out of the dryer. We left the College and went to Dairy Queen for some Mini Cookie Dough Blizzards. Who can beat that day!

Check out my youngest rushing the QB

As a roadie I'm in a constant state of training. There's always another event right around the corner that makes me want to train. But my priorities don't begin there. As you know I'm a type C so I need a general plan that can only vary slightly before I start rubbing my temples. Here's my order of priorities: 1. God, 2. Family, 3. Job, 4. Biking. That's not to say that I won't try to incorporate number 4 into the remaining three every chance I get. But if a choice must be made I defer to that list. The list keeps me from getting too consumed by my passion for riding. The list helps my man brain honor what God has blessed me with and keeps me from becoming too selfish. And you'd be surprised how good it actually works out.

On Saturday I got up early to hit the trail with my friends Trace Nabors and Bill Mashburn for about 3 hours. We went early because priority #2 dictated that the ball games of our children be attended. It was great to finally have to put on arm warmers! Chicopee Woods was packed with riders by the time we made our escape. We started at Gainesville State College and rode through the trail over to Chicopee. We then methodically rode every patch of trail there. I left Bill, who had more time and more energy than I did. Trails are in good shape. Thank you SORBA!!!
After flag football it was time for College Football! My wife Lisa is a UGA graduate and insane Bulldog fan. She gets in fights all the time with opposing fans. We've been thrown out of two games. They keep moving our seats every year to make her happy. I sneak chocolate in under my hat because it helps her stay calm in the face of ignorance. I'm serious fellas. Don't mess with this girl about Georgia football unless you want to be embarrassed. I just put my head phones on and pretend I can't see them begging me to call her off.

My new (to me) CycloCross bike.

All my favorite teams lost this weekend. Flag football, UGA, Falcons. Blah! I don't think I'm any better at Cyclocross either. But despite those facts it was a great weekend by any standard. Even if it were bad for me, those kids made more memories of fun and happiness. My wife and I spent fun time together. And I still rode my bike(s)...twice! I deserve some Strawberry Cake.

Benny Bohanan went and rode 103 miles in the mountains for the Tour de Gaps presented by Georgia Cup. Great job Benny! After the ride he had this to say,

"I don't know much about "Georgia Cup"but I got the feeling it is one guy, a camper, and some signs."

If any of you readers know Jay you'll find this quote hilarious.

Pre-Order Pricing for the M3/Hayes/Strong Gaddy Lilly Kits are: Jersey: $35.00, Bibs: $65.00, Kits (OneJersey & One Bib): $95.00

We will take pre-orders between now and Sept 24th 2011. So If you are interested please get your order in before the 24th. Visit www.habershambicycles.com

Well that's all I have for this edition folks. Tune in next week for who knows what. There are some great Charity Rides coming up next month so ride for a cause! What rides am I doing you ask?

September 25th - Six Gap Century
October 1st - Good News for Gainesville
October 8th - 24 Hours of Georgia Mountain Bike Race - Conyers
October 15th - Lt. Governor's Century - Chestnut Mt.
October 22nd - Nothing. Because my wife seems to think I should let her do something. Silly woman.
October 29th - Tumbling Creek 6 Hour Mountain Bike Race - Gainesville State College

Join me please! We'll have a blast!

Thanks for reading!

Chad

Labor Day Weekend 2011

2011-09-06T16:05:00.003-04:00

Typically for my family the Labor Day holiday is sort of a"on the fly" holiday. We don't usually remember it's coming to behonest. I mean it's not like Christmas or Washington's Birthday. And we don'twork for the government or a bank so there’s no guarantee of a bizzilionholiday’s that we can put on the calendar every year. We tend to treat LaborDay as a bonus holiday…like icing on the cake.

This year’s Labor Day was destined to be unfamiliar. First ofall, September 4^th,2010 is the day my friend TJ was killed riding abike with me on a beautiful Saturday morning. It’s a day I’ll never forget aslong as I live. It’s a day that changed my life. As I write this I’m sitting inthe living room of a lake house staring at the lake as the sun rises. It’s abit overcast and gray but the rain overnight actually brightened up the leavesand freshened things up. The lake is calm and glassy. There’s no indication ofthe holiday boating madness that occurred yesterday. Not a creature is stirring in the house. Itwas my plan to get up early to enjoy the peace and quiet while reading my new book“ROADIE; The Mis-Understood World of a Bike Racer” by Jamie Smith but my mindis too busy organizing thought to read someone else's. A squirrel just leaped from one tree toanother. It’s cool when they do that.

The Pattillo’s are here with us this weekend; Jessica,Thomas and Erin Grace. I figured we’d betogether here for this crappy anniversary and just see what happens. Maybe welaugh, maybe cry, maybe we find some new form of peace. It was my plan to letgo and let God. It was uncharted territory but I was open to whatever the weekend brought. And here’s whatthat was:

Molly and Thomas at Paynes Creek Trail in Hartwell, GA

I got up early on Saturday morning and took Thomas Pattilloand my oldest daughter Molly mountain biking at Paynes Creek. We had a greattime especially on the “whoop-de-doo’s”. They were so fun we turned around androde them again.

Enlarge this pic to see the whoop-de-doos.

When we returned there was a strange foreign car in thedriveway. I began unloading the bikes when Molly came out and said, “Mommywants you to come inside.” I have myfather’s gift of being able to imagine the worst that could happen in any givensituation so I immediately started thinking of possible scenarios. I settled onthe “Angry Neighbor” scenario. The kids had done something so destructive thatthe neighbors actually drove over to tell us about it. When I finally walked inI was happy to hear “SURPRISE!!” from everyone including the foreign cardriving Nabors family who drove up for my surprise birthday party. It’s the big one.

All total five families, 11 kids, 9 adults were here tocelebrate my birthday. My wife organized it all and my daughters actuallydidn’t blow the surprise having known about it for over a week. We spent the rest of the day water skiing,Sea Doo-ing, and watching the kids play. Happy Birthday to me!

After a day like that I was tired. Then after we grilledhamburgers and my belly was full I was D.O.N.E., done. When Idaho scored theirthird touchdown I called it a night because I had a race in the morning.

The Sunbrella Labor Day Omnium Circuit Race!

I got up on Sunday and met Star Bridges and Sean Philyaw torace a 2.5 mile course in Anderson, South Carolina for the final of the Sunbrella Omnium. Itwas a 9:00am circuit race of 6 laps. I’d thought a lot about this raceduring the week before. Since I’m a time crunched racer I know better than toplan on winning, especially a downhill sprint, but this day was special and Iwanted to give a great effort. Not only a great effort physically in the racebut in another way too. I wanted to honor my friend. I wanted to be bold aboutmy faith, about his faith. So I wore the BPBC kit resplendent with bible versesand angels wings. I asked Star and Sean to pray with me at the starting line. I prayed that TJ would be a part of the race. Iprayed for strong legs and safety and for every racer to race well, just not aswell as me.

I’m kidding about that last part. I didn’t actually say it.But I was thinking it. So the race began with about 40 racers. The course ispretty flat with two small climbs. A three man break went away early and it includedStar. I wanted to be in it and shot out of the group to bridge up. Like a dummyall I ended up doing was dragging the group up to the breakaway. Then on lapthree two guys attacked and a small group of 7 got away after them. This time Ididn’t immediately chase. Once the gap was big enough I shot out to the side sonobody could get on my wheel and sprinted up and around the corner until Icaught the break, which by then were all together. Star was there but Sean had gotten caught intraffic and didn’t make the break. Once Star found out I was there he startedworking hard on the front to keep the break away. How cool is that! He’sworking for me! I suddenly understood what Mark Cavendish means when he talksabout winning because his team gave everything so he could. It’s verymotivational when someone else is giving their best with you in mind. I startedtrying to conserve energy. Hard to do when we were averaging 25 MPH. Asthe laps went by there were attacks and counter attacks. For the last two lapsI mostly stayed near Star and waited. I was very nervous. My heart rate rangeis lower than most people’s with my resting HR in the 120’s and my MAX in the170’s. I spent the entire race above 160 HR. On the final lap there was anattack by two riders. Star followed with me behind. I was unaware at the timebut the guy that launched that attack had pretty much started every attack allday. He was strong. He kicked then and then kicked again with less than a mileto the finish. Star couldn’t match it and began yelling at me to go get theguy. So I sprinted like a mad man, caught the guy, passed the guy, pushed itsome more and then began to fade. Looking back at my Garmin recording it lookslike I pedaled at 175 HR all the way through to the finish. The last lapaveraged 26+ MPH. I sprinted up to the guy at 1,110 watts and held over 350 wattsfor a quarter mile to the finish. The group ended up catching me and we allsprinted to the finish line with Star trying to lead me out. I was blown. Mysprint had occurred a half mile earlier. But boy was I happy. I had raced andgave everything. No regrets. I emptied the tank. The guy that kept attackingended up winning the sprint. The strongest man won. We played our best tactics and in the endStar was 6^th and I was 8^th. And don’t feel too sorry forSean Philyaw because he won the second groups field sprint and ended up 13^th!

Eric Grace Pattillo shows off the Labor Day Omnium shirt

When I returned to the house everyone was playing in the water and having a great time. We all had a great day of fun. TJ Pattillo was spoken of often and in laughter and thankful remembrance. As usual my apprehension of the date was unfounded.

Philippians 4:6-7
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

As I sit here in this recliner, legs full of lactic acid,I’m proud of the way I spent yesterday. I’m grateful for the friends that raced with me and the friends who came to celebrate my birthday with me.I’ll never give up trying just because it hurts sometimes or I’m left alonesometimes or things don’t go the way I planned. A bike race is a lot aboutsuffering and perseverance. But it’s also fun and satisfying if you have theright attitude. Just like life. You only need to learn how to recognize the victories.

So for the rest of this holiday weekend I plan to relax andenjoy the life God has given me.

“I’vegot my eye on the goal where God is beckoning us onward to Jesus. I’m off andrunning and I’m not turning back” - The Message.

The kids are up now and askingfor something to eat. I guess it’s time to get this Labor Day started. I hopeyou’re all encouraged and ready to do something positive today. It is a realholiday after all.

Thanks for reading!

Chad

Chainbuster 6/9 Hr Mountain Bike Race

2011-08-30T14:27:00.000-04:00

Carter, Molly, Thomas, Parker are ready to race!

Tribble Mill Park is a great place just outside of Lawrenceville, Georgia to take the whole family. You can bike, hike, fish, swim (not recommended), picnic, play on the playground, visit the water wheel and just plain have a great time. This Saturday morning I loaded up my daughter Molly and Thomas Pattillo and we headed there for a Chainbuster Race. The kid's race was really fun for them and I especially enjoyed watching Parker Mashburn race his bike for the first time. Everyone gets a medal from Hayes Automotive. To see him finish and then walk around with that medal and just smile was priceless. Think about being that age and racing around the course with all those adult racers cheering, clapping, and celebrating for you. They spent the rest of the day playing all over the park. I love those kids.

After setting up the canopy tent and what not I began preparing for the race. My team mate David Shabat arrived and we formulated our plan. Here was our plan: Ride Hard. Other than a good start it's really the only thing you can do in a 6 hour mountain bike race. Speaking of the start, here's how that went. Kenny (who's race this is) had us start in an open field. Across the field was the opening to a trail that lead us straight thru the Start/Finish line and out on course. If you wanted to be the first into the trail then obviously you need to be the first one across the field. Are you looking at the picture? It wasn't pretty. Why is it important to be in the trail first if the race lasts 6 hours? Well, if you are super mega competitive it doesn't take but one race to figure out that having to pass a lot of slower people on the first lap can put you behind on time. That's time I myself am not strong enough to make up on the other super mega competitive guys that went into the trail ahead of everyone else. Plus, if you're in the single track and someone in front crashes it stops up the whole trail. So, when it came time to cross the field I hurried. I managed to enter the trail in about 5th. During the first lap I heard three crashes somewhere behind and the leader off the front took a wrong turn and gave up his position. The pine straw and loose sandy corners made the first lap scary. Once I got a good start I new I had

to dose my effort because it was already 90 degrees. Unless I want to fade terribly at the end I need to be smart about what I do right now. I tried to keep my heart rate from spiking by not mashing a hard gear on the inclines. I shifted a lot more than I usually do. I drank Hammer Perpetuem exclusively during the whole race. I took in 12 Hammer Enduralites, used 1 bag of ice and 2.5 gallons of ice water. Each lap I poured a bottle of Perpetuem and ice into my Camel Bak. When David was on course I dropped ice down the back of my jersey and kept an ice cold "Frog" on my head. (Frog: a chamois that stays cold, popular with golfers) I continually sipped Perpetuem. Oh, after each lap I would pour ice water on my head and wash the dust off my face. Before the last lap I took two Advil, ate a caffeine gel and prayed.

As is my custom I totally underestimated my partners speed. He came in after his first lap to find no team mate waiting on him. I hate myself sometimes. We lost at least a minute because I'm an idiot. And I pride myself on being prepared. If I loose I want it to be because I got beat by a person. I don't want to loose because I didn't drink enough, or my bike wasn't ready, or I didn't know the course, or I forgot to watch the clock! David was good about it and as it turns out it wouldn't have made a difference but at the time it gave me some extra motivation.

The carnage on the trail increased as the day wore on. During one lap I was navigating the switch backs and kept hearing riders ahead of me in the trail say, "Are you OK?" I soon learned who they were talking to when I rode past a man, jersey off, leaning on a tree, puking his guys out. It wasn't long after that I passed a guy laying on the ground with his hands behind his head and his foot on a tree. At first glance I thought he was relaxing, and he was, as he stretched out his cramping legs. Because of the heat everyone was in survival mode. My friend Dustin Mealor tried his luck in the 9 Hour Solo Category. He would say Pain is temporary, Glory last forever. I say stupid is as stupid does. But Dustin has a strong will and usually backs it up. On this day he did with a strong 5th Place in the Expert division. He's a cyborg. I'm just sayin.

Trent Smith and Bill Mashburn - 5th Place

Two good friends of mine teamed up to race their first mountain bike race. 20 something Trent Smith and 40 something Bill Mashburn. They did incredibly well. I was very impressed how each man fought through his own personal battles during the race to come away with 5th Place. What a great last minute team they made.

No, I'm not praying, I'm exhausted.

David and I gave everything we had out there. It was stupid hot. But we knew it would be and were highly motivated. My family was there, David's parents were there and we had a lot of friends in the race. Our friends the Pattillo's were there too. Last year before TJ Pattillo was called home he entered this race. He'd been riding about a month. Although ignorance is bliss I felt it was my duty as his friend to convince him that a 6 hour Solo mountain bike race may not be the best way to get his feet wet. Jumping in head first was his style believe me. Instead we raced Tribble Mill as a team last year. It's hard to say how I felt being back out there. After TJ was killed, Kenny the owner of Chainbuster's, who'd only met TJ once, decided he wanted to raise money for his children. Many of these very same racers gave what they could for the rest of the season last year and blessed the Pattillo's with that gift. It was one of many moments that kept all of us faithful. TJ had strength of character. He was a man of integrity who I'm sure would have approved when we all continued to follow our hearts and God's plan for our lives. I for one feel like I honor him when I forge ahead, when I make my family and his smile, when I choose righteous over easy. The future is bright and I've got things to do before I see my friend again. We all do. So keep at it people. Don't waste your time on pity or selfishness, anger or bitterness.

We took 3rd Place and moved into Second for the series. Curse those Gutbusters (Alex and Bill). We had a blast and can't wait for Jack Rabbit Trail in North Carolina next month!

BTW - I'll be celebrating my 40th Birthday by racing Jack Rabbit on Sept 24th and then riding the Six Gap Century the next day. If anyone wants to join me (help me make it through) for Six Gap you'll find me at the start holding a balloon. I will NOT be trying to set any records. It will be a hanging out with friends day. Star Bridges has volunteered to tow me and David up Hog Pen. Clint Sanders will be doing it on a single speed.

Thanks for reading! Finish well!

Chad

Grant Park Pain

2011-08-23T12:28:00.000-04:00

60+ Ready to hammer for the crowd at Grant Park, Atlanta

I've found a new way to torcher myself on a bike...it's called the Grant Park Criterium. Held every year at Historic Grant Park in Atlanta Georgia this race is a little bit later on the calender and brings out the best riders who by this time are in the best shape of the season. I'll tell you first hand how I saw the event and why I'll be back every year.

Star Bridges pins on his number in the shade.

As is my custom I began early last week trying to talk people into going to the crit with me. It was easy to talk Sean Philyaw into it because he's infected with the cycling bug. More on that another time. When I told Star Bridges about it he actually offered to pick me up. Yes! You see Mr. Bridges is a veteran of the Georgia cycling community and has done this crit several times. He knows right where to park and likes to arrive really early. This is why I like him. We arrived with almost two hours till race time and headed to registration. As we walked, Star began laying out the course for me and we talked strategy. I was really excited and then I wasn't. The course was on some pretty terrible pavement. There were patches of sand where someone tried to save our lives by filling in the pot holes. As this area of Atlanta was very old there were a lot of trees close to the road with branches hanging right where you don't want them to be. During the race if you're not paying attention you'll be doing a little pruning with your head. The back side of the course was... bumpy. Like our own personal Paris Roubaix. The top half of the course where the finish was is up hill and the bottom half is down hill. Basically you have about 20 seconds to recover on each lap. That's the bad.

The Start; see notes in picture.

The good is relative to your fitness and your attitude. I'll just tell you the good from my point of view and it could be better or worse depending on who your friends are. I felt pretty good after pre-riding the course. At the start I got clipped in nicely and was able to hold my position near the front. Attacks started from the start and continued all during the race with special thanks to our sponsors and their prime lap prizes. Within the first three laps I watched Mr. Bridges take a flyer off the front and I thought "Cool, I'll play the team mate and try to slow the chase." Then I saw him stand up and look back with that "this was a bad idea" face. So as we came through the Start/Finish I tried a little dig of my own. Chad was strong, Chad was powerful. I flew away from the field and bombed the back side. I was in the drops, off the front, bouncing over the "cobble stones". The fences were whizzing by as I focused on putting as much distance as I could on my competitors. Then a familiar voice spoke to me from behind the spectator fence. It said, "Get off the front, Chad!".

That's me on the right in a combo kit from two different years.

It was Dustin Mealor. I hadn't looked back since my attack began but after the voice spoke I turned to see the peloton, in their drops, right behind me in a long thin line. Crap! I began to re-think my tactics. Perhaps I wasn't the strongest man here. Perhaps many others felt good today as well. I had just wasted several bullets and needed to recover so I backed off. Recovering was a good idea but it wasn't to be. The pace was high if you wanted to remain near the front. To fully recover I'd have lost the front and been at risk of being pulled by the USA Cycling Officials on the motos. That's what happened to Sean and more than half the field. Once the head of the race begins to reach riders off the back they get pulled. It's safer and I'm ok with it but if I just paid $40 for a DNF I can see why guys get mad. So, there I was, heart racing, looking for some help from God, then I saw my friends Robert Loomis and Star Bridges. They were all around me. I had new life. Robert is a young 21 year old punk kid. He's super strong because he plays soccer for a college but it was his first race. Here's how strong he is; Robert tried several attacks off the front to no avail, Robert wouldn't stay in the draft because he wasn't comfortable in a pack so he raced almost the whole time out in the wind, Robert still ended up 13th. At one point Star actually grabbed Roberts jersey and pulled him over behind the riders in front of us. The kid is green but the kid is powerful. Like all people who are half my age he could recover in half the time and kick again. He just didn't know how to race.

Robert Loomis...in the wind...attacking again!

I basically survived the remainder of the race by watching the Star and Robert show. I've raced enough to know that with 2 laps to go you must move to the front because the pace in a crit gets wicked fast on the last lap and advancing is impossible by then if you want anything left for the sprint. We got separated on a turn and I had planned to advance during the hard uphill section before the last lap began. Before I could swing out there was a line of riders flying up the side where I wanted to be. All I could do was get behind them. By then the race was on and I was stuck. If I weren't so skinny I could have powered my way to a better finish but the men left were strong and all I could do was hold my place. Star and Robert were very well placed for the final lap and did great.

The field is strung out. Robert is there again. In the wind.

I was happy to have survived. I'm sure as usual no ones plan worked out. Over half the field were dropped. If you look closely at the picture above, right behind Robert, that's a Junior racer. Probably 14 years old. Maybe the next big star? Anyway, the race ended and we rode around the course releasing excess testosterone and expounding about blown tactics. Dustin scolded me some more as he rolled toward his car to prepare for his race.

One to go!


Sprint Finish! Look at the size of those guys!

We met up with Sean and everyone else again and began telling "fish stories". The race that got away. Star and I left our perfect parking spot to some other lucky rider and headed for Chipotle! Nothing like a burrito crammed with beans and rice to make you feel warm all over. And a Coke. And some home made cookies from his wife. Thanks Mrs. Bridges!

I can't remember every little thing we all talked about. I wish I could because there are moments when men are together that need recording. Spontaneous stuff you can't recreate. Every guy needs times like these to just relax and be a guy. It was a great time with friends at a well organized event. I wish the hills were steeper or that I was bigger and 20 years younger but you can't have it all. Next up is the Chainbuster Tribble Mill Mountain Bike race in Grayson, Georgia. This time I'm taking the whole family for a day of fun in the sun!

Thanks for reading! Get out and exercise! Ride in groups! Be safe and I'll see you out there soon!

Chad

Eric Saxton Benefit Ride

2011-08-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

Eric Saxton enjoys a moment with friends.

I've said it before that riding my bike with friends is what it's all about but riding with friends while knowing your helping a family in need takes it to a whole new level. This Saturday I was up before the trees to go find Dawson Co. High School and participate in a 100 mile benefit ride for Eric Saxton. He has cancer. He is loved by many. So... many showed up to pay to ride...buy raffle tickets...and hang out with Eric. I got there so early that I began to wonder how it would have felt to sleep a bit more. It wasn't long before my friend and team mate David Shabat drove up. I'm always glad to see David but on this day I waited with anticipation because he had done something special for Eric and I wanted to be there when he gave it. The day before the ride he challenged his co-workers by asking all who wanted to donate an amount of money based on his average MPH for a 1 hour trainer ride he would do in the "office" that day. He raised $600.00!! He was walking on air! David floated over to the registration table and humbly gave what his co-workers donated. SUPER COOL! Nothing else compared to that for the rest of the day. David is the MAN!

David Shabat raises $600

Needless to say after that everything else that happened that day was gravy or icing or whatever your favorite topping is. We rode out together with a ton of fellow cyclists and headed for the days adventures. Our route was destined to be a brutal assault on our legs. We headed north toward Dahlonega and beyond. See if you can follow this; Yahoola Valley - R-Ranch - Stone Pile - Woodies Gap - Wolf Pen Gap - Neels Gap - Turners Corner - Stone Pile, Left - Right before Dahlonega - Past Lumpkin Co. High - Rolling back to Dawsonville. Hurt me very much. It was a pleasure riding with the ISI Cycling guys. They are great. Very supportive of each other and the group. One neat thing they do is to hold the bottle out so everyone knows they're drinking. That way the other riders are on alert in case he drops the bottle.

ISI Cycling - Iron Sharpens Iron

David and Benny

Another good friend was there named Benny Bohanan. I like Benny a lot. He restores old trucks for a living. How cool is that! I first met Benny a couple of years ago when he noticed the "BPBC" course markings on the roads near his home in Gillsville and used Goggle to find out about our ride that year. Since then we stay in touch and he pops up all over the place with his bike and a smile. This time he was playing it smart and not pushing too hard. It was 100 miles don't cha know. I believe he thought that being in the yellow jersey would help. No Benny, it doesn't.
The route took us over hill and dale onto one lane roads that I'm quite sure were only paved this year. As we rode I couldn't shake the feeling I'd been on these roads before. There were no lines painted. No open stretches for you to see around the corners. Just curvy little jungle road surrounded by mountains. Then I saw the first sign for Montaluce Winery. I raced here for two days a few years ago. It was hard! I suddenly knew the meaning of the phrase Ignorance is Bliss. We were in for a really hard ride and now I really new it.

Another person I enjoyed seeing was Kelly Parham; the Man, the Myth, the Legend. He drove the SAG vehicle and looked out for us 100 milers. Kelly didn't have a bell to ring for us on the climbs so he just jingled his keys. At the top of each climb he had food and water. Well, not just water but Accelerade Sports Drink and I loved it! He also had gels and bars but what I especially enjoyed were the Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies! I couldn't resist them! And they are so bad for you!? What was I thinking? I dared not read the box. Anyway, we made it around the GAP's and after stopping on top of Blood Mountain we headed down for a great smooth and fast decent to Turner's Corner. By the time we made our way from there to Dahlonega I was feeling the effects of 5 hours in the saddle and decided to eat one of the two double caffeine gels I'd put in my jersey before we left the parking lot. That pepped me up but at the same time I started to become aware of the small cramps coming into the back of my legs. My time was running out. It was 95 degrees by then. So I went into damage control mode. We stopped at a convenience store in Dahlonega where my old high school friend Tim Evans, of Hall Co. Chamber of Commerce fame, suggested we buy a gallon of water and some sports drink and split it. I had my trusty Polar bottles and filled one with water and the other with orange drink. My plan was to drink the orange and spray the water on my head and neck. And a lovely plan it turned out to be.

We came across another SAG with 9 miles to go and I did the same thing. After leaving the SAG there was a climb that normally wouldn't be to bad. My legs began to cramp. Then my mind flashed back to the Giro d' Italia where I remembered seeing a rider spray water from his bottle directly on his legs. As I rode I thought about trying it. I thought, "What if it makes my legs seize up?", "What if the cold water freaks out my knees?", "What if my legs turn to dust and I'm left just sitting here coming to a slow stop and then falling over?" Man, when you're tired your mind can really wander. Anyway, I did it. It felt great! Very refreshing. And it lasted a long while before I felt the effects go away. So damage control included spraying my legs as well.

My good friend David, who was just as tired but wasn't cramping, took up the lead, lowered his head, and hammered out 9 miles of hills. He kept me in the draft and brought me home. My friend...David Shabat.

We rolled triumphantly into the parking lot amidst the cheers and adoration of the ten or so volunteers sitting under a canopy tent. Eric was one of those people. He looked tired. Suddenly I didn't feel so tired. I felt...impacted.

Events over the last year have caused me to take a look at myself and the life I lead. What's my purpose? Who am I supposed to be? What is God's plan for me?
I don't have that answer. And I'll be 40 years old next month. But what I do have is a guide and a foundation. I may not know what to do all the time but at least I know what not to do. I've been forced to realize that I can't control every aspect of my life. I can't lean on my own understanding. Bad things happen to good people. It sucks. So...I can either choose to be a jerk about life...or I can punch the devil in the face with my faith.

Thanks for reading and if you were a part of this or any other charity event I'd like to say in my most southern voice "Bless your heart." It was a wonderful time for a great cause and you just can't beat that with a stick!

Chad

Riding Alone? Why?

2011-08-09T11:49:00.000-04:00

I'm the type of rider who needs other riders with me. I've never enjoyed riding by myself. I've done it a lot when there's training to be done for a race but it wasn't because I didn't call everyone I knew to see if they could ride. Those corny Road ID "Bobke" commercials where he pops in on famous cycling people to ask if they want to go for a ride remind me of me. I want company. It's a big reason I started this blog if you want the truth. I want to get riders together. Every guy I know likes to "hang out" and be, well, a guy. And nothing stirs up the testosterone like physical activity. There's probably a medical explanation for the great feeling I get from joking, harassing, embellishing, and possibly competing with friends while riding a bike. Now don't get me wrong, a nice fall day ride by yourself for an hour can be more relaxing than the best Lazy Boy ever made and I've enjoyed those types of rides. But those ride seem to happen for me at the last minute. If I'm looking forward all week to a ride it's always because I know there will be a big group of friends going as well.

Me, Trace, Trent, Bill, Kelley - Fort Yargo Park, Winder, GA

Bill Mashburn

Such was the case this weekend when I joined a group at Fort Yargo in Winder. I try and talk one good friend into riding at a certain time and once I have his commitment I become a salesman selling a new product. "Hey, Trace Nabors and I are riding at Yargo on Saturday, don't you want to join us?" It's not as subtle as pulling the shower curtain open on them but it works pretty well. My networking skills help me out quite a bit also. So on Saturday morning it was me, Trace, Kelley Edwards, Stan White, Trent Smith, and Bill "Mashman" Mashburn. Notable: Bill was riding his new (to him) Specialized 29er Hard Tail, his first new bike in 16 years, and he was only a few weeks from being released to ride after breaking his collar bone (on his old bike). Kelley, sporting the new BPBC kit, hasn't been riding at all and proved it. More on that later. Trent has toned down his aggressive riding style after crashing hard a few hundred times and being told by his doctor that despite his hairy chin and strong frame he is not "Wolverine". But he still disputes that.

Trent Smith

Stan White

Since Bill told me he was still getting his fitness back and since he was on a new bike I suggested we let him lead. It's the whole "we'll go as slow as the slowest guy" rule. Well, Bill took off like his hair was on fire! We chased him for 2 miles before I suggested we regroup. It's my belief that this is where the damage was done for Kelley. When you haven't ridden fast in a while you not only have trouble with the legs and lungs but with the skills required to negotiate the trail. You use a massive amount of energy just avoiding the trees. Thus Kelley was mentally and physically stunned right from the start. I told Bill he was setting too hard of a pace and he said, "That's all I had, I'm done anyway." It was then that we made the best decision of the day...we asked Stan to lead. Stan White is...older. But let me tell you that Stan is a skilled and steady rider who set a perfect pace for the rest of the morning. That allowed Kelley to enjoy the ride which he valiantly rode the entire time. We laughed and told stories and picked on each other and laughed some more. There was only one crash and it was Kelley. I wasn't there at the time but I'm told it scored an 8.2 and put a dent in his frame. He was still smiling and in the last two miles of our ride he came to life (2X Caffeine Gel) and brought the pain. I for one was very impressed.


Kelley Edwards

Afterwards we all had a great lunch at FireHouse Subs. Some of the things I learned at lunch: Bill showed us how to wash your hair when you have a broken collar bone, Trent explained how he shrank from being the Incredible Hulk to be the bike hobbit he is today, and I regaled the listening audience with my story of Kelley and I in his first Adventure Race ("I hate you!"). That's a story for another day. All in all it was another fantastic ride with friends. Which of course is exactly what I wanted.

So if you think that is your kind of riding and your kind of fun then watch my blog and I'll tell you about every ride I know about. I do also know that I'm not the only one having these great rides. I talk to a ton of guys and gals having the time of their lives out there. So maybe this is just my way of extending the joy for those of us who get to experience these things and give those who don't a peak at what they're missing.

The Horseshoe Drop at Yargo is AWESOME!!! This thing drops you into a riven and then shots you out. Just one more great thing about our ride on Saturday at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia.

I hope you all have a great week and stay safe. Ride in groups.

Join our Biking Ministry at Blackshear Place as we start our Wednesday Night Life Groups on August 17th!

Visit BPBC.com

The Lt. Governors Century is getting better. New raffle items: George Hincapie signed USA Champion BMC Jersey, UGA Memorabilia, Falcon Memorabilia, and more!

Visit my Centuries and Supported Rides page on the right of this page.

Thanks for reading!

Chad

Riding on Vacation

2011-08-02T14:36:00.001-04:00

Java in St. Simon's Island

Where do you go on vacation? The beach? The mountains? Disney? My family loves the beach. We take a week and go to a beach every year. Usually it's Myrtle Beach because my wife grew up going there but this year we went to St. Simon's Island. Of course the beach and pools were great but this is a biking blog so I'll share the stuff we did on the bike. First let me tell you guys that St. Simon's is no place for cycling. They have a bike path on every main street but unless you are on a beach cruiser it's useless to a roadie. Between runners, walkers, dog walkers, and the beach cruiser bikes you'll feel more like you're in a crit than on an endurance ride. If you do get on the road you'd better go at the crack of dawn because the roads are busy all day long and there's little shoulder. For casual biking however it's the bomb! There are shops and piers and beach homes to envy. We toured the light house and had ice cream. I stopped for coffee in town after my second adventure. I risked my life twice during the week before finding a new friend named Brooks who rides out of Atlanta Cycling. He's been coming to St. Simon's for 25 years and suggested we ride to Jekyll Island. It was the best ride all week. We left out at 6:30am and rode over a bunch of bridges. Along the way we met other cyclists who evidently already knew what it took me a week to learn. Get off the island. Jekyll is much better for cycling. They also have bike paths but there's little traffic and riding the roads early in the morning is like having the island to yourself. We enjoyed a tough morning ride that was awesome and made it back in time for breakfast with the family. 48 miles, 19.5 MPH Avg, 85 Avg Cad.

Biking at Jekyll Island

During the week my family and I went over to Jekyll and rented bikes. There's not as many shops but the path from the Historical District to the camp ground is right along the water line. It's a great shaded, freshly paved path that's taylor made for tootling along with kids. You can pick up a burger at the pool house in the Historical District (cash only). We had a blast!

I'm a fan of former President Bush. Once when he was giving an interview he was asked about his position on sexual education for kids and teens. He explained that he believed in promoting abstinence as the best solution with other solutions like contraception being less than perfect. The interviewer questioned his view as naive. President Bush said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that we should all strive for perfection in everything we do. If you fall short of perfection wouldn't that be ok. So if he's going to set the bar for kids or any group for that matter, why wouldn't he aim for perfection. He believed that as Americans we set the bar at mediocre sometimes. I think about that when I'm working on something or teaching my kids. Don't be scared to reach for the ultimate.
I was sent this link from a good friend that reminded me even more of why I like George W. Bush. Enjoy!
Commander in Chief still leading!

The remainder of 2011 is going to be great! With rides like the ones listed above and then Six Gap, Lt. Governor's Century, Currahee Duathlon, Tour de Tugaloo, Chainbuster Racing, oh my! I hope you are all working toward something and I pray it goes great!

Now if we can just get out of this heat. Stupid global warming.

Chad