2012 Sproctoberfest at Gainesville College

This weekend was special. It's the first time any of my girls has shown interest in racing with me. My 12 year old Molly has been practicing on her Mom's mountain bike for a few months. She even asked her Mom to take her to pre-ride the course the Friday before the race! Now to be fair, Molly is a pleaser. If you have more than one child you understand that God makes them...different. Molly wants everyone to be happy with her. She loves to hear you say you're proud of her. She works very hard to than end. She also stresses herself out sometimes.

Ellie Hayes at the kids race.

My youngest daughter Ellie is quite a bit different. She's my little individual. A real free thinker. She's got a stubborn streak that gets her in trouble. But she's very loving and very protective. She may get tired of her sister sometimes but let someone threaten her and Ellie turns into a Rottweiler.

Ellie and I got up on Saturday morning and headed over to the start of the Good News for Gainesville Ride. I wanted to see my friends and donate a little money to this great cause. They had a great turn out and I'm sure a great ride. It was good to see Alex Sloan and finally meet Mrs. Sloan. The Baxter's guys were filing in and I saw Joe Elam before we had to leave. I'm sorry I missed this great ride with good people. I did notice that WDUN Radio was there blasting out tunes! How cool is that! Thank you to them for supporting cycling in Georgia!!

We met Lisa, Molly, and Bill Mashburn and Matt Williams whom we shared a tent with. I didn't want to miss a minute of the kids riding so I didn't get dressed before the kids race. At the start Ellie stayed with the big kids for a while but soon the grassy field took it's tole. When she finally made it around the lake I could tell she wasn't happy about the whole thing. All I could think was... "that's my girl!" Angry that she couldn't keep up. It didn't take long for her to get over it though and she spent the rest of the day playing on the college ropes course with some friends she made.

The start of the 6Hr race began with a run to the bikes. I wasn't nervous but I did want to get a good start so I wouldn't be behind a ton of riders. I'd be out there for around 3.5 hours because Molly first had to go play in a flag football game at the church. The girls enjoyed the fact that I ran past my bike... and they got it on film.
So I basically settled in to a solo effort. I didn't get a chance to warm up at all and boy did I pay for that. I started out good but about 5 minutes later my adrenaline ran out and I felt like crap.

I worked for the next 2 hours to build up a big lead on the rest of the coed category. I figured I needed the most I could get because Molly would probably take around 10 mins longer on her lap.

My body tried to let me know I needed to slow down but I kept thinking about Molly. There's some serious motivation involved with racing on a team with your daughter. I desperately wanted to get on the podium with her so I ignored all the warning signs my body was giving me and soldiered on. Drinking and eating and sweating and stretching. Wow my back hurts! Yikes... better not fully extend my legs...that was a cramp that almost happened. Why is my finger numb? Nothing like aggravating a Six Gap saddle sore! But none of it matters. You are DADDY!! Be the Dad! Push through the pain! She's worth it!!

And so just in time they showed up to give me a break and let Molly get in her one lap. I was ready too. Just so you know, Lisa took pictures and Ellie took the video. I was upset with her videography skills until I saw her last installment which you'll see at the end of this story. After that I just forgot about being mad.
Molly and I made a great exchange and I headed to the tent...and a chair. I figured I had around 45 minutes. After taking a breath I grabbed the video camera and rode into the trail to catch Molly riding. But she was fast enough that I missed her... twice!

She completed her first lap in 39 minutes 45 seconds. Very nice! She looked tired. Don't we all. And so I hopped back on for what I thought would be two more hours of happy trails. I pushed through another lap and when I popped out of the woods to ride around the lake I could hear my family yelling for me. What a great sound! There's something special about your wife cheering for you. And nothing is sweeter than my little girls yelling "Go Daddy Go!"
When I came close to the start and realized Molly was ready to do another lap! I couldn't believe it! She just smiled and said I'll try my best Daddy.

Oh well I thought... we may not be on the podium but at least she raced as many laps as the adult women did. She took a little over 42 mins to do her second lap. I had no idea where we were in the standings after that but I figured I might as well give us our best chance anyway. It was double caffeine gel time! (and two Advil)

I really enjoyed competing against John and Farrah Galley from Lester's Body Shop. They are super cool people. Farrah was so much fun and very encouraging to Molly. She and John were the typical coed team. John was super competitive and only wanted to sit down and rest while Farrah was riding. By contrast Farrah was up and talking to everyone and having a blast while John hammered his brains out to win. Ahhh... marriage.
It's all good John! Just remember... Happy Wife, Happy Life!

The first lap was ok but on my second and final lap I could feel the chill of cramps working into my legs and the back of my arms. My focus was on my daughter though and I pushed as hard as I could without locking up the running gear. Lisa yelled to me that we were back in 3rd Place as I passed through so I knew I just needed to stay on the bike. It's a lonely old trail when you're searching for the perfect way to pedal without cramping. I needed to stand and relieve my saddle sore but that created the possibility of leg cramps. And so here's today's lesson for you folks. If you squat and don't fully extend your legs while you stand it will prevent your legs from cramping. At least it did for me... during that race. Of course if your arms are cramping and you have shoulder pain all bets are off.



When I came through the Start/Finish I was so... relieved. I just needed to do an average lap and not screw it up. And so I did.

2012 Tumbling Creek 6 Hr MTB Coed Podium

Here's the Ellie produced video featuring her own special blend of special effects.

Dustin Mealor, 2nd Place 39 Under Solo

We were all very tired. But the day was hardly over. We heading to the Stamphills house to watch Georgia get beat in high definition. Before that we watched Dustin Mealor get his just rewards as the 2nd Place finisher in the 39 Under Solo category. Bill and Matt took 4th in the 2 Person race with friends Stephen Masopust and Marcus Seymore taking 1st Place. Todd Bowers, Caleb Adams, and Meredith Burnett took 3rd in the 6 Hr 3 Person category.

Young Dylan Cantrell competed in his first 6 hr mountain bike race a brought home 2nd Place in the Junior 18 and Under category. This kid rides the Tuesday night throwdown with us and completed the Bridge to Bridge ride a few weeks ago. He's living proof that cramping isn't an old mans problem. I gave him some electrolytes during the race and he pushed through for a great podium spot. His Mom and Dad were very proud. I like this family.

Dylan Cantrell, 2nd Place Junior Solo

And now I'll wrap this up with Ellie's final video. She enjoyed having unfettered use of my Sony Bloggie video camera. I hope to see you all at the Hills of Habersham this weekend and then the Lt. Governor's Century on October 20th!!!

When is it too cold to ride a bicycle?

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