Chad's State of the Union

Greetings!

I feel like I should apologize to you guys. I went from weekly emails and blog posts to nothing at all. I haven’t organized any rides in a while and don’t get to ride with you guys much these days. The main reason is because I’ve been put in charge of running two dealerships in Baldwin with my cousin Matt. It’s a blessing and I’m glad for it. But my time on the bike has suffered tremendously. Some of you will no doubt be glad I’m sucking wind at the next ride. I can feel the fitness creeping out of my body. For the time being though I need to focus on the great responsibility I’ve been given at work.

I say all that to say this… I’ll be back… soon. But my time right now is limited and so my blog posts will be fewer. The walls of my basement may be the only scenery I see for a while. Which is even worse than riding in the snow. And other than the New Years Ride I won’t be organizing any. I’ll simply be joining them when I can.

Rest assured I will be back to loading my legs with lactic acid as soon as possible once I’m comfortable in my new shoes at the dealerships. I already miss riding terribly. Wait. I terribly miss riding. Well, anyway. I also miss having time to sit and write tales of woe to the cycling world. But give me a few months and I’ll return with a vengeance for all things cycling.

I talked to a guy last week who found my blog and read every story I’ve ever written. Like it was a book. He made me feel really good about it.

If any of you have a good story about some biking adventure you had, please take time to type out the details and send it to me. I will even edit it if you like. The more stuff we get out there about biking in North Georgia the better biking in North Georgia will be. Trust me I’ve attending about 400 seminars and webinars on Digital Marketing and I know how the internet works. Fresh, relevant content is what makes an impression when it comes to search results. An optimized biking community is a plus for our local economy and our advocacy of healthy, bike friendly policies. Heck, we might even earn ourselves some government spending. Not to mention it puts cycling in a positive light to combat the negative rants that may come up first in a search. Example: Google; Kia or Hyundai Gas Mileage.

So what’s coming up that I know about in North Georgia biking?

THE Winter Bike League in Athens will be starting up on December 1^st. From then on they will traverse the globe from Sunshine Cycles every Saturday morning at 10AM. I plan to attend as many as my wife will let me do. I need the miles.

Our annual NEW YEARS GAP ride will take place on either Saturday Dec 29^th or Tuesday Jan 1^st. I’ll be taking requests to determine the exact date so get yours in early. This years ride will feature goodie bag left overs from the Lt. Gov's ride and vehicle support. Plus whatever else I can come up with. A KOM prize perhaps. A Newest Newbie prize. Hmmm.

I’m hoping to do a Cyclo Cross race before I die. The StateChampionship is in Macon on December 9^th (Sunday). That sounds like a good time to race cross for the first time.

It's a long way off but in February I'll be attending at least one Hincapie Training Series race and this year I want to do the Southern Cross.

So that’s my schpeel for this post. I hope to have more and more time as the winter rolls on. You can visit my blog for the latest links to all that I am aware of in North Georgia.

 

Oh and please consider buying your next vehicle from me. I don’t care what brand. You won’t find a better deal. I’ve already gotten my heart right. Send me a new customer (New or Pre-Owned) and I’ll give you $100.00.

Not kidding. $ 100 dollars.

Thanks for reading! I’ll see you guys soon!

Chad Hayes

An Extraction Distraction

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

Killing the day at the WBL

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

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