World Tour Week Two: Hellhole Pre-Ride

Look! A 47! It's blurry and I don't care. It was early. 

4:00- Alarm. Snooze
4:09- Alarm. Fine, I'll get up. It's Hellhole pre-ride day!
4:35- The car, mostly packed the night before, leaves the driveway in route to Francis Marion National Forest, a mere two hour drive from Columbia.

Look! A picture of me! I was happy to be riding despite the early start.

I've been looking forward to pre-riding the Hellhole course, or at least getting an idea of what to expect for a while now. So while I wasn't exactly excited that the ride was leaving at 7:30 that morning, I knew it would totally be worth it to make the drive.

A merry group of six set out for our 65 mile trip traversing the gravel roads of the national forest. While we weren't exactly riding the course on which the race will be held, it was still super sweet because 65 miles of gravel! Seriously. That's a lot of dirt road. It was awesome. This also gave me opportunity to test out the equipment I plan to use for the race.

My wheels of choice for the gravel stage race in September are my Myerson sell-me-down Kazane road wheels. The wheels aren't exactly big and beefy, but they've held up to all the abuse I've put them through in the past few years and they're relatively light. They'll be wrapped in 35 millimeter Kenda Happy Mediums. I've been riding a Happy Medium on my front training wheel on my 'cross bike for well over a year and raced on this set at the May 'cross race, but I was excited to see how they would work in a long gravel setting like this one. I'd say my random ass pressure choice was good. The dirt on which we rode wasn't super rocky. There were a few sections that had large pieces of gravel, but for the most part I'd say the roads were just as smooth as most Richland County roads. Yes, I mean the asphalt ones. I ride on the service roads at Harbison Forest pretty regularly, and have a history of pinch flatting on pieces of rock there and that wasn't TOO much of an issue in Francis Marion. However, there are a metric shit ton of pot holes out there, so pinching would still be a threat.

Being more concerned with not pinching than being super comfortable, I went a little bit high with my pressure. The tires still felt really good though. I never felt like I was getting beat up by my bike, and I didn't have a flat (there were a few flats in our group Saturday morning, but luckily I dodged that bullet). I MIGHT (depending on whether or not I can drop these pesky last three pounds) take a few pounds out of the tires come race day, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I was pleased Saturday, so it's probably best not to test my luck.

What really impressed me with the tires was how well they gripped, even at such high pressure. While there wasn't a lot of turning on the ride, and even less turning at speed, the numerous holes put tire grip to the test. If you're riding behind someone and see a hole at the last second, you're going to want to not hit it and probably swerve... hard. Every time I moved to avoid a hole, the tires stayed firmly connected to the ground. There were a couple of times I TRIED to break them free, but they stayed put.

Most of our group taking a break from the gravel

As far as the actual race is concerned, I still have next to NO IDEA what to expect. I at least know that my stuff works, and that I should probably consider a third water bottle, and that I should bring bug spray (a ton of bug spray) but otherwise, the event is still pretty cloudy to me. Racing in the men's open category means there are going to be a lot of guys there that are way stronger than me. So I'm approaching it more as a long training race, plus a really fun event, double plus an excuse to go to the low country. 

One final thought- outside of pure strength/fitness and bad luck, there's not a lot on the course to force a selection in the race. There's going to be a lot of small groups riding together. Riding in a group on a course like this is wacky. You've got to trust the person in front of you a lot and be ready for them to move sideways rapidly or slow down rapidly. Riding behind someone also means that you won't be able to see the awful stuff in front of them (namely, pot holes) so you have to constantly be on your toes and ready to not break your wheels and ass. One of our group learned the hard way that if the rider in front of them slows down or hits a hole, you need to react or else you'll make a blood sacrifice to the gravel gods. 

Thanks to Anne and Chris for inviting me down to ride. And for not holding it against me that I didn't ride with them this morning. I'm stoked for September!

Pack some spare tubes and a lot of food and register for Hellhole in September. 

"This song is about fear"

This will be my last introspective blog post... for now at least.

In regards to writing, I completely fell off the face of the earth. In regards to real life, I kind of did the same thing last year.

Exactly three months after my last post in this here weblog, my family's house burned down. For those of you lacking math skills, that means on Christmas Day 2011 I woke up to a burning house. Most of you know this and many of you were there supporting me in a lot more ways than I ever expected (thanks) but it's worth mentioning again for the sake of setting up the story of the past two years.

Pretty much everything has changed since that morning. I spent most of 2012 in a drunken haze. I moved twice. Started and ended relationships. Started playing soccer again. Changed cycling teams... twice. Ostensibly quit racing bikes competitively. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun. Probably too much, but things have definitely settled down and have gotten back to my version of normal.

2012 'cross season was a complete wash for me in a competitive sense. I did fewer races than I've ever done in a season, and only really took one weekend seriously. Luckily for me, I actually had decent results that week in Charleston. In my defense, it wasn't simply a lack of motivation that kept me away from racing last year. I was putting more time into school and work than I had before and trying to focus on a long distance relationship. 'Cross just wasn't my primary partner that fall.

The lack of racing  left me feeling sort of unfulfilled at the end of the year and, in its own way, left me far more motivated for 2013. I got a road bike again. Actually trained rather than just riding. Dropped 10lbs. and started signing up for races again. The biggest part of my 2013 bike revival was the (second) new team. Joining KindHuman was really the biggest spark that started the fire. I've found a team that motivates me to be a happy and healthy representative of their brand and has a mission with which I identify (like what I gave up at Cycle-Smart) but keeps the local element I had last year with the shop. Racing for Adam and KindHuman has not only been a great motivator for getting fit but he's also grown into one of my best friends.

As usual, the road season was just about scratching a competitive itch and hanging out with my some of favorite people. Results weren't great. I had some decent weekends but I also had near emotional break downs at crits because I just wasn't cutting it. 'Cross is different. Or at least I hope it is. I've been training seriously for 'cross since mid-June, my bikes are dialed and my schedule is set. I'm motivated and I (except for right now since I've done four 12+ hour weeks in a row) I feel fit. Not just fit but nearly violent. I have high hopes for this year (you've heard this story before). I don't expect it to happen immediately but I'm looking for an upgrade before nationals comes to Asheville and I'm hoping to get the collegiate team organized this semester, race competitively in the SECCC and hopefully make a trip out to Denver for nationals in January.

All this comes at a price, though. And, going into my fifth season of cyclocross, it is something that I still struggle with nearly daily. Taking cyclocross super seriously again means that a lot has to go into it. Hours on the bike and an almost equal number of hours behind a windshield. Nights on couches and floors. Solo dance parties in the van. And, ya know, equipment and entry fees... those are the least of my concerns though.

Leaving sucks sometimes. I don't know if it's something I'll ever get used to. It becomes the theme of every playlist I put together at the end of August. Shit, it even inspired a tattoo on my leg (that I got the week before I left on a 500 mile trip for a pair of races). It makes me wonder what I'm missing out on, what I'm skipping to chase this wild ass dream of being a mediocre bike racer. I think the scariest part though, is how much I know it's really worth it. Without this, I know I'd feel like I was missing something.

It's all up from here. This is going to be a good year.

Week 1: CX2013: 0 nights on couches, 2 nights on the floor.

(When I saw Band of Horses, he introduced this song by saying "this song is about fear")