Post Peach Tree Road Race Update

The 6.2 mile jaunt that is the Peach Tree Road Race proved to be much easier for both Theresa and I than we expected. We weren’t sure how things were going to end up considering the run/walk routine we’ve been using for training. We started the race with the intentions of running as far as we could without the walk breaks, but were pleasantly surprised when the only one needed was at “Cardiac Hill”. “Cardiac Hill” isn’t much of a hill by most standards, but it sure is for us flat landers here in Florida. We made it about half way up the hill before needing a short brake. After getting back up to speed the rest of the run was smooth sailing. We finished it in 1:30:45, which isn’t the fastest, but hey, we’re training for a Marathon not a 100 meter sprint.

With the Peach Tree out of the way the rest of the week was open for activities. Most of our days were spend hiking in and around the state parks near Helen, Ga but I did manage to get a short 12 mile ride in with Theresa’s step father, Ron. The plan was to ride on a few miles up a forest service road and back. It didn’t get off to a good start though. A few yards from the cabin my chain jumped off the large cog and ended up between the cog and the spokes. Luckily I wasn’t moving very fast so there wasn’t any damage. I quickly pulled the chain back up on the large cog and took off. A few miles down the road the chain jumped ship again, but this time it really lodged itself between the spokes and the cog. It took me about 15 – 20 min to work it free. Everything seemed to be in working order so I made a slight adjustment to the low limit adjust screw on my rear derailleur and took off again. I didn’t have any more problems after that. The rest of the ride was great. I could definitely tell that I’m loosing my base when it comes to mountain biking though. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s completely gone by now as I haven’t ridden since.


The plan for now is to concentrate on my marathon training. The hardest part is consistency. We have a tendency to want to skip a lot of runs which really hurts us in the end. I know that if we’re gong to make it through these Disney runs we’re going to have to get into a routine.

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55nine Performance & Wobble Naught

-- UPDATE --

It is with the deepest sadness that I am writting to inform you of the cancelation of my Wobble Naught fitting. I thought I'd have the funds but things aren't looking so good on the financial front. I'll have to hold off for while. Please join me in my mourning process.



A couple weeks ago I had decided to sell my Superfly and order a custom frame. The reason behind this was simple, I wanted a frame that fit me better than the Superfly. The Superfly is an amazing frame with the G2 geometry and the custom offset Fox fork. I simply felt that it was a bit small for me, specifically the stand over height and toptube length. Even though the frame is an XL it doesn't fit me too well due to my abnormaly long wingspan and very long legs.

After some careful considerations, like the fact that I'd be without a bike for 6 to 9 months, and a few discussions with Eddie O'dea from 55nine Performance I decided to hang on to the Superfly and get a Wobble Naugt Fitting. I'm confident that Eddie can adjust the bike to properly fit me despite my previous concerns regarding the size of the frame and my abnormal wingspan and leg length.


The fitting is schedueled for July 9th. This, of course, is durring our annual 4th of July Georgia vacation so I should be able to get some good miles in right after the fitting.

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Boeshield T-9: Interim Review

I’ve been using Boeshield T-9 for just over a month now and I must say that I’m not as impressed as I thought I would be after my First Impressions post. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great chain lube, but it’s not quite a great as some other reviews had let me to believe.

Boeshield T-9 does a great job of creating a nice even coat over the chain which I would assume aids is rust prevention. I’m saying “I would assume” because I don’t know for sure how it handles rust due to the severe drought we’ve been having here in Florida lately.

Where it falls short of my initial expectations is with it’s ability to keep the chain quiet, specifically the squeaking noise that chains often make when they need another application of lube. I have found that, although it does prevent noises for a little longer than the Clean Ride, It’s not by much. I might get an extra 10 or 15 miles of squeak free riding and that’s about it.

To get the best results from T-9 you have to apply it the night before a ride to give it time to “set. If you’re a procrastinator like I am you probably apply the lube right before you load the bike into your vehicle or even a few seconds before you hit the trails. This won’t fly with the T-9. It needs those few hours of “setting”  time to be effective.

I’ll keep using the T-9 for a few more months so I can give it a proper final review, but I think my next chain lube review will be the Epic Ride that The Naked Indian suggested when I first started this review.

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Mountain Bike Feed Bag

Endurance Mountain biker Karlos (a.k.a. The Naked Indian) just published a great review on a bike mounted bag called the Feed Bag. If you’re looking for easily accessible storage while you ride check out his review.

http://singletracksamurai.blogspot.com/2009/05/extended-review-part-two-epic-ride.html

I’ll definitely be purchasing one of these in the near future for my longer rides.

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The 2009 Walt Disney World Marathon

I'm officially signed up for the Walt Disney World Marathon. The race is being held on Jan 11th, 2009 at Walt Disney World, Florida. My training for the 26.2 mile run started few months ago but was unfortunatley cut short due to a minor bike accident. I have been undecided as to my participation since the accident. I've been thinking a lot about it lately and I've decided to give it a shot. It's sure to be the most physically challenging thing I've ever done but it's one of those things I've always wanted to do.

It's not just the lack of training that will be working against me though. I'm planning on participating in a 50 mile endurance mountain bike ride (The WT 50) on Jan 10th, the day before the marathon. Not only will I be short on my training but I'll be starting the race fresh out of an exhausting endurance ride. I've decided that I'll probably end up running only half (13.1 miles) of it and walking the rest. I know I could run a half marathon right now. I'ts the whole marathon that scares me. By reducing the number of running miles I've made my goal seem more attainable.

Wish me luck!!!

Click here to see the course map.

This event has now been added this to my event schedule. Stay tuned for results.

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New World Record!

I've set a new World Record! I know, I can't believe it either. On Sunday, Dec 14th I rode 40 miles at Boyette. "How is this a world record?", you might ask. Well, You're in luck. I'm going to tell you. Never before in the history of the world have I ridden 40 miles, so that makes it a world record. Isn't that great?!? Now if you'll excuse me I have the Guinness Book of world Records on the phone for verification and then I'm due at the studio for a photo shoot.

All kidding aside, I really did ride 40 miles at Boyette on Sunday. I hadn't been able to ride my bike for almost 4 weeks due to a frame failure. After getting the new frame Friday afternoon I headed out for a 10 mile ride with Luis. I hadn't had time to "dial in" the bike yet so Luis had quite a few suggestions for me including the seat fore/aft adjustment and fork adjustments.

Putting all the adjustments off until late Saturday night I headed out to the garage at about 11:00pm. I slid the seat back a bit, set the sag according to FOX's suggestions, adjusted my specialized ergonomic grips, and swapped the cleats on my shoes to get more float.

We hit the trails at 8:00am Sunday morning. Everything was moving along smoothly until I came up to a sharp turn and tried clipping out. Apparently the difficulty required to clip out increases when the cleats are swapped to provide more float. Who knew? Needless to say I didn't get clipped out soon enough. This mistake resulted in my left cheek giving the ground a big ol smooch.

About 10 miles into the ride my spokes picked up a stick. I glanced down for a split second to check it out. The instant I raised my head my left shoulder slammed into the remains of a fallen yet trimmed tree. This instantaneously thew me to the ground. My arms went sliding into a palmetto bush, my upper right leg met a broken branch, and my shin rode up some part of the bike (Not sure what part). This was quite a painful and bloody experience (see slide show for the blood). Luckily nothing too serious happened. I hopped back on the bike, caught up with everyone else and continued the ride.

We rode quite a bit of the quadrants and unfortunately during the longest section I started having blood sugar issues. I was right on Wayne's tire and I didn't want to loose the group. At the same time I knew I wasn't going to make it to the end of the section without eating anything. I decided I was going to attempt to retrieve the Cliff bar that was in the rear pocket of my Jersey. After several attempts and a few close calls I managed to get it. I took a few bites and things started to come back into focus again. Crisis averted!

The rest of the ride went without incident. I even had a pleasant surprise waiting for me up our return to the parking lot...BEER.

A Few Notes:

• I need to figure out how to get food in front of me and readily available. I can't afford blood sugar issues on the trail.
• I had a lot of chafing from my "form fitting" shorts. Get some chamois butter.
• Even with the ergonomic grips my hands were still going numb. Ask around and see what others are doing for this.

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