2011

This year has definitely been interesting for me as far as my cycling and fitness training is concerned. I had big intentions for the year as always with less than spectacular results. I had visions of Mt. Mitchell and doing lots of major climbs and to get thin and fast.
I did a moderate amount of climbing not to include Mitchell. I did however come to the conclusion that my cycling was not about being the fastest fittest one in my group but just to be true to myself by doing the best that I can with the time I have.
My motocross riding has gotten better and have begun riding at some local tracks with my young buddy Zach. It has been a great way to have fun and get the core stronger. I have since constructed another jump at my home track and continue to get stronger and faster. Not too bad for a 40 year old!
This year has brought with it many challenges not related to cycling. Our son has had to be placed into a residential care facility to get the help he needs to overcome emotional issues from early childhood prior to our adopting him. We have prayed and persevered with him and we are hoping for great things from his time there. It is beyond me that there are parents out there who will totally ignore a baby to the point that they cannot develop social and emotional skills that it takes to give or accept love. It's difficult to think of and I pray that God will put those things in him.
My great freind Stephen is now in China for six weeks and while he is gone I have to ride and push myself alone much of the time. My dad and buddy Mike have filled in and ridden with me some which has been nice.
I have enjoyed being a part of Dailymile.com with some of my good freinds. It is a social networking website much like facebook that is geared toward cycling and running. Check it out if you can and become friends with us and log your own personal training.
I have new motivation as of the past few weeks due to having reached a new weight loss goal of 180 lbs. When I began my cycling I was a large out of shape 250lbs. and got down to 205-215 and maintained that for almost two years. I then began a long struggle to lose more but fought within myself and just couldn't seem to do it.
This past september I finally had enough and began a nutrition program that I stuck with and now am 182lbs. The change has been crazy-good and my climbing skills have improved drastically. I still hope to lean down to close to 170 but for cycling purposes had to add calories for fuel and have maintained well. I will begin to manage intake and try to slowly lean down to my goal.
I plan on getting back to my blog and posting training news and fun stories again so be watching for more on that.
To those who don't like to train in the winter I challenge you to get some warm gear and get to it, you are missing out! More to come...

Motocross kids

While cycling has taken a break this saturday we were still busy doing something fun and interesting. My son Robbie and I went down to Orangeburg to get the new(used) honda CR250R that I had been looking at and talking about for the last couple of weeks. I wanted to get another motocross bike to ride with the kids on theirs and it finally worked out! I sat them up on it while on the stand and took their picture. Then they got side by side an it looked like Evie was the mini-me! Anyway they loved it and were in awe of the new Big bike.
I too was somewhat in awe of it when I rode it the first time and realized that I had not ridden a full blown motocross bike this fast in a very long time, the thing is a BEAST! Fast isn't the word, scary more sums it up; but by the end of yesterday after playing in the field with it I finally got used to the power and could relax a bit. After about 20 minutes though my arms pumped up so bad I had to get off of it for fear of hurting myself. More cycling stories to come next week, but for now the motocrossing will have to do.

February 5th Paris Mt. Swamp Rabbit adventure!

Our first climbing adventure started out in downtown Greenville at the Swamp Rabbit trailhead near the center of downdown. We headed north on the trail and spun our way to the Sunrift Adventures outfitter store in Travelers Rest. We stopped for a relief break and then headed south again. We had it in mind to divert to the Altamont Rd. route over Paris Mt. Jim and I were actually reluctant to do so but at the risk of being ridiculed severely by Stephen we did it anyway.
About half way up the climb I was well aware of why we were so reluctant, it was hard! This time of year isn't normally climbing time for me so I was feeling it bad along with my partner in pain Jim "The Package"(little inside joke). When I hit what they call "the wall" I stood up in the pedals and gave it all I had, which wasn't much. We finally made it to where Stephen and Stephen(Big Bird) were, Jim and I were cooked like grilled chicken! We made it though. We decided that there was some satisfaction in being 200lbs and still being able to climb in February. "Being able to climb", used very loosely here.
The descent began after we all stopped for the two pictures shown here as evidence that I am not a liar. I being a confident and normally fast downhiller tamed the steed due to wet sandy roads. Then it happened!
On the way down I noticed two other cyclists coming up the mountain seemingly as fast as we were going down. It was George Hincapie himself, all decked out in BMC glory with another guy(no disrespect intended to him, but we were descending)whom I didn't recognize. It was my 4th Big George encounter since my cycling began 5 years ago. Exciting stuff for a nobody like myself, and of course, the others...hahaha!
Our day came to an end after that when we safely arrived back at Stephens' truck. The day was a success, complete with a George encounter! What more could a flunkie ask for?

February 2nd Windy Ride

I took off from the house this morning hoping that the wind would slack off a bit as the day went on, but I was wrong.
My motivation came from thinking of just how bad I wanted to ride well this spring and all of the upcoming events that I didn't want to trail at the end of the group. My training this year has been sporatic at best due to the awful weather we have been having here and I just didn't want to make excuses for myself. Lord knows I wanted to stay on the couch and be a veggie-burger.
The ride went pretty well though in spite of 25mph gusts and 15-20mph sustained winds. I burned more than expected calories for the time out and that was positive also.
Coming up in april, on the 2nd, I am directing the first "Foothills Flyer" cycling event from our church, Golden Creek Baptist Church near Liberty, SC. The event will feature a metric-century and a half-metric. The long route will feature the well-known Dug Mountain climb that ascends up from the little Eastatoee Creek on Roy F. Jones rd. Then the Bob's Place climb out to Hwy 178 back down to Hwy 11. the short route will have more of the same great scenery without the big climbs.
We will have full SAG support and staffed rest stops with food and fluids along the way. T-shirts and a cookout meal will be provided for the riders after they return from their journey.
I am proud and delighted to be able to put a nice ride together and hope many will participate. The proceeds will benefit our youth program and will help in making sure that the kids of our area have something positive to do.
Click on the Active.com tab in my links to go to the registration for the event.

January 29th Training with Stephen

Today was as great a day to ride in January as I think I've ever seen! It was 60 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. Stephen and I left his place in Clemson and headed toward Central with the intention of making up a new route that really ammounted to nothing more than a big loop around the two towns. On the way through central we stopped and shot the breeze with Red, another cycling buddy of ours, then headed out for a few more miles headed back to Stephen's place. Our ride was a good one, mostly recovery pace, seeing as we were both recovering from being sick this past week. I felt pretty weak at the start but by the time we ended I felt better though tired. We did a fair amount of goofing off and cutting up as usual to make the miles more interesting and ended up having a great time once again. We were supposed to be joined by Jim but early this morning bailed out and did'nt show. I think his riding panties were dirty or maybe his skirt got caught in the chain on the last ride, I really don't know. He is now known as our rolling human stimulus package due to his "BAILOUT" today! Hahahaha! Just kidding Bro! Stephen and I "LANCED IT UP" today by wearing our Lanceish kits, he in the Livestrong kit and I in my Discovery kit; go Lance we'll never be like you! We may have confused some motorists into thinking that in some way we were actually somebody, until they got close enough to notice that I was really a fat guy pretending to be a real cyclist. We still had fun and I went on pretending! Well to all of my followers; five now I think, hope you enjoyed the update and check out today's video, we had fun!

Riding with Stephen and Jim

Today was a enjoyable day of winter spinning with my two buds Jim and Stephen. We headed out from Jim's place for a 25 mile winter training ride that almost turned into a bonk-fest by yours truly. We started the ride off with a nice warm-up pace of 15mph or so and slowly ramped it up a bit. I was doing fine as well as my two faithful companions until a fairly steep, but short(so I thought) hill on one of the secluded roads in the townville/fairplay area. I decided to stay on Shephen's wheel and put forth a leg shattering performance that would rival even the best(fat guy)climbers in the area. I very soon regreted that descision and never really recovered from it, sending me to the back of our trio for the rest of the ride. The last 3-4 miles were better and I was able to scrape enough strength to shoot a short video and a couple of cameraphone pics. So congrats to Jim for dropping me, I'm sure it was a huge boost to his ego! As usual Stephen didn't exert himself even the slightest bit. I know the back of his Kestrel well...whew!

Winter Beauty

This winter has been cold but beautiful at the same time. I find that however awful the cycling has been this new year there have been other things to command my attention. The snow we had was epic for our area seeing as we got 10 inches of the fluff; which hasn't happened in some 20 plus years. The kids went nuts and us adults had to fight, slip and slide our way to work. I had a wonderful time tearing it up with Evie on the 4wheeler out in our pasture while our cattle stared on oblivious to the joy that the snow was bringing us; they were less amused I'm sure.
The photos really don't do the sky and the snow justice but cameras can't see everything. I enjoyed the opportunity to try and capture the beauty for you.
January has offered a select few days to ride and enjoy the company of good cycling buddies, Stephen, Jim and I made it out last Saturday for a nice 32 miles of flat and rolling hills near Townville SC. The prior Saturday Stephen and I made the first Eastatoee loop of the year which was cold! He made fun of my freezing toes as we made our way through the valley and we caught some strange looks from some local trout-fishermen as we stopped at the little eastatoee creek bridge. Most folks look on us as crazies as we roll past them in the cold but they are always nice. Stephen's fun was due to the fact that he had planned for the big freeze by stuffing hand warmers in his shoes and gloves; I didn't though and paid for it. Nevertheless the ride was really great and we had a blast in spite of the numbness.
I hope this year has more of the same great rides and times of great fellowship that last year did. I look forward to some of the new cyclists that I know getting out there and enjoying what so many of us have been! Come with me and give cycling a try, you'll be hooked.

New Year

Well, here is 2011 and this years early training has begun. I welcome any and all who would join me in my journey to top fitness this year.
Plans for this year include the Stars And Stripes Challenge, a personal ride to Mt. Mitchell from home, and SCride4life. More to come later!