What Happened in July?

If you are mildly interested; following is a partial pictorial account of the first half of July (incomplete and not in its entirety):

Most importantly; A new Bike!


The 'Little Man' trying out his new Early Rider balance bike. More on this bike later.




A ride at Sewanee with Cory, a pre-med student at The University of Auburn. Cory grew up a few blocks from my current domicile and returns to Huntsville on occassion to help meet outlandish sales quotas at Bicycles Etc. and to torment our local talent with his worldly cycling skills.


Roots, rocks and singletrack, the main ingredients for making mountain biking taste like it should.


An early AM drive to Raccoon Mountain.


And upon arrival, a ride with Big Ring John Eighmee at aforementioned Raccoon Mountain.

The first half of July as you now know through this painstaking update was comprised of a new bike for 'The Little Man', a nice Independence Eve ride at Sewanee, some more riding on Monte Sano and on the road, and a visit to Raccoon Mountain to get dragged around by the Big Ring John Eighmee from Hawley USA.

The second half of July (which will be up soon) will tell of my trip to Asheville to ride with Rich Extreme. Rich and Becky have been doing some big riding this year in places like Costa Rica, Snowshoe and a little known place called Whistler, I think that's in Canada, or somewhere. They are living the life.

Check back soon and often! Oh yeah, Black Bear Rampage coming up.

Sorry for the blurry pic, apparently I was going so fast at the top of the climb the photographers shutter speed was not set appropriately and there fore could only catch this blurry glimpse of my cycling ability.

2009 SERC #8 Raccoon Mtn Race Re-Hash

At approximately 10:30AM on Sunday morning while bouncing down a technical descent, I arrived at the bottom and looked up to find Namrita O'Dea struggling up the adjacent climb. The single speed group I was flailing off the back of had caught some of the pro/expert women early on in the first lap due to crashes and the heat and whatever, but I did not expect to see Namrita until the finish. I came around her and asked how she was, she mumbled something that led me to believe she was not feeling 100%. After talking a little more I found out that she went down at the bottom of the descent where there is a really rough rock garden, it obviously rattled her up a little. She rode along at my pace for a while and then got her legs back and took off.

The day for me started with my alarm sounding off at 4:30AM letting me know it was time to consume breakfast, affix the Kidney Shaker on the back of he FJ and take off for Chattanooga, TN. I had my usual fare; low fat, plain yogurt with Kashi and blueberries, FRS and Tazo Awake black tea. Afterwards I usually take in a LaCroix, a multi-vitamin for old people and two glucosamine tabs. I have learned to keep race morning as normal as possible and today was pretty normal except for the earlier wake up time. For what ever reason I felt nauseaus the whole drive to the race and was hoping this would pass. It did, sort of.

I was close and beginning the drive up the mountain road to the top of Raccoon Mtn. when I noticed a single speeder riding up the steep winding road toward the event. I thought to myself, surely this guy is not riding to the race as it was already very hot and humid and it was a long, steep climb.

Anyway, I arrived excited to race, and forgetting that I felt a little ill, stood in line for over 30 mins even though I had pre-registered. During regsitration I learned via anouncement that a course change had made the two lap distance of the race right at 25 miles instead of the expected 22 miles. I was happy to have a little extra distance even though the temps were going to hover around 95 degrees. There was a neutral feed zoned at about 6 miles into the first lap so I was okay with just taking my two smallish bottles. After registering and suiting up, filled my bottles took a quick ~5min spin and it was time to toe the line. When I found my single minded bretheren and lined up guess who was to my right? Yeah, the guy I saw coming up the road, I asked if he did the climb as a warm up and his response "This is a short race for me so I just rode from my house". Some other guy asked him if he was doing Leadville....again and he said "Definitely". What a drag, the single speed class is attracting some success oriented racers, this is not congruent with my mission of langudily cruising along to mid-pack dominance.

The whistle finally blew and we were off, spinning like mad on the pave' for a 1/4 mile before hitting the technical singletrack that would put us all in a dusty single file, grunting line. I entered the singletrack off the back of the main group and there was some pretty quick carnage and I gained two spots in the singlespeed group. The pace was hurried as I knew it would be so I just tried to keep the group in sight around the first part of the course. I held on for through the first part of the course and up the biggest climb and somewhere before I ran into Namrita I fell off the back and lost sight of the group for the rest the race. Before the end of the first lap I was felling a little sick every time I tried to push it a little so I knew I better settle in to a comfortable pace in order to make the climbs on the second lap.

After easing up a little and finishing up the first lap I surprised myself by continuing on for the second lap when I really just wanted to stop at the FJ, sit down in the shade and drink the one cold beer I had in the cooler. Instead I settled into a mechanical pace that I would hold the rest of the race. Right before the end of the race I had three pros (who started 12 mins before my group) come by finishing their third and final lap. They were still riding a fast, smooth pace. I am always impressed at the difference between weekend warriors and the pro pace these guys were riding like I did in the first 10 mins. In the last mile of the race there were a few racers that were suffering from their earlier efforts and I was able to come by a few people but did not catch any single speeders. I finished in ~2hrs 35 mins which was good enough for 19th place. I felt really good at the end of the race which tells me that I did not go near hard enough. I have got to figure out what is going on with this nausea that I keep having while racing. Maybe I am just slow and getting slower or maybe the single speed class is just getting a whole lot faster and more competitive. Either way the SERC #8 was a great race at a great trail network and I am sure that I will be suffering through it again next year.

Next race, maybe, 'Fools Gold'?

Peligroso: Top Secret Race Preparation Underway

Before I get into the race report and eventual result of said race, I thought it might be interesting to disclose some of the Mountain Mist Cycling Teams top secret race preparations.

Since my body was not really prepared for the SERC # 8 at Raccoon Mountain I thought I might make sure my bike was ready. I had two concerns with the bike, my fitness is a concern too long to get into right now. First concern, the extermely narrow width of my new flat bar set up. Solution, buy another bar, can't commit to that right now so problem ignored. Second concern, to eliminate the absurd creaking going on in the bottom bracket area of the Kidney Shaker.


The creaking in the bottom bracket area of the Kidney Shaker would prove to be a pivotal element in Sunday's race. Since I had already removed the new Niner EBB (that designed by NASA engineers to be mute) and cleaned it thoroughly after DSG the only other source of the creaking would have to be the bb cups themselves. When I installed the bb cups I greased the threads thouroughly so I was skeptical that this was the problem. Just to be sure I removed the Chris Bling bottom bracket cups to reveal still moist and pristine, uncontaminated grease. Just to go the extra mile (I don't mind going the extra mile figuratively) I wrapped the threads with teflon tape. I have always had quiet bottom brackets and when I haven't I have always solved the offensive creaking with this application. Well the creaking is still there and I am sure now it is the new not so silent EBB. I think my bb shell is a little out of round from the old EBB so I can not totally blame the new one. I can just blame the old style for not allowing the new style to work.

After not correcting my two concerns I decided to just go over the details of the Kidney Shaker to check for any other potential issues.

Pre-flight inspection:



Cockpit..........CHECK!


Anterior softening device...........CHECK!


Mid engine rotating propulsion arms.........CHECK!


Posterior propulsion mechanism..........CHECK!

Everything else seemed to be in order with the exception of a very sketchy sidewall on the rear Maxxis Ardent I am running. The threads are showing through the sidewall and a few are tearing in one spot in particular. Hopefully it will hold up for one more race. Since my fitness is not where it usually is at this time of year and I have not solved any problems with my bike I feel pretty much like usual going into this race. Great, just a typical day at the office.

Full race rapport next post.

Ride, Ride, Ride, ...........Race!

Paging Rich, come in Rich. I hope that you are not bored enough to be reading this incoherent blurb but if you are contact me at 'gregorycurl at comcast dot net' and let's make plans for Girls Weekend. Special note: All other readers kindly destroy this message after reading.

Now on to cycling.

So much for 'tapering off' before a race. My goal for SERC @ Raccoon Mountain is to arrive sunburned, tired along with some lingering effects from the night before and suffer through the 22 miles on my one gear kidney shaker.

Note: Archived image of the Kidney Shaker in its stock (original, unmodified and not set up specifically for me) form.

I ride when I can and this past month has been difficult to get on the bike due to a minor injury, work and family vacation. The same challenges almost everyone else has. This week has afforded me the opportunity to log almost as many hours on the bike as I have in the past month. I didn't plan this, it's just the way it worked out. Things are going just as unplanned. I told myself when I started racing mountain bikes that I would not let racing or a race or God forbid training, interfere with my enjoyment of riding a mountain bike.


Here I am half way through the SSUSA race in 2008. You won't see Jeff Kerkove chugging a PBR at mid-point in a ride, much less a race. Now that's what mountain biking is all about, riding, having fun, and riding some more. It did kinda upset my stomach on the the next climb filled lap though, but who cares.

I gotta ride when I have a chance and I can't be 'tapering off' or 'ramping up' or doing 'recovery rides'. If I try a training schedule I will miss out on a lot of good rides. That stuff is for people that get paid to ride their bikes and plan out their riding and racing like it's their job, cause it is. This doesn't mean I am going to show up at a race and just ride along and be in the way, it may seem like that's what I am doing sometimes, but trust me that's really my race pace.

One thing I have missed this year is the Wednesday night group ride. This week it was not a total hammer fest but a few of us did roll out pretty hard. There are always several groups to ride with and I joined in with Hammerhead Chad, the only other SS'er besides myself, Never Ready Freddy, Lil' Ray, T.R., Shirtless Joe Jefferson (although uncharateristically clad in a Trailhead jersey), and Jerry. We took off from the bikers parking lot and took the Sinks>Goat Trail> Roller Coaster (aka Flat Rock Connector)>Flat Rock>and up to the water tower>closed road back to parking lot. And then I pedaled home for a nice and fast ~2hrs on the single speed including the usual group required stops. This is only my second group ride of the year, hopefully I can join in on the suffering and camaraderie more often.

Thursday I got out for a hush, hush ride on the Renegade (aka Forbidden) Trail. I can't say much more than that, other than it is extra sweet when your ride is on a kinda hidden, secret, unmarked, not on any map trail with coyotes, deer, spiders, snakes, wild turkeys and all sorts of other trail obstacles. I had a busy day at work so I didn't pedal away from the house until almost 6PM and this is usually a 2 plus hour ride that finishes with me doing about 4 miles on the road to get back home. It was about dark when I hit the road, got yelled at by one driver for not having a light and pedaled my way home.

Race day on Sunday. My plan is to leave the house at 5:30AM CST on Sunday in order to make it to Raccoon Mtn by 8:00AM EST and put forth enough effort for a mid pack SS finish in the SERC race. Results on Monday, maybe. I might take the morning off and go for a recovery road ride. Who knows?

News You Can Use from My Office

I am having a difficult time coming to grips with not being on vacation. I did make it into the office at 6:45 this AM and was really motivated for a couple of hours. Now I am not so motivated, so while you are working, and I am not, I can report to you what is going on in the cycling world.

Tour Divide: It looks like Matthew Lee is in the lead at the Tour Divide Race arriving in Steamboat Springs just a little while ago.

Tour de France: Will Tom Boonen be racing the Tour de France or will he be free to saunter down to the local European club where cocaine flows like coffee? We will all be on the edge of our seats until Thursday.

NUE Series: Jeff Schalk won the latest race in the NUE Series.

Missy "The Missile" Giove: It has to be for medicinal purposes, she is so clean cut.

Gotta get back to work, ride tonight, more tomorrow.

Vacociones de verano

Back at work today after a week at the beach with La Jefa and The Little Man. I wish I could spend all summer like a kid on holiday. Funny how fast we wish to grow up, start driving, gain independence, stay out late, go off to school, get a job, buy a house, pay a mortgage, start a family and then realize how much we want to be a kid again. Let's all slow down, maybe take a walk on the beach and enjoy where we're at in life right now.



All right, enough with the life lessons. I did manage to squeeze in some riding while at the beach. It was hard to find the time with eating big breakfasts, then walking to the beach, afternoon beers followed by an evening of fried shrimp washed down with margaritas and topped off with an ice cream cone. I was sluggish to say the least on the 7:00AM rides but managed to log some hours. The beach where we stay has a ~30mile bike path that is not really a "bike path" but a thoroughfare for languid pedestrians, moms with two seater baby strollers and tweeners on beach cruisers. You really can't ride a road bike, or any real bike for that matter, on the "bike path" without endangering yours and other peoples lives. This bike path causes a lot of conflict with locals driving on the 35mph road because they believe you should be on the "bike path" and not on the two lane highway. This causes some serious user conflict and I was a target of more than one pissed off redneck. I can understand how they don't comprehend why we have to ride in the road but it shouldn't make them mad enough to want to fight about it. I was cursed at, threatened and had someone try to run me down like I had committed a crime against humanity while all I was doing was riding a bike at 20-25mph in a 35 mph zone. How big of a hurry can you be in not to have 15 seconds to go around a cyclist? Uh oh, I am almost back to the life lessons, on to cycling; for real this time.

Upon return to my half underground lair high atop Monte Sano Mountain I was destined for the quiet solitude of a mountain bike. So Sunday began my reverse taper training for SERC at Raccoon Mountain next Sunday. I am going to pile on the hours this week and if I have to race tired so be it. I am really working toward a different goal with another stepping stone along the way. We will see what happens to foil my well thought out plan.

Mudder Truckin' Rain

Ride update:

Saturday: wet trails = 38 mi. road ride, nice, kinda cool and sunny.
Sunday: the same only ~45 mi. on the road.
Tuesday: A mostly dry mtb ride on Monte Sano..... alone.
Wednesday: Date night, so a 5:30AM road ride, hill repeats.....ugh.
Thursday: Rain from Wed. and earlier Thursday = slick mtb ride with bAlbert.


The drop in to the lower portion of Goat Trail.


bAlbert arriving and ready to slip slide his way through the lower Goat.


Even The Little Man has resolved himself to the fact that 'If you're gonna ride this year, you're gonna have to ride in some mud.'

The GDMBR starts today at high noon. If you don't know what that is look here. For a quick synopsis I will tell you that it is a 2745 mile self supported mountain bike race from here...............


Banff, AB, CA

To here...............


Antelope Wells, NM

I have been following this race for the past 4 or 5 years and it is incredible what some of the riders endure racing day and night for weeks on end. I am talking riding 18 hrs a day, sleeping on the ground beside your bike in the rain or snow, grizzly bears, freezing temps in the Rockies, and blistering heat in the deserts of New Mexico. It makes what most of us do on a bike seem like child's play. This year has the largest start list ever, so it should be a very interesting 20 days or so. Check it out.

I am off to the beach for a week with La Jefa and The Little Man......of course I am bringing a bike, two bikes in fact.

Oh yeah, there maybe some Moots news by the time I return. I will keep you, the faithful readers of this incoherent dribble, properly and completely informed.