innocent face

george knows what's going-on and you can see it in his smile. stoked for this guy.

holy crap!

by now, we've all heard THE NEWS. the tour will not be the same. and will the sport?

on Big Jan: "He has an altitude chamber in his basement, that cost €120,000, so that he could train in a clean way, and he still manages to fall in with these rogues and betrayers..."

on my emotional favorite, David Millar: "Cycling is the most beautiful sport in the world...I want to prove that it is definitely possible to win without doping..."

but is it? will we ever believe the sport is clean? when tyler was nabbed almost 2 years ago, my heart sank, it felt like a kick in the junk... and this? ... but in a way, this will make the tour that more exiting. now, when a break appears, it could be THE BREAK. it's all up in the air, all up for grabs. 25 years from now, we'll remember this year, but more importantly, we'll remember who won! grab it david, show 'em it can be done w/o drugs...

in more personal news, thom p laid it out last night at the end of a ride. i foolishly brought my work-bag on what i thought was a 90min meander. it was a meander at first, with some efforts thrown-in, most especially at sun-down when we hit Concord. a light muggy fog had settled onto the ground, making things dark, yet soft. the tempo increased. a glance at the speed revealed 23, then 24, thom doing all the work. i took a tun for a pull and instantly went anearobic, but keep pushing best i could, thom staring at the 15lbs of bailey works bag on my back, probably wondering why in the f i'd carry such a thing, as that was the question i'd been asking myself... just didn't expect to get 240' in yesterday, but damn glad i did - and stoked to finally get-out with the singlespeed monster for a road rip.

meeting-up w/andy today for an mtb epic, wondering how much legs i got left. who cares, it'll be a great ride, suffer-fest or not. as david said so well, "cycling is the most beautiful sport in the world" and i feel damn lucky to experience it, even if at such a lowly level.

viva la tour! may we all have good rides this wknd.

Sunny Seattle (no, seriously)

i love the west side. every time we visit, it's hard to leave. when there's a long line at the coffee shop, folks don't bitch, they chit-chat. yes, that's right, strangers talking to strangers, then we're not strangers, but fellow coffee addicts waiting for a fix. i digress. seattle. beautiful place, nice people and a great wedding. it was great to be a part of will and beth's hitchin' - and we know they'll be together for a long time...

jenn and i rolled on scene super-late wed night and got some zzz's. in the morning i commandered Will's mtbike for 90mins of loops around green lake, a super popular spot for runner's, walker's, biker's. sun was shinin', temps in the low 70's, stopped for a mid-ride cookie and espresso, just doesn't get any better. later that day we rolled across the Sound on the Kingston Ferry, set-up shop and got-down to bizness (aka, the casino and drinkin' for Will's 2nd to last night as a "free man") w/his future bro-in-law and John, good dudes.

Awoke on Friday to more sun, once again commandered Will's bike and went for a great rip! legs were feeling crazy fresh (even if my head wasn't) and found a nice 5' climb to do repeats on. didn't want to be gone too long w/everything going-on, arrived back right as folks were wakin'-up and cooked-up breakfast for the crew w/my ridin' energy. Ate and drank like the royalty we are all day and watched in amazement as Beth's family rolled-in army-style and cooked-up a feast. it doesn't suck that Beth's uncle (1 of 8 siblings!) is Tom Douglas, a renowed Chef.

Woke-up crazy-early on Saturday, the big day. wanted to get a little longer ride in, knew i needed to knock it out early. was up at 530a and back before anyone even noticed. this was the ride that i'd been looking for. views of the Cascades, Mt Rainer, and the Sound on one side, then amazing views of the Olympics on the other. Words don't do the views justice. if you haven't been out that way, buy a ticket, pack-up your bikes and roll. Only freaky part of the spin was the Hood Canal bridge, the scariest, most massive bridge i've ever crossed. i don't like water at all and bridges need to be pretty thick for me to feel comfortable - this floating monstrosity had me poopin' me pants, but of course, i made it safely across. had to roll in a big gear for my sanity, just going for it. once on the other side all i could think of was the trip back across...

the wedding went w/o a hitch (besides me having way too many cocktails and falling asleep at like 1030p - i don't know why i try to drink drink-drinks - they just don't work for my skinny cyclist style) and before we knew it we were saying goodbye to Will and Beth. Jenn and I were pretty beat, and headed back across the ferry feeling fuzzy and disoriented. luckily, right as we were exiting the ferry Nathan dropped me a call on the cellie and we were off to his place for relaxation and food. It was good to see that brutha, talk bike smack, work-smack, life-smack, all that smack. as usual, his bike knowledge was vast and he gave me some good info, like where to get some burly chainrings for my XTR cranks.

one red eye flight later, i'm at work, doing my thang, wondering how in the hell i managed to find 11 saddle hours last wk w/all the action. not up to my usual standard of rides, but the rest was certainly good - and with 4 days in canda on-tap this upcoming wknd i'm pumped. Man, i LOVE riding up there. Plus the lake house, the friendly canadian style, hanging w/Jenn w/o anything to do, Alpine Lager, the whole gig, you know? may even catch a fish this time. man, i'm about the worst fisherman evah.

time to get my XC on! / cpl cool pics

My endurance racin' season is winding-down and it's time to get those fast-twitch muscles ... twitchin'!? Lots of traveling in the works, glad to be getting-away, but worried about finding the hours next two weeks - quality will be the name of the game. With a smart plan (yeah, right!) can hopefully get through all this travel roaring to go for a six week xc race plan starting July 9th:

(july 9) EFTA, MOODY PARK
(july 16) ROOT66, HOLIDAY FARM (DALTON!)
(july23) EFTA, EASTERN CUP
(july 30) JAY 65
(aug 6) EFTA, MUD IN YER EYE
(aug 13) ROOT66, HODGES DAM

Really looking forward to the trips we're taking, even though they're "interrupting" my little cycling compulsion. Will and Beth decided to get hitched, so off to the West Side (can my skinny racer-ass handle 3 nights of boozing and smoozing!? - challenges, challenges), back home for a couple, then off to Nova Scotia. If you haven't been to Nova Scotia, imagine Maine, then remove like 80% of the people - it's an amazing place to ride. Will get a final dose of base over those four days before settling into what will be the most intense period of racing i've ever done... with jenn so near her due date the last 2 weeks will be touch and go, but it's better to make a plan thinking you'll be doing something than have it sneak up on ya'...

For inspiration, thought i'd toss these photos (once again courtesy of mtbmind) of Thom battling it out with legend Skip Brown on their ss's during the North Shore Classic onto the blog. Downright racer-x inspiring:

and the big red tire appears on the horizon...

skip moves past pushing a massive 36x16 (or whatever insane gear that dude can push).

the focus on these guy's faces is effin' sweet. to say thom has stepped-up this year is an understatement, and with 3 more 100milers planned for the season, he's just getting warmed-up.

i got-out for a mtbike spin this morning and decided to stay in the 34-18, a common SS gear combo. was curious to see if i could hang - and today is a planned hard day. on the first sustained climb was crying fer me mama. got to give these ss freaks a huge shout-out. it's burly stuff.

Ode to Mt Snow, A Race Report

Being my 3rd xc this year, was definitely curious how well i'd fare on what i consider the toughest xc course in NE (and one of the most fun - yip, yip!). In appreciation for such a fine course, i decided to write an Ode. of course, i don't have much time, so it's gonna be about as rough as my race was! all photos courtesy of mtbmind.com - and yes, i'm enough of a dink to 1) wear a sleeveless jeresy 2) nab front row center.

ode to mount snow:

load-up the crew in our trusty subaru.
jenn, thom, bill, me, off to the mtn go we.

ride, sleep, 545a oatmeal and juice.
eating by a lamp endorned w/a moose.
caffeine kick-in, oh please, please,
off to the bathroom for a squeeze.

over to the course, 30mins to gun.
bright sun, blue sky, a day quite fine.
to the start, ss first, then young to old,
we blast from the line,
hungry for the hole.

heart racing, breath in gulps,
jenn's there, yelling loud,
bottles all around her, sun beating down,
time for me to break-out of this crowd!

turn into woods, too far back,
now i'm havin' fun, waiting to attack?
out in open, down and across,
on the brakes and into the sauce.

chain-suck immediate, it's a bane,
off the bike, running now,
don't lose time, but don't gain.
drums pounding-out cadence ahead,
today i'm damn glad i got outta bed!

around the pond, back uphill, only cpl mins more,
then down, down, down we'll roar.
have to let it flow, but holding back,
passed by several, just need to attack.

out the bottom and across the hill,
1/3rd done, eat a gu, get that man,
climb past jenn, smiling best i can,
gotta make passes, no time to chill.

back into descent, flying now, charging lines,
feeling smooth, this is better, this is right.
2nd lap goes-by quick, feeling fine,
back-up hill for 3rd and final time.

jenn's got bottles ready,
stomach's tight, grab the HEED,
but mind's saying water, that wasn't bright.
just ignore the legs and mind, that's the creed.

climbing well, but not in position,
can i turn it up, been trying, on a mission.
maxed-out, not much more there to give,
then into final descent, time to live.

someone gets by, why do i wait?
light-headed, hot, but need to drill,
out in the open, cross the hill,
come-on legs, let's get irate!

but this is it, what i've got,
sometimes top 3 ain't yer lot.
on the podium, in 5th place,
not too bad for a nationals xc race.

and that's my ode. i think the average HR of 174 for 2hrs 11mins says it all. rode the course in the middle ring, w/a touch of big at the end of each lap. was going flat-out, climbing much stronger than last yr, yet barely crawled onto the podium. i guess some real fast fella's came-out to play at mt snow this past wknd! Results here. Am shocked to see where everyone's from, didn't realize quite how "national" Nationals was! The four guys in front of me where from NC, RI, UT, and VA. feeling better 'bout my result after seeing that...

thom rocks the SS class w/a 3rd! holy shit that dude is fast. nipped me by 1 second in his 34-20! wow. Mo Bruno grabbed 5th overall and 3rd in her class, she's rollin' way strong after a cpl seasons off the mtbike.

but, i do need to find the flow again. it's time to mtbike. been on the road all season, training, too rarely just riding. andy's right, the flow is there, just need to shake it loose... but ain't gonna get a chance to do much mtbiking in the next cpl wks, unfortunately. lots of traveling = road bike.

heard through the grapevine that Harlan took 2nd to Eatough at the Lumberjack 100. Nice one! and harvey snagged another top 10!

mont snow

it's on like donkey kong.

haven't rested much since mohican, trying to set-up mt snow w/o losing too much. last yr, in me mind, it was all 'bout the climb, rim brakes and all. it rained and i got wrecked on the descent. luckily, had a set of 1.95 serac's in the car, w/o those, things wouldn't have just been ugly, but broken. there are a couple scary lines and if you ain't on yer game, it's lights-out, huge, spectacular crashes - managed 3 on the first lap, took it easy after that. had a decent gap on the field going into the initial descent, exited the woods 2-3mins behind 1st. would climb back into position, get destroyed on descent. repeat. ugly stuff. was it the rim brakes or me?

can't rely on the, rockshox sid team, 'cause the lock-out spring is wicked wimpy and the thing locks-up on me at random. opening flood-gate helps, but have limited travel. 300miles on the fork and not pleased, nor are jamie and the boys, who've invested a lot of time on that beeyatch. so, will slap the old fox f100x on the steel deluxe (which ain't designed fer 100mm). curious to see how she handles, but won't know till tomorrow night. should be supa-sqiush, as long as steering isn't slowed dramatically, will be the balls.

'nother mystery is the chain suck from middle to little ring on the deluxe. haven't used the little ring all season, might as well take it off... rear derailluer was shot, new one going-on t-day, but don't see how'd that effect chain suck... kinda want to give it one more ride before ditching the little ring... but then again, haven't used it in two 100 milers, so do i really need it?... for the climb up Jay i will... but that's not this sunday...

did i mention, i love this freakin' race!

props! jay mtb update

if anyone reads this silly blog and wants to do an epic of a "more civilized" nature, Dan DeRoisers has introduced a 45miler at Jay this year (Sunday july 30th). andy and i have been kicking around the idea of the wilderness 101 / jay mtb combo. thom likened the sanity of this plan to the grand sport of ferret legging. that being said, is anyone looking to drive a couple freaks from state college pa to jay vt on sat night? it's only an 11hour drive. leave at 6pm sat, 2hrs after finishing the 101, totally cramp-up on the drive, then hop-out at 5am for breakfast and warm-up for the jay? crazy? anyone got any ferrets?

looking at the results from Big Bear, looks like Buck and his buddy won the Duo class (on ss's). Kerry's team took the win in expert 4-woman. Steve Schwarz took-on Ernie and won in the solo class, i thought Steve rode for IF, but i guess he's rollin' with Titus (unless there are 2 steve schwarz's in maryland?). unlikely. don't matter, that dude had a big race. may the schwarz be with you.

in local racing news, while i was in niskayuna, one of the biggest turn-outs for an EFTA / Root66 mtb race was taking place in topsfield, our backyard. haven't gotten the full scoop, results ain't up, but the rumours are that thom had a monster race, while andy kicked some serious booty, puncture and all. nice one.

forgot to thank rob follansbee for letting me borrow a road bike for my dad to use this wknd. that epic meant a lot to both of us, thanks rob. rob hasn't been getting-out as much this season due to having 2 little ones, but he still scored a top 10 at the well's ave crit. even when not training hard, you can't take the race outta a racer...

ridin' w/my pops

am back in my "hometown" of niskayuna, ny. quiet place on the mohawk river where the kids are smart and the adults drink good wine. as you cross the mohawk and head north, small farms and orchards are the norm, towns are smaller, spaced farther apart. within 50miles, you're in the adirondacks, a place where a love for epics is easily developed. yesterday, my dad and i went for a ride across the river, up along ballston lake towards saratoga, looped around saratoga lake, where small white caps were whipped-up by a steady 20mph WNW wind. we kept our speed pretty mellow but worked plenty hard to make headway into the wind, jeff sr riding behind, but not on my wheel, "i wanted to push my own wind" he says later that day as we discuss the epic over a couple bass ales. nice.

we cruised past the saratoga horse track, where we watched the Traver's Stakes together and washed down our losses with large, cold domestic beers a long time ago now. Stately Victorians line the road, but we quickly pass them by and turn down Rt50, past SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center), which brought-back some pretty great memories for both us. He probably thinking of that kick-ass The Who show, while I, one of Phish's jams - both of us doing the same thing, just in different eras. as we pass SPAC, patches of blue sky we had being eyeing hopefully finally take-over the sky and the sun shines-down, temps finally crawl over 55. we ride by side for a couple miles, before the shoulder narrows back up, then put our heads down and focus on cutting some wind.

As we make a final turn to the east, we snag a now 20+mph tailwind and begin to fly, hitting 30 on a couple flats w/o effort, but sooner than we'd like the route turns on it's tail, sending us directly into the wind. we grind-out 5-6miles of road, before heading back down over the Mohawk and into Niskyuna, past quiet suburban homes, pedaling softly, enjoying the success of our 4 hour ride together.

Back at Jenn's mom's place, estrogen is running rampant. 20 women, graciously giving us gifts for the baby-to-be. J Sr and i roll-in, begin eating everything in sight, hugging a few old friends, horrifying others in our smelly gear. Many thanks to my folks for coming-up to hang, real solid to go for a ride with my pops, catch-up with my mom, their recent trip to Thailand. big thanks to jenn's mom for hosting the event - and feeding us for 2 days.

today, a cold has settled deep in the chest, probably did too much last week, left myself open to this. sprung my back on thursday doing some efforts, man, i'm kinda a mess right now. only thing to do is ride back across the river for a cpl hours. ridin' solves all problems...

b-day!

Today is Jenn's 30th! happy b-day jenny.

i love my wife. and because of that, i love my life. being with the right person, to cheer you on, be your support, you theirs, is impowering. it's hard to know how best to celebrate a life, a person who means so much to you. is it with a cake? a party? a gift? ... those things are great and all and help illustrate how much you want them to be happy, but are mere tokens. what's hard is knowing how best to say, "hey you, that person who eats dinner next to me everynight, is carrying our child, and washes my smelly work-out clothes, you're super-cool and i'm stoked to be the one you come home to!"

that being said, i slept-in this morning! not a good way to show the one you love that it's their special day. i've got some surprises in store for later today that will hopefully make-up for being such a lazy-ass. w/o 2 cups of coffee i might as well be 3yrs old, not 30... ah crap, i'm 31.

in other b-day news, our friends doug and tara had their first child, a healthy baby boy named Dylan last Saturday around noon. here's some pics of that little chap. a future photographer, sailor, scientist, all-around good guy. no doubt. doug's talent as a photographer are more than apparent in these beautiful pictures of their son.

Mohican 100 - Cyclingnews Link and Pics

Pretty nifty bridge near the end of the Mohican. We enjoyed riding along this river a few times in the route - something relaxing about riding next to a river, even when it's ragin' and over the banks.

Check the Cyclingnews story here.

Pic of Harlan

Sully rockin' the Rigid SS

As i contemplate the event a few days out, it is with a few key lessons learned. Pace and fueling is one, but that is a constant learning process. what i really took from this one was inspiration from the perserverance of others. I knew Skip was fast-as all get-out, but it was his perserverance through the worst of situations that blew me away. When most people would have quit, he continued on through 8 chain breaks (using a rock to fix it!? - didn't even know that was possible), getting lost a zillion times, but fighting the whole way, never givin' up. later tiffany rolled-in with an arm and leg reminiscent of hamburger, in 2nd place. thom rode his ss for 100m for the first time, snagged 3rd SS, fought through a bonk ("a place of wind and ghosts") to make it happen. kerry riding-on from aid station one after they RAN OUT OF WATER! and of course, the other 150 folks who pushed through it, never gave up and crossed the line thirsty for some beer, a cpl of which i was lucky enough to ride with.

then, of course, how damn nice everyone i met this wknd was. as kerry illustrates so well on her blog, the monster drive there & back was a breeze with such mellow car mates.

Also got to know a lot of IFab riders this wknd and am super-impressed with how relaxed and unique their appoaches are, yet take their riding to the next level. Harlan, super-nice guy, laughed off the win like the pro he is. humble. humbling. can't imagine getting hooked-up with a better group of people.

Mohican 100 Race Report

meet-up w/andy, thom, kerry, skip and tiffany thursday afternoon, loaded-up the Seven van and got out of boston before the traffic got gnarly. headed west and rolled into Buck's house outside Harrisburg late friday night. good dude, looking fwd to bumping into that guy again soon.

day 2. after more quality time in the van, roll into the Mohican State Forest at 5pm on Friday. Monster rains hit the area and i was getting fired-up to race my bike in some slop. set-up camp, got our grub-on, met Sully and chit-chatted for a while before wrenching on the steel deluxe. as usual was up past 11p doing minor bike things, hit the sack, then got back-up and ate a 2nd dinner around midnight, was inspired to get my grub-on for this one.

day 3. 530a wake-up, andy cooked-up some oatmeal while i "brewed" instant coffee so strong it burned through the bottom of thom's plastic cup. nice morning, around 60 degrees, partly cloudy, practically no wind, temps would never get much above 72, perfect day for a race. slapped-on the chamois and a sleeveless jersey and cruised-down to the staging area around 645.

720a and 150 endurance freaks were off like a herd of turtles. then suddenly we're hauling ass. whoever was driving the pace car didn't realize that a rolling start for mtbiker's isn't 20+mph, but it worked-out fine as it spread the field before hitting a 10m section of rolling, ripping singletrack. Really great stuff. I enter the woods in a top position, working a bit harder than i'd like, Harlan's right in front of me, he's outta my league, so i slow-down a tad and let 'em go. Skip goes by me like a like i'm riding a tricycle, but that's to be expected. Then suddenly my chain breaks. For no good reason at all. I hop off and remember #3 on jenn's advise list for the Mohican, "Fix it Right" (the other nine pieces of sage race wisdom have been removed from the blog, they're my race hints ! - que evil laugh). get the chain back through, slap the exta sram powerlink on and it's go time.

now in 20-25th position, but it's all good. only lost 3mins, and begin working my way back through the field. 20mins later I catch a trio of ss'ers (including Thom) and their geared counterpart, Harvey (who celebrated his 40th on sun!), on a burly section of trail along a flooding river. Then Thom's gone, riding all this super-gnarly stuff that had the rest of us literally falling into the river while trying to hike-a-bike. sweet-as ridin'. we eventually get to a campground - where the signage for the race has been removed. The lead 2 or 3 fellas made it through before someone tore-down the signs, so now there are like 20 riders piling-up, standing around and looking confused. I mention going back to the campsite and getting drunk. Then after cruising for signage for who knows how long, Garth Prosser appears and sends us up a steep-as-shit hike-a-bike climb, aross the trail and then the wrong way down to aid station 1. Andy and I decide to take the race at "epic ride" pace for a while to re-group mentally from what is essentially a re-start. But, it's all good, we still have 75miles of course to rock!

Andy and I get the wheels turning and a few miles later are back in a groove. We hit some pavement, group-up with Alex Dolopp and work together. Alex drops-off and warns us our pace is too high... a few miles later we re-group before hitting some more sweet technical singletrack en route to aid station 2 at mile 46. by now my rear derailluer is totally trashed (it was on its last legs going into the race), still working, just draggin', please make it to the end, broke part of my saddle in a fall along the river, and the fork won't completely unlock, but everything is still "working" and it does so until the end. nice. andy's suggestion to bring chain lube was best call of the day, kept the drivetrain kickin'.

We all re-fuel and get going onto the next aid station. i'm feeling good so i leave Andy and Alex and begin pushing. Skip, Harvey and others go by me in the other direction with Garth in a pick-up truck guiding them - as they had missed a turn someplace. Around mile 55-60 i miss a turn (which wasn't hard to do on this course) and lose some time. I go back and find the turn-off, Alex is there and we work together on some Amish buggy trails that lead to 10miles of rail trail. I start feeling pretty bad all of the sudden and drop-off in a serious bonk. Everthing's hot, my head is swimming and i'm hoping for rain like crazy from the heavy clouds that have rolled-in. Then it starts to pour. a cold rain. now i'm freezing. i try to keep the pace-up, drink Hammer baby-puke and focus on getting through the bonk. I can't see shit, but i know the aid station is close, just need to get some real food. focused on keeping the legs turning over even though every fiber of your being is saying, "get the f off the bike dumb ass!". thankfully i bonked on the rail trail, hills would have been bad in my condition. 2 100milers, 2 bonks. the tale of 2 bonks?

miss another turn and end-up in some weird little town. Wrong. Turn around and find an arrow painted on the road - this leads me right to aid station 3 where i stop for about 5 minutes and literally eat 2lbs of bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, trail mix and orange slices. I dump-out the Hammer Nutrition and fill-up both btls w/water. As i'm munching, Skip arrives like a force, looking great, totally f'd due to a bad chain, missed turns. Seeing him looking so fresh at mile 70 (which at this point is more like 80m) is inspiring. I grab one more handful and start up the trail, quickly feel better, than have a massive sugar crash. Legs aren't really effected, just feel like i'm about to fall asleep, take an on-the-bike nap for 4-5miles and 2 ss riders bridge-up - Matt and Rich i believe. We ride "together" off and on, through some horse farm and some sketchy muddy trail. Somewhere in this section we run into a 4' wall across a small stream - Rich says, "you can't ride that w/all those gears?" i move-on in confusion.

We arrive at aid station 4 together, rich is on fire and blasts ahead, smokin' me in the singletrack. Another geared rider appears, passes me and at first i'm thinking about just letting him go, but now we're back on singletrack - the same sweet-as singletrack we started the race on. with lots of fuel back in my tank i keep this rider in sight through the singletrack. he's rippin'! nice. i see Kerry at the top of a climb, she's finishing the 100k and tells me to go catch the guy. the singletrack is sweet! feeling pretty good considering we probably have 100miles in our legs by now. after 8m of singletrack we hit a short fast piece of asphalt, then a hard turn to a short super-muddy trail along the river before hitting the dam and a super-steep hike-a-bike up to 1.5m of road before a short muddy/grassy climb to the finish. the other geared rider is about 60secs in front, so i begin to run/walk/push up the steep slope, huffin', head swimmin'. we hit the asphalt together, push through a little climb and he's gone, with that pass salvage a top 10, the goal for the race. a few minutes later i finish-up, try to pull a wheelie at the line and end-up flat on my back, still clipped-in. nice one.

Beer and burgers await. Thom finishes just a cpl minutes later (3rd ss), then Andy not long after that. We begin telling stories and keep telling them until we arrive back in Boston late Sunday night. Met some good folks. Good trip, great ride! Good times.

(and Harlan took the win!- and Tiffany 2nd!) (IF reports from thom and harlan). (andy's report). Kerry's report(s) truly capture the essence of the trip - the van of good vibes - and it's tree-trunk legged driver, Skip.

ready to roll

after 2 days of non-stop work, western cycle has gotten my bike running smooth as buttah. the extra love. the special love. i better not wuss-out on all that hard work those guys laid-down on the Deluxe, gotta be ready to drive this audi s6 of mtbikes. been on the taper bus this wk. sat's long epic capped-off weeks of solid rides following the cohutta 100. legs feel like they're coming around, but won't really know till... well, you know.

lists have been made, bags packed w/o use of the lists, all loaded-up, ready to go.

i'm stoked to find-out what kinda day saturday will be for me. only thing i can really predict is that by the end i'll be tired, insanely wired, food will taste great and the beer will be honey. hell, every finisher gets a mug and access to quality brew. if you don't think i'll be dreaming of that by mile 50 (more like 5), well, then you just don't know, you know?