BURN 24...ready to go

We're leaving tomorrow morning! I have a feeling this will be the best BURN 24 hour ever..the trail is longer, we have zillions of prizes to give out, and the weather looks great. Not only do we have prizes for podium finishers, but also strategic prizes such as 10th/15th places and maybe more..and a Vassago 29er frame that will be up for FREE raffle, any of the racers can win it!

We really did put some effort into the alien abduction this year..so beware ;)

See y'all there for the party!

Taylor Brooks Foundation

Vassago Cycles has teamed up with Dirty Spokes to support the Taylor Brooks Foundation. Vassago Cycles is very passionate about childhood cancer and raising awareness to an amazing foundation that does not receive half the research funds it needs. It has become a mission we are proud to be part of.

Vassago Cycles has donated a frame that will be raffled between now and October 11th, 2008 at the Dirty Spokes 12/6 Hour Mountain Bike Race - Georgia International Horse Park, Conyers, Ga (ALL proceeds from the raffle go to the Taylor Brooks Foundation). Raffle tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased through the Dirty Spokes web site.
We urge you to read the story of mountain bike racer Jeff Brooks and his wife. their daughter lost her fight against cancer on April 1, 2008.

a visual of the pain felt (at conyers)

Check out these pictures from one of the race photographers. Early on, it's all smiles. The later in the race it gets, the more the pain sets in (as you can see on my face). Eddie's got it going on, too, just not as bad :)

mark d i borrowed your pics...

They're here!!!!

You need to BUY ONE NOW

24/conyers race report

It's true that the Olympic MTB course in Conyers, GA may be the toughest 24 hour course to race solo. It is anything but smooth, you are either on bumpy granite or rolling through roots and technical sections. And, erosion has definitely taken a toll on this trail in the last several years as the brake bumps on even the non-technical descents have the feel of a washboard.

Eddie and I were both having fork problems three days before the race and Vassago sent us a brand new fork via 2-day air. We received it on Friday and I let Eddie use it since I really wanted him to win this race and didn't want him to have to stop b/c of mechanicals. I used Eddie's fork on my Optimus Ti and had my Jabberwocky as backup with the ODIS rigid fork (BTW, rigid is NOT the preferred choice for this race course).

Cody convinced me to do my first lap on the rigid bike because then the Ti bike with suspension would feel awesomely light and cushy, good idea Cody. After one lap, I happily ditched the suspensionless bike and went for titanium.

My first few laps were consistent at about an hour each and 2nd place was dropping further back. After a few hours, though, my forearms were really bothering me. I didn't realize that my fork was compressing but not rebounding, so all the little bumps on the course were giving me a beating. Hodge convinced me that the steel fork would actually be a smoother ride so I took his advice.

Somewhere in the middle of the night I was near tears as I couldn't ride anything as my arms hurt so bad. Cody massaged them and him, Richard, and Hodge kept me motivated to get back out there even if I had to do a lot of walking. The problem with singlespeeding is you use your forearms A LOT even when climbing, so not only was I descending like a snail to reduce the jarring effect, I was either walking or wincing when I was climbing.

My lap times got slower and slower but I stayed out there despite taking a few hour or so breaks (I was always 2 to 3 laps up on 2nd place so I felt comfortable resting). I contemplated quitting several times, I even told everyone I was quitting. What really kept me from doing it, though, was the fact Hodge & Cody had done so much for us all day and night and I didn't want to let them or Vassago down.

I ended up with 15 laps and I can definitely say it was the most grueling 24 hour race I've ever done. As if the course wasn't hard enough, singlespeed and rigid made it stupidly hard. Now I have to live with a huge swollen right arm in hopes that this tendonitis (or whatever it is) does not ruin any of my remaining season. I do not foresee me being able to mountain bike anytime soon, though :( Too bad, I wanted to do some laps at the BURN 24 hour race this weekend. Oh well, at least it doesn't hurt too bad to eat ice cream and drink beer.

I am SO proud of Eddie for finally winning at Conyers! I did support for him in October 2004, and that is how we met. He has been trying to win this race since then and this was finally his year. Now we NEVER have to race solo there again and I couldn't be happier about that!

I know I already thanked them, but I have to do it again:

THANKS TO ADDICTIVE CYCLES, SCOTT HODGE AND CODY YANCEY ARE THE BEST MECHANICS AND BIKE SHOP GUYS IN GEORGIA! Why else would we drive an hour to go to a bike shop? Because we trust them and they are really cool guys.

THANKS also to VASSAGO CYCLES, the Optimus Ti 29er is truly the perfect endurance racing machine!

If anyone has pics from the race, please email them to me..we didn't get any! Thanks!

24 hrs of conyers

this will be a short one as my right arm is not working :(

thanks to:
vassago cycles
hodge and cody from addictive cycles
richard walker
mr and mrs o'dea
sorba
mark d
faster mustache and everyone else that was so cool this weekend
and of course all our sponsors (see them on the left)


pic borrowed from think1

in case you haven't heard: optimus ti now made in the USA

pre-race

I'm still sitting here with a heating pad on my shoulder/rotator cuff. I think vitamin I might be in order for this race. The only thing I'm nervous about for this race is the course beating me up. It's soooo bumpy. The granite is bumpy, but so are the dirt descents because the brake bumps are as big as ever. I'm worried about my back and shoulders, mostly, since they are still messed up. And, I'm going to get a pedicure today as the bottoms of my feet are still kind of sore from Vail Lake! My backup bike has the rigid ODIS fork, so I'll be riding that when I need to. I just hope I don't flat b/c we didn't get a chance to install the No Tubes setup this week (just not enough time to test it out comfortably).

OK, going to go finish packing, walk the dogs, finish up the bikes, etc. Richard W (Eddie's support guy from previous races) is coming up to help out Hodge & Cody this weekend, so that's cool.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend, I'm hoping Danielle wins 12 hours of Tsali again, I'm pretty sure she will!

Oh, by the way..Conyers is going to be really quiet, so if you have nothing else to do please come out and spectate! (And keep Hodge & Cody company..they do like beer ;) And, if anyone wants to go above and beyond...there is a Mellow Mushroom in Conyers and salty parmesan pretzels sometime tomorrow night would rock! Thanks, in advance :)

stuck together

That's been me for the last couple weeks. I finally got a massage yesterday from Collette (IMO, the best sports massage therapist in the state) and she found that my shoulder blades were both "stuck" to my ribcage (..using laymans terms here..) and my rotator cuff was also extremely jacked on both sides. Can I tell you..the pain I felt while she tried to "unstick" them was insane. It felt like she was driving nails through my shoulders and armpits..that, and it kind of tickled at the same time. Awful!! But, I'm so much better off for it now. I didn't realize that racing without my Wobble-naught fit for one race (even though it was a 24 hour) could mess me up so badly. Today, I'm really sore and will be heating and gently stretching as much as possible.

There's still only two women signed up (including me) for the 24 hours of Conyers. I'm still optimistic someone else will show up but there is a chance it may not happen. I guess that's ok, in that case I will just try to beat Eddie.

just kidding.

bike to work week

It's bike to work week but what do you do when you work from home? You bike to get ice cream, of course! My back and shoulders are STILL jacked up from a crash I took 3 weeks ago at Vail Lake, so I finally got to see Dr. Josh Glass yesterday and I'm going to see his wife Collette today. In the meantime, instead of aggravating it on the road bike, I decided to ride my mountain bike around town.

Bikes:



We rode the long way to get ice cream at Jakes. mmmm caramel. Eddie says it's better than McDonalds ice cream, but I don't know..I like McDonanlds, personally.



We encountered more commuters than usual, probably because it's bike to work week..that or the price of gas is now almost $4/gallon!! Either way, it was cool. Then, we hit the disgruntled driver on the way home..we were on a two lane downhill and most cars were going around us in the left lane (keep in mind we are probably going 35mph which is the speed limit anyway), and some jerk starts honking and riding up on us. Now, I can't help myself and started waving, then he came around and I asked if he had a problem. All I heard him say was "No, but.." but I was going too fast down the hill and wasn't about to start braking to hear the rest. However, Eddie heard him and I guess he said "No but you shouldn't be taking up the lane". Anyway, they had some words and then the guy sped off only to be caught at the same red light that we did. Ha. Then, we proceeded to be buzzed by another 4 or so cars in a row before we were able to get home safely. Nice end to the ride! Did I mention I hate riding in my neighborhood? That cabin in North Georgia is sounding real nice.

good news

Addictive Cycles a.k.a. Hodge & Cody will be doing 24 hour support for us at Conyers this weekend! This would be the same crew that helped Mr. World Champion Craig Gordon in 2006. Maybe they can help me refine my pit stops to a reasonable amount of time! :)

We still need more women racers. There are currently two of us. TWO. Somebody please sign up otherwise it's going to be a really boring race!