In case you didn’t know (though you probably do), a half-decent shoulder has been installed on Highway 196 between Gallaway and Piperton. I rode a good length of it today (from Seward to Ral-Lagrange), and, while there is still a little more traffic moving a little faster than I prefer, riding on the shoulder seemed to help stave off road rage on the part of the motorists.
Hopefully, with the completion of Highway 385 (scheduled for next summer, I believe), much of the traffic will be diverted from both Collierville-Arlington Road and 196. Both are nice roads for riding that have been inundated with some pretty nasty traffic as Memphis residents flee the city and seek safer residence in the outlying areas.
AKA “My Unofficial Women’s SS State Championship Win”
I raced in my 3rd CX race ever yesterday (2nd if you’re only counting the “real” races). It was tough going, but pretty fun. Kym Flynn, an Expert MTB chick from Vantaggio in Chattanooga, was the only other CX 1/2/3 competing, and, not surprisingly, beating the snot out of me! I’ve been mainly base training the past month, and she’s been tearing up the TBRA CX scene, so my fitness for this race doesn’t quite compare :D Oh yeah… the singlespeed setup didn’t help, either. I ran a 42 x 17, which turned out to be just a tiny bit too big- the hills were very hard and I wasn’t spinning out on the flat sections, so I think I could have swung an 18t in the back and felt “just right.” Live & learn, right?
I did manage to pull off one of the funnier falls of the day… one steep section of course required either a run-up or a LOT of speed and determination. On my first lap, I wasn’t focused on the turn before the hill and stalled out, which resulted in the obligatory “waddle uphill while straddling the bike.” Next time around, I got a little too excited, pulled my front wheel off the ground, and tried to set it back down sideways… which doesn’t work too well. The resulting fall was laughed at by many! (myself included). Remaining laps were fine… I hauled a** around the turn and attacked the hill and made it over without a hitch- notice the lean in the photo below- you prettymuch had to maintain speed from the previous downhill in order to have enough momentum to make it up on the SS…
It sort of reminded me of a criterium at this point...
Ryan pulled off a 3rd place finish in the men’s CX3 category. I yelled my head off at him through most of the race and took a few photos until the camera batteries died. He also managed to make the front page of the local section of the Memphis newspaper in this photo:
Photos from the A & B races can be seen in his Gallery
Jd3 from the Roadbike Review forums was there taking som photos as well- you can see all of them in his forum post, but here are some highlights…
Valerie (CX4), KC (CX4), me, and Kym toe the lineTiny front triangle & abnormally long arms makes for plenty of suitcasing actionI screwed the subsequent re-mount up every lapJumping onto the abnormally large log barrier
Every year the Warthogs have a “werewolf run” out at Shelby Forest in north Shelby County. We rent the group camp lodge, go for a cold night run to the Mississippi River (9 miles round trip), then spend the rest of the night “celebrating.” Some people spend the night, but I opted for the “stop celebrating early” and go home around midnight strategy.
This year, Steve and I opted to ride mountain bikes down to the river (necessary if you’re going to stop celebrating early) rather than run (in case you’re wondering, running takes a lot longer!) We rode down the boat ramp, dipped our tires in the river, then hurried back to enjoy some delicious lodge food & beverage. It was pretty good time…
I played connect-the-reflective-tree-dots tonight at the Lakeland Trails. I’ve grown to love the little reflective points of light (invisible by day) that lead me around the trail via hadlight @ night. I wanted to go for a short, hard run, which is the perfect fit to the short, but hill-intense trail system. To say I felt great would be an understatement. I warmed up on the flatter section of trail in the back of the park then came back to the front to run repeats back and fourth on the first 1/2 mile of yellow trail. I managed two repeats (2 miles), and had a blast! Hills that I normally find myself barely cresting felt surprisingly easy.
Oh yeah… and it had just finished raining, so they were a little wet, too. In my exuberance, I failed to shine my headlamp on a large root in the middle of a downhill section of trail. Before I knew what was happening, I became airboune… but not for long. I landed still going downhill and slid long enough to think “WOOHOO!” Once I came to a stop, I stood up and shined my flashlight back at the trail- I’d made a good two & a half foot slide mark in the wet leaves… DAMN I wish someone had been there to see that!!! Oh well- I had Ryan take a photo when I got home:
This is a list of donars to the “Yes on Prop 8” movement in California. Read it and keep your money away from them. I’m not from California, and I’m not gay, but I don’t agree with the latest form of bigotry being exhibited all over the U.S.
In light of my neck issue and boredom, I figured that yesterday would be a good day to give my bike some new cables & housings (I wanted to flip the stem, too, which would leave me short on housing in the front). I’d also noticed recently that my awesome harlequin-pattern drop wrap was shifting around & not looking so hot, so I figured I’d re-wrap the bars, too.
The Harlequin:
I can’t have plain bar tape. I’ve decided that now. The new wrap is what I call “Memphis Style”
So I’m sitting at my desk this morning. I stretch & yawn.
Then my neck tightens up. WTF??? I can’t lift my head up to a normal level without neck pain. In fact, I can’t turn my head side to side without neck pain. Holy crap! It hurts!
Fast forward a few hours. I got an appointment at Campbell Clinic with a PT friend. She pokes around on my neck and determines that I’ve got a rotated segment at C7 and T1, and it’s stuck in that position. After some manipulations, my range of motion is somewhat better, though nowhere near 100%. She sticks an Iontophoresis patch on my neck and gives me instructions… problem is, treatment doesn’t include a CX race this weekend (Hoss of Cross). She actually told me that riding a bike probably isn’t the best thing for it since it involves extension of the cervical spine.
Crap.
Is someone trying to tell me something? Am I going to get injured every time I want to go to a croos race??? Last year, it was my toe the day before the Outdoors Mud Island race. Then my ankle the weekend before Chattanooga. I pulled a groin muscle the day before this years 3rd Cyclocrunk race, and now this…
So now that the election is over, reports are coming out about just how bad Sara Palin is. In fact, you KNOW it must be bad when Fox News is reporting things like this:
It’s gripping! Everyone is obsessed with the realization that this woman is a dumb twit!
…and the media is eating it up. However, the media is NOT eating up the current goings-on in the White House. What tricks is old GWB up to now-a-days?
Who cares! Look over here… Sara Palin! She’s a dumb twit! Pay no attention to anything else!
Yeah, I see through your ploy- even if noone else does. Luckily, Rachel Maddow, my favorite smirking newsperson, has added a “Lame Duck Watch” to her show to help us keep an eye on him…
..in addition to the results of our presidential election:
Next year I’ll be riding for Metro Volkswagen Cycling. I’m looking forward to hitting the road & racing my butt off with Shannon Koch and the gals in 2009!
It goes without saying that I thank my 2008 sponsor, Team Kenda Tire. Paul Forsythe, my teammates- especially the local ones I got to race with a few times: Molly & Lee (you guys ROCK!), the team sponsors… it was a great 2008 season! My choice to move on was not an easy one, but I feel like a smaller, more concentrated team may be where I belong. I wish you all the best.
