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Saturday, Andrea and I completed the deal. We were married at noon and had friends over to join the family at 2pm.

The party was good, fueled by good food and two 5 gallon kegs from Bosco’s (Flaming Stone and Ghost River Wee Heavy). The Wee Heavy proved the most popular and it nearly ran out (got two glasses from it the next day).

On Sunday, we packed up the dogs, the mountain bikes, and remaining Flaming Stone and headed west to Mountain View, Arkansas to spend a few days at her dad’s cabin and enjoy the country and a bit of mountain biking at Syllamo trails.

We didn’t leave for Mountain View until the afternoon on Sunday (rode on the road in Memphis and then packed up), so we didn’t get there until after dark. On Monday, we drove down to the middle Green Mountain road trail head and started out on the yellow trail (Jack’s Branch) and diverted to the red trail (Bad Branch) before finishing out the yellow trail at the far trail head. For me it the second time I had ridden both trails, for Andrea, it was only the first time for the yellow trail for her. The red trail is pretty moderate compared to the rest of the system and the second time down the yellow meant I started to get more comfortable with it. The big thing is the amount of climbing on the yellow trail. We got back to the parking lot pretty tired and ready to eat.

Today, we decided to tackle two different trails, the orange (Bad Scrappy) and the green (White River Bluff). The ride would a shorter ride, but more technical. The weather also played a factor, since it was much colder today (40’s compared to 60’s on Monday). Like the yellow, trail it was the second time I have ridden the orange, so I started to get better on some of the tougher sections of this trail. After completing the orange trail, we started on the green. We had walked this trail together back on Thanksgiving weekend, so we knew it, but not really… This trail is a blast with some pretty ridable section that challenge me, but not so difficult that I feel outclassed.

About half the way through the trail, we were clipping along, when I felt something snag… like Andrea a few weeks ago, a stick lodged in my rear cassette and tore off my rear derailleur at the hanger. Unlike Andrea I had a replacement hanger and more importantly, I had it with me.

From stop to back rolling, it probably was only 10 minutes. The chain had somehow looped, but I managed to figure out how to get it unlooped without breaking it (Shimano chain with one-time pin that I just installed that morning). The rear derailleur was just fine, and in fact it seem like the shifting improved a little bit (probably had a bent hanger before I broke it).

The worst thing is that my 9-speed cassette is pretty worn. I need to use the biggest two sprockets, the next two are flaky, the next 3 are okay and the smallest two are unusable under load. I have been working around it using the front chainrings. It is sort of a pain, but I am making it work (changing the chain didn’t help the situation). I guess those bad sprockets are just wore out. Two more days of riding, then I will get the parts I need back in Memphis. (I have one more hanger to carry with me…, guess I need to order more.)

On Friday, our plan was to ride 2-3 of the loops of the Syllamo trail system starting with the Orange – Bald Scrappy loop. This trail starts out a lot different than Bad Branch as it drops down some rocky descents. Those caught me a little off guard, but I managed through them. Andrea was staying out ahead of me as she is more experienced in mountain biking. We were getting to the part where the trail levels out and speeds up when I found Andrea stopped on the trail.

Only ~2 mile in, a stick kicked up into her rear derailleur and snapped the hanger and bend the pulley cage. Since we didn’t have any parts with us, her day was done. Since we didn’t have any parts at all, her weekend was done. She tried to trail-side singlespeed it, but it wouldn’t take. The rigid rear end on her Air 9 meant that it had to be exactly right (it wasn’t).

She ended up walking back and I finished out the trail. Most of the rest of the trail was pretty reasonable even for a relative beginner like me. There was a nice little climb once it joined up with the blue trail, but it wasn’t that bad.

Once over the road again, I started going down this road which I thought was the trail and followed orange blases on the trees. There were sign denoting trail work in progress, so I didn’t think much of hefting my bike over huge brush piles.

After a while, the road sort of ended, so I started to work my way up the steep hill to find the trail. I did after about a 1/4 mile going up.

I finished out the loop (which has some more tricky sections in it, this time going up). Andrea met me close to the end as she had walked back up from the trailhead. We decided to head back to the cabin and hike the Green trail / White River Bluff loop after lunch.

The White River Bluff loop had some tricky sections in, but also offered a lot of good views out over the river. The amount of rock ledges forced some trees to go up through the rocks.

As we hiked we cleared what we could do without a saw, leaving only 2-3 forced dismounts on the loop (8″ trees off the ground across the trail, etc.)

The next morning, I geared up for a ride (Jacks Branch / yellow), Andrea for a hike/trail clearing hike (Bald Scrappy / orange). Jack’s Branch starts out mostly flowy, mostly downhill for the first several miles. There are a few rocky sections especially near an overlook outcropping.

I finished up the loop by following the Blue and then the Orange back to the White River Bluff Trailhead. The section of the orange was a repeat from the day before and it did go better, still need some additional practice to get it right.

Andrea and I headed over to Mountain View / Syllamo to spend Thankgsiving with her family at her dad’s new place up there. Our plans were to relax and ride as much of the Syllamo mountain bike trails as possible.

stopping to let the dogs run around on the way there by some random rice field along US64 west.

We got up this morning (after sleeping in a little bit) and headed out from the cabin (we stayed last night at a cabin since her dad’s house had too many there on Wednesday night). It was a quick 2 miles on the road, plus another 5.5 miles up a gravel road (Green Mountain Road) to the Bad Branch trail head.

We rode the 12 miles Bad Branch trail without too much problems. As the easiest both in terms of skill and required fitness, it was good one to do first. We clear off some newly fallen branches over the trail, but it was clear that a lot of chain saw work was done on this trail in the recent past. The trail has some nice flowy sections riding on top of pine needles/leaves over the hard pack surface. The rock in the area breaks apart and packs nicely making a great trail surface.

Our original planned trail involved creek crossings and we didn’t want to deal with those in the cold (on the menu for tomorrow). We ended up have a nice ride of 28 total miles with the first 7 and last 7 being pavement / gravel road. The climb up to the trail heads on Green Mountain road is no joke, it is about a mile or so at 6-8% grade.

Andrea with her commuter safety vest. Hunting season… can’t be too careful.

Back at the cabin, getting packed up to move up to the house for the rest of the weekend. My Titus on the way up, her Air9 on the ground to the left.

This last week, I have taken a little break from my cyclocross prep, to do a bit of a skills build up for 12 Hours of Stank, an endurance mountain bike event at the Stanky Creek trails in Bartlett, only about 10 miles from the house. Since I am pretty new a mountain biking, Andrea and I went out to the trails a few times during the week.

On Wednesday night, we got there and did just 1 one lap at night. My lights were good (although I just used my helmet light), but I had a hard time out there. Lack of general skill and more specifically lack of trail knowledge led to me stalling out several times on hills.

On Thursday, Carter, Andrea, and I (our team for the 12 hr), rode a day lap and a night lap. I made a lot of progress, but still needed some work… but at least I wouldn’t be terrible. By Thursday I got my NiteRider MiniNewt USB back (warranty service) to go along with my NiteRider Euduro light. I use the Euduro light on the helmet and the MiniNewt on the handlebar.

At the end of the ride, my bike kept going down in the granny gear and then it wouldn’t shift up at all… We were at the parking lot, so I didn’t worry about it. The next morning, I found the problem… the front derailleur housing had failed…

So I stopped the shop on the way home and got some new housing. I changed it out while Andrea ran up to Bartlett to set up our canopy for the next day.

The race runs 9a-9p, so we got up and headed up there a little after 7 am. After unloading our bikes and gear, we registered and prepared for the race. Our plan was to have Andrea go first (more experienced and faster), Carter second (riding his new Cannondale …warranty replacement), and then I would go. The laps take about 50-60 minutes to complete (~9.5 miles).

At a few minutes after 9, the race started (mass start) and then the waiting began. A few minutes before 11a, I started my 1st lap.. The 3 laps I did earlier in the week helped, and I covered the trail in about 56:05 minutes. (Andrea was scored at 54:15, Carter at 54:32). I was probably riding pretty conservatively, but I am not yet very confident on the trail. I tried to make up for it by trying to make up time on the straighter sections and the uphills.

After my first lap, Andrea turned her second lap at 53:54, Carter did his at 58:42. On my second lap, I wanted to try to turn out my best time and worked to reduce the technical mistakes that cost me on the first lap. By 6 or 7 mile into the lap, I knew I was going to turn in a much better time. I was flying (at least flying for me) on the next section of trail when the trail narrows down and ducks around some trees. I hit one with my handlebar and apparently ran into another with my front tire sending me to the ground.. The crash wasn’t so bad, the bad part is that I lost all the air out of my front tubeless tire.

Trying to change a tire is something that I am not used to in a race situation (road has wheel trucks and wheel pits / cyclocross has a pit). When I ride off road, I must grip the bar too hard so my hands are basically useless (I am still not 100% nearly 24 hours after riding trying to type this report). Despite this, I managed to get a tube in, only to find that the valve was really short. I also left my pump back, so I had to use my CO2 cartridges (2x 16g). I wasted the first one basically trying to get it to inflate on the small part of the valve stem showing. So I packed up my stuff (although I left my gloves) and started to run with the bike… In the 1/2 mile or so of trail I ran, I got passed by everyone that I had passed and a probably about 6 or so that started their lap after me..

I was able to stop running when I got a tube with a longer stem and was able to change it. I know it isn’t strictly by the book, but our team was a category to itself (cat 1 – coed 3 person) and running the remaining 2.5 miles of the trail would have made for a really bad day. After stopping twice and running a short part of the loop, I ended up rolling a 68:50. Looking at my Garmin, I wasted about 14-15 minutes with my tire business, so I was running a good time for me (~54 minutes).

Andrea did her third lap in 59:28, Carter did his in 56:30. While they were out, I went home to let the dogs out to the bathroom. I also brought my front wheel home to redo the tubeless. I took it all apart, washed out the trail debris, and dried it the best I could. In the end, it took longer than normal (~25 minutes) because the bead didn’t pop out that quick, but I did get it. I then headed back to Bartlett arriving 30-40 minutes before my 3rd lap.

My plan was to try to lay out my best lap (again) and not hit the tree. If I could pick up my fingered gloves out there, that would also be a plus. I started off riding the Blue trail better than I had before, and was making good time on the Yellow trail. I About 3 miles in, there is a sharp left and a rooty uphill after a fast section.. I downshifted while applying pressure….I thought I dropped my chain, but instead I saw the chain laying on the ground. The worse part, is that after the first two laps, I changed jerseys, and left my chain tool in that jersey. I had a master link, but no chain tool. Despite being 3 miles down the trail, the looping nature of the trail meant that I could run backwards and then shortcut back to the start/finish in 1/2 – 3/4 mile. Once there I check off the trail (no lap) and did my repair.

I restarted my 3rd lap 25 minutes after my first restart. It was also after 5p by this point, meaning that I needed to put on lights. Probably the fact that I rode 1/3 of the trial hard just prior and ran my bike back to the start, meant I didn’t do a great lap… 59:15. I came back in well before start (didn’t turn on the lights). I did manage to stop and retrieve my gloves from the trail (but dropped a waterbottle on the fire road…damn useless hands).

Due to my issues, I appeared that we all were going to get 4 laps in each before the cutoff. Unless, we turned out miracle laps (in the dark), I wouldn’t be back before 9pm to send off another. Andrea turned her 4th lap in 57:27 (dusk) and Carter rode in the dark (67:10). I started off at 8:13pm, meaning that Andrea was off the hook (by this time she really didn’t mind anyway).

I am pretty happy with my lights, but I had some issues running up on stuff and a few minor crashes (and generally being a bit more conservative)… I ended up finishing up in 66:57 @ 9:20 pm.

The day was successful, in that we, for the most part, had a good time and raced like we had some competition. Our team was the only one in Cat 1 -Coed 3 person, so got enough cash back to nearly pay back our entry. In addition, I won a hydration pack (random drawing).

Will I do it again?? Probably. I know if I ride a dozen more times things will start to fall into place. But for now, it is cyclocross time. I have a races 5 weekends in a row starting October 17-18 (BTF). Louisville Gran Prix of Cyclocross (24/25), Cross the Way (Oct 31 / Nov1), Hoss of Cross (Nov 7/8), and Outdoors Inc (Nov 15).

Well, I survived and didn’t have any real serious crashes. The Clear Creek trails (near Oxford, Mississippi) were pretty saturated from what seems like weeks of rain and that was compounded by the rain that steadily fell during the first lap.

Since I am pretty green at this mountain bike riding thing and I have never raced, I planned to race MTB category 3 (30-39) a.k.a. beginner class. Somewhere after registering, I decided to race MTB cat 2. Of course, it wasn’t raining when I made that call.

I could tell the trails would be fast and fun in the dry….. in the wet, I never really felt comfortable and took the turns and descent pretty conservatively trying not to endo or slide out down the many embankments. The start had me probably 8th or so into the woods with a handful behind. I opted to not wear glasses given the rain and humidity and had to stop after a mile or so because I got some sand in my eye. That put me at the back of the group. After a while several 40+ racers and passed me. And then Andrea passed me about 15 minutes in. I generally wasn’t feeling smooth out there, so of clumsy and uncoordinated. Not really a good situation given the slick conditions.

At the end of the first lap, I considered calling it, but decided to go ahead and tackle the second lap figuring I could learn something about riding in those conditions. The rain stopped, so the rail was drying out in parts, but most of it was still pretty wet. I did ride the second lap a little better, but the hills started to wear me out, so I think it took me a bit longer (self timed about 1:20 and then 1:30, official time was closer to 3 hrs).

Along the way, I got some good scratches on my right calf from a run in with a tree and some thorny vines (seperate events)… I also tried to check a tree with my right shoulder. I probably fell over about 6 times from stalling out…always, as it seemed, downhill.

In all, I learned a lot and I feel pretty beat up right now. Maybe I should have raced beginner, but the longer race was better training. They didn’t have the results tabulated fully, but I think I ended up 8th in the 30-39 group. I probably only “beat” 1-2 others, since several withdrew due to mechanicals or the conditions. Andrea ended up winning Cat 2 women.

Since the last race of the year a few weeks back, I have been resetting the training cycle by mixing it up and generally riding a lot less. In fact, I pretty much have been just playing around during the week and only riding hard on Saturday at the Trinity ride.

Part of the playing around has been on a mountain bike. I have never really owned a mountain bike (just borrowed one for one winter back in 2001-2002). Matt from RB’s is similar body type to me (tall and skinny) and he was looking to sell his Titus. I rode it a handful of times and then bought it from him. So now I am the owner of Titus 29′er (Racer X) full suspension kitted out with Deore XT.

Also, I am gearing up for the upcoming cyclocross season. I decided to buy another set of aluminum tubular wheels. Since it was sort of last minute decision, I opted to have Excel Sports build me up a set of tank wheels (heavy bombproof wheels). I also purchased a trio of Vittoria Cross Evo tires to put on these. I decided to get these after continuing to have problems with my cyclocross tubeless setup. I am not sure it is the tire (likely) or the rim, but for now, I put a tube in and will have to run ~40# on the rear wheel of my formerly tubeless Kenda Kommander tires on some basic Velomax wheels (heavy). So far, I have just stretched on the tires and will start the gluing process this afternoon.

Today has me home alone waiting for Andrea to come back from Little Rock (area?). She is racing a long 8-12 hour adventure race with a team. Last night she found out that the race started at 5:30am. I’ll get all the details when she gets home tonight (and she will undoubtedly blog it). The plan is to get up early tomorrow and daytrip the Clear Creek MTB race down in Oxford. If we go (and I do say “if” since this long race may very well break her physically or her bike or something….), it will be my first mountain bike race. As a unlicensed racer, I will be a beginner (cat 3 in the new system), but I want to try racing off road once or twice before the end of the year to be able to make the call at USAC license renewal time if I want to pick up a MTB license for an extra $20 (and if I want to go ahead an upgrade to MTB-2 straight away).

My plan is to straighten up the house (especially the bike repair area) and do some wrenching this afternoon (tubular gluing, installing new SS chain tensioner). I need to put together a mountain bike seat back and recommission my Camelback (it looks like it will be pretty muddy down at Oxford due to all the rain we have been getting lately). Next weekend is the first race of the TBRA CX schedule: Beat the Freak #1 and #2. I booked a room and at this point plan on going with Andrea. This year I could potentially triple up (35+, CX3, and S/S). Probably won’t do that, but will probably at least double up (CX3 and SS).

Here are some good shots I took of our cat hanging out in my paper basket (with my new NightRider HID light in the foreground)… Enjoy.