brickhouseracing

Today Ryan, Frogge, and I drove down South to St. Francisville, LA. Along the way, we stopped in Woodville and rode out to the 2nd of three gravel sections on the 100 something mile course. I’m glad we had the chance… the lead-in from the main road to the gravel featured a short but uber-sketchy plank bridge that could easily catch a wheel and thrown you to the ground (or off the side of the bridge) if you didn’t stay in the middle. The gravel itself is unlike any other I’ve ridden- rather than being hardpack dirt with rocks on top, it was a mix of small rocks and loose, sandy silt that’s randomly shallow and deep. Tough stuff, but it should be pretty fun.

The rest of the team drove in from Dallas yesterday, so they went for a ride earlier in the day. When we got to the hotel, everyone had just come back from dinner, so I left my bike with the team mechanic and went with Ryan & the other Memphis Velo guys to the Magnolia Cafe for dinner. When I got back to the room, Casey and Whitney filled me in on the tactical details for tomorrow’s epic… time to polish the bike and pic numbers!

Got the BH out on the road today! I went out for a windy 2.5 hours (I spent most of the time going either 25+ mph or 16mph) out to test my new Conti Gatorskins on a short stretch of gravel out east of Eads. I really like the 25c tire size- it does a lot to smooth out some of the rougher road surfaces. While I was out, I fiddled with the saddle enough to get it into much more comfortable position than I had at VOS. I’m still doubtful that it’s going to be comfortable for more than half of the race on Sunday, but I’m hopeful that I’ll at least avoid the knee pain that I’d had before.

Tomorrow Ryan, Frogge, and I are leaving early to drive down to Loiusiana and pre ride a bit of the Rouge Roubaix course. The elevation charts for the race look like lots of “fun.” It’s got some stretches of gravel road and a couple of hills with grades over 15%. Looks like it’ll be warm, too. I like the gravel and heat… hills, not so much, but it’s aight…

Ryan posted some maps/elevation charts on his blog

Yesterday I finally liberated my BH from the clutches of FedEx. I wanted to get it put together and go for a quick ride, but FedEx got the last laugh… as I started to screw the rear derailleur on, the hanger broke off! Apparently it cracked during shipment (not surprising- it was handled roughly enough that the driveside pedal had broken its way out of the box).

I called around to shops in town, and noone carries a BH hanger. I talked to Boss Man in Dallas, and he said things were too hectic there to get to a post office and overnight one to me. CRAP!!! The last thing I wanted was to not be able to ride my bike around a few times to get the fit just right BEFORE racing 100 miles on Sunday. Last time at VOS, that same thing led me to some pretty ishtty knee pain when I didn’t get it set up exactly right before the race. Not a big deal for relatively short races, but the same pain over 100 miles… not something I’m willing to tolerate!

I digress… Ryan and I started checking all of the bikes in the house to see if we could make something work. The hanger off of his Kuota Kebel actually looked like a close match. It went on, but only one of the screws would line up with the holes in the frame, so as of right now, my rear DR is being held on with one tiny screw, the pressure generated by the QR skewer, and a couple of prayers to various deities.

After figuring that out, it was too late to ride. I figured I’d go ahead and work on swapping out my handlebars. I’m not sure which model was on there, but I like the feel of a compact bar, so I swapped them out for a set of FSA Omega Compact bars. After I got everything set up just right, I took it out for a spin up & down the street…

Sweet nectar, that bike is soooooooo nice! It was a bit late, so I snapped a couple of photos in the garage. I’m sure I’ll get more this weekend.

Oh yeah, and I got some brand new team kit, too! Hincapie clothing is freaking AWESOME! It all fits perfectly! My arms are stupidly long, and the long sleeve stuff/arm warmers are very accomodating to this. I also have found that a lot of women’s jerseys are too short… not a problem with this stuff. I can’t wait to get it out on the street!

Well, while I was out suffering in the cold on Saturday, FedEx Home Delivery attempted to deliver my team bike. When I found the tag on the door, I called them up to see if I could go get my package. Turns out that since it was “after hours” when I called that I’d have to wait until Tuesday before I could get it. So I’m heading out to the FedEx place as soon as I get off of work tomorrow. I’ve got some FSA compact handlebars, fresh white Arundel tape, and a set of 25c Conti Gatorskins waiting patiently for its arrival.

Maybe I’ll have some photos up in ~24hours…

Another wave came through last night. Looks like it’ll be an epic trainer ride today!

Though the weather report was the opposite of what you’d like to hear for a race day, Ryan and I got up & went to the Marx & Bensdorf Long Road Training Race just north of Arlington. My race (Men 4, 5, masters, women, and juniors) started at 9:00 and went 6 laps on the 5 mile course. The temperature hovered in the upper 30s and the skies looked as if they’d start spitting at any time.

The starting line:

I didn’t know a lot of the riders who were there, and I didn’t want to go easy off the line and get caught up in any sketchy riding, so when the official said go, I rolled down the first hill then maintained a steady pace up the next hill to the first turn. I glanced over my shoulder and chuckled a little- I had rolled off the front of the pack and had a cute little gap going. I figured I’d roll with it since, even though I was destined to be caught, the process of chasing would drop a nice portion of the 30 starters. A few miles later, on a rolling section of tailwind, I looked back to see the field closing in. I sat up to catch my breath and positioned myself near the front of the pack as they came by. Lap 2 and 3 were reletively uneventful. Here I am doing my best Jens Voigt impersonation up the hill and through the start/finish area (the pace had slowed too much on the hill, and I didn’t want anyone to catch back on…)

Johnny Mac from Marx & Bensdorf looks like he’s the only one enjoying the free ride!

Somewhere on lap 4 is where the break occured. I’m not really sure how I missed it, but it was a bad move on my part to not get in it, because it ended up staying away.

Since I used to ride with Memphis Velo and am good friends with some of the guys, I figured I’d help them with a little pace control since they had someone in the break. It was nice training. On the final finishing strech, the pack started to get jumpy. Not wanting to get caught up in a hairy pack sprint for 4th place, I bailed out! It’s not normal behavior for me, but a field sprint in an early season training race isn’t worth bumping elbows over. Maybe I’m getting old…

After grabbing a snack, I headed out for some more riding, but ended up not getting more than one extra lap because my hands froze up. Damn. I needed the distance, but I’d rather ride the trainer than go through the pain of circulation loss, so I called it a day and retreated to the warmth of the car.

Ryan’s race started soon after. There were only 9 starters:

Read his blog for a race report. Afterward, a group of us went to Mezcal in Arlington for some lunch and beer (though I behaved myself and only had lunch). While we were there, the sleet started. By the time we reached our house, a solid inch of snow had fallen.

Here are some shots from the back yard:

As of right now, the snow has blanketed the entire front yard, and is still falling. I hate snow! I want to go for a long ride tomorrow, so the snow needs to disappear overnight, mmmk?

I snagged these photos of Indy while he was sleeping in the sun the other day. For once, he didn’t run away when he saw the camera!

Hopefully, sometime in the next couple of days, my team bike (BH Connect) will arrive in the mail. I have no idea when, but supposedly it’s somewhere between my house and Dallas, TX. It was awesome to ride @ Valley of the Sun, so I’m really eager to get it set up and on the road! Of course, I’ll post some photos once it gets here…

Today, Ryan and I opted out of our usual 70 miler (we’d have to leave the house at 8:00, and it was ~30 out at that time) and struck out on our own a couple of hours later for a chilly century. I mapped out a route that he uploaded to his Garmin in order to give us a little navigational help along the way.

We started by heading towards Herb Parsons lake, then on to the area used for the yearly local road race before heading north to Somerville. We took a short break at the Teague Store then continued north until we reached highway 59. Along the way, we ended up on a few miles of unplanned dirt road, which was a nice break from the paved monotony. Eventually, we reached the town of Braden then headed South- a welcome change since the wind was out of the North/Northwest, and we’d been headed in that direction for the bulk of the trip so far. After a couple of more dirt road miles, it was back to familiar territory on Hwy 196 south of Galloway, then back to the homestead. This makes 100 miler #2 for me. I’m guessing #3 will be Rouge Roubaix in a couple weeks!

If this makes no sense to you, I’m sure Ryan will upload his Garmin map. Take a look at his blog if you’re interested.

Even though I managed to take in a little over 1000 calories of food/drink during the ride, I’m still pretty beat. At one point around mile 90, I spaced out and took a trip to Arkansas… seriously- I was envisioning the Ouachitas around Lake Sylvia for a solid 3 minutes. If Ryan had stopped pedaling, I would have run straight into him and hit the pavement hardcore.
The most awesome part of the ride was getting home to a house that smelled of sweet potato chili that had been bubbling away in the crock pot since we’d left. After a hot shower and a bowl of that, I felt somewhat better. Oh yeah, and I treated myself to a Tazo London Fog Latte from Starbucks as well. If you’re into Earl Grey tea, it’s pretty freakin’ awesome.

If you’ve been looking for updates on the ongoing rails-to-trails conversion going on with the old CSX line that runs through Memphis, then it’s likely that you’re somewhat frustrated. Seems that even the Greater Memphis Greenline site doesn’t get updates very often. Probably not their fault… the construction seems to be going rather slowly.

So I figured I’d post my own personal update. Friday, after I finished wrapping the surly’s bars w/the most pimpin bar tape ever, I took it for a ride down the trail, which runs almost right behind my house. The tracks are all pulled up, and the gravel has been leveled, though some of the bridges are still cross-tied, and there are a lot of iron hooks, spikes, and plates strewn about in the rocks (they’ll pop up & hit your frame/wheels when you run over them, too). I rode from Germantown Parkway to Mendenhall and back. The gravel is really loose, which makes singlespeed riding pretty tough. I had to maintain a hard effort in order to keep from getting bogged down. It’s definately NOT road bike friendly at this point, and I’d be hesitant to say that just anyone on a CX or MTB could get through it without much difficulty. There’s also the bridge over the Wolf River… it’s just open crossties- some of which are rotten/burnt out. Crossing is pretty hazardous.

I’m pretty excited about the project- however slow it is being completed! It’ll be like a commuter highway for me to get to U of M. A few photos:

Bridge over the Wolf River looking west towards I-240

Looking through the bridge crossties

I-240/40 interchange