Swannee's ASR Blog

Spending the week in Charleston, WV means big climbs - climbs well beyond my SS capabilities. My ride yesterday at Douthat my legs showed the lack of recovery from the Travail run downtown on Saturday. Night riding at Kanawha State Forest - I'll keep my eyes out for Mothman!

This is my first ride on a 32x18 SS gearing. I had been riding a 20T rear cog to start with but I have to say that the 18 actually felt a little more comfortable but I did have a little more difficulty with some of the hills downtown. I really didn't find anything I COULDN'T ride that I had been riding with the 20T so I'll probably keep the 18 on for local riding. I changed to the 18 because Marianne and I will be riding White Clay tomorrow and they are along the lines of Raystown, or so I'm told. It was a great day to be out so i took a pic of the river to share....along with my dirty girl - the "Big Unit"!!

The past weekend wasn't all that great for riding (I did manage a 5 mile run Sunday afternoon - after beer)...but it was a great weekend for Swanneebrew! I was able to manage to brew 2 batches - one I'm calling Gavel Slam. It is going to be a present from Marianne and I to her nephew/godson at Christmas and his wife. They are both attorneys so hence the "Gavel Slam". It is an amber able; pretty well balanced between malts and hops.

The second batch I'm calling Single Speed IPA. I'm not happy with the final gravity...a bit high so next batch I'll call it "Single Speed 32-18 IPA" and I'll bump up the grains to increase the final gravity to end with an ABV of around 7.1.

I was also able to keg another batch of what was supposed to be a rye IPA but the final gravity again was too low (see a pattern here) and so it is more of an over-hopped pale ale...but that's okay. Bitter is bitter and beer is beer!

The photo above is my beer closet showing it full of beer in various stages of development.

This coming week I'm looking forward to some SS riding in Patapso State park...maybe some photos will be forthcoming!

See you on the trails and be sure to drink only GOOD beer!

(Even though I didn't ride, I did get some good "bike-love" time where I prepped a second pair of lower level SS wheels and cleaned the month's old mud off the SS - all while brewing some GOOD beer)

Sad - VERY SAD - but my Kona is out of commision. I was switching wheels after Cycles Ed rebuilt the Chris King hub and as I was snugging up the bolt on the rear brake - I felt it give out and...no more threads.

So, I quickly called him back (Cycles Ed) and have now placed the Kona Kula 29'r in his capable hands. I'll now be riding my Kona Hei-Hei - still a ton-o-fun but...its just not a single speed.

I'm thinking tonight I'll be turning on the lights and for the next few days, it'll all be on foot, based on the weather projections!

Happy trails - stay muddy!

The Allegrippis Trails at Raystown lake are some of the sweetest single track I've ever ridden...if not THE sweetest. The trails were designed by Trails Solution according to IMBA standards and just flow like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't understand how they got so much bombing downhill with seemingly and signficantly less climbs.

Now - YES - there were climbs...some pretty long and tough ones but the downhills just took that pain right away.

Here's one of the climbs:

It doesn't look so bad here but it just kept going....

I rode my SS in the morning and it was great but there were some climbs that I was thinking maybe I had overstepped my climbing levels; but once I got into the main part of the trial - it was awesome.

The link to the trails map is http://raystown.nab.usace.army.mil/Activities/images/AGT_TrailMap.pdf

My GPS track map:

I highly recommend taking a few days and visiting this park and trail system!

Shoulder surgery on August 9....first SS ride on Thursday September 1. I had planned an easy, first ride on Saturday August 27 (a little over 2 weeks post-op) but Irene had different plans. I tried to go as easy as one can on a SS and it went well. A little shoulder soreness but nothing that would make me think I'd lost my mind. It was just the loop at JRP including Belle Isle and...I still love my SS.

Now that the rain came and won't leave, I'm running again and my shoulder feels great. It was typically on the run that my shoulder would hurt but it's fine now and I'm looking at XTERRA in 2012 not to mention some enduro mountain bike racing including SM100.

I was even able to get out to the Scout Camp over Labor Day weekend to help Ed and all the awesome MTB trail workers clear the trails to get ready for the upcoming prerides leading up to the first planned fall date for the 18 Hours Scouts Honor (if you'll remember back in 08 - I believe - we got hit with a bad storm the week prior to the race which caused a reschedule to the fall).

If you haven't signed up for our Scouts Honor newsletter, be sure to go to the race website at http://www.18hoursscoutcamp.com/ and sign up right away for all the most recent updates on the race as well as information about local, regional and national MTB racing news.

Based on my surgeon's report, my shoulder should be ready to go soon. No major tears were found, just some small capsule fiber tears that he cleaned up and debrided. I've started rehabing the shoulder and am now completely out of the sling. I should be back on the bike by the end of the month and single-speeding my legs off! I'm anticipating getting back on the run this week. So, all-in-all the outcome was good and I'll be race ready by the spring!!!

Today was my last ride for the next 3 months...maybe a little more. No hard training thoughts; no upcoming races to prep for, just riding my bike...my single speed with only one thing in mind and that was to just enjoy turning the cranks and enjoy the scenery and folks I ran into (great seeing Tyler, haven't seen him for a while)!
I'm having shoulder surgery tomorrow morning at O-Dark :30 and thought I was through the greiving process but it hit me about 3/4's into my ride which caused me to become melancholy (yeah - it's an old word but a beaut!).
I rode at PSP yesterday in near 100 degree heat and still just love my SS. About 1/2 (maybe less) into today's ride I realized how toasty my legs were so I hit the hills hard and enjoyed the downhills and flats. Once I crossed the nickel bridge I hit the fireroad and, agian, just enjoyed  the ride but also because I'm pretty sure I'd be walking more than my ego could stand!
Thanks in advance to my sweet wife for her help during my post-op days!
Also looking forward to aging up and riding my SS ALL WINTER AND SPRING - ready to kick butt in the next XTERRA season when I age up and will be in the bottom of my AG.




Good luck to all in the upcoming fall season and...GO ASR - KICK SOME BUTT!!!

I took the plunge and converted my Kona Kula 29'r into an awesome SS monster. The conversion was pretty easy since the good folks at Kula took liberties with the original frame and included chain tensioners for converting from geared to SS or...vice-versa!
Here she is:


Pretty sweet, huh!!
I took her out for her first spin and, wow - what fun but what pain! It's like learning how to ride all over again! Hills are a totally different approach, especially the ones with rocks & roots! I will say, even though North Bank Trail is not all that technical, it is a truly anaerobic workout as the hills keep coming.
This should be a great new adventure and I can't wait to get the new SS on some new trail...
And special thanks to Ed Jones and Billy Moffett for their consultative assistance!

Swannee's back!
I raced my first triathlon in 2 years. I will admit that this was an emotional return. Following my foot surgery and the poor response, I had resolved myself to never doing another triathlon. I have identified myself as many things over the last 25 years but that of triathlete and dad were the two consistent identities. Of those 2, obviously dad was the most important but triathlete was very important as it identified me in my non-professional/athletic life...and I felt it was gone. I was preparred to accept being able to only race and train as a cyclist but with the idea of continuing to try to figure out a way to include running, multisport and adventure racin in my athletic repetoire.
As I continued to jog/walk and hope for the best - it was very hard to stay positive but I kept plugging away.
Then, walking down to the start of the XTERRA Uwharrie, knowing I was preparred to race it and that I had been running now up to 7 miles, it hit me that I was in fact, back!
Emotion overcame me and I had a hard time pulling it together in time to start the race - and start I did!
The swim went better than expected with my shoulder doing well and completeing the 1000 meter swim close to my last Uwharrie...but that is where the similarities stopped.
The course was brutal, technical...and FUN! It truly kicked my ass and it felt - GREAT!
My foot is still nowhere near normal, it's still frequently sore but not so much it prevents me from running - so I'll keep running and start some heavy pack hiking to see where my new limits are.
Yehaaaiii - I'm back!!

Swannee