Fall Series Race #1-Camp Eagle

So the first race of the fall season was last weekend, held at Camp Eagle. That's way over in the TX hill country, complete with hills, the associated climbing, and all the rocks you could wish for. We didn't get to ride Saturday because our bikes showed up at the same time as a nasty afternoon thunderstorm, turning the course into a quagmire of mud and slippery rock. Sunday, my race was pretty pathetic. I knew I wasn't on form, after getting sick after the Team Time Trial a month ago and not spending much time on a bike since then. But I didn't know I'd be that pathetic. Off the line I was about 6th into the singletrack, but I blew up pretty quick. I had to back it down and allowed the rest of the class to go by. I was done. The rest of the race was slippery nasty, and I walked a LOT. A whole LOT. Pathetic. I got cramps pretty bad out on the course for the first time I can remember in a while. I was super low on fluids and had been saving them for such a time as that. I passed one guy in my class a couple miles from the finish to wind up next to last finisher, which meant I'd been riding around in DFL the whole race. I was out on the course for just over 3 hours, and got back to the trailer unable to make coherent sentences. Dehydra-she-on. I won't bother to post a picture, the only one taken of me I was pushing my bike. Which I guess actually makes sense, since I pushed my bike most of the time. Hopefully next weekend at Huntsville, where I expect to be able to ride my bike for the race as opposed to pushing it around, will be lots better. I'll post again with the results, thanks for reading, see ya.

New bike; sort of. Nice....

2nd edit: I added a new picture. Changes include carbon seatpost, Selle Italia SLR saddle(just for you Liam), and I flipped the stem to give me a little more roadie position. She weighs a svelte 20 lbs. even. We still gotta work on that triple crank and cut the steerer down.

1st edit: OK, I'm gonna edit this post. It was way too long and boring. So basically, I've been riding a Trek for the past year that didn't really fit. Now that I'm riding for a Specialized shop, I need to be representing! So Kyle gave me a great deal on a 2006 S-Works Tarmac e5 frame that fits me a lot better. We stripped my old frame and put all my old parts on the new frame. I hope to upgrade over time to put more worthy components on this awesome frame. But as is, the frame rides great and fits way better than my old bike. :)

Road Rash-In this case, hurting is bad.

More race reports to come, but I thought I'd add this short little tidbit for today. I had my first road bike wreck last night. I was on a fast group ride, and we were getting to the end, so we were reaching terminal velocity through this neighborhood with several speed bumps. I'd been just going over them, but I was getting tired and my wrist was hurting bad, so I decided to go around the last one. Mistake. I got a little too far to the side, and wound up over in the gutter area of the street on the smooth concrete. I hit a wet spot while cranking on the bike, and my wheels just came right out from under me. So I went sliding on my belly across the asphalt. Ouch. Try rolling out of a car going 27 mph, you'll know how it felt. Damage: a couple spots of road rash to the left elbow, a huge raw spot on the front of my left hip (think softball size), a nice cut on top of my left knee that still won't quit bleeding, and another spot of road rash to the lower left knee. A few scratches to the bike, but nothing major. We'll live to ride another day. Tomorrow's Sugar Cycles Shop Ride, to be specific. :) I hope to do some good work up front tomorrow and maybe try a few jumps off the front.

Tapatio Springs

Ok, I promised more posts, so here's the rundown from my first race of this year's TMBRA Spring TX State Championship series at Tapatio Springs Resort on March 4th. But first, a little lead-in is in order. I hadn't been riding much, just two or three times a month, just for fun going out to Memorial Park and playing around. I'd met a group of riders out there a couple times a few months before, turns out one of them was part of a new bike shop starting up in Sugar Land. He was the unofficial Captain of the mountain bike team, and after riding with me a couple of times, he asked if I was interested in being on their team. I said, "sure, why not." So we had exchanged numbers, and then I didn't see or hear from him for a while. So I get a text message on a Tuesday asking if I was still interested in being on their team. I said yes, and so he replies that there's a team meeting tomorrow night. So I met them the next night after going riding and falling and beating myself up good, and that's when I find out there's a race that Saturday. I hadn't been planning on doing it, but I can't back out now. So Raine and Cottton and I gather our camping stuff and head out Saturday morning to Boerne, TX, a bit north of San Antonio. I preride with the team Saturday, and take another nasty fall. Ouch. I had a good time on the preride, but we didn't go too fast, so I had no clue what to expect the next day. So the next morning it's cold and windy, and I line up with the Sport class. The next two hours were pure pain. The course suited my talents, being nice and technical with some fast downhills, but didn't suit my fitness level with a lot of climbing. There were two huge climbs that really hurt me. I rode the first one both laps, and rode the second climb the first lap but walked it the second. I was pretty destroyed afterwards, but finished 18th out of 27 starters, so I guess that's not bad after not really working on being in shape. From then on, I was committed to the rest of the series, and knew I would basically be racing my way into shape.


I think this is near the start. This was a fun little rocky area
that I had fun riding, even though I was already blowed up. I'm not sure how that guy wound up behind me, though. He must have been SLOW.















This is the second of the two big climbs. You can tell I'm hurting BAD here. This was the first lap, since I'm actually on my bike. This picture pretty much sums up my race: pain and suffering.









Stay tuned for the next race report, the STORM Hill Country Challenge in Comfort, TX.

Edit: The rest of the spring series sucked, I never finished higher than 12th. So I never blogged it and I'm not going back to do it now... I did manage to race enough to finish 10th overall, for which I got a little picture frame and a T-shirt.

"Sorry..."

Ok, so I haven't posted in a looong time. But I plan to get in the groove soon. Meanwhile, we've been living in our new house for a month or so now, and we love it! It's nice to have our own place, finally, after being married for over two years and living in a little tiny apartment/duplex. And I love having a big garage, that's awesome. I'll put up some pictures of the finished house soon.

I also need to catch up on my spring race season. I didn't do fantastic by any means, with my best finishes being a pair of 12th places. I never could get into the top ten like I wanted to, I just couldn't get my act together. Every race something stupid happened, like absolutely dead legs off the start, or racing half a lap with nothing to drink, or standing on the side of the trail for five minutes puking my guts out right in the middle of the race. Oh well, I had a ton of fun traveling and hanging out with Raine and all my racing buddies over the weekends. And I even managed to make enough races to finish 10th overall on the season. I'll put up some pictures and a race report for all the races soon.

So if you've found yourself here reading this, thanks. I'll start posting more regularly, and try to keep up to date with the fall mountain bike series coming up, as well as several big endurance rides I plan to do, including the South TX Death Ride and the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred.

"So you want to buy a house? But you're only 22."

Raine and I are buying our first house, here in Houston. I don't mean it's to be our first house in Houston, as in there will be more in Houston, as in we'll be here for many many years; I just mean that it's our first house, and it's in Houston. The house is being built now, and it's been really cool to see it being built. It's a three bedroom, two bath, two car garage(make that one car and a bunch of bicycles and motorcycles!). The latest additions are cabinets and the inside is painted. Should be another month, or maybe a little longer. Here's some pictures.

"Just let me explain......"

So this is my first "blog" post. Ever. I used to be against blogging, I thought it was stupid and a waste of time. But now, being away from my family and so many old friends, I find myself looking for a way to keep in touch. This seems like it could be useful, so I'll give it a try. Even if nobody reads it, maybe I'll feel better. I guess people were against gasoline engines way back in the day, but they eventually came around, too. But now, people are against them again. Maybe one day I'll be against blogs again. Anyways.
So the address of my blog: bikerpilot. Two of my favorite things in the world: bikes and airplanes. Maybe later I'll expand on where my love for bikes and airplanes came from. But for now, I'll just say that I'm racing mountain bikes and having a blast at it, although getting my butt handed to me so far. The pilot part, I'm a licensed Private Pilot. I fly entirely for fun, and for my own sanity. There's no greater thrill than piloting an airplane. I'll try to explain it sometime, though I'm sure words will fall far short.
So if you're still reading, thanks for stopping by. Come back, as I'll try to keep the blog current with what's going on with my racing, any flying I get to do, and the progress of our house.

Until I find a witty yet fitting ending to attach to all my posts, this will have to do.