This is about as long as today's road ride....

So much to talk about.





Let's see, let's see. Where to begin.

The Beach

Last week, the 12-18, I went with my family (mom, dad, nana, luke, aunt liza, uncle blue, amanda, jason, lindsay, matt, and our family friend Steve and Gayle. - Even cousin Orran stopped in on his way to The Charleston School of Law. Pretty much all we did all week was swim, lay around, and eat seafood. As usual with the fam, an excellent time was had by all. It was a much needed break from work for me. Though, now that I have had a break, I want another one. Freetime is priceless.

Classic Orran

After getting back from the beach I went on a long mountain bike ride at Douthat State Park, with Brandon, Tinnen, Eddie and some cool West Va dudes. It both kicked my tail and was totally perfect. Those long rides are the best.

Danville Mountain Bike Race

Yesterday (26 August) was the 2nd race in the VA Derailer Series (and no I didn't spell it wrong, the series is supposed to mirror the rich railroad history of the area - or something like that - so it is kind of a play on words) Anywho, Luke and I rolled on down there, and in standard race form, we ran into our friend Dave Bradeson at Sheetz. It seems to be a common happening when we are driving to a race.

Anywho, the race was an 8.5 loop of pretty much all single track. Luke, Dave, and I did the sport class, so we did two laps. In standard practice for short races, Luke beat me by one spot, and Dave was right behind me. Luke owns me at anything shorter than 40 miles. He is cool people though and I was happy for him. I enjoyed the race, but after doing so many endurance events lately, it felt like it was just way too short. It was still really cool to see everyone and just be out there riding something different. Next time I'll take two water bottles. One just won't cut it for me. I was getting too thirsty.

Check it out - It's Kenny!

Last night I was just chilling, gettin pumped up to watch the Sharpie 500 on TV. And yes I do watch NASCAR sometimes, but I mean seriously. It was the night race at Bristol, if you can't watch a Hokie football game, you gotta find something to watch. Anywho, I got a call from Brandon informing me of some big road event at Afton mountain on Sunday (today). I called up the roadies who were going and found out when they were meeting, and how much it was, and my decision was made. So at 5 am this morning we were off to do the Blue Ridge Extreme Century Ride. It is fun to do something different every once in a while, different ridge, new place, new people. Im not very fast on my road bike, but I do enjoy the scenery, and definitly the descents. The climbs, well I suppose they are cool too. The ride was so well put together, great rest stops with tons of food and friendly people. I saw a lot of nice old farms, interesting buildings, a chipmunk (which you never see here), and a dead copperhead whose head had been smashed by a car. I will probably do it again next year, and hopefully it prepared me for the SM100 next weekend. All in all, my finish time was 7:59. I came in just barely under 8 hours. Hey man, I rode my bike 100 miles today. Who gives a damn how long it took me. It rocked.

PS: Adam and Tim rolled in at some ridiculous time like 5:48 or so, which is just gross, and awesome. Paula and Donna finished around 7:02 and 7:08 I believe. They did really well, and were a really good group to do the ride with. Even though I was only with them for about the first 20 miles. Right on! Im tired.

I didnt take any pics though. I didn't want to lose my camera, I should have taken it though. There were some sweet landscapes I could have captured. Dangit! - Next time. I may take it at the SM100. We will see.

DAD

Oh and by the way. Saturday, August 26th was my Dad's Birthday.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Carbon!

So Im super pumped that my new handle bar and stem came into the Bikes Unlimited today. I have finally given in and decided to go with the riser bar. Hopefully that will give me some more downhill edge and be a little easier on my back on the long rides.

Its full carbon too and looks real hot. It is being put on and will be ready for my race this weekend. Once I get it on I will post a pic of her.



RAD!

Fall is Almost Here

And you know what that means-

Well, of course there is less heat, but it also means more races. Starting the end of August I will begin the series of races for the fall that should take me all the way to November ending with the 6 Hour Enduro of the Tidewater Challenge In Williamsburg.

What have I been doing lately you ask? Well, other than working and trying to get in some riding during the week, my room mates from college (Chris and Megan) got married in PA, we had a bash for my cousin Linds who moved to Durham to start her job at Duke Hospital. The party was also for her b/f Matt who moved down and got a job down there as well. I visited some old buds in Blacksburg for a two nights of craziness. And I had some family come in one weekend, and some friends the other. Dont worry though, I've still been getting in the riding and I will be plenty ready for the SM100......I hope.

This past weekend, we all went to Blacksburg for the "Steppin Out" Festival. Arts and Crafts, cool people, food, music, and Blacksburg, had I gotten to ride my bike at the Pandapas pond trails it would have been perfect. Though I got to do that the weekend before, so I suppose that counts. I ended up buying a really cool photograph of a bicylce which the woman said she took in Paris, and the bike was a getaway vehicle for a graffiti artist.....who knew? Its really odd looking, spray painted and has yellow stripes all over it. I thought it would look cool on my wall.

Apparently my blog buddy Ashley was in Blacksburg as well and I totally missed her. Thats a serious bummer cause she is a super cool kid.

Anyways, the biggest news I have for now is that I got a really cool package in the mail today from Cameron Chambers. Just in case, for some reason, you don't know, Cameron is a member of the Gary Fisher professional mountain bike racing team. He basically lives the coolest life ever, traveling all around riding his bike to make a living. He is the 2005 NORBA 24 Hour champion, and a really sick guy. I wrote into the Fisher site to see if I could get an autographed poster and just let them know how much I like the company, and Cameron himself emailed me back and then sent me a box of really cool gear. Socks, a shirt, stickers, front and rear 29" tires, and an autographed poster! He sent two pairs of socks, and so I gave a pair to my brother, who was very jealous......hahaha. Anyways, I thought it was really cool that a pro would take time out of their day to do that for a fan and fellow rider.

This is Cameron coming down the ramp after his first lap at Big Bear

Also, today Lucas and I went over to Bikes Unlimited and he bought a used 90's Trek Mountain-Trek to use as his riding to campus bike to keep the miles of his road bike and his Cake. As usual, I could't get out of there without spending some money, and I ordered a carbon riser bar and new stem for my Sugar. Hopefully that will make for more comfortable long rides and drop a little weight for me.

We did some serious riding on Sunday at Carvin's Cove with Tinnen and Dave. (My bad Tinnen if I spelled your name wrong and you are reading this) I dont have my computer anymore since I destroyed it at Massanutten, but I'd bet we did at least 35 miles. It was awesome, the Sunday long rides are the best. I didn't take my camera, because I didnt want to crash and destroy it. I never ended up crashing so.......I guess I should have taken it.

Next time.

Prolly hittin Candler's tomorrow......."Oh Snap"

Here are the races I plan to do starting in late August:

Southside Scramble (danville) - VA derailer series #2 - Aug 26 (My Dad's Birthday)
Shenandoah Mountain 100 (Insert Joey Lawrence "Woah" here) - Sept 3
Peaksview Park Race (Home field) - VA derailer series #3 - Sept 10
Falling Creek (Bedford) - VA derailer series #4 - Sept 23
**I'm not sure about the Poor Mountain Hill Climb, depends on if it falls on the same date as the Rowdy Dawg race in Blacksburg, and I dont know when that will be yet.
**There are some mountain cross races in here that I will probably do..
Tidewater Challenge 6 Hour Enduro (Williamsburg, VA) - Oct 29




Oh and you know the other thing about fall that rocks??

HOKIE FOOTBALL!!!

Peace,

The Jake