Back in the weight room

Week 2 of the weight room is going pretty good. I had been working out at home but needed the heavy weights so I had to go back. So far so good other than the back is a little sore and I am having to watch that. Got out this weekend with a buddy from Sanford and like to have froze to death so now I am watching the clock till this weekend. We are headed to Charleston and it is suppose to be clear and in the 60s. I may not come back!!!! Shawn is pushing his luck as usual and every day is an adventure. Right now he is working on coal for xmas but I am sure that will change. He got his midterm grade card and it was all As and one B. I guess me and mom will be nice if the boy keeps bringing home grades like that. Got to work now......R

Survived Thanksgiving and ready to get back at it. We went to Bristol and Knoxville and got to see alot of family and friends over the holidays. I was able to get 2 days of riding in Knoxville which was a nice change. We put the xmas tree up last night and are getting in the spirit. Our friend Parker will be up this week so I am looking forward to riding with him. Not much more than that going on, got to go to work for now.

Not much going on this time of year as far as racing. Started the weight training and long cold miles of base. Shawn got his first report card with all A's and one B. He made the A/B honor roll, which mom and I are very proud of. He is also settling in the cub scouts and seems to be enjoying it. This week I put everything on ebay to help fund new team bikes and can't wait to get them. Looks like the deal is done for 2009 team and I will be representing SC. For now though I am still with ABRC till the end of the year and glad to promote them.
With Thanksgiving two weeks out and Christmas coming fast the diet is going strong and I think I can get thru the holidays. Time to go to work, later.

Still kickin

I have been relaxing the best I can for the last few weeks. The family and I did some camping, we have worked on Shawn's cub scouting. I went and helped the Hall's move the day after 8.22" of rain. Shawn got his Bobcat badge and achievement beads last night. Started weight and circuit training and am ready to prepare for next year. Hoping to hear soon about the new team. Looks like we are home this weekend, so go trick or treating Friday and put in some miles Sat. and Sun.

The season has ended

Went to Greenville SC for the final races of the weekend. I had a feeling I should have stayed home, the car hitting me has not helped me getting prepared. The Masters race was going well I was in the main pack with 10 min to go and the games began. I was watching the clock and not the lap counter and we passed the finish line and I heard one to go. The Field sat up so I went and as I was coming down to the finish line with a former world champ pulling me back as I saw 5 to go. I believe the announcer said one FREE lap to go, slight error on my part huh? The three race was packed and I never got it together, so I went to the van, changed clothes, walked into Mello Mushroom, ate and drank a pitcher of beer and staggered back to the van. I started the season dizzy and ended it dizzy ! The next 7 days will be with the family with camping this weekend and come Monday the 20th the training begins.
This has been a heck of a year. I want to thank my poor wife and son who put up with me and to all my friends and sponsors for the help and support.

WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!
We headed to Charleston for a nice weekend and make good time getting there. We had dinner with Dave and Liza and hung out at the house. Dave showed me his new exhaust system on his motorcycle and put together the best looking bike on Trek's project one website. So, Saturday Dave was going to meet me at the bagel shop and ride his motorcycle over to the group ride since he had to work. Then the fun began. We had to wait on Nathan for 15-20 minutes since his new puppy decided to get the squirts. We rolled out of the post office and 500 meters down the rode was a cop with the lights on. Dave went by him and he followed him. Thinking he was after a big truck in front of Dave he pulled over for the officer to pass. No, he pulled over and gave Dave a ticket. Nathan, myself and one other guy are late and hauling ass to get there when my stomach started killing me and did not stop till Sunday. We met the group and all is well? No, We get to HWY 17 to cross and Davis Lee and others get hit with pennies and Scott has a glass bottle shattered off the back of his helmet. Everybody is ok and said we should call it a day and go drink beer. We keep rolling and I am feeling pretty good and about 2-2.5 hrs in we are in a double pace line talking when in a flash everybody scatters I look forward never hitting the brakes and get hit by a car that did not stop at the stop sign. Thank goodness I stopped the car so no one else could get hurt. The lady was so upset and all the guys took care of me. My bike and body where ok accept for the road rash and a trashed rear tire so we pressed on. I made back to the house, got cleaned up, had lunch with Dave and went to the beach. Watched football that night and hit the group ride Sunday and beach then headed home.
I should be ready for Greenville now since I have all the crashing behind me. Will see !? I hope !!!

Heading to Charleston this weekend. The family wants to hit the beach one more time before it gets to cold. I will take advantage of the Charleston crew and the high speed work outs they will provide. We are looking forward to seeing the new Trek store and spending time with the Hall's. Shawn got his first report card yesterday with all A's and has picture day today. Looks like we will have to treat him this weekend for the good work.

12 Hours of Dausett was suppose to be all about fun and no pressure on ourselves, just go and have a good time.....Yeah right! Dave started with the lemans style start and got fifth place going into the woods. We did two lap rotations which was about an hour and a half. I set the fastest lap time for the two man team division on my first time out. Both of us had a rough second set, I was cramping bad. We used our heads recovered from it and went back to work. At the 6 hour mark we continued from there on to put time on second place for the rest of the race. We ended up winning by over 20 minutes. I have been told that the kid in the kenda jersey was a national champ and the guy in the red was an expert class. I never had and problems the whole race accept for the fear on being taken out by a deer. They had some crazy ones that liked to run in front of me. We finally packed up and headed to Dennys and back to Dave's sister in laws house around 2am. This was a great experience and one of the best supported races I have ever been to. The park and trails where excellent and the weather could not have been more perfect. Kellie and Shawn had a great time and I don't know how many miles Shawn put on his bike. Thanks to my partner and family for an awesome first endurance mountain bike race!!!!!

Last week went as I expected at the Asheville Grand prix. I held on to the main field for 23rd. Having been sick for the prior 2 weeks I can't complain. My attention has also been focus on a bigger competition this weekend. 12 hours of Dausett in Georgia mountain bike race. I will be in the 2 man team division with Dave who is riding single speed. Now the whole idea is to go and have fun??? That is what we keep saying but we also have been trash talking. This will be my second MTB race so I was going for the expedience a training..........until Dave said he was running a single speed. Now I feel that I will have to step even more and not mess up. The pressure comes from me being a beginner and him being a pro. How's that for a mix? Either way we will win and have fun.
I also found out this week that I have an opportunity to join a team for 2009 who will help tremendously. We are still working out the details but it sounds like a go and I am more motivated than ever and plan on having the best season ever in 2009.
Shawn may participate in the 12 minutes of Dausett this weekend. He has been doing well in school and we have open house tonight. I have taken him to the cub scout meeting for the last two weeks and thought he would join but said last night he did not want to. We will keep trying to get him to join since it is a good program that he could learn a lot from.
Need to get back to work but should have a story to tell after this weekend.

The big 8th birthday for Shawn was pretty good. He was wished happy b- day over the intercom at school and came home to a decorated house with presents and a big chocolate chip cookie cake. We took him out to dinner and went to the fair. It rained on and off but we where able to get some rides in and check out everything. I think he enjoyed the bumper cars the best and got an upset stomach on the swing ride and the rotating whatever that he and I rode. We won't be doing that again ! He got to pet a bunch of animals and tried his luck at a water shooting game which he got 2nd. In all I think we all had a good time.

Back at it again this past weekend. Went to Knoxville TN for the Oakridge omnium Saturday. The 68 mile road race was combined 1,2,3's. First of three laps got separated from the leed group on on of the climbs but limited the damage on the back side (52 mph) and when I hit the rollers picked up four cat 3 riders and talked them into working. We held a smooth pace line for 8 - 10 miles and when we came up on the cars pointed to my rear wheel and put it on the white line and got us back to the group. Lap two the cramps came in and from there the suffer began. I was able to survive though and was proud to be in the group since it had some of the best pro 1 riders from TN. The sprint was on a side road and as the pace ramped up I was feeling ok. I started to move and boom we passed the line. I never did see it till 50 meters, oh well I still got 8th in the cat 3's not to bad for getting over being sick.
Sunday's crit I did the masters 30-40 which there were only 4 people in the race that were not on a TN team. That made for a frustrating race for me since all they do is attack each other and chase everybody down. Knowing it would be a mass sprint I just rode around in circles. I was getting into good positioning going into turn 3 on the final lap when Mr. Honda took a hail mary and shoved his big rearend in font of me without any finesse at all. He also had the worst bike handling skills in the group so coming into turn 4 I did not feel to secure about going under him and had to wait a second before I attacked. I was able to get up to 13th by the line and to my surprise got 2nd in the 40+. The 2nd got me half my money back so that wasn't to bad.
Saturday night we got to go out to dinner for our birthdays which was nice and spent the night with Steve and Jennifer. Shawn got to get a couple of hours of riding in and talked mom into 7 games of Yahtzee during my road race. This week will be Shawn's birthday so mom and I have to get busy.

I am officially 40 now. Just another day I guess. Kellie and Shawn took me out to dinner last night and gave me some cool presents. I got some bike parts and a sweet Lights in Motion light just in time for the fall. This birthday was a rough one though since I started getting sick Tuesday morning and the worst of it was yesterday. Poor Kellie was sick all weekend but still put together a great party. I haven't been this sick in a long time.
We are heading to Knoxville this weekend for Steve's b-day and the Oakridge omnium. I plan to race but that will be determined by my health. If not this weekend we have the Asheville grand prix, GA cup, 12hrs of Dauset, Greenville crits, and cross season to come. Looks like I might get a break in Dec. or Jan.
Shawn is doing placement testing this week and seems to be doing well. He is getting adjusted to the 3rd grade pretty good.
Hope to be heading to Chaleston at the end of the month for a moving party for Dave and Liza that should be a good time. For now it's back to work and see if I can ride a bike this evening.

Kellie got me. Dave and Liza came up as planned and Dave and I got a solid 4 hr MTB ride in on Saturday which gave the girls time to prepare for a supprise birthday party. He took me on a epic ride out of Mills River almost to the back door of Pisgah Inn. To bad we forgot the camera it was a pretty day. We climbed around 4000-5000 ft we suspect. Dave got to see a bear and I got to work on my outstanding offroad techniqal riding abilities. Okay the truth......I held on for dear life. We miss calculated our timing though partly due to the trail conditions being quite rough. We were to be back at 5:30 but did not get to the car till 5:45. Thank goodness the gang understood. Dave was instructed to drive back and I was to blindfold myself upon nearing the house. This was the first for being blindfolded, but as I was lead to the back yard I was greeted with the surprise of a party and friends.
Kellie and Liza out did themselves!! We enjoyed the evening and called it a night. Kenny and his family came over from Knoxville and they stayed the night as well as Dave and Liza. Liza prepare an awesome breakfast dish for us the next morning and the plan was to ride but a rain set in. We decided to stay dry and everyone gathered up and headed home.
Kellie and I took the rest of the day to regroup and I got a big 45 min. ride in. This weekend was certainly a good time.
Looks like we will be in Knoxville this weekend celebrating again for mine, Steve's and Shawn's birthday and a bike race. I will also have to get ready for the 12 hrs of Dauset coming up in a few weeks which I am looking forward to trying. For now I just need to recover from the weekend, us old people have to rest you know.

Labor Day weekend is here and that can signal only on thing.........Mine my Grandmother's and Shawn's birthdays are here. Shawn has not said much about his b-day which is odd but with the way Kellie and he have been acting this week I think something is up. This will be my 40th Wednesday and it smells like the two of them are up to something which still being a kid at heart is killing me to know. I guess I will have to keep my cool since I am so old and mature. Yeah what ever!!!!!
Saturday afternoon will be at my Aunt and Uncle's for my Grandmother's b-day. That evening Dave should be coming in. I am looking forward to a lot of miles reeking havoc and destruction on the roads of WNC and SC with him. Yeah I'm turning 40 WHATEVER!! I still have the crazy idea of trying to go to the Pam American Game in Mexico in 2011. Sounds crazy but Bostick did it at around the same age. And what is life worth if you don't have a dream to try to achieve. Would you want to go thru life wondering what if ? I have tried that and did not like it. I have been given a second chance thanks to Kellie and would at least like to make an attempt. If for any reason more than to show Shawn what dedication and hard work is all about.
Gotta do some work .. later

3rd grade is officially on. Shawn's first day did not go very well but day two was better. This year he will have a lot more home work and it is worrying him. Mom and I will keep him going. We also have to get on the stick his birthday is Sept 10th and he will be 8. Time goes by to fast.

Dave just called and is coming up this weekend. He was suggesting a road ride to Greenville SC and back to watch the pro race and have lunch. That will be a good time for sure. Looks like we will go for a MTB ride Monday which will be fun but with a whole lot of praying on my part. Thank the lord for disk brakes!!!!!

I was able to get 4hrs in Sat. and 3hrs Sun. Sat was a whole lot of going up over and over. Today was a nice group ride.

Shawn raced in Hendersonville Sat. and got 2nd in all of his motos and 2nd in the final. Today went to Weaverville for practice and had a good time.

This week will be the usual with the next race in TN Sept. 5-6.

Tomorrow will be Shawn's first day at school as a 3rd grader so this week will be fun.

Friday finally! I will be on call this weekend so no traveling just training. The road season is ending fast so I better figure out if the shoulder can handle cross season.
Shawn has been practicing this week and wants to race Saturday in Hendersonville. The weather is getting nice so it should be a good time. He has a birthday coming up fast.....Mom and I better figure out what to get him. He will be starting 3rd grade Monday at his new school and he is getting nervous.
Back to work for now and if you see me swerving all over the road or in the ditch honk the horn....I pushed it to hard!

Headed to K town to pick Shawn and visit with friends. Had a good week of training and plan on some miles this weekend. Shawn may race the State Championship tomorrow at the BMX track. Talked to Dave and it sound like the Trek factory impressed him. Looks like his career is looking very good and he deserves it. The next race will be my birthday weekend in TN the first of Sept. That will be my debut rollin 40. I hope they have there race organized this time, until then it will be hard training.

Took Shawn to TN to stay at the Grandparents house and then headed down to Cleveland TN for some crits. This was the worst race I have been in since my last TN race. In the 3 race me and another guy took off on the front stretch coming into turn one the lead moto was not moving fast enough and coming into turn two the other guy went wide with plenty of room and when he came around the moto the official freaked out as I was coming under him. He started to hit me so I had two options, take the curb or hit the telephone pole. I went between the pole and the moto at 25 mph praying to God. THANKS God I owe you one. Also, the head referee was an ass, the course had sand in the turns,there were 4 cars that got on the course through my races and after waiting 45 min. for my masters results I had enough and left. I also found out that the official that almost ran me over was the same one last year that caused a guy to run into a brick wall. He had not been on the moto for a year up until 2 weeks before this race. I have a new respect for the GA cup now!!!!!!
Kellie and I got out of there and headed to Tsali for the night. We came in at dark, took showers, started a fire and opened a beer. Enjoyed the evening, crashed in the van and am ashamed to say did not get up until 11am. On the way out checked out the lake, went thru Cherokee and took the Parkway home. All in all had a great time and pulled off 7th in the 3 race.

The day after in Salisbury was not so kind. I did not have the legs and could only hold on for a 32nd. Got home around midnight and passed out.
Friday took an easy ride, did laundry, made repairs, repacked the van, picked up Shawn and headed to GA. Met up with the Charleston crew that night. Saturday morning Dave and I started working on the bikes at the motel. Went to the race sight and helped the guys get ready for the team TT. We thought they were going to dominate and they had a great ride however they were unable to get the placing they wanted.
Shawn did well after going into turn one about 10th a girl crashed and gapped him from the leaders. With his cat like reflexes he got thru the mess and went to work on bringing the leaders back. He rounded the last turn and coming up the finishing straight he caught the leader at the line and got first while the crowd went nuts.
Dad raced two races with out any drama. The heat was really affecting me. I got 8th in the first race and 13 in the second which both paid out. I looked at the computer Monday and the avg. temp during my race was 104 degrees. That would explain the way I feel. Dave pulled out 8th and Carl got 9th in the road race Sunday, so they got in the money as well.
All in all it has been a good time and now it is time to rest in order to be ready for TN this weekend.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Concord NC day 5 of the Cross Roads Classic. The course was super fast and the turns were tight. Typical attacks which I countered one early in the race but was brought back and was having fun. With 6 laps to go and one up the road I attacked thru the finish line went around the field thru turn 1 and 2 and committed to the experience of my life so far in racing. I was able to keep the feild off till the line. The crowd was going wild and the announcer was fueling the fire. As I was coming to the line they were charging hard and as I threw my bike at the line and looked up and a wheel came into view. I must have held them of by a bike length for my first second place in a crit. All of the hard work and sacrifice was justified in an instance. As I called Kellie and Shawn who were crying and shouting for joy I felt the best I have in a long time. Dave was next to call and totally understood the moment and feeling.
Today there is a chance for rain here in Salisbury. I am going to go spin the legs and rest for tonight and do it again.

Mocksville was super fast and thankfully safe. Suffered the worst I have so far in the series but was getting in great positioning for the sprint with 2 to go. Sitting around 10th coming around on the last lap and exiting turn one the guy in front of me missed a gear and coming out of turn two he had caused a gap. I got around him and caught the group up the hill and made it to the line 18th. Tonight Concord, today rest and an easy ride.

Wrapping up work and heading to Mocksville, Concord, and Salisbury for the next 3 races. This will be a busy week since I will be back late Thursday and Friday unpack and repack grab Shawn and go to Albany GA for the GA cup. Maybe Sunday when I get home I can rest with the family.

Well Morganton was hot, 98 degrees at race time. Had a safe race, did some work to pull back a break and at the end was feeling the heat and did not get in a good position for the up hill sprint. I was able to pull out a 18th place. Glad to be home and spending some time with the family. They had a good time in K town. Tonight will be busy trying to get ready for the rest of the weeks race schedule, feeling good so who knows what might happen.

Sat. night was Lenoir NC and it was fast and at times sketchy. Tried an attack and was brought back. This group likes to stay together. With 4 laps to go was trying to move up and in the final time up the hill for the finish missed a shift which cost me but pulled out a 20th place.
Today in Morganton the course is long and has a 2 block up hill for the front straight away. This one is going to be tough and hot. I'm felling better and enjoying the races but ready to get home to the family!

Today will be the second race of the Crossroads classic. I did not have that good of a weekend last weekend at the French Broad Cycling Cassic. I made it 15 min. in the masters and was putting myself in danger for I had not recovered from Nationals so I pulled out and took a couple of days off. I did get to be the lead motorcycle at Sundays crit and did 200 miles in a circle, what a day.
Last night we were in Taylorsville NC and had a good race and feeling like I am recovered. I played it safe thru the race and was afraid of a crash at the end so I took a flyer with one lap to go and could not make it the line and ended up 24th. Stephen made it with 10 to go and Parker in pro race got 14th.
Tonight will be Lenoir NC and the course looks fast. Getting ready to go for a ride and check out the neighborhood.
Kellie and Shawn are going to K-Town for a B-Day party at the Griffen house since his race may get rained out.
Hopefully we won't have rain tonight!!!!

Last weeks adventure turned out to be a good time for me. Dave came up Tuesday and we got to got to etowah for the Tuesday night smack down. We got a good MTB ride with Kent in Dupont. Put in 100-150 miles on the dual sports. Friday rolled out to KY and stopped in Norris TN for a road ride and was able to show Dave some new country and found some new roads in the process. We decided to soak or legs in the river after the ride and that was the coldest water I have ever been in. Made it to KY safe and the KOA provided the base camp for us with good accommodations. Saturday went for a 3 hr ride on the back roads and found some great country. Sunday I was surprisingly calm and felt the best I have all year. The race was fast and full of attacks which I was able to respond. The winning attack went and I tried to hang but fell of the wheel. I guess the 2 months of recovery from the broken collar bone caught up with me.I tried getting the chase group to organize but with out any luck. Ended up 30th overall and got 11th in the Field sprint. I finally walked away from a race with the feeling that I put it all on the line. Next year pending no injuries I will make the break and be there for the finish.
Dave however had a great race making all the right moves and looking like he would be the guy to beat. HOWEVER turn 3 on the last lap the gentleman from Crank Bros. team decided to lay down in front of Dave who was 4th wheel going into the sprint and D hit him at 40mph and broke his fork off. Other than some scratches he came out ok.............I think it made him mad!!!!!! Next year we have some business to finish in Louisville..........359 days left. Good luck to the competition, we're coming back!

Masters Nationals

Dave and I are in Louisville KY getting ready to race the US National Crit tomorrow. We had a good ride about three hours today. On the way over we stopped in Norris Tn and got two and a half hours in and afterwards got in the lake. That was the coldest water I have ever been in. Have to run so we can get our race packets but will have a story to tell soon.

Shawn kicked butt on day two. He got 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd in the motos. In the second day at regional he placed 2nd overall.

Dad found out that I got 9th in the time trial on Saturday and must have pushed to hard, for today did not have the legs in the crit.

In the beginning, as in today, I am at Starbucks waiting to race a crit here in Knoxville while Shawn is racing Regional in NC. My road race yesterday was the strangest race to date. We did 3 laps on back road and 2 of the laps we ran up on a horse caravan with about 60 horses. Lap 2 we got by them safe, lap 3 I was in 6th place and the 5 in front of me made it thru before the horse backed right in front of me at which time the 10 guys behind me slammed into me. Nobody got hurt, we neutralized and the back end of that horse looked ok. That along with miles of horse crap, one snake, a trailer backing into our group, a limb across the road, cars and no course marshals. In the end I was on the fastest wheel and as we where trying to come around for the sprint we had 2 cars and at the end we ran out of road and never got my heart rate up. Finished 18th overall and 6th in the 40+.The TT was fast and painful as it should be, but do not know the results.
Shawn got 4th, 3rd, and 2nd in the motos and finished 3rd overall in the main. Spoke to him on the phone all day and he was fired up. Momma said he had 2nd going into the final straight but ran out of gas. Still a good day for the boy and a huge trophy for third.