Skunk Ape Bikes

A new bike brand, oh goody! Visit www.skunkapebikes.com to check us out. Featuring self branded race bikes for road and mountain bikers as well as some great deals on high end parts. Visit the home page to get a feel for the company, or skip right to the bike store. Final link to another 2010 supporter, although not up and running yet, is a dealer of sram components.

A year...

Pre Burn24 May Post

First up in May was the Dirt, Sweat and Gears 12 hour. Mud with the consistency of peanut butter had me going nowhere fast on the first lap, but it seemed to be a problem for everyone but Tinker and Brandon so all was not lost yet. After anther slow lap on an over geared single speed, and a flat on lap 3 that had me running a couple miles back to the pits, I ended my pursuit of a good 12 hour finish and reverted to plan B. Plan B involved doing hot laps in pursuit of the fastest day/night laps which paid out well and could turn a miserable day into a good one. Plan B was executed to perfection and I snagged both the day and night fast lap prizes. DSG is still the best 12 hour of the year, so once again if you haven’t done it yet, you need to.

The week after DSG I did some road racing in McMinnville, TN which was highlighted by having the worst and most impolite set of officials I’ve ever come across. The racing went okay, I won money, and the officials got bitched at by the race organizers so all was well.

This last weekend I took part in the 12 hours of Tsali. Being the weekend before the Burn24 I wasn’t looking for a hard effort, so I put it in and easy gear from the start and decided to see what happened. Dave Holmes was the only other guy I figured I needed to worry about, but he’s doing the burn24 as well, so we had “save our legs for next week” truce from the get go and he didn't seem to be on top of his game. The race was fairly uneventful, minus a flat and broken chain on lap 6 and a freezing final night lap. The end result was a comfortable win, with an average heart rate under 150bpm, although my legs didn’t feel very good (but I blame that on the Bryson City grocer not having anything edible except pop tarts, bread and canned ravioli.)

Now it’s all about recovery, but my legs feel fine today and the weather in Pisgah is awesome so it may be hard to stay off the bike. Finally, if your name is Chris Johns you can stop e-mailing me asking me to not embarrass you at the Burn24.

In Touch with my Feelings

Friday 6pm:

I just finished a mtb ride with the Ice Cream Man (Victor) which leaves me with a taco’ed front wheel after sliding out in some sand a mile away from the trailhead. Yet, I feel fast as the ICM failed to drop me despite lifting the pace at the end of the ride.
Friday 8pm:

I feel left out. Lots of people get to race the Cohutta and some UF teamies are in Banner Elk racing SEC conference road championships.

Friday 11pm:

I feel nutty. I decide to go race the 6 hour Grind on the Greenway just south of Charlotte. I scrounge together $60 by finding over $13 dollars in quarters. I don’t have a spare disc wheel so I move the brake caliper out of the way and put in a non-disc wheel. I know it’s not the best idea to start a race without a front brake but what the heck.

Friday 11:45pm:

I feel hyper. I just finished washing water bottles and drinking a few cups of coffee. I head off to the gas station and grocery store to pick up Rockstar, Nature Valley bars, Sour Gummy Worms, and Milano cookies.

Saturday 12pm:

I feel excited. I’m on the road, driving fast, and will get to race in a sleep deprived state in just 11 hours.

Saturday 4am:

I feel bored. I hear a Hannah Montana song for the fourth time on the radio and since I now know the song start to sing along.

Saturday 6:15am:

I feel done. I pull into a hotel parking lot a few miles away from the race venue and try to sleep for a couple hours.

Saturday 8am:

I feel really, really, tired. I can’t sleep so I drive to venue, register and pay with a lot of quarters, and check over my bike. Somehow during the drive my chain fell apart so I put on a new one since I don’t have any quick links and am tired to ask around.

Saturday 10:30am:

I feel ready to go. I start to pedal around the venue and the new chain, old cassette relationship isn’t a good one. I ‘m restricted to my 34t middle chain ring and the 12t/14t cogs (big chain ring is bent and small chain ring has to much crossover). I’m then called up to registration and told I’m being put in my age group category since only one other person signed up for open.

Saturday 11am:

I feel insanely tired. I’m lined up at the start gate and realize I’ll I’ve eaten since the previous night are the things I bought at the grocery store. Then the promoter says go even though 90% of the people are in front of me and not behind the start line. Shit. I sprint up to the front and manage to get into the single track in fourth. I quickly decide I need to go faster and move into 1st position. The gears still skip on occasion but I’m riding well and can’t see anyone behind me.

Saturday 11:30am:

I feel worried. My rear brake is making funny noises and shaking but when I stop and look at it, it appears fine. Lots of stopage time but still no one in sight. Did I make a wrong turn?

Saturday 11:35am:

I feel my butt hole tighten up. I’m going fast downhill and start to brake for a turn ahead. Then, snap and the brake is gone. I steer into the woods and slam my knee into a tree as the woods slow me down. I sit by my bike for a minute cussing out my knee and notice the hub broke where the rotor bolts on. Still no one passes. I pick my bike up and start to pedal up the next hill but now all the gears are skipping. More cussing. I start running the uphills and dragging a foot on the descents. After a couple minutes a solo single speeder catches me, and a few minute after him the first group of teams goes by. As I scooter the remaining 3-4 miles of the 9-10 mile course more people pass me and I realize I like brakes. I finished up the lap and packed up.

Saturday 1pm:

I feel demoralized. I eat more Milano cookies, have a Rockstar, and drive to Leas McRae.

Saturday 5pm:

I feel unexcited. Crits are kinda boring and I wasn’t into it but got 16th and picked up some team points. It was also really cold and rainy.

Sunday 9am:

I feel stiff. I eat more Nature Valley bars, realize my nutrition sucks, and start a race of 6, 10 mile laps with over 2000ft of climbing a lap. I’m off the back quickly and am falling asleep on the bike. I put in progressively faster lap times but stop after four laps because being in 17th place isn’t fun.

Sunday 3pm:

I feel happier. I drive to Pisgah and buy a chicken, loaf of bread, Bear Naked, a protein drink, and banana’s. I eat everything and go to sleep off of FS-477.

Monday 9am:

I feel flat. But, I need to make sure my climbing isn’t as bad as the previous days race suggested. I do my 3+ hour road loop in Pisgah which includes the 90min climb up Highway 215. I’m slow after the 30 min on 64, but the long climb goes well and I power across the parkway and down the descent and come in a couple minutes faster for a PB. I feel relieved.

Monday 1pm:

I feel like going home. So I do, but not without incident. My rear tire blew out on the expressway about 3 hours from Gainesville. No worries though as I had the spare on in under 10 minutes and finished up the drive. Things like to break on me.

Lesson: Save your quarters and always be unprepared, it makes life more interesting.

March Post

It seems I'm not too much into the blogging thing, I think I prefer to have conversations rather than publish my life. Regardless, here's a little review of March.


It started with a spring break trip to Fruita and Moab. My usual insane downhiller personality came out and apparently my steel Voodoo didn't like it. Also note the baby blue Specialized grips, shaped like Ergons but smaller and lighter which equals, they're way more functional for un non-Yeti sized people.

After the frame incident I rented a Pivot to test out. Despite the 30 lbs build it rode well, and if you like 26er fullies a lighter build would provide you with a nice race bike.

Since Moab nothing too exciting has happened. I've been training a lot on the skinny tires and am still working on my top-end. Lots of race efforts and a couple Cat 4 wins have kept it fun, and it certainly makes my 12/24 hour pace seems like I'm coasting down a mountain. Probably gonna do more roadie racing this weekend and then it's just three weeks until 1) the semester is over and I can bum it out in the mountains, I'm thinking west coast this year, and 2) I get my ass handed to me at Dirt, Sweat, and Gears.

3 Week Review and Rotor USA

Week 1-Santos prep.

Week 2- Santos Race- Not a whole lot to say. I rode like a little boy with his thumb in his mouth. I actually was on really, really good form, took an early lead fairly easily keeping my heart rate where it normally is during 12 hours starts, and then became severly dehydrated as I failed to drink during the first two hours. I had painful cramps beginning at the 2.5-3 hour mark, and the rest of the race left me constantly trying to figure out to get rid of them. The basic pattern was ride easy and chug fluids, try to pick it up again, last 10 minutes before severe cramps returned, repeat. I really wanted to stop but was somehow in third and within striking distance of the leader/winner Harvey if I was able to get back to riding hard. It ended up not working out and after Vegan Rob passed me I stopped an hour early as I was indifferent to a 4th/5th finish. I ended up 5th, and although I'm unhappy with my placing, to some degree am proud of how I rode, dealing with mechanicals and cramps for 8 hours is not fun or an easy task.

Week 3- I spent two days recovering from Santos and then initiated a sequence of sucky workouts as a punishment for my mistake at Santos. I don't mind losing if it's due to fitness/skills but hate making mental errors that cost me race. I'm not saying I would have definatly won at Santos, but I do know that Harvey isn't 25 minutes better than I (his lead when I dropped out).

The workouts were almost all at intensity, and 3 a days was the norm with a few body wrecking 4 a days thrown in there. I feel good despite all the work and next week I'm going to Fruita and Moab so I'll get back to longer fun rides while I'm there.

Finally, a bit of sponsorship news and reviews. On the review side the Panoptx eyewear I've been using is really working out for me. The foam cups provide comfort and sweat absorbtion. No sweat flying onto the lenses is a very good quality if you were confused on that point. On the news front I have teamed up with Rotor USA and will be using their Q-Rings. I used Q-Rings the last year and a half and really enjoy how they feel, and to answer the most common question I get about them, no they do not impair your shifting in any way.

That's all, hopefully I'll have a camera for Moab and can post some pictures to make everyone jealous.

Suffering 100 Miles at a Time

Right now my resting heart rate is 80 bpm, I'm tired but not sleepy, and my left ribcage hurts from my heart pounding against it. Here's why.

On Thursday I put in 112 miles on the road, with most of it being at 85% LTHR or above. I started out easy and gradually worked the pace up over the first hour or so. After 3 hours I was back at the house to refill bottles, and then I was quickly off to catch the Team Florida ride. I played nice with the kids for a bit and then latched onto a pokey scooter that was passing by. Racing scooters is high on my list of fun things to do, and I went 3 for 3 on Thursday. In between races I drafted cars and sprinted up every single rise, I wanted to get near my cracking point but after 107 miles I decided I was too good for my own good and I headed home.

Today the only reason I started riding was because I wanted to try out my new eyewear from Panoptx that had come on Thurday. The first 45 min. of riding was horrible as I was stiff and wishing I'd had another cup of coffee before starting. At the 1 hour mark I downed my Rockstar and life was suddenly better, instead of being a zombie I was instead a tired cyclist somehow turning over the pedals with speed. I ended up looping around for about 4 hours before grabbing new bottles at the house and heading to campus for the Team Florida ride. The team supposed to do 1.5 hrs. but they got some serious group think going on and decided to pick a route that was under an hour. I didn't even start to ride with them, some fool who was late to the ride rudely told me to essentially shut it when I suggested actually doing the 1.5 hrs. (since their training was only 4 hours this week), and for some reason I was furious over his comment and the teams apparent laziness. But I fed off my frustration and it energized me to storm through another 32 miles (in a good bit under an hour and a half) to give me 104 miles for the day. Two centuries in two days, and during each one I honestly put nearly everything I had into the pedals, but now I'm paying for it with the aforementioned insomnia and high resting heart rate.

Saturday will be rest, and Sunday is the Battle of Olustee which will give me a fast paced 120 miles. I think I'm set for Santos.