Climbing...lots of climbing.

Horses, especially Clydesdale's don't climb very well. You look at anyone who is a good climber in cycling and you can guarantee they don't look ANYTHING like me. Today though...i had to climb. One of the guys from the shop and a buddy of his had a planned ride today of 80+ miles with lots of climbing....all they told me was, "hey, come ride with us Monday, it'll be around 80 miles"...neglecting the whole climbing part. No worries, I'm a trooper. I will say that it is a bit rougher not knowing how hard to push it the whole time because you have no idea what is around the next corner, or how long/steep each climb is...i say that do defend my lack of climbing prowess today. It had nothing to do with the fact that both these dudes where half my size and knew the route....whatever. Here's some pics from our ride up Hwy 215 to the Blue Ridge Pkwy. Absolutely an amazing day, gorgeous weather, and better views that ended with some HEAVY rain fall....luckily the major decents were already done. Good times had by all.

The final tally was 86 miles and just over 10,000 feet of climbing. Really had no idea i was getting into that. Definitely a good training day, and one i wasn't planning on, so that is a definite bonus. The legs felt good all day. No cramps or stomach issues...think i have my nutrition dialed. The altitude was a big surprise. i honestly didn't know there was an Eastern Continental Divide, who knew? or that the roads we were on today were pushing 6000 feet. 18 days till Leadville. Feeling better by the day.

Two-a-days

Once again it's been over a week since my last post. I suck, this is even more confirmation. Regardless of my inadequacies i must press on. Just a quick update today, mainly to dump all the pics from my phone so i can fill it up again on our ride at the FATS trail tomorrow....evidently its an IMBA Epic trail....we'll see about that.

The 12 hour race in Tribble Mill went well, I'll try and rob some pics asap....ended up first in my group and third overall in Expert with 90 miles. Overall pleased with my performance, gear performed well...feeling pretty confident about Leadville. Hopefully the altitude won't deflate me right of the bat, we'll see.

The last four days have been two-a-days on the bike, trying to put in a mammoth effort this week to boost the fitness before a two week slow tapper. Good thing is my good buddy Kyle came all the way up from Mobile for some much needed R&R as well as to help me keep motivated. Nothing more discouraging than watching a dude half your weight FLY up a hill!!! He's a carrot. I'm a rabbit.

Here's some pics from our ride on day two up at Dupont...awesome trail system with amazing waterfalls. I hear it's where the "Last of the Mohicans" was filmed.....it is gorgeous.

It's pretty awesome to be able to ride for hours..never hit the same trail twice..not cover half the trails..and end with a dip in a COLD river to wash off!!! Love that these trails and many more are less than an hour from the doorstep.

You get the idea...plenty of trails....not enough time. Kyle definitely got his share of riding in while here...I'll post more as the week progresses. Out.

LESS THAN A MONTH

Less than 31 days till Leadville. Not really sure how 8 months has gone by so quickly? I'll just assume a move will make the days tick right by. Nevertheless Leadville is quickly approaching, and believe it or not.....i feel ready. The last two weeks I've been hitting it rather hard, long rides in the heat of the day, partly for preparation for the Dirty Spokes 12 hour this Friday and partly just to build some tenacity. Nothing helps more than riding for 3+hrs in the heat and hills. Nothing. I've also been tweaking my bike a bit...tires, bars, stems, saddles, etc....trying to find what's best for me. Notice i said, "for me"...everyone has their own opinion, but for me, these are the clear winners.

First thing that got the boot were my FSA SLK carbon bars. No real reason other than they were over a year old and starting to creak, scary. So they got the swap for the Niner Flat Top bars. The good thing is the Niner bars are about an inch on either side wider which I've been wanting for sometime now, more leverage up hills means faster up hills. So far they are money. A few grams heavier, but the durability/width more than makes up for it. Oh and did i mention that i found them new on Craigs-list for $25!! Very stoked about that little nugget.

I also swapped out the Specialized stem for this FSA one, no real reason. It does have a lower rize to it, which is nice...enabling me to get a little further over the front on climbs, other than that it just looks trick with the carbon faceplate. Oh and it allows me to run my Niner YAWYD top cap...stands for "Your Are What You Drink". Basically it allows you to place your fav beer cap on your top cap... a feature lost with the Specialized over sized cap. Beauty is in the small things..remember that kids.

Next on the list was some new shoes. I tried several tires before settling on the WTB Nanoraptor. I think this tire so far is the "bees knees". It's gonna be perfect for the 12 hr this weekend as well as for Leadville...I'm a balla on a budget, one set of new rubber has to last in this house!! High speed/lightweight tire, with plenty of sidewall protection for Leadville....a perfect mix. Should know more after this weekend, something about riding for 12hrs gives you a pretty strong opinion about what your riding....be it good or bad.

Here's several pics from this weeks and last weeks rides. A couple nice views as well as some ripping single-track was had many times over. Gotta find a good training partner, it is getting rather boring doing it all by your lonesome. Doesn't anyone here actually ride a mtn bike..anyone? Hello?

Most of these are from Paris Mtn, the local 'rock pile' that I ride at. Don't get me wrong, there is all the climbing you could want there...it's actually where G. Hincapie trains when he's in the states....but coming from the West, it's a little shorter that's all. The other is from Spartanburg, Sc the Southside trail. A little trail system about 40 minutes from the house. Actually road there today, not bad...was a good testing ground for the new tires and what pressure i would run.

Till next time...maybe before this weekend. Don't hold your breath.

Misc. Pics

Here are several pics from a couple races over the past few months. I was hoping to have a good one at BUMP(as well as a good race) but somehow I didn't get my pic snapped....probably a good thing, it's best to forget that day all together.

Dirty Spokes Ft. Yargo 12 Hr Event:

Cowbell Challenge Marathon...ie: doorstep of HELL

Kenda Cup East #3, Cowbell Challenge:

You know what they say, "pictures are worth...", whatever that's a stupid quote. You'd rather see pics than hear me ramble. There's a few teammates thrown in there for good measure, Tagg, Kevin, and Ed. Miss racing with those dudes. Hopefully they will be able to make it to the Dirty Spokes 12hr next weekend at Tribble Mill Park. Looks to be a great course. Stay tuned.

Last month on our 2 week west coast swing road trip we took a ton of pics...I've been meaning to post some. Here ya go, included with a small caption of the moment. The view from the drivers seat..we took back roads pretty much all the way to the Grand Canyon. Absolutely NOTHING for hundreds of miles. Anyone who says the world is overpopulated just needs to head west on some not so popular roads. Prior to the Canyon we spent a day in Flagstaff hitting up the Mt. Elden trail system and pretty much DIED after coming from 0 altitude to 7000ft and trying to hop right out of the car and hit it hard. For those who don't know, including myself till we got there, this is one of mtn biking best kept secret and according to the locals, they want to keep it that way. Not quite sure the exact mileage of this system but it's for sure an entire days worth of single track.

After spending a few days at the "HOLE", then Durango, then Fruita/Grand Junction(see prior post on those adventures) we headed back east to Golden, Co home of the "bestlitebeerifyouhavetodrinklitebeerbutwhohastoreallydrinklitebeersowhynotdrinkanewbelgiumbutthatsjustmewhatever," Coors Brewing Co. and our good friends Tyler and Renee Clark. Thanks for the floor space Clarks and the kayak rodeo, much appreciated.

It always amazes me when you hit up a local shop and ask for beta on the local spots and they tell you that, "this one is great, chill ride, not steep", that it is in fact a great ride, a little chill but a whole lot steep. We've just gotten spoiled living in Mobtown that we've forgotten about the word "mountain", in the term mountain biking. We climbed and we climbed for over an hour, then went down a little and climbed for another hour...tired/heavy legs to soon follow. Luckily on the whole trip we only had one little hiccup, a sliced tire headed back down to the car....thank god for Park Tool Emergency Tire Boots.

Dear Mr. Boot,

After a long road trip out west where i encountered countless tire splitting rocks, and my tire finally caved. It couldn't take it anymore, and i don't blame him. I just want to tell you that you are a life saver. You saved me even when Stan's couldn't, and that's gotta be one big hole. Mr. Boot without your service to the rescue I would have been walking in extremely stiff carbon soled shoes for over 3 miles down hill in steep and rocky terrain. But no. You saved me. For that I'm forever grateful. I will never again ride without you or toss you aside in the bottom of my bike bag in a dark, dirty, little corner. You will forever ride up front, with a good view and with wind in your hair. You held fast even when my large carcass railed you into a turn just moments from the car...your a true American hero. Godspeed Mr. Boot, Godspeed.

Forever grateful,

BLEE

I give up...

...I'm not a good blogger. What more do you want from me!? I'm sorry Betz, I'll try better next time!!! Seriously, we have been crazy busy since we arrived in Gville, moving, painting, entertaining in laws, riding, job-hunting, riding, organizing, riding, and riding. All that coupled with this weird east coast time zone thing makes for a long day and a really good nights sleep.

We finally got settled in the house and I'm slowly getting more time in at the new shop(http://www.carolinatriathlon.com/) as well as trying to get in as much training/riding as possible. There is definitely no shortage of rides/riders in the area so there really is no one to blame. For those following back home in good ole' Mobile there is a ride that leaves here on Tuesday nights that has over 300+riders....a WEEKLY ride!!! It divides up into an A1, A2, B1, B2 and several C groups. The A, B groups have police escorts!! Amazing the things that can happen when all shops/riders work together!!!! Some day, oh someday....

I've met several dudes up here who mtn bike, and one who I've been riding quite a bit with who is also doing the Leadville 100 in august. It's been so nice having your own personal guide of the Pisgah trail systems. For those that don't know the area, Pisgah is a national park just over the border in NC(40 minutes from here) that has over 150 miles of single track/fire road trails in it with absolutely ALL the climbing a man could want in a day. The map below shows some of the trails....too me, it's all a maze. One day I'll have it all figured out like Jeff, but for now, I'll just settle for riding his wheel.

Got the opportunity to hit up the Isaqueena trails in Clemson last week....another trail system less than an hour away that has roughly 100+ miles of single track in it. Fantastic trail system that hosts a SERC race every year. I couldn't help but notice on the trail though several bridges that we crossed and they all had the sign below on either side....it was too perfect, had to get a pic by it.

Definitely the nearest to the casa is Paris Mtn...only 9 miles to the trail head or a quick 45 minute ride on your nicest single speed. Really like this trail, tons of climbing up groomed trail with some really fast sweeping downhill sections...just about as close to Oak Mtn in Bham as one could get. Other than the trail claiming two tires and a rim in two rides as well as a few ounces of Blee flesh, our relationship is fine. Not a good first couple of rides out there. Oh and did i mention there are bees? Ya, stung twice on too separate rides...really makes it hard when your ripping down some trails and horizontal on a wall ride. Difficult.

I've got several other little post floating around the cabeza at the moment. I'll try and put "pen to pad" in the next few days and share some of those. Till then: do some homework and Google this dude...Dejay Birtch, and I'll tell you next time just how cool it was toeing the line with him. Till then...

Why is he so much smaller than me?? Must be the beard.