Eddie O

Here is the latest. Many thanks to Vassago for the sweet bikes, Ronnie Fields & Trish Albert for the photos and New Leaf Adventures for the great event.

Check out the pics of my fat lip!

We took off on Thursday to spend some time with my friend Harvey who lost is wife, Lauren, last week. We skipped the Dirt, Sweat & Gears, but it’s all good. Even as little as we could do for Harv, he seemed to appreciate the distraction we offered. He’s a strong guy and seems to be handling all this with way more pose than I’m sure I could.

We are home now as the title suggests. The house is a wreck, our Optimus Tis need some serious love, & the back up bikes have not arrived yet. We have some work to do, but the good news is that I have a light work load this week and Nam is just about done with finals. That leaves a lot of time to get things done this week, so we can completely relax next week.

24 hour racing seems to be doing very well over in Europe and the Italians are really going all in for it. Check out this site: http://24hpassion.it/ …and notice the current news article

Maybe Nam & I can make it over next year for a race.

It seems the Granny Gear PR team kept at it even after the race:

The GG site.

Cyclingnews.com

Velonews.com

VassagoCycles.com

Wobble-Naught.com

Look in the April issue of DirtRag (24 Hours of Conyers ad) and the May issue of National Geographic for some pics of Namrita & I. The NGA deal is a one pager about Ellijay with pictures take by Andrew Kornylak.

We’ll have a ton pics from our pit crew soon.

With all the stress on Friday out of the way I quite relaxed on Saturday AM before the race. We had a good night sleep, the bikes were as ready as they could be and were ready to race. I purposely took off slowly even on the run knowing there was 3 miles of dirt road climb to start the lap and the 90+* temps with no shade to in on the course. I watched as Lichtenwalner powered away early on thinking “perfect, hit as hard as you can so I can pass your withered self in a couple of hours.” Well, it didn’t work out that way. The heat got us both, but it really neutralized me. My lap times were OK, but I was slowly fading through the day light hours. My stomach was a mess and I knew that was cost me later when I’d need to dip in the reserves. Once it cooled off, I felt better and ate as much as I could. My laps improved some, but I was down a lap to Rob and Chuck. I maintained until around 3:00 AM thinking I still had some legs to stage a come back. I knew it would be hot again and I was feeling OK. A couple of BURNs and I’s be hauling it. Then ache in my knee began. I may have crashed on it or just all the standing I was doing from riding a hardtail (my first experience with one in a 24 hour) or a combo of the two. Maybe the dehydration was a part of it. The good news was that it only hurt when I pedaled….the bad news was that I still had 9 hours to go. I walked most of the climbs on the that one and was rather conservative on the descents. Some of the descents had deteriorated to powder sand covered death traps in the dark. The sand hid the rocks and ruts underneath so I had to either take a best guess line or walk. I tried the former a few time too many which was why I was hurting now, so I opted more often for the former at least until the sun came up. That lap took me about 2 hours and I lost another lap to Rob and Chuck…so much for the come back. I was a frustrated because my legs felt pretty good climbing, but it was not to be. I checked the results and decided to put one more lap in 4th place just to be sure, so walked, soft pedaled, gently rolled another lap. Three laps down to Rob and Chuck, there was no point in spending any more energy on this one. I had secured 3rd and some decent points for the national series (Rob would finish second, which keeps it tight).

I think we (Namrita, myself and the Vassago crew) about traveling to these races. Drive when possible and plan a whole lot better when we can’t. Luckily we have plenty more chances to work out the kinks.

Many thanks:
- to Kris & Misty Fowler of Vassago Cycles for all of there help and support for this race and more to come.
- to Mike, Scott and Bowflex for their support at and prior to the race.
- to Brian & Carolanne for the loaning us so many of the bits we lost in the UPS disaster.
- Orion for the pizza and Powerade.
- the many who followed the race from afar even though the link I posted didn’t work.
- all of our sponsors who’s products all worked flawlessly this weekend (no mechanicals between the two of us!)
- The Granny Gear crew for another great race.
- Namrita for being such an inspiration this weekend….and on so many other occasions.

Who’s coming to Conyers?!??

Namrita wins it and I take 3rd. We are flying home this evening, so look for an update after much sleep.

Yesterday no longer matters.

Granny Gear will have real time results posted here.

That’s how I feel today. It seems as we prepare for this race we have been challenged in every way. The key piece that set off a series of challenges today was a missing box from Atlanta that was to be delivered via UPS. We found out last night that it was missing and it contained:
1 front American Classic wheel.
1 Hayes rotor
2 cassettes
3 chains
carb powder
Salt Stick electrolyte tablets
2 sets of Crank Bros Eggbeater pedals
hayes brake pads
2 set of skewers
Dedicated Athlete Multi-vitamin
and probably some other stuff I can’t remember right now.

What did this really mean? Out spare bikes were not functional, my nutrition was missing and all the spare parts are gone. Lovely. Add to all that Namrita’s brand new fork is spewing oil and my front wheel had a few loose spokes from last weekends crash. We scrambled all morning to find replacement everythings and get the repairs looked at. My wheel is good now, but Nam’s fork had to be replaced. Kris from Vassago scored a White Bros fork, but it was a 100mm. Hers’ was an 80. That changed the whole fit and there is not a Wobble-Naught dealer for 300 miles! Who knows if it’s right. It’s the best fit I could do with a few tools we grabbed at Home Depot. The Cyco-Path sercive team was kind enough to take care of us right away. It took some calling around, but I found some carb powder at a GNC for an outragous price….but had no choice. Namrita’s friend Carol Anne and her boyfriend, Brian, hooked us up with some pedals, skewers and electrolytes. I think we are actually back on track. Now I need is a deep breathe and some sleep. Oh and I’m shaving my head since it’s going to be like 100 degrees tomorrow.

Edit: The freakin’ clippers died 3/4th of the way through the head shaving. Figures…

Light and Motion Announces the Seca Line of LED Light Systems:
Three Models Built Specifically To Outperform HID

April 24, 2008, Monterey, CA— Born from a need for high-performance lighting on the trails behind Laguna Seca, Light & Motion is proud to announce the arrival of Seca. Seca is the first LED bicycle lighting system to make good on the promise of besting the top HID’s on the market. Seca provides the first beam pattern that is custom tailored for the needs of cyclists. One look at Seca and you’ll be convinced; this is the beginning of an entirely new generation of bicycle lighting.

…AND:

Sneak Peak - New Vassago left side drive ‘cross frame the Fisticuff.
Final details are still being worked out, but we got so excited by our latest prototype of The Fisticuff, we had to share. Facts are still international spy secrets, but look forward to a do-all, ‘cross inspired velocipede, with quality butted steel and a visa-friendly price tag.

Look for this bike at the Trans Iowa race this April, ridden by Ben Shockey of Decorah Cycles.

I’m looking forward to trying out both of these offering soon.

My friend and beginner season racing , Orion, joined us this morning for a ride around the course. No pics today, sorry. It starts out with a big sand pit…6″ deep sugar sand…just like Florida! Then it climbs for 3 miles, some of it gradual, some really steep. From there we roll up and down the ridge with a couple of technical spots and few abrupt steep pitches, but all of it manageable. Nam struggled a bit on the steeper ones, but she’ll run an easier gear for the race. Then came a sweet descent along a ridge line back down to the same elevation as the start in about half the distance. The Optimus Ti just ate it up. I’m really digging this bike. The only time I’m left wishing for suspension is on the flat to gradual bumpy singletrack bits and on this course they are few and far between. It just hooks up so nicely everywhere else. The course continues on as it dips in and out of what we’d call hollers back home, but I’m sure the locals have another name for them. Then it’s a couple of hundred yards through a camp ground where our pit will be to the finish. Easy peasey.

The sun and steep climbs will be the two biggest factors. There is no shade to speak of….heck, no trees to speak of, so lot of sun block will be in order. There is plenty of areas for passing and it’s so wide open you’ll see riders ahead for hundreds of yards. Eating and drinking should be easy on the course. There is two gradual climbing sections that I’ll utilize for that. I’ll be drinking more than usual, since there is no humidity here….very different that back home. The climbs, well they are what they are and they are there for everyone. I have a triple on the Optimus Ti and I’m not too proud to use it.

We’ll it’s time for a siesta.