It’s going to be a 45ish mile gravel road loop that includes a nice little 12 mile climb, numerous other punchy little climbs, a 7 mile descent and something a little tougher than your traditional cyclo-cross course finish….think natural barriers and long run-ups (aka scrambles). We set the field limit to 50 and today just 10 days after open registration we are 49. Tomorrow we are venturing up to Mulberry Gap (start/finish venue) to reassess the parking situation which may lead to pushing the entry limit up a bit.

The field is looking tough:
Ernesto
Hekman
Applegate
Applegate
Lowery
Harper
Johns
….and a whole mess of folks from Athens, OH.

That looks like serious fun, but for now I’ll have to stick to Kan Jam.

Eddie O

We’ll be rubbing elbows with Olympians and legends. Stay tuned for the details….

Second, I’m getting huge. I’m working out at the GSU gym with “Devin the Wonder Trainer” and he’s good. It’s really nice not to be doing the same thing every time I go in and not having to put the effort into creating a plan. I just show up and bust my butt for an hour or so. We started a few weeks ago working on technique and form & now we are moving into the hypertrophy phase. Namrita is on the same plan and we usually workout together. Right now it’s a lot of circuit stuff. The worse is this thing called the attack: 3 minutes of a static squat with weight followed by 20 speed squats and repeat….OUCH. It’s like purposefully inducing cramps in the quads, hams and glutes all at the same time. This weekend we begin some base miles as well. It’s time to start thinking about 09!

This weekend was the Halloween MTB Bash and it was good times. Harvey and I headed out around noon on Friday and arrived in time for a hike before dinner. The land around Mulberry Gap has such potential for amazing trails….but that is a project for another weekend. As the afternoon progressed into evening more and more guests arrived. We had a great beef brisket and mashed potatoes dinner then retired to the fire ring to tell tall tells and have a few beverages.

Saturday was the big ride. There must have been 40 people already to go….and I was still getting ready. I was the last to roll out, but we made our way into the group as we rode up Pinhoti from Bear Creek. The trail poporatzy was out in force and took some great shots.

Photo by Regular Joe.

We rolled through huge group at the top of P1 and then kept a steady pace all the way to the top of P3. Harvey, Namrita, Mark, Marc, & I sat at the Cohutta Overlook on Hwy 52…the colors are amazing! …Harvey, I need some pics!

From there Harvey, Mark & I continued on to Tatum Lead and then in search of the single track that heads to Ft Mountain SP. It was one of my freestyle navigation rides and we ended up sticking to the Pinhoti all the way out to Chatsworth. When I saw the sign for the Rockcreek ATV trail I knew we were in trouble…..that and the fact that we descended for 35 minutes in the opposite direction of dinner. We took the hwy back over Fort Mtn which is a 6 mile climb that just crushed me. Harvey had great legs though and just rode away from from Mark and I. It took some encouragement, but Mark and I caught up to Harvey the top of P3 and we headed home. I think I stared at my Coke for 20 minutes before I could even hold a conversation. Still, it was a great ride. I can’t wait to go explore that side of the mountain again.

Saturday night was a huge Mexican feast served in the newly sided barn at Mulberry Gap. I had my fill after 4ths. I then built a tall fire in the ring, sat there the rest of the evening and “hydrated” with the others.

Sunday was a less ambitious ride with a short jaunt to P3 & 4 again. My legs were still wrecked from Saturdays efforts. Once back to Mulberry it was feed time again with baked potatoes and lots of fixin’s. I followed that up with a long soak in the hot tub.

Good times!

It’s been a rough month. Interbike was great, but tiring. The following weekend I attended a funeral for my Uncle Mike up in NY. It was great to see the family, but it seems like we are always wearing black when we get together. One of my cousins needs to get married, so we can break this trend. All this travel means I stacked all my fittings into a few days a week, so when I am home I’m working. Not a bad thing. Finally life has settle down a little.

I gave up driving. To be honest, a gas shortage here in Atlanta was the final motivator. I refuse to sit in line for gas when I have a garage full of bikes. As usual it took a week or two to get into the habit, but now I’m riding everywhere. We’ll see how motivated I am today while it drizzles for hours.

Namrita & I raced our last race of the season at Conyers last weekend. We orginally planned to duke it out against the Pics, but instead we decided to join them on a 4 person team. It was good fun. My favorite part was being fresh and fast for some night laps. I’m usually settling into a groove at nightfall, but this time I had the energy to just let it rip. So much fun. I may have to get out for some night rides this fall.

Stay tuned I’ll get back to regular posting now.