Well, I figured I would get chewed out by certain people if I put up a blog post with in 20 minuets of finishing the ride so I waited until the next day. I would like to point out that I totally could, but did not.
Since just doing a race report is kind of boring I'm going to try to keep this short. The day started off good, it was in the 50s with an overcast sky. I was about to take off my knee warmers but decided to leave them on before the start. The Saint and KOP took off through town and lead out the newspaper sprint. Kop took a break at the back while St. Marie and I drove it through some sketchy back roads. With in 15 minuets the field spilt and there was a lead group of 40 or so. We spilt up a little more going over Walnut Hollow but most everybody caught back on on the descent.
After that, it started raining coming down 178 and boy it was bad. First off imagine standing in a group of people in a elevator-you don't really want to touch any of them because they're sketchy. Then have some little kid throw really small rocks at you. This was not a gentile rain, it hurt. I might even have some bruises.
After getting in South Carolina, I covered a small attack that didn't go any were. Oh yeah, SC kept on raining but not as hard, so it was more like having your eyelids stapled to your forehead and staring into a garden hose for two hours. Awesome.
It was kind of funny at one point. Two Bio Wheels guys attacked and I hopped on one dude's wheel. As we pulled through one guy informed me that I needed to drop down to my 13 (on my cassette) because we were going down hill. And I was like: "Dude, do you think I'm that stupid?" I'm not going to pull you up to your team mate were I'll be in a group with two Bio Wheels guys and one Sycamore. Luckily we were caught a little later.
That is one thing that infinitely pisses me off about roadies. I'm not hating on all roadies just the ones who think it's necessary to tell me what to do. I've been riding and racing bike for over half my life time, although I always see room for improvement, I think I know what I'm doing. Thanks for telling me. I was told off three times yesterday for doing something wrong. Anyway more on that later.
After hitting Cesar's head about 4 guys took off, although Wes and I probably could have stayed with them, but it would have hurt very,very bad. So we sat up and waited for Tamer and Pinnet. Near the top I've got to shout out to Jay and Ray for giving us some Little Debbie Cakes and Gatorade. And Jenna and Stephine for cheering us on. On the descent we caught back up to Kop and Pinnet's group. Since it was about 10 miles from the finish we sat on the front and drove the pace. The same Bio Wheels guy was in our group as well as Tommy from the Etowah ride. So four Sycamore vs. two other guys. Good for us, not good for them. Everybody was working well together until the Bio Wheels guy stopped pulling.
Dude I sure hope you read this some day. I'm not going to mention names, but I know who you are. I totally understand at this was a ride and not a race. Yes, Sycamore treats it as a race but it's still a ride. When you stopped pulling, you turned it into a race. If you kept on pulling and doing your share of the work we would have had a normal sprint finish, no big deal. But you decide to not help so we attacked. You totally got what you deserved. And I'm warning you, if you decide to race 12 Hrs of Tsail with your puny Bio Wheels team, you will get destroyed. I have no problems with your bike shop and with any other people on your team, but I do have a problem with you. It's not finished.
Anyway on a happy note Wes killed it and won the sprint for 5th. I figure I didn't really need to stay with the group after doing my pull on the front considering we still had 3 vs. 2. I rolled in for 10th place. Not bad. I had fun and I helped Wes win the sprint. So was it successful? Yes, I did my job and even though I didn't finish with our group I helped out. Props to everybody who road and those who didn't ride.
The KOP has some good pictures and a little more detailed report here: http://wesdickson.blogspot.com/2008/03/assault-on-carolinas-crew-and-i-headed.html
Later folks, and watch out Bio Wheels.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
PICTURES
This is side ways but it's the corn syrup, also very sticky.
The fiinished product.
Dad LOVED it. Nah probably not. Dude the picture posting thing on blogger post everything backwards so read from bottom to top.
This is the paste stuff that gum is made out of. I totally forgot the name of it though. Super sticky by the way.
This is me making gum from a 15 year old gum making kit. Be amazed. This is why I rule.
It wasn't too bad either.
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Good, the Bad and FREE STUFF!
Once again I'm skipping out on home work to write blogs. Maybe I should start charging people who read a nominal fee. For every blog you read you have to help me type a page for my paper. Sound good? No, ok that's cool.
What I was going to tell you about before I started talking about money is Spring BREAK!
Most people get really excited about spring break, I don't. This leads to many long conversations with my room mate, he attempts to improve my out look on life. But hey, I think summer break is a little better than a week off but who asks me.
Since I've spent the last two breaks on the road, it was nice to come home and hang out with the parentals. That I haven't done because they have had to work and I sit around the house, sweeping the floor, fixing meals, and wasting time on my computer. Side note-our Internet is wayyyyy better than the schools, plus it's wireless so yes, I can sit on the toilet and check my facebook. It has been done before.
I thought that I was coming home to some nice Georgia weather so I could work on my tan lines and not carry an extra 200 dollars worth of clothing on every ride. I didn't even bring my tights home. Bad idea, as many of you know this whole week has been overcast 40 degree weather. Not terrible but not quite what I expected. To add to that I have burned my eggs three times in the last two day-and dropped one on the floor, been unable to order shoes because the company decided not to carry that set anymore, grated carrots, and run out of things to eat-on Monday.
However, some good things have been happening. I did get two boxes of Girl Scout cookies from Mom and Dad on my desk when I got home. Little did they know I had already eaten a whole box out of the freezer. I got my wheels ordered as well as my fork from Fox. I've got to do a little blatant sponsorship endorsement here. So, I needed some tires from Maxxis, I got on their website Tuesday morning and sent my order form in. By like 10 o'clock (I ordered at 8ish) I already had a confirmation of my order. By that afternoon, I also had a UPS tracking number. When I got up the next morning (9ish) I checked the tracking number and it already said the package was en-route. By 12, my brand new Monorails were sitting on my doorstep.
Now they are based in Atlanta which explains the fast delivery, but within 6 hours, I had already got confirmation and a tracking number. Now that's service! Maxxis rules!
This was soooo much better than people and companies I have worked with before. There were several races last year when I didn't even have tires. So I had to mark out the names of other tires and run those.
Ah, the good ol'days.
Now in the last post, or the one before that, or one of 'em. I said that I was going to take some pictures and post them. I'm sorry but I have not taken a single one. I promise that by the time I write my next post I will have some pictures (hey-that's a really good excuse not to write). You have to understand where I'm coming from though. Riding my bike is not very exciting: I look down, I look up, I spit to the side, I look down, I look back up, I sit up and stretch, I look down, I look up, I....you get the picture. Other than that there's really nothing else exciting on my rides. There might be cool stuff, like doing 40 in an aero tuck and watching the car coming at you slide into the wrong lane and screech back into their lane, but it's hard to take pictures of that.
Anyway, there will be some, soon. I promise.
I leave with this last thought: Don't let damn Brevard area seniors eat your mac and cheese, like they did Chaput. Senior citizens can be sneaky as hell sometimes.
What I was going to tell you about before I started talking about money is Spring BREAK!
Most people get really excited about spring break, I don't. This leads to many long conversations with my room mate, he attempts to improve my out look on life. But hey, I think summer break is a little better than a week off but who asks me.
Since I've spent the last two breaks on the road, it was nice to come home and hang out with the parentals. That I haven't done because they have had to work and I sit around the house, sweeping the floor, fixing meals, and wasting time on my computer. Side note-our Internet is wayyyyy better than the schools, plus it's wireless so yes, I can sit on the toilet and check my facebook. It has been done before.
I thought that I was coming home to some nice Georgia weather so I could work on my tan lines and not carry an extra 200 dollars worth of clothing on every ride. I didn't even bring my tights home. Bad idea, as many of you know this whole week has been overcast 40 degree weather. Not terrible but not quite what I expected. To add to that I have burned my eggs three times in the last two day-and dropped one on the floor, been unable to order shoes because the company decided not to carry that set anymore, grated carrots, and run out of things to eat-on Monday.
However, some good things have been happening. I did get two boxes of Girl Scout cookies from Mom and Dad on my desk when I got home. Little did they know I had already eaten a whole box out of the freezer. I got my wheels ordered as well as my fork from Fox. I've got to do a little blatant sponsorship endorsement here. So, I needed some tires from Maxxis, I got on their website Tuesday morning and sent my order form in. By like 10 o'clock (I ordered at 8ish) I already had a confirmation of my order. By that afternoon, I also had a UPS tracking number. When I got up the next morning (9ish) I checked the tracking number and it already said the package was en-route. By 12, my brand new Monorails were sitting on my doorstep.
Now they are based in Atlanta which explains the fast delivery, but within 6 hours, I had already got confirmation and a tracking number. Now that's service! Maxxis rules!
This was soooo much better than people and companies I have worked with before. There were several races last year when I didn't even have tires. So I had to mark out the names of other tires and run those.
Ah, the good ol'days.
Now in the last post, or the one before that, or one of 'em. I said that I was going to take some pictures and post them. I'm sorry but I have not taken a single one. I promise that by the time I write my next post I will have some pictures (hey-that's a really good excuse not to write). You have to understand where I'm coming from though. Riding my bike is not very exciting: I look down, I look up, I spit to the side, I look down, I look back up, I sit up and stretch, I look down, I look up, I....you get the picture. Other than that there's really nothing else exciting on my rides. There might be cool stuff, like doing 40 in an aero tuck and watching the car coming at you slide into the wrong lane and screech back into their lane, but it's hard to take pictures of that.
Anyway, there will be some, soon. I promise.
I leave with this last thought: Don't let damn Brevard area seniors eat your mac and cheese, like they did Chaput. Senior citizens can be sneaky as hell sometimes.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Finally
Wow, I'm finally done with mid terms, a really hard training block, and eating my waffle this morning. I'm in a pretty good mood too, although I almost fell asleep in class this morning. The mid term grades came out today and I didn't do as bad as I expected so I'm pretty stoked about that. They're not great, but not terrible.
I'm sorry I've been so bad about posting new blog, but I've been really busy the last two weeks. I've had a to do a ton of stuff for school and train on top of that. So in order to make it up to you guys I'm going to do a ton of rides this week and take as many pictures as I can. I'm not entirely sure how to post pictures yet but since everybody else is doing it I don't think it's too hard.
So I'm going to have to go to class, but I promise that I'll work on updating a little more this week and look for pictures.
I hope Towelie is still my friend....
I'm sorry I've been so bad about posting new blog, but I've been really busy the last two weeks. I've had a to do a ton of stuff for school and train on top of that. So in order to make it up to you guys I'm going to do a ton of rides this week and take as many pictures as I can. I'm not entirely sure how to post pictures yet but since everybody else is doing it I don't think it's too hard.
So I'm going to have to go to class, but I promise that I'll work on updating a little more this week and look for pictures.
I hope Towelie is still my friend....
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