Beefcakes Bike Blog

New place, old friends, new friends, soon to be old place. Hot Springs was a great place to spend a weekend. Water, easy camping, great trails and a wonderful celebration of two people getting married and sharing their special day with a bunch of rowdy friends. Yes, it rained, but it fit. It wasn't about the weather, the lack of sunshine, who had the best clothes, best food, best car or even best bike...it was about spending time, sharing words, laughs, knuckle slams, hugs, smiles and vows. Nothing would spoil the groups good intention for the newlyweds. Twas a cool weekend. Congrats to the the Leroys. Congrats to the joining of two wonderful families. As if Jonathon and Kristen didn't have enough to plan somehow an excellent ride lingered in the works. Housekeeping came early for cabin #5 on Sunday morning (Jonathon posing as a high voiced ESL maid) after dancing the night away and topping it off with an ice cream sandwich from the local 7-11 at what seemed like 4am in the mor...

If you're old enough to recognize the above lyrics, you're old enough to share the pain in my joints. *this is an outdated post from the Westside death march a few weekends back* Me: tour guide, ride promoter, big ego DK and ZB: smart for cutting it short Goal: Big west side miles Plan: fish hatchery> pilot mtn rd> backside Farlow> 215> Pinhook gap> Balsam Lodge> 281 south> Panther Town> Toxaway estates via cold mtn rd> 281 north> Tanasee Gap> 215> back to Fish Hatchery. Our ride started mostly on time. It was stunningly hot, even at our 9:30 am start. Up to Farlow from the fish hatchery in typical climb like hell from the get go fashion. We hit farlow then dropped the backside down to 215. What a ride. I don't spend enough time on the back side of Farlow. It's a beautiful area and there are some waterfalls that need exploring but, the bike always seems to prevail with consumption of my time. We grunted up 215, with the quiet and frie...

Spent the weekend in Chuck town. Not a bad place. Friendly people, damn good food ( http://www.joepasta.com/ ) and lots of sights to see. Try the fried grits with shrimp. Worth the trip to Chuck town. Beautiful woman had a conference to attend and invited me along. I scoped out the ride scene and found http://www.coastalcyclists.org/ . I emailed one of the ride organizers and he stated two options: 1 - 70 miles at 21-25 pace, 2 - 50 miles at 25-30 pace. I opted for the longer, slower leisurely ride. I found the ride location on time and met several friendly local folks prepping for the hot coastal sun. We started out with about 20 folks. 18 guys/2 girls. Off we went. It was a 7am start so i was rather groggy. The first few miles were on a 4 lane SC coastal highway with pot holes that made some of the technical sections on Farlow ( Pisgah Nat. Forest) seem laughable. I was a little concerned about taking my eyes off the road at all. Some of these pot holes would have swallowed a bee...

Sumter Metric. Yah trick Yah ! What a great day. WNDC in the house. Spent Saturday in the Ho (Tahoe) and on Sumter, SC trails with DG , ZB and Mr. Tomato. Days like this help me realize how thankful i am for all my friends. It was swell to spend some time with them all. The format of this Sorba benefit race was 20+- miles of rooty , hot sweaty, 100% humidity, low country single track and 40+- miles of gravel/shake n' bake pavement. I entered the Clydesdale class, against the nagging wishes of my friends, but it's a class i enjoy and am well qualified for. Another lemans start. Blah. Uphill, in cycling shoes almost 1/3 mile. I put my bike at the end of the transition area in hope of a quick get away. I hit the single track in about 15 th or 20 th , after my extraordinarily slow uphill jog. I passed many people in the single track and was just settling in to a good pace when my chain broke. Dang it! Quickly fixed it and hit the trail. I guess i was in about 5-10 th when t...

Yuri, in my blog again! Hats off to Yuri for what seemed like a very successful Camp Eckerd Fat Tire Festival. It was an excellent family day with sunshine, rain, food, laughs, a band, prizes, podium girls (not really), pin up girls (not really) and several members of the NUMBA from Camp Carolina - they know who they are and they are probably not any less hairy then in the early 90's. To win King Of the Mountain (KOM), you must participate in 3 events: the 18 mile cross country race, trials and downhill. XC review: Crazy lemans start. Ouch. I loathe running, even 100 yards. I mustered enough gumption to run through the pain and make it to my well positioned bike. There was single track at the very beginning and i did not want to get behind a huge group and have to pass people continuously before getting my groove on. I figured hard effort at the start would allow me to sit in and groove quicker than if no hard initial effort. I was up front with local pro/Sycamore/all around good g...

this is a quick, little mind effort of a post, directed mainly for participants of PMBAR or those intimately familiar with it so called "soul crushing" ability Seven – supposedly the American lucky numeral. For me, Seven totals over $300 in entry fees, $500+ repairing brake pads, new chains, shifter cables, chain rings, chiropractor visits, pepto bismal , beer and other unaccounted items resulting directly from PMBAR . Not included in this estimate is the cost of my time, shattered ego, blood loss, one week of sore arse (seven days/7 PMBARS ), and effect on relationships w/ PMBAR partners, effect on relationships with non PMBAR partners and energy spent. I’m not a small person by cycling standards and the typical 2,000 calorie/day diet doesn ’t apply. On average, the PMBAR routes I’ ve chosen have ranged from 45 – 65 miles, with most coming in around 60 miles. So 60 miles x 7 PMBARS = 420 approximate miles pedaled for all 7 PMBARS . I can also conservatively estimate t...

"it's been a long time, i shouldn't have left you" words of wisdom from Eric B. easily applied here. it's been way too long since i've kept up with this blog. so many things have changed in my life, for the better. more changes are to come. right now, i'm fighting the age card vs. endurance riding. knees do not like 6-10 hours on the bike/1 time a week. i'll fight it till my ashes are scattered on the trails i love the most...probably all over Dupont and the side of Buckwheat closest to the top of Bennet. i hope everyone's cycling endeavours are positive. soon, form will return to my aching body, and riding won't hurt anymore, right?