Beefcakes Bike Blog

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...