Skip to main content

SORBA down under

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 15th or 20th, 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 5-10th when the chain broke and now i was in probably 25th - 30th. Much ground to cover. We had 55 + miles ahead so there was plenty of time to get back into good position.

Until I flatted. Okay, no big deal. Get back in and go.

Another flat.

Okay. I'm out now for sure. I fixed it quickly and kept rolling. Second flat came with only 3 miles remaining. Oh well.

I rolled in to meet ZB with some excellent recovery beverages and some kick but burgers, cole slaw, beans and potato salad. Yay! I had arrived!

The trails were fun and reminiscent of my formative mountain biking years in Athens, GA and the ATL area: roots, tight single track, full on constant cranking, 100% humidity. I sweat gallons. Thankfully, an early afternoon rain cooled things down but didn't make the wooden bridges any less slippery.

Our crew represented well. a first, a second, a third and another huge milestone for DG also the DD for our Ho ride home.

Big props to SORBA and all who helped out. If you do not belong to SORBA, you best join. They do a lot for us mountain bikers.
Peace.

Comments

The Evil MGE! said…
Sounds awesome bro!
May 18, 2009 at 12:25 AM
Anonymous said…
Nice ride, nice completion. -sometimes we just have to keep on pluggin through adversity - but whats a broken chain in this lifetime anyway?


Just a few more minutes for the beverages to chill.
May 18, 2009 at 6:16 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alley oop oop. Oop. Oop. Oop!

July 3, 2011 - First Annual (hopefuly) Brevard, NC Alley Cat Race. What a blast! Thirty some odd people (i use odd loosely) including kids, adults, adults who are still kids and in-betweens. This was my first participation in an Alley Cat Race. Typical alley cat format is basically no format at all. This race consisted of 10 or so check points, each worth a certain amount of points based upon their distance from the starting point. Also in the mix were a number of local landmarks, people and combinations of both that were each worth an additional 3 points each. Who ever has the most points and returns to the designated finishing area by the cut-off time wins. My buddy and official H8R, aka ZB, decided he just wanted to follow me for the race since he doesn't know Brevard all that well. Together we sped through Brevard and its outskirts, collected pictures, signed sign in sheets, danced, busted some rhymes, begged, consumed liquid refreshment, obeyed all and any traffic laws, improv...
11 comments
Read more

A day in PA

“Where’s this David Cook guy?” ripped me out of a semi relaxed state of welcomed non-stimulus after 101 miles of rushing thoughts, focus, attentiveness and sweat. I was sitting on the grass, cross legged, eyes closed, with my back against the blow up Kenda banner at the race finish. Apparently another Clydesdale racer didn’t like seeing his name in second place on the results page because he was questioning the race director for David Cook and a scale. Much to this fellows surprise, “he’s right here” directed at him from my mouth with the same tone he addressed the race director, seemed to stop him in his tracks. I guess he heard me, but assumed someone would present them self to him. I didn’t. I knew what he wanted…my digits on a scale. The race director, went for the scale with said questioning racer in tow. The racer came back to where he heard me announce my presence from the comfort of my make shift Kenda pillow and was looking around. I looked up at him and said “I’...
4 comments
Read more

PMBSR - Day 2

Day 2 Felt better this morning and actually got a good warm up under my belt. Thought it was going to be a better day then yesterday then cramps set in on the first third of squirrel gap. I passed a few fellows in my class and thought it was all coming together then crash - not into a tree, not like Dave Mathews but like I was going to barf or who knows what. I kept going, despite how horrible I felt. I guess I was dehydrated. Hammer Gel products in liquid form other than gels evidently disagree with my stomach. I can’t seem to absorb heed or any of that stuff. We’ll see if that was a contributing factor to my slow, slow, slow time today. I’m still in 4th due to some unfortunate mechanical problem to the fellow who was in first. I’ll try to bust a move tomorrow. Maybe the legs will cooperate. Off to bed. 4th in class. 40.31 miles. Max speed of 29.5. race time of 5 hours 12 minutes. 8.4 avg speed.
1 comment
Read more