GSC #1 - HELLitage Park

ADDENDUM: And as you read this keep in mind that the restrooms at Heritage were closed and NO port-o-pots were brought in. The below video was footage of the ITT finish. This racer was two or three spots ahead of me.



Oh my . . . where to start. So I drove up to Heritage Park Saturday to do the ITT for some extra points and get a look at the course. I haven't been there in two years since the last "weather event" but who's counting. I actually said I'd NEVER go back and here I am, pulling in to Heritage Park for a 4 mile ITT and a 20ish mile XC race on Sunday. And guess what. It's about to rain.

I get a pretty good place to park, but not under the shelter because those have all been taken. I set up Bill's eazyup, which I realize has two broken cross braces. Registration goes pretty easy. The kids get their ITT under way. I'm kitted and ready to go and I here thunder. The experts are on the course and I'm standing in line waiting to start when the bottom falls out. Hard rain, then light rain, then no rain, then hard rain, etc. As I was getting the countdown there was no rain.

This was the first race on my new bike and in retrospect, probably not the best race or course to break it in on. Two miles in and the flood gates open. Five minutes later the lightening starts popping. I'm climbing a switchback that more resembles a class IV rapid when a flash of lightening overhead damn near blinds me. I literally prayed the remainder of the way back to the pavilion. I didn't stop to check results because I was worried about my stuff and the eazyup collapsing. The water was so deep around the truck my shoes were completely submerged. As I lowered the eazyup, the side that had the broken brace completely crumbled and the canopy came down on my head. I folded it up and stood it under the pavilion. It took some creativity to get dry and changed but I did, and then within seconds it quit raining.

I drove into town to get a propane canister, stopped at a carwash to pull under the cover to organize and dry my gear, drove back to the park and was able to grab a parking place under the shelter. I cooked myself something to eat, listened to some Pearl Jam, and waited on Gene and Woolard to arrive.

So let me lay it out for you. There is absolutely, positively NOTHING fun about the Heritage trail. The entire trail is littered with nothing but roots. There seems to be twice as much climbing as descending, but it doesn't matter because the descents are actually washed-out root-pits any way. If someone were to ask me "What's your favorite part of the trail?", I'd have to respond NOT RIDING IT! Don't get me wrong. I believe every trail needs a technical aspect and I like to climb. I don't think any trail needs to look like the sidewalk they built in England for the 2012 Olympics but COME ON. Not only do you have to navigate endless amounts and varying sizes of roots, you have to deal with the mud, and it doesn't matter if it's rained or not, Heritage always has a muddy section. Fortunately for me it rained ALL NIGHT LONG. The whole damn trail was muddy. So you make it through the mud and roots into the pines which my handlebars on Bike #2 can barely fit through. (Oh yeah. I not only had to use my back up bike, I had to wear my back up shoes and helmet.) And then there's the creek crossings which were running at about 18-22 inches in my estimation. I didn't stop to measure because I was afraid of getting swept off the waterfall to my right. Then all you have to do is cross three bridges that are slippery as goose shit, climb out of hell and back to the pavilion. That's ONE F-ING LAP!

As mentioned before, I was using all backup gear because either my stuff was still soaked from Saturday or I didn't want to ruin it today. Bike #2 had too big of a gear but I was too cold and too lazy to change it. Plus, I don't think I had a chain that would fit If I went bigger, so guess what . . . run what ya' brung. Gene and Woolley at this point have walked over to the registration booth six times to see when the cut-off is. They're on the fence, but they're facing the side that says "I'm not racing this shit!" Yee Haw. It's 9:30 and time to start.

Good start. I sat on #1 and #2 all the way through the first section and felt like I had a technical advantage on them. I slid out of one corner but was able to come back pretty quick. All was good until the first real climb. Muddy ground, wet roots, and wrong gear equals by-by to the leaders. The next climb was the same but this time it was by-by to #3. Eventually I watched #4 pass me as well. I finished lap one and Gene gave me the time splits from the leaders which in reality was a mute point. I knew with the gearing I had that I'd still have to walk three, if not four of the climbs and that wasn't going to catch anyone. I hadn't taken a sip from my water bottle; one because there's no where you can relax long enough to grab a bottle and two I was scared that I might contract giardia from all the crap that was now riding on the cap of my bottle.

The second lap was an exercise in mental torture. I was wet, muddy, cold, and nowhere near the leaders. I finished. Gene and Woolley headed back to Jay and Lisa's to pick up their gear. I cleaned up as best possible and loaded up for home. I was shivering all the way to Perry and then the temperature went up 20 degrees which is really good for the sinus infection I'd just gotten rid of.

I've washed my kit three times. I don't think it's coming clean. I refuse to look at my bike for the next several days. I will NEVER go back to Heritage Park!

Jeff Haire

Hit & Run driver injures cyclist - Live, Local, Late Breaking news, weather, and sports

Jeff was hit yesterday evening. Click the above link to view the latest news report. From the limited reports received, Jeff escaped serious injuries. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

Meat On Your Grill

First of all let SGC say "Thank you". Thank you to C town bicycles, Kenny with Chain Buster Productions, BreakAway Cycles, and to our supportive families for a great weekend of racing.

This past Saturday was the 6 and 9 hours of Conyers put on by Kenny with Chain Buster Productions. Bill and family traveled up early Friday afternoon to preride the course and hang out with da "LORD" and his family. Steve, John, Mitch, and I (Josh) left Albany around 5 Friday afternoon. Carb loading began while loading the Tahoe. The Tahoe was loaded down with bikes, gear and the camper on steroids. After stopping in Macon for burritos at Calientes, a spin off of Moes that is way more yummy, we discovered that Mitch's lid to his cooler had flown off somewhere. Sorry to the person whose car was struck by a flying plastic object traveling 80 mph on I-75. Please send the repair bill to STEVE JULIAN. He often forgets the incredible power of WIND. EASY UP!!!!!!! Anywho... We had one more stop before arriving at the International Horse Park in Conyers. Krogers which for years now has been improperly pronounced and should actually be pronounced K-Rogers. We you can only imagine what 4 men with a list and no idea of what they really want can do with time in a K-Rogers. 45 minutes later we departed the parking lot headed to the horse park. Of course the list said that we needed beer.

Bill had already saved us a pretty good spot in the middle of the field but it took all 4 of us getting out of the car and giving Steve advice on how he should park the camper. I must say that Steve did a fantastic job and within minutes we had the camper up and were readying ourselves for some sleep. But first I had to pull out my trusty sewing kit to mend my racing gloves for the next day. For some reason I always seem to leave small tasks like sewing for odd times. All were asleep by midnight. Those that have camped when Bill is within a 50 mile radius know that it is a good idea to sleep with one eye open because you never know when he might slip in with a "STTEEEEVVVVVEEEEEE, WHAATT'SSS UUUUUPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We awoke Saturday around 6 am to 4 wheelers and cars arriving. Seemed to be a touch early for a race that started at 10 AM. Upon sunrise at 7 AM, I believe it was Mitch or John that said all those folks at the porta potties don't really look like mtn bikers and come to find out Kenny and Tim (Dirty Spokes) were teaming up and putting on a 10K and a 5 K trail run before starting the mountain bike race. Sorry girls, this was an honest mistake. We had no idea.

We busied ourselves with minor tasks, like eating and preparing our gear for the race waiting for the arrival of Bill and da "LORD" but as it turns out they were a touch late on arrival and you would never guess that Bill needed some minor adjustments to his bike. Like always at a mtn bike race before the start everyone is sharing tools and stands to make sure that everyone around has what they need for their coming adventure. There was a nice group of guys next to us that let us use their stand and in return we gave them some pain killers (advil).

10 AM came quickly and after the prerace meeting we all made sure that Mitch and John (6 hour virgin) had everything straight in their minds about what was about to happen. I realized after the race that I did not mention to John and Mitch that they would probably want to lube their chain after a couple laps but I also did not realize that we would have 4-5 stream crossing per lap.

It was a mass start with call ups. Bill got called up from his result at the first 6 hour at Heritage. Bill was leading the 6 hour at Heritage but had to leave an hour or so early to get back to A-town for the Daddy Daughter Dance but still manage to finish 3rd while he was driving in his truck, go figure. I managed a second row start and others were not much further back. At this point, I will tell some details from my race and try to remember stories from the post race carb refueling session. My plan was to ride toward the front but not go off the front and try not to lose contact with the front guy. Sometimes that is confusing when there is a mixture of team and solo riders and you have no way of determining the difference until you ask them "Hey man, are a team or solo?" So I took my chances and stayed toward the front of the main chase group down the double track and jumped into 2nd going into the single track. Within a couples minutes, I had determined that the guy in front of me was racing the 6 hr solo (like myself) and that we had about 30 seconds already on the folks behind us. I was content easing off the gas a bit but he continued full throttle. I settled for somewhere in the middle as I could feel the efforts I had put out on Thursday nights road ride and kept thinking about the fact that I had not ridden my bike any longer than 3 hours this year and that was back in early February. The way the trail cuts back on itself you can see other riders almost all the time but you have a hard time gauging just how far or close they are to you. For the 1st 3 laps, I could see first place but just kept riding my pace. Since we had put down a sub 40 min lap the first lap, I knew that I had gained a few minutes that I could use over the course of the 6 hour race and could settle in to race my race and see if 1st place came back to me.

It was some where on my 3rd lap that I came across Mitch and John. Both doing a great job and seeming to have a great time. Coming through the start finish at the end of the 4th lap, I looked over to see the 1st place guy(David) still in his pit area. Steve was in the pit at that point and he helped me out by getting me some bottles and sending me on my way. I know that he went out for another lap after that and finished with 4 laps for the day but look for more from the Chief HavaLongToe from Albany, we are about to get him on a top secret training plan that will have him putting out solid rides. David and I exited the pit together and rode most of the 5th lap together. I will still content with riding in 2nd place because I had calculated at this point that I was going to be riding 8 laps and knew that I had plenty more race to go. So if he wanted to attack and waste energy, I was going to let him. At the end of the 5th lap we came in pretty close together, I headed out on my 6th lap unsure if he was in front of me or behind me. During the 6th and 7th lap, I had to fight cramping a couple of times and went into conservation mode. I got so thirsty one time that I almost stopped and drank from a water bottle on the side of the trail. I managed to get more electrolytes into me, eat a bit more and get an extra bottle the next time in the pit and I continued at my pace, calculating how quick my last laps needed to be so that I would make the time cut at 4 PM. See the photos below for the conclusion.

Mitch ended up having a mechanical on his 5th lap (broken chain) which seemed to be quite common, I would imagine b/c of the frequent stream crossing that were following by leg searing short climbs that caught you in the wrong gear trying to shift under great pressure. Mitch hadn't discovered that he needed to carry a multi-tool with him during a race but I feel very confident that at the next race he will have a multi-tool and a master link or two in his back pocket. As it turns out. A guy came by Mitch and asked if he needed any help. Mitch told him that he had broken his chain, the guy gave Mitch his chain tool and then just decided to stay and help him fix it. Unfortunately, they needed a master link. So a short period of time later, which I am sure felt like a millennium, good ole Dave Muse comes by with a master link. TRAIL MAGIC that be!!!! Thanks Dave. Yet another example of why mtn bikers are so fun to be around. Mitch finished his 5th lap limping b/c his front der had gotten twisted during the chain break. If not I believe he may have had time to go out for a 6 the lap!!!!!! Good ride Mitch.

I am going to post this now but will be back later to complete the story of Meat on Your Grill. Don't worry Palmer, I didn't forget about you.

UPDATED TRAIL MAP

Click HERE for an updated trail map.

Unofficially the trail is 6.7 miles. We're working on a more defined map and marking of the trail. Yes, the flagging tape will be coming down soon.

There's still some work left to do. The firebreaks are ride-able but soft. A few more rains followed by sun and riding will firm them up quickly. The transitions from trail to firebreak are soft and steep and need to be smoothed out. The new section on philema heading to the boat dock will chatter your teeth but has and actual CLIMB in it. The newer section in the east corner needs a little TLC to smooth it out.

Please continue to be conscious of park rules and park habitat. Start rides at either the 1)boat dock or 2) BMX track. Let's discontinue parking at the chimney since it better serves picnicing and fishing visitors. Leave it better than you found it and don't take advantage of a good thing.

But it's HERE and RIDE-ABLE so ENJOY!

We will be having a MASS work-day soon for anyone who would like to pitch in.