Coming Soon...

I can't wait...in January we will be getting these. The guys at OutSpokin' Bicycles hooked us up with these sweet new Scott rides. I will be riding the Scale 15 hardtail and Chris will be sporting the Spark 15 full suspension. I needed a new hardtail for adventure races and shorter rides, as my Turner is a bit overkill for the typical forest service road riding that is common in most adventure races. The Scale 15 was the answer and will weigh in at near 20 lbs once I swap out some components.

4 Days and Counting

Yup, 4 days until we leave for Potosi, Missouri to attend the Adventure Race National Championships. Gotta start packing and organizing gear. The race is unsupported so I don't have any need to pack my usual 5 pairs of running shoes and 14 midweight baselayers. My OutSpokin'-Enduraventure teammates and I are ready for this race, so I hope we represent well. Are there swamps and mosquitos in the Ozarks? I sure hope not...

I bailed on the cross race today and instead did a 3 hour "adventure ride" at Blankets Creek and Lake Allatoona. The lake is empty (as usual in the winter) so you can pretty much ride wherever. I like to follow the four-wheeler tracks, as they generally make pretty good bike trails. I'm trying to come up with a decent off-road loop to help me keep my sanity during base riding.

Night-O

FINALLY...a decent showing at the Georgia Orienteering Club's annual Night-O at Cochran Mill Park. The last two years Chris and I have run the course together and it was completely fubar both times. This year we each went alone and despite my initial worries about running around in the woods by myself at night, I did pretty well and ran the course fairly smoothly. I used every second of allotted time and had less than 5 minutes to cover the final 3/4 mile to the finish. I barely beat the buzzer, but was ready to see my dinner again by the time I got there...not the best way to have to finish, but at least I didn't trip and fall in the last 100 meters!

Pine Log Exploration

We did a little exporation at Pine Log this morning on foot. Unfortunately, we had to scrap our original plan of checking out some old trails further up the mountain due to the gate being locked and us not having bikes. We weren't prepared for such a long hike in and out, so we checked out some trails closer to the parking area. Hopefully all this running around will result in a good trail map of the area.



Stamp Creek - along a fishing trail on the east side of the creek. This was a pretty trail, fairly distinct for around a mile, although not great for biking since it gets very indistinct and overgrown towards the end.



Hmm..unfortunately this is what a lot of Pine Log looks like thanks to logging. Over-seeded pines that even the deer have trouble finding their way through. Not exactly bike-friendly.



Chris inside a cool old stone furnace. This is a neat side trip that is worth checking out if you haven't ever seen one of these. There used to be hundreds of them in this region and many are still intact along the banks of the Etowah River and its tributaries.



This furnace is one of the more intact ones - primarily due to its hidden location in the middle of about a billion small pine trees. The last I was here was in an adventure race in the dark. Needless to say it was dark and we didn't know where the trails were so we had to claw our way through the pines.



View of a piney roadbed as we left the stone furnace.

Singletrack Cyclocross

I'm tossing around the idea of heading to the Ft. Yargo Cyclocross race this Sunday so I figured I'd better dust the cobwebs off the cross bike and take it out for a spin. I rode over to Blankets and did a couple of laps on the Dwelling Loop. While the Dwelling Loop isn't exactly a challenging trail, I found new appreciation for fat tires and front suspension. Gears too, since its pretty challenging to shift while your hands are constantly on the top mount brake levers. Unfortunately I got a blister on my right hand from all the bouncing around...maybe I'm just getting old.