IDIDARIDE 2007

Great
Weekend! Mark D and I left Perry at 12:00 noon on Friday bound for
Stephen Foster State Park in White Springs, Florida. We got
there in time to set up camp, register, and pre-ride the
first 7 miles of the IDIDARIDE. Shane, Diana, and Jessie were arriving as we got back. We hung
out at their campsite Friday night, Mark D provided a Spagetti Dinner. Chip, Bill, and Alina showed up later and set up camp at our site. I woke up Saturday morning at 5:30 am
to a Hissing sound. I felt my air matress slowly deflating. I guess that was my que to get up and get started! Got the coffee going before I went over to take a shower. The tempurature
was ~38 F. I was plesently suprised at the showering facilities
there. Clean, Roomy, and had a Heat Lamp over each shower!After several cups of Coffee and lubing up the chain It was time to roll down to the the Start. There was a Pancake and sausage breakfast provided. I rolled up a plain Pancake and stuffed it down before the masses convereged
on the Suwannee River trails. Had I known any better I would have put
a couple in my pocket for later. I had filled my water bottle
with Perpetuem and also had several Power Gel packs that were a life saver later in the ride when
my legs began to cramp. Before we reached the Halfway point I boosted my Trail Karma by fixing someone's broken chain who was about to walk out. He (Ted from Pensecola) ended up finishing before I did. At the Half way Stop there was lunch provided, I had some yummy
Chicken and Rice made with Saffron Rice. After refilling my Camel Bak and washing my face
I continued on. There were open, fire road, double track and tight Saw Palmetto lined single track. The pack was more spread out by now so I rode many miles by myself. I
finally made it to the last rest stop where there was Cheese, sausage, and Wine provided. I was not planning to stay long but ended up having to change a tube out for someone
before getting back out on the trail. I'm glad I brought all my tools and three extra tubes. I even handed out 6 of the 10 gel packs I had brought with me to various people
cramping along the way. I was feeling ok after I left thelast rest stop and had no Idea how much further I had to go. My GPS had been loseing reception in places with Heavy
Canopy Cover (Trees) and I was not real sure just how far  had been. I decided that I better stop and take a rest and eat somthing along the trail cause I was really weak.
I stopped ate a couple granola bars, drank some water, and stretched out for over 10 minutes. Little did I know I was only about a Mile and A half away from the Finish.
At the finish there was a hugeeal prepared, Chicken, potatoes, salad, green beans,
and rolls. After a Hot shower we grilled some Itailian sausages and bratwurst for an evening snack. I didn't even mind that I was going to sleep on the ground with no
air mattress. The next mornin Mark D cooked up some
scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast before we bolted. A perfect weekend of great riding, food, and friends. If you did not attend this year I would highly recommend putting
it on your calander for next year.                                                                       

www.floridastateparks.org/stephenfoster

www.suwanneebike.org

www.georgiamtb.com

Tumbling Creek Rumble X Gainesville, Ga

Made it home safe from our weekend trip to Gainesville, Ga. The
Ride up was trecherous. Pouring Rain and Major Traffic thru
ATL at rush hour. We stayed at the Country
Inn & Suites near the Mall of Georgia. They had an
indoor pool but we forgot to bring bathing suites. We spent
most of the trip exploring the Mall Of Georgia. It was not as big as I had expected but large none the less.I got up Early Saturday morning and headed out to Pre-Ride the Gainsville College Course. I stopped off at Jittery Joe's for coffee on the way. I ended up just hanging out there for an hour as I could tell it was too damp to ride since the highway was still wet and it was still drizzleing.
I had a Medium roast cup, black to start out with then had
a double mocha before I left. Fine cup of coffee it was! They
had their new Jittery Joe's Jerseys in stock but not one my size. I
just ended up buying a Cup and a Can of Whole Bean Sumatran.Traffic in ATL was the worst I have experienced in all my 18 year's of driving up there. Saturday night we fought through the
traffic and made it to Dave and Busters. We had a great time and the food was above my expectations. This was the first time I have played video
games in many years. Sunday was a beautiful day for a race. We got there in time to set up a spot for Jill and Cassidy to watch. There were not too many Central georgia folks there this year. I did speak to
Renee and Beth who were there racing. I did not take time to warm
up like I should have. It was a fast start. I was quickly
in last place. I rode fast and as hard as could. I was determined
not to stop for the whole 3 laps, and didn't! I just got over
to the right when people wanted to pass. I had the next to
last place guy in my class in my sights for most of the first
two laps but then lost sight of him starting the Third lap.
I was determined to catch up and pass him so I would not come
in last. I struggled through the muddy sections bogging down
but put the hammer down on the flat twistiy sections. I finally
caught him at about the last mile of the race. He looked back
and saw me catching up and started sprinting. I sprinted too
and caught up to his back wheel but just could not pass. I
gassed the last 100 yards and he beat me by about thirty seconds.
This was A LOT of fun. I actually felt like I was racing for
a change. Trying to beat him was like trying to come in First
Place. It was a Blast!

ALL THE PHOTOS

Today's
 1 hr 40 min

RESULTS

www.georgiamtb.com

4 Hours of Pig Macon Georgia 2006

Great Race today out at the pig trail. There were not as many
racers as I had anticipated. I'm guessing only about 50 all
together. My Brother Tom, his wife, My sister and niece all came along to root
me on. I was feeling good before the race and was only hoping
to complete 4 laps. I started out slow and seemed to gradually
get faster as the day went on. I climbed the hardest climb
every time (Chandler's Challenge). My preperation for the
day was like this: I started the day off with some fine columbian
coffee, eight o'clock brand. I had a Clif Bar on the way to the Race. Drank some High quality H2O before the start. Half Way through each lap I ate a Power
Bar Gu Packet. After two laps I drank a Water bottle full
of Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem. Before my last lap I ate a Gu with
Caffine in it and took off my Camel Bak and rode with a water
bottle. Taking off that extra weight really made a difference.
I could peddle much easier. I was very happy with my Finish.
I got lapped by several people. A really fun event. Nathan
G. and I had a wager on this race as well. If He beat
me he could take the Tie Off at work. Well even though he
got off to a Fast start Looks Like He will STILL be wearing
a Tie to work. Chris H. offered to make a friendly wager before the Race but
I knew better than to Bet him. I probably weigh 100 lbs more
than he does. He ended up Lapping me on my last lap. I asked Charles if he would give a CycloCross class out at Thomson before the Season begins. I hope he does
because I have never raced Cross and am planning on trying
out a couple of races this year.Today's
RACE: 4 Hrs of Pig Trail, 5 laps, 35 mi, 9.2 avg mph




www.georgiamtb.com

Pig Trail GSC Race Macon, GA

 Yesterday was the Last Race of the Georgia
State Mountain bike Championships. I competed in and
finished 5 of the 8 races. This last race of the series
held at the Georgia Industrial Children's Home on Mumford
Road in Macon. It was a good turnout of racers for an extremely
fast Big Ring Course. I finished 21st of 25 in Sport Master Men 30-39. I new
going in that I would come in near last place. From
the start I tried to stay with the pack as long as I could.
I kept them in sight for most of the first lap and then
had to slow down or I would have blown up. I tried to stay
out of the way of other classes catching me. I think I cut
off Go
Fast Pops on a fast right hand corner. On the Fast Double
Track with sharp sandy corners before it skirts the top
of Chandler's Challenge. It was totally unintentional and
if your reading sorry bout that Don! He flew past me like
I was coasting and he was on a single speed! I stopped on
my second lap to help a guy with a broken chain. I offered
to fix it for him but he said he could figure it out so
                      I left my Park
Chain Tool with him and took off. Come to find out he
was in my class. I didn't even think about it when I stopped
to help. After the race he returned my Chain Tool and that's
when I realized we were racing against each other. NORBA
rules state that you cannot get help from any one on the
course or you will be disqualified. I don't think he would
have placed so It really didn't matter, I just wanted to
help him at least finish. I did help a dude with his chain
last year at the Dauset
GAP race and he was in the points running. After the
race he asked me not to tell anyone. I agreed and told him
he's the one that has to deal with knowing he cheated. Any
way Back to the Race. I really felt good and I thought I
was going fast but I only beat one guy. The other three
were DNF's. I did not get passed by as many girls this race
though. I tried to ride up the right side of Chandler's
Challenge my first two laps but couldn't make it passed
the roots at the top. My last lap I made it up the left
side. I had plenty of water in my Camel Bak and was eating
a PowerBar
Gel packet at the end of my first and second laps. I
was proud of myself for finishing the 21 mile race at such
a fast pace.The Highlight of the day was my Daughter doing the Kids Race.
She has been talking about doing one all season but never
was really serious about it and I don't want to pressure
her about riding. Since she has ridden out at the Pig Trail
with me a couple of times she said she really wanted to
this time so I signed her up. She was racing in the 9-11
year old class. It was a nice loop up the grassy hill then
down through the planted pines. She had to do two laps.
She was one of only two girls in her class. She came in
last but she felt like she won because of everyone cheering
her on and calling her by name. She really enjoyed it. She
wore her SORBA shirt and Medal to School today. She is allready
asking when the next race is.SC
Race #8: Pig Trail, 21st of 25, 21 mi, 2 hrs 14 min,
9.3 avg mph

RESULTS

www.georgiamtb.com

Ocmulgee Adventure Race Macon, GA

Well
the Ocmulgee
Adventure Race is Over for this Year.The trip started out well, I arrive to pick my Bro up right on time Friday at 4:00. We had A canoe on top, Two Bikes
on a rack in back and the rear of My Old station wagon packed
with gear. Off to Lake Juliette we went. As we rode down
the gravel/dirt road to Holly Grove to drop off our Bikes
I had a Flat at some point but just kept going until we
reached the pavement to stop and change it. We checked our
Bikes in and changed the flat in no time. Then Off to Dames
Ferry to check in the Canoe and the rest of Our Gear. The
Gear check was a Joke! We had all kinds of stuff we thought
we had to have packed. Flares, medical kit, water purification,
Cell Phone, Dry Bag. The only thing they checked for was
Head lamp, water, and extra batteries. I Duct taped a Red
Bull to the bottom of My boogie board before I checked
it in with Jeff D. I knew I would be needing it by the time
the river swim came around. After checking everything in we opted to head back to Macon to
eat at Chic Fil-A. We were back in time for the Raffle.
I won a jug of Hammer
Perpetuem and a Bike Tech water bottle. The time finally
came for us to get our maps. 11:30 pm, I held the light
wile my bro plotted the first few check points (CP's). The
first one was easy, I have been fishing that lake for years
and new exactly where it was. Well at 12:00 am they started
us off to the "prolog". It was a swim across the
Cove to get a password required to get your Canoe and go.
I volunteered to do the swim since my brother was doing
the plotting. There was a short 1/4 mile run to the cove,
I tried to walk across, but it did get over my head in the
middle so I side stroked it thru the sea weed in the warm
water. I have only been doing Pool swimming this summer
so I felt pretty good and was actually passing people there
and back. I didn't feel to great about starting off the
Race with wet shoes and socks, Suprisingly I didn't get
any blisters. After providing the Marshal with the Password
off in the Canoe we went to the first check point. This
was not hard to find there musta been 40 to 50 boats heading
to the same point. Some with three people paddling and some
just single man kyaks. There was a fierce head wind that
was reaking havoc on all the lighter craft making them zig
zag left to right. Our Heavy "Pickle" Canoe just
plowed thru and held straight. Tom ran "Up" the
climb to claim our first check point then off we went to
the next. We were diggin deep with our paddles and keeping
up with the crowd. The next check point was deep within
a cove and most folks were paddleing into it. We decided
to run aground way out at a point that showed a trail leading
about 1 mile inland to the check points. We thought we could
move faster that way. We ran down the fairly clear trail
until we reached the high way then followed it tward the
check points. We must have been in some ones yard cause
we herd some one yell "what yall doin?" Well that
startled Tom and I and we got out of there fast before they
started shootin. Some how in all that excitment Tom dropped
our Punch Card. We spent about 30 minutes looking for it.
Some one finnally found it and yellled out who's looking
for a punch card and we ran to him thanking him and offering
Goo packets and Power bars as a reward. Back on track now
we ran down the road and finnally found check point 2. We
High Fived and were like "this is gonna be cake".
Then we ran all over for about anouther hour looking for
Check point 3. We finally gave up and realized we were spending
WAY to much time and energy on this check point and should
have skipped it. By the time we made it back to our Canoe
there were no other craft in site. They all had either got
the CP's and gone or decided not to waste the time searching
as we did. Well this was a lesson learned the hard way on
our first Adventure Race. We decided to skip the 4th check
point and head straight for 5 witch was the start of the
Biking Leg. We reached the Holly Grove boat ramp right at
5:00 am. Yep we had spent close to 5 hours on that lake.
My Bro was really struggling by now, Not feeling good and
probably dehydrated. I had been drinking and eating goo's
the Whole way. I was feeling good. After resting for a wile
and eating a MET
RX Bar we hopped on the bikes and were off to the Canoe
lauch in Town of Juliette, The site of the River Swim. My
brother's Wal-Mart bike isn't all that easy to ride. He
was having to stop and push it on the inclined gravel road
leading out of Holly Grove. I knew we had a long way to
go so we swapped bikes and he had a little easier time Riding
the HARO. After gettin there and getting that check point we were
suppose to go on riding to the wildlife management area
for more hike a bike check points. We dicided to just skip
all that and wait for the River swim at 6:30. The River
swim put FU in FUN! I enjoyed it and was actually rejuvenated,
"or mabey that was just the Red Bull Talkin to a Brotha".
The river swim was good for 4 CP's. One when you started,
One you had to find along the way then One when you exited
the River and one when you returned by foot to the in town
Juliette canoe launch. You had to get all 4 for them to
count. We found the one along the way after a little help
then off down the river we went, mostly shallow rocky sections
but also deep wide slow flowing sections. The water was
fairly clear. Not like the mud you see flowing thru Macon.
So any way we had the exit in site. THEN my brother decides
he is no longer having fun and exits stage left up to the
road and proceeds to walk down to the exit. I continue on
and get our punch card punched. The Marshall says she has
to see him swim up and exit the River for this to count.
My brother walks up and says "well I guess this just
won't count". We
didn't get any points for the river swim but I had a good
time. We had planned to try to make it back to the Canoes
in time to paddle back to the finish and scoop up those
final 2 CP's but by the time we got back from the river
swim it was just Too much for us to even think about paddling
back. We packed up and rode our bikes back to the finish
and got there at about 10:30am. We did finish! The results
are not posted yet but I know we did not come in last. There
were some teams that did not make the 12:00 finish cut off
and were disqualified. I'm sore, Tired, Scratched up, and
my arms are chaffed from my life Jaket rubbing as I paddled.
We did good and had a great time, Learned ALOT about Adventure
Racing. I'm proud of my brother for sticking with it. I
know he was Felling sick most of the way.






Last Years Photo's Taken By My Bro and Me photo SET 1