Beautiful Day today! I got out to Thomson jus before 3:00. Had the trail to myself. Did 3 fast laps, the first was sub 30 minutes. As I was coming out from my last lap some of the Dirt Jump feller's were showing up. I wanted to stay and practice some DJ but was drained and jus didn't have much time to spare. More people were showing up to ride XC as I was pullin out of the parking lot. This Beautiful weather had everyone out.

I'm going to take my Bike into Bike Tech tomorrow so Loucious can order my new drive train parts. New XT Drive train will be SWEET! I'm presently running 22T, 32T, 44T up front on 175mm Truvativ Hussefelt Cranks and a 9 speed XT cog in the back. I ride Pivit Platform Pedals. I've been Dealing with Bike Tech since 1989 when I bought my first Mountain Bike. A gray,"Giant Boulder" with green cables.

I'll be out at East Macon Park this Sunday Starting at 9:00 am Til ? Rake'n and Ride'n!

Today's ride: Thomson, 3 Laps, 1 hr 40 min, 14.05 mi, 8.4 mph avg.

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Well with all the Rain the past week or so I have not been riding much other that the Old School Schwinn AirDyne. I ride it for an hour and its a pretty good work out. It was my Grandfather's (the late Rev. James Helms). He bought it in the early 80's.

I did get a Nice 2.5 mile hike in the woods near my house with My daughter Cassidy and Girlfriend Jill Yesterday. It's a long down Hill towards the Echeeconee River then back. A nice break after a long day at work. There are some good trails to ride out there. Its at the intersection of Carl Vinson Parkway and Dunbar Road. It's a rogue Trail, meaning I have no Idea who owns the land. I believe its where there were plans to extend Carl Vinson Pkwy to Avondale Mill Rd at one time. At the top of the ridge you can see out over the Macon Airport.

Forecast for tomorrow looks fantastic, soo I'm gonna try to make it out to Thomson for a few laps in the afternoon. Saturday We have Play Practice and Pictures at my daughter's school, plus its gonna rain all day so no riding. I am Planning to Spend all day Rake'n and Ride'n out at East Macon Park on Sunday though.

The "Ink Spot" here in Warner Robins is printing me up some 18"x24" signs. White With 9 Red, Block type arrows. I get Ten signs for $90.00, that's 90 Arrows we can use to mark the race courses. I'm just gonna donate them to OMBA (Ocmulgee Mountain Bike Association).

Went riding at East Macon Park this Morning with my brother Tom. We did one nice and slow lap. Came upon a Huge dead pine tree that had fallen over and leaning across the trail onto a healthy pine tree. It looks as if it could fall at any moment. We named it the "WidowMaker" trail. Riding underneath it is pretty scary. I'm going to need some major help to clear that thing off the trail. And of Course we had "Post Ride Coffee" at Starbuck's!

I raked out there from 9:00am til 12:00pm on Saturday. I have raked ~ 3 of the 5 miles of trail. The trail still needs trimming back and direction arrows posted. I may go back out there next weekend and complete raking the trail.

Beautiful Day Today.... So I took off Work Early and bolted out to East Macon Park! There was no one else there when I got there. But coming back up from my first lap I noticed the parking lot around my car was full. So I thought "darn who are all these people riding today?" Well once I got closer I noticed about 25 people standing around with Solo Cups. It was a Friday after Work Party! People were all leaned up against my car, laughing and giggling, with there music loud. I just rolled up to the car got out my gatorade, toasted it at them, took'a big swig then cruised back out onto the Trail.

I did a Total of 3 laps. The first lap got chased by the dogs, the second lap not, but they chased me again on my third. Kinda makes it exciting, It really gets your heart rate up.

I'm going back out there tomorrow but not taking the bike. There is still plenty of work to be done. I'm going to do enduro rake'n from 9:00am til 1:00. Starbuck's at 8:00am for a nice coffee breakfast. My brother is gonna Join me out there Sunday Mornin Early Thirty, we'll do some slow riding.

Today's ride: East Macon, 3 Laps, 2 hrs 7 min, 14.7 mi, 6.9 mph avg.

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Presently I'm running Maxxis's Minions on my Bike. They are 2.5" downhill specific tires with butyl inserts. They weigh 2.9 lbs each and the tubes weigh 1.1 lbs. So we are talking 4 lbs per wheel! Little bit heavy for Cross Country. I'm contemplating switching to a lighter tire/tube combo. If I go with the Maxxis Ignitor 2.35" tires, 1.7 lbs, and lighter tube, I could save ~ 1.75 lbs per wheel. Although its not like I'm gonna win any races. I'll be glad to not finish last. Speaking of which I'm going to Post my upcoming Race schedule soon.

 

I'm sore all over from enduro Rake'n out at East Macon Park. Worked Both days out there this weekend. Thought some other people woulda showed up to help, But I was the lone raker both days. The Highlight of the weekend was getting StarBuck's Coffee wile I was up in Macon. I jus Love there Double Tall Mochas. Saturday I drank one wile sitting in the store writing in my Journal, Then Got another one to go!

Went into work for a couple hours Friday even though I wasn't getting paid for them. I had to finish up the Ad for the Base Phone Book. I see some Busy days ahead since I'm the Only Drafter left. Also, I still have plenty of Houses to finish up here at home. I have a total of Nine in progress now.

Planning on Getting a New DriveTrain for the Haro in the next month. I'm just replacing the Rear Cog, Chain, And All the Chanrings. I'm going all XT. I have ~ 750 miles on it so far. I've already worn out and replaced the Middle Chain Ring. Also getting new break pads For My "Hayes Nine" Hydraulic Disc Brakes.

At home working today, I'm on ferlough from my regular day job. I'm lucky! 3 other people got Laid Off. I'm going back to work next week.

I was fortunate enough to pick up 4 single level house plans to create at home this past week. Have had a lot of Houses to do as of recent. Just finished up 1 of 3 two story houses, It will be going in the new sub-division at the intersection of Fagin Mill and Lake Joy Roads. Drawing Houses on the side will get me through the rough times at my day job I'm not too worried about it.

Going out to the East Macon Trail this weekend to do some raking and Riding. Planning on taking some Photos to start That Trails page here. It will be the Site of the First "Georgia State Championship Mountain Bike Race".

Valentine's Day is Coming up Next Week, Jill wants me to get her a "Kitchen Aid" Mixer! I have to help my daughter get all her Valentine Cards in Order for her 3rd grade Class, FUN!

Had car troubles yesterday, The ole 1987 Camry Station Wagon needed a new Alternator. I had noticed the "charge" light being on for the past week or so. After work, down the road from my sisters house it totally quit. Luckily I wasn't far. I let my 8 yr old daughter drive wile I pushed it back to my sisters. My daughter got a huge kick out of it. I managed to take off the alternator and take out the battery and make it to Auto Zone with the help of my girlfriend "Jill". Dude at Auto Zone hooked me up with a freshly "re-furbished" Alt. and Put my battery on Quick Charge. I was able to get up early this morning and walk over and put it all back together with no problem.

I did my taxes today! Finally got that out of the way. I did them online using "Turbo Tax". It was very easy and I was surprised at the Return I will be getting.

Also got the "Comments" link added here on my blog. Took me a wile to figure it out and set it up. I'm creating this blog from scratch so it is still evolving. Please leave me a comment. The link lets you leave a comment or view any comments already left. You don't have to enter a Name or E-mail if you don't want to.

Rode to work last Tues. mornin with my brother Tom. I needed a different commute route any way. The same ole route gets boring. He likes to disobey traffic laws but I went along with it. Was the first time in many years I crossed a street with the help of a "crossing guard". The ride on to my work after we reached his was very interesting. A solid wall of traffic on Russell Pkwy. Right in front of the Kroger Parking lot. I did get to see the progress they are making on the new Wal-Mart on Booth road as I rode thru, dodging dump trucks.

Got off work early yesterday and went out to the Thomson Trails. Couple of guys from work were to meet up with me out there. I got a lap in before they arrived then we messed around on the dirt jumps. I still haven't got them down pat. It's gonna take some practice. Jason "an engineer I work with" has been talkin a lot of smack about his "Yellow Huffy". I was impressed by his riding skillz. Nathan, who rented a mountain bike from the Base Rec Dept., scared me to death with is first and only run at the Jumps. Any way I got 2 more laps in after that for a total of 16 miles. Finished up in the dark in time for the OMBA meeting.

Here's Me the dead sailor!

Been working a lot as of late and have not had much time for riding. Broke out the old school schwinn air-dyne stationary bike to ride in between drawing houses and putting in overtime at my day job. I have ridden my bike to work a couple times this past month. 8.3 miles averaging 14 mph one way. I'm thinking that's pretty good for riding a 37 lb HARO dirt jump bike.

Making plans for the Festival and MTB race in Helen, Ga. this coming June. I'm making reservations at the Country Suites and Inn down town Helen. My family usually goes there every summer to "Shoot Das Hooch", meaning to float down the Chatahoochee River on a Tube. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and do the family thing and race as well. My sister and brother are hard headed and are gonna camp. I offered to pay for there rooms but they refused.

I'm going to the OMBA monthly meeting this coming Wed. Gonna get off work early that day and go do some laps at the Thomson Trail and hit the Dirt Jumps for a little wile before the meeting. I'm sure we will be talking about the upcoming Georgia State Championship Series starting in April. I'm gonna volunteer to go help out getting the East Macon Trail ready for the first race of the series.