i suck at blogs

yeah, it's been while...but i have been doing the same thing. but now, i work alot more. lots has changed though. i live in birmingham. the riding is much different here...all the way around. one word to describe it..."MORE"...more riders, more hills, more groups, more TRAILS, more....it's great in that regard. It's more difficult too! the fast guys are real fast.

the road riding is great. it has taken several rides and will take many more but im starting to learn my away to a degree on the bike. i have been out many days exploring rides and looking for climbs. i want to climb better and there are plenty hills here. I have found 2 mile long climbs that gain 700ft, which is twice of hattiesburg, and where i live is right in the guts of the hills. my little local loop that i do on week days is great. it's 14 miles with one 1.5mile/650ft climb, some rollers, one long down hill and then flat back to the start. i have also hooked up with several groups. there all kinds of groups to hook up with. i have sough out the faster paced rides and more aggressive groups and have paid for it. i crashed for the first time ever in the big tuesday world ride. super fast, drop your ass, ride. the first time i went on this ride, i got gaped...bridged back, they attacked again i was smoked! got dropped and had to grab a wheel to find my way home. the 2nd time, i crashed! broke my frame and tore my legs up. ended up crashing another dude too and messed him up. i haven't been back to that ride yet. there's a great saturday morning group that rides and they are freaking fit and fast. last ride was 55 miles with 4k ft climbing at almost a 20 mph avg. i was dropped on this too by the leading trio.

i have been to all the trails around here now...4 trail systems all within 30 minutes. Oak Mtn is 15, Trusville is 20, Tannehill is 30, and the Jewish Community Center trails is a 10 min bike ride away. i love this! lots of options to ride...but oak mtn is hard to pass up every time. i got out there for 2 red loops last saturday and damn those trials are nice. i haven't really meet any mtb'ers but all in do time.

so far things are good on the bike side of my world. the other side...lots have changed...but all good. the post will be coming more often. im about to race the last xc of importance to me for quite some time. i will still race 2 MS xc races this year just to finish off the MS state champion but really will be moving towards endurance mtb races, off road duathlons, and some road racing. i think the winter will be hard for me to train like i need to to be ready my march next year so im planning on working into mbt racing form much later in the year and shoot for Fools Gold 100 and the national mtb marathon race in Bend, OR. which are both in later august and early september. perfect!! really excited for the change. much needed to keep the fitness up and motivation too!