Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Back to Where I was Before

Hey, Hey, Hey! As you will notice, things here at Run the Race central are back up to snuff. Thanks to the fine work of my wife, the comments section and the links are up for your browsing and commenting pleasure. One of these days I'm even going to get around to making the archives available and you'll be able to relive some of this forum's finest moments.

A brief weekend update for those here in the central Georgia area. If you get a chance to visit Dauset Trails, take the opportunity. If you get a chance to take your mountain bike along for the trip, do that as well. If you can take your wife, I also highly recommend that. Kids? I'm not experienced along those lines, but I'm sure they would be fine too. Pets? Those are right out. Anyways, the place is really, really nice. The mountain biking is as fine as any you'll find in the area. The trails wind through some amazingly beautiful real estate, right up there with anything I hiked through in Oregon or Colorado. Throw in the wonderful fact that there is a trail for every skill level and you understand why I want to go back on a weekly basis. As with all of my MTB rides I did bleed a bit and I did ride through some water (I got off the trail unintentionally) and I had a great time. Top it all off with some great eats in High Falls and Saturday was just about as perfect a day as I can ask for. The only drawback was flatting out the front tire on my bike without a spare tube but that was near the end of the day and so wasn't so bad.

On a related note, the new Specialized M4 Stumpjumper is a dream. Wow. I don't think I've ever owned the top of the line anything before and I can see how people might get addicted. Especially if you can get it at a middle of the line price. Kudos to Nate at Bike Tech of Macon for the recommendation and the setup. At 21 lbs, the bike has handled everything I've thrown at it. When I finally get decent at riding the thing, I'll be "The Monster". Actually, I've been thinking about a cycling nickname. All the greats have one. Lance is "Big Tex", Eddie was "The Cannibal", Pantani goes by "Il Pirata". The problem is that you're supposed to wait until someone gives you a nick. I don't feel like waiting. I like the name, "The Fox" I think. I like the chase of a good bike race, especially when I'm being chased. I like running through the woods all fast and quiet and strong. I like that I can be cunning and clever. I like the lyrics in the Nickel Creek tune, "The Fox", where the fox sneeks away with the prize and feasts. I like wearing and riding red and silver and black. Who knows, maybe someone will bestow me the nick.

Finally, I think I may need to change the name of my road bike from The Steed to Frankenbike. I've mixed and matched some many different parts I think it's starting to get scary. I've upgraded the triple ring to a double. The new carbon fiber fork from Roberto is weave black and is from a Bianchi frame (labels taped over). I've got one silver pedal and one red one from two different sets due to breakage. I've got a black stem attached to a silver bar. I wonder if I need to hook the bike up to a couple of lightning rods to fuse it all back together. The amazing thing though is that the bike still has the same soul, just lighter and faster. Maybe Frankensteed then.

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