August 28, 2009
There’s been a lot going on lately with Atlanta Outfitters and with my life in general. I’ve made several changes to the Atlanta Outfitters website and am talking with a couple of folks about a new service line for AO to offer race logistics for small events (fewer than 500 participants).

Speaking of racing, I did my first for the year two weeks ago at the Fools Gold race in Dahlonega, GA. While I’ve not been training for racing this year, I still opted to make a go of the 100 miler. For the first 25 miles, I felt really good. Miles 26-32….I didn’t feel strong at all. However, I did recover after making a stop at SAG #3. Somewhere about mile 42 I completely just lost all energy. I felt fine – I had simply exhausted the engine. I was also having some issues with my drive train and was getting annoyed at the thumping sound that my fork was making (ha..little did I know until last week’s re-build project with Tucker that I had less than 10cc’s of oil in the fork). Anyway, these other matters were merely excuses to supplement my lack of energy so I finished the 50 mile lap and called my race right there. I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in my camp chair in the shade with some guys from Tampa as we waited our friends to suffer through their second lap.

Today after work I am leaving for Charlotte, NC where I’ll make go at the Rivers Edge Marathon, a 50 mile mountain bike race being held tomorrow at the US National Whitewater Center (aka the Catawba trails). I love this trail system and have been really looking forward to this race since late June. It’s been raining here in Atlanta and in Charlotte and even though the course drains well, I know it’s still going to be muddy and slick. Thus, I’m not really sure my race plan at this point. My main race bike, a Salsa Dos Niner, has Kenda Small Block 8 tires on it which are great for fast hardpack courses but not so great in the mud. My Walt Works bike is built as a rigid singlespeed (SS) and has my back country/ mud tires on it. I’m tempted to do the first lap on my Salsa and see how the course is then maybe swap to the Walt Works if it’s sloppy and not worry about shifting issues in the mud.

More race news:

Through Atlanta Outfitters I am sponsoring a 4-man team for the 12 Hours of Dauset on September 19 in Jackson, GA. I ordered AO jerseys and they will arrive just in time to outfit the team for this race. I’m very pleased with the jersey and am happy to finally settle on a great looking design with a top quality manufacturer. Verge Sports is making the jerseys and I’m taking orders for jerseys, shorts, bibs, and winter gear. The jersey proof can be found at the AO Gear tab on www.atlantaoutfitters.com and I’ll get pricing for the other items up on the page within the coming week.

Let’s see…what else? Oh yea, I’m looking for riders to ride / race for Atlanta Outfitters in 2010. If you are interested, go to www.atlantaoutfitters.com and send me your race resume and information through the Contact Us page. No prior race experience is required so if you’re new to racing or have never been on a team and wanted to be, now’s your time!

October brings us fall foliage tours, camp fires and s’mores, awesome biking and hiking, and we start shaking the dust off our fleece outer wear. In anticipation of this, I’ve put together a trip to Tallulah Gorge in northeast Georgia where we’ll spend the weekend hiking into the Gorge, mountain biking (for those interested) and sitting by the camp fire wishing we didn’t have to go back to reality! This will be the first Atlanta Outfitters City Escape Weekend. For more information and registration on this trip, go to www.atlantaoutfitters.com.

Ok, well, that’s about all I have for now. Stay tuned for pictures and race report from tomorrow. Sarah is going with me so for once, I’ll actually get some pictures of the race!