My Everest

After miserably failing at my first mountain biking attempt at Sope Creek over 2 years ago, I thought I'd return to the scene of the crime yesterday and see if things had changed. Thankfully, they had.

First things first. Sope Creek really isn't for mountain biking. Sure, you can ride there (plenty of people were riding yesterday), but it's not a true mountain bike park like Blankets Creek or Big Creek. They have, fundamentally, one trail that runs from parking lot to parking lot. The other side trails are all closed at this point, mainly for damage sustained in recent Atlanta floods. Moreover, the trail itself isn't necessarily designed strictly for mountain biking, but more for cross-country running and hiking. (Feel free to disagree, but a steep uphill grade with 4x4 timbers spanning the entire width of the trail doesn't really feel like a mountain biker's paradise.)

Neither here nor there. As for yesterday, I came, I saw, I rode. The stuff that scared the shit of me last time felt easy this time around, after 2 years of mountain biking 2-3 times a week. The uphills were fun, the downhills were great, and my only spill was really just to trying to navigate some rocks I should have just blasted through.

My Everest is (for the most part) conquered. I'll certainly come back, but I don't think I'll become a regular.

21 Days Later

If you’re friends with me on Twitter or Facebook you know I went for a spectacular ride three weeks ago to Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga.  It was probably the best ride of my mountain biking career, actually… The trails were fantastic, we rode for over 4 hours, the weather was perfect, and I went with some great friends.

Of course, if you knew about the spectacular ride, then you likely also know about my spectacular crash.  (I “supermaned” off my bike.  It was glorious.)  I’m sure in the grand universe of falls it wasn’t too bad (no broken bones, no stitches required), but it was certainly my worst crash thus far, worse than this one.  I ended up with some bruised ribs, a really nice gash above my right eye, cuts and bruises all down my legs and two sprained wrists.  My doctor suggested I keep off the bike for a few weeks.

So, three weeks later I was pumped to get back out there and headed over to Big Creek in Roswell yesterday after work.  Big.  Disappointment.  The fact that it was a sweltering 97 didn’t help, or the fact that they had closed off part of the Roswell Greenway, so the only way I could access the trails was to start right off in the middle of the advanced section.  A few things I noticed…

• My wrists didn’t hurt as much as I was afraid they would, so I’m pretty good to go on that front.
• When you’re used to riding 2-3 times a week, three weeks is a long time to stay off the bike.
• Although I had no fear of crashing again right after the fall at Raccoon Mtn, I was rather hesitant yesterday; you can’t ride well if you’re afraid of falling.
• 97 is too freaking hot for me.

But… For the first time since I started mountain biking, I was really excited to get back out there.

 

My First (Sub)urban Assault

Yesterday I attempted my first suburban assault ride in Alpharetta.  For those (like me) unfamiliar with this term, it’s an “open” ride along unmarked trails, power easements, random fields, business parks, and anyplace else you can think to take a mountain bike.  A buddy of mine invited me to one earlier this week, and I had no idea what to expect.  With planned obstacles like the “Dips of Doom,” “Wall of Shame” and “Satan’s Steps” I figured I’d come home battered, bruised and bloody.  It ended being a very fun 12-mile trek through our suburb, one which was certainly challenging but had a good balance of rock, dirt, gravel and pavement to keep it fun and interesting.  (My buddy, who seemed to be the main coordinator/instigator, is the type who will point out very random “trails” and shoot off to investigate them.  We did a few of those yesterday as well.)

No bruises, and the only blood was from a thorn bush I accidently rode through.

Would I go back?  Most certainly.  It’s not every day I get to try the Dips of Doom, after all!

(In my mind’s eye, this is exactly what I looked like during the ride.)

Resolutions Redux

Now that we're a full two months into 2009, how am I doing against my resolutions?  In general, about as well as an AIG executive at a Senate subcommittee hearing.  Well, actually, maybe a bit better than that.

(1) Blog more?  Um, yeah, right.

(2) Travel?  Not so much.  I haven't even left Georgia so far.
 

(3) On the biking front I can say I did, actually, get off to a good start.  A friend of mine at work is training for a triathalon, so I've been riding with him pretty consistently.
 

(4) I've done ok keeping up with friends and have already connected with several good friends I hadn't talked with in a while, but I could certainly do more here.
 

(5) Work is off to a decent, although somewhat uneven, start.
 

(6) As far as "leading" vs. "managing" goes, I've had a few epiphanies lately (soon to be the subject of a blog post, see #1 above), and in sharing these with my team I think I've started to shift more towards leadership this year.  After additional reflection, however, I think I've consistently fell on the management side of the spectrum because that's what I was hired in to do.  Now that my team is generally setup and running I can disengage a bit from day-to-day management.
 

(7) Meanwhile, on the home front, I think I've changed a lightbulb or two.  Our garage door still needs fixin', and the garage certainly won't clean itself.
 

(8) I don't think I've done spectacularly well against this resolution, although I did make some nice surprise Valentine's/wife's birthday plans (W Buckhead, dinner at Brio, dessert/coffee/breakfast the next morning at Cafe Intermezzo).

So how are all of you doing against your resolutions?

It's Time for Those Pesky Resolutions!

The ball has dropped in Times Square, the peach fell in downtown Atlanta, we drank our champaign and we watched the debacle of Kathy Griffin with Anderson Cooper.  It's now time to start a new year and, with the strike of midnight, get to work on some resolutions.  Mine?

(1) I'd like to blog more.  I don't have anything mind blowing or groundbreaking to say, but it's a nice way to connect with people and also put on the digital record thoughts I have throughout the year.  So far, I'm doing ok with this resolution.

(2) I'd like to travel in 2009.  We came off of a 2007 with trips to Florida, New York, Boston, Vermont and I also got to go to the Bahamas.  In 2008 we went to... um... well... Chicago.  To visit family.  Not that there's anything wrong with Chicago (I love the city!), but it would be nice to take some vacations (i.e. Gabriel-free trips) in 2009.  At a minimum we'd better fly up to Bloomington, IL for our (gasp!) ten year reunion at Illinois Wesleyan in October.

(3) I'd like to bike more.  I actually did pretty well on the biking front in 2008; I logged around 400-500 miles on my road bike and a couple hundred on my mountain bike last year, I just didn't have much consistency.  For 2009 I want to participate in a century ride.

(4) I'd like to do a better job keeping up with friends.  I know it's a cliche, but time really does fly, and it's really easy to go 6, 9, 12 months without talking, emailing or IM'ing friends.

(5) I need to take the bull by the horns at work this year.  It's not like I coasted last year (that's for sure!), but I'm used to setting aggressive professional goals and working hard to hit them.  Last year was generally nebulous on the goals front, so I want to make sure I establish some and achieve them.

(6) Speaking of work, I'd like to start leading and inspiring more than managing.  This might just be my perception (meaning this resolution has already been met!), but I feel that I spend too much time being a manager and not enough time being a leader of my team.  The best teams I've been on in my career all had some inspiring people at the helm, and I want to create a similar atmosphere for the people that work for me.

(7) With all this energy I'll be expending at work, I need to start spending more energy on tackling home projects.  I'm not necessarily the most handy guy, but there are small projects around the house that need finishing.  It's far easier to spend time at home in front of the TV or Xbox or reading, but these projects won't finish themselves.

(8) Finally, I'd like to surprise my wife more in 2009.  Perhaps I'll come home with a cool tattoo or a navel piercing or something.  Or maybe just flowers.  :)

Well, readers (all 2 of you), there you have it... What do you think?  Are these achieveable?  Please keep me honest in 2009 and, if you have time, let me know what your resolutions might be!

Maybe I'm not as bad at mountain biking as I thought?

It was an excellent weekend all around - One of our busiest, but also a lot of fun.

On Sunday I had the chance to go riding with my friend Mike and Maaike. We hadn't had a chance to meet up in several months, so when Mike mentioned they were going to come in from Birmingham this weekend for some biking, I told him to surprise me with either their road or mountain bikes. Really, though, I was hoping they'd bring their road bikes, since I haven't had much confidence in mountain biking since Sope Creek and the Greenway.

So when they pulled into our driveway Saturday night with their mountain bikes loaded on their Passat, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. No road riding? "Suck it up!" I thought, and just to stay injury-free. Mike initially brought up the idea of trying Sope Creek again, but I suggested going to Blankets Creek, a mountain biking park about 25 minutes from Alpharetta that several people at work have raved about. I had no idea what to expect but knew they had multiple trails for all levels of riding.

We arrived, mounted up and took off to Dwellings, their beginner-to-intermediate level trail, and it was *awesome*. Blankets was the best mountain biking I've ever done! The trails are very well designed for a nice combination of fun with a workout. Apparently none of them are too technical, but they all have good hills and fun switchbacks. We did one loop of the 3.7-mile trail, then decided to hit it again instead of going to brunch. I've never done 10 miles of pure mountain biking before. Here are a few shots...



See you out there!

Apparently I suck at mountain biking.

What the hell is wrong with me?

So right now I'm sitting at the top of Alpharetta Greenway's small mountain bike trail after 1.5 loops, already battered and bruised. Usually I can do this sucker 4 or 5 times before I contemplate throwing in the towel, but the thought has already crossed my mind today.

After my last mountain biking debacle, and after a couple of weeks of licking my wounds and sticking to my road bike, I decided to get back to the trails. The Greenway is relatively easy - It's a nice singletrack with some good switchbacks, roots and a few hills, but not terribly technical.

You wouldn't know it if you were watching me right now. I can't seem to control my bike, and I've already fallen once. I NEVER here... This is MY trail.

I need to get over this mental block, get my ass back on the bike and keep riding.

See you out there.

Painful Mountain Biking

My mountain bike ride last night kicked the shit out of me.

Now I’ve been riding for a number of years, starting out with some really beginner mountain biking in Florida, then switching to road biking last year. After the last several month of road biking, doing 50-60+ miles a week and dropping almost 20 pounds since November, I was excited to get an invitation to ride with a bunch of people from work. We hit up Sope Creek, which is barely 5 minutes from our office. I wasn’t sure what to expect, knowing that some of the riders are pretty hard-core, but the reviews I read online said it was a challenging trail for beginners to intermediate riders.

chal-lengi-ng (adj) “Steep hills (12% grade) with large rocks and timber throughout designed to make you wish you’d never gotten on a mountain bike.”

It was, by far, the hardest ride I’ve ever done. Even the tough ride I did in December in Alabama with a friend was cake compared with Sope Creek. Unfortunately I fell (hard) early and couldn’t get back into the mental state I needed to have a good ride. In hindsight, I’m glad I went out with the group and tried to keep up. If I’d known what I was getting myself into, I’d likely have talked myself out of it.

I’m looking forward to the next ride, as long as the next ride is far enough into the future to let my wounds heal first.