The 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail used by animals and people that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee. The heaviest use of the Old Trace was from the years 1800 to about 1825 by men, known as "Kaintucks," who floated down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and then returned north on foot via the Natchez Trace. The Parkway is a designated bike route and is very popular with cyclists.

Members of the Druid City Bicycle Club took to the Trace again this year for another 100 mile jaunt on this historic national parkway. With a total of 444 miles, it will be at least a couple of more years before our group can claim to have ridden the entire route!

This summer, the ride began for our group in French Camp, Mississippi on the Natchez Trace ... in a dry county, by the way.

The ride began for me at the Oxford, Mississippi Airport, where I picked up Jim, his gear and his bicycle. Being general aviation airport, I was allowed to drive my car right out beside his airplane on the tarmac after he landed.

Jim and I met up with the rest of our group at the French Camp Bed and Breakfast where most of them had just completed a Larry ride. There were three rustic cabins where we all found a bed to bunk in. Each cabin had a fully equipped kitchen. The place was quite charming! Here are Deanna, Laurie, Jim, Stephen, Camille, Pam, Larry and Dave enjoying some liquid refreshment out on the porch of one of the cabins before we all went to the Council House Cafe on the bed and breakfast property for dinner.

We all had either the broccoli salad or a sandwich with freshly made bread for dinner ... and some of us had both. There was some really rockin' bread pudding which I helped myself to. Here are Dave, Deanna, Camille, Barry, Laurie, me, Jim, Larry, Stephen and Pam waiting for our food to be served.

I think everyone slept like logs to the humming of the window air conditioners that night. Time to get up and dress came early. Pam, Laurie and I had brought some provisions for everyone's breakfast, since we were planning to leave before the kitchen officially opened at the bed and breakfast. We were allowed to use the kitchens in our cabins to make coffee and warm up the breakfast casserole I had brought.

Thus stuffed with food, we all then filled our tires with air and organized our gear into what we needed to carry with us and what we would send in the van that Stephen's wife, Diana, was driving. Yay! We had SAG (support and gear ... or is support, assistance, and gear?) so we didn't have to ride with our trunk racks. Diana also had coolers of water, Gatorade, and snacks for us for to partake of along the way.

Here are Dave, Barry, Larry, Laurie (hey ... the three of them rhyme!), Stephen, Pam, me, Deanna, Camille, and Jim as we were readying to roll out.

Here is our paceline heading south from French Camp.

Our first rest stop was at Hurricane Creek. The most memorable thing about this rest stop was the number of beaver dams nearby and that there were no rest rooms.

I showed everyone my latest pair of cycling sunglasses, which were really fishing sunglasses in disguise. In an improvement on sunglasses for those of us who are challenged to read, and in order for fishermen to know which lure they are putting on their hook, these fishing sunglasses have bifocals ... and I thought they looked sporty enough to pull double duty as cycling glasses! Everyone agreed that there were perfect for cycling and being about to read maps and cue sheets. I'll bet Woods and Water or the Bass Pro Shop may have a good selection of these type of sunglasses. I'm thinking that all the cycling stores ought to carry them, too!

As usual, we detoured at the historic markers to read up on the Natchez Trace Parkway. This one at Red Dog Road made mention of a treaty that the Choctaw Nation signed as they ceded their land away to the white settlers.

On the post to the right of the sign, we saw a neat note. It's not often that you run into some really great road grafitti! Look what it says:

A bit farther down the road, we passed the northern edge of the Choctaw Boundary. I remember that we passed the southern end on the trip last year.

Our rest stop at Cypress Swamp doubled as our lunch stop. I learned that Tupelo is not only an Indian name and the name of a town in Mississippi, it is the name of a tree that grows in swamps. Now, we COULD have had a rest stop a half a mile back with REAL rest rooms and picnic tables, but Larry wanted to hike around the swamp looking for snakes. I did not feel like tromping in the mud and gravel with my cleats on, so I stayed on the board walk and took a few pictures of the swamp.

We made it to the Clinton, Mississippi Visitor Center, and met up with Gloria and Mae, who were providing some totally awesome peach iced tea.

We all commented how Mississippi has some of the prettiest Visitor Centers and rest stops we had seen anywhere. Usually, they are pretty interesting too. At the Clinton Visitor Center, there were some "floor shows" that you could watch for a quarter. Here is a YouTube movie of "Folklore," which was hand carved over a period of two years by Don Moore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uzVFIHzaDc

We didn't have much farther to go for the day. We did, however, have to ride a mile past our intended exit from the Trace in order to get our one hundred miles in. Remember. Larry is a purist. A century is a century is a century!

All day long, Dave had been bragging that he was going to ride down the embankment on the way to our hotel in Clinton rather than walk down it like all the rest of planned to do. I made sure to get down the slope first in order to "document" his efforts. Here is a YouTube video of Dave and his "thrilling" ride!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti649OEw48M

As you can see, there was no spectacular crash. That would happen later in the trip!

Just like last year, we had our dinner at the Froghead Grill. Once again, all of us with university IDs got a 10% discount on our meals. This place is within walking distance of the Quality Inn where we were staying for the night.

Jim, Laurie and I got up early Sunday morning to ride over to the Waffle House for breakfast rather than partaking in the continental breakfast provided by the hotel. Good thing we did. We managed to get 1.2 miles of our needed 100 of the day even before we started! Here are Deanna, Pam, Laurie, Camille, me, Jim, Larry, Dave and Stephen as we were about to head out for the day. Barry had decided to ride back with Diana and be an additional SAG person.

It was a really beautiful morning. We made some stops to see a couple of the other historic markers along the trail ... Osburn Stand, Choctaw Agency ... and then in what was a historic first for me, since it is a rarity on America's highways, Camille and I passed a critter and said exactly the same thing at exactly the same time.

"Look! An armadillo ... and it's ALIVE!!!" Yep. This little dude was actually on his feet on the roadside and rooting around for his breakfast.

There were more historic markers as we headed north, along with a small Indian mound, and we stopped to read each one. I learned that these mounds were made slowly over time. We passed the spot which marked the northernmost boundary of Florida. Eventually, we met up with our group at River Bend Rest Stop ... the rest stop near Cypress Swamp but this time with REAL restrooms and picnic tables! Here is some of the traffic on the Pearl River that passed us as we sat there. Every time I see a house boat I have thoughts of how snakes could crawl aboard easily at night.

As we were leaving this rest stop, a guy passed me on a tricked out touring bike with a huge furry saddle. I was a bit surprised to hear New Orleans jazz eminating from somewhere within one of his many panniers. After we got back out on the Natchez Trace, I saw that he was ahead of us, so I sped up to catch up with him and find out what his story was. Here is a YouTube video of Gaston, lately from Quebec. I think he was a bit surprised to turn around and find that I was videoing him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VcBxJEZvEY

As I followed him, Gaston had turned into a camp ground. The rest of the group followed me following him. As we exited, Larry wanted to ride around the place to check out the campsites. One of the campers told me that most folks "lived" there 3-4 days a week. It was apparent that many of these recreational vehicles were parked here permanently. They were festooned with porches, dog pens, and even climbing vines. As Bulldog would say, "This is Americana at its finest!"

Camille, Laurie, Jim and I lagged behind the group a bit from here on, but we met up with them at Myrick Creek for lunch nonetheless. With 30 more miles to go, we were all ready for the weekend trip to be over.

Major and many kudos to our SAG drivers for the weekend/day, Barry and Diana!

Finally back at French Camp, and with probably no more than 20 feet left to ride after having gone 202 miles for the weekend, as you know, I had a spectacular crash.

Someone asked me later if my life passed before my eyes as I was going head over heals over the top of my handlebars.

To be frank, not a bit of it did. One nanosecond I was totally concentrating on successfully clearing the culvert and the ditch ... and the next nanosecond I was flat on my back and couldn't breathe!

Talk about yer quantum physics quandries. In one universe, I jump the culvert and clear the ditch and am hailed as super-spectacular in a crisis. (That's the Carol I like to know and love ... I can fix ANYthing, remember? ;) In another universe, my wheel gets sucked into a black hole of mud and I end up with a shiner ... heheh!

After the wreck I was, like, "What do ya mean I didn't get to clear that ditch!?! I was G-O-I-N-G to clear that ditch and you K-N-O-W know it!!!"

(Who was I fussing at? God, maybe? ;)

Here are Stephen, Barry, Larry, Pam, Dave, Deanna, Laurie, Jim and Camille pointing toward the person who had provided the spectacular crash on this trip ... me!

On a lighter note, Stephen and Camille completed their first weekend back-to-back centuries ever on this trip with us.

Riding 100 miles per day two days in a row is no easy feat for anyone.

Because he drove me back to Oxford and accompanied me to the emergency room, Jim ended up having an unexpected overnight stay at the Hotel Carol. I drove him back to the Oxford Airport on Monday morning. Here I am about to check out his "other" ride. He can really "fly" with this one ... heheh!

He even let me "play pilot" ... lol!

End of a great weekend with great friends, and with me no more badly hurt than a shiner and what eventually ended up being a dislocated sternoclavicular joint ... I popped the end of my collar bone out of joint in front of my chest bone. I'm off the bike for maybe 4-6 weeks. I may have to get myself a trainer so that I can ride in my living room rather than out on the roads.

Everyone say goodbye to Jim. I hope he will return to ride with us again sometime!

Partially funded with a grant from the Oxford Convention & Visitor's Bureau

April 25, 2009 - 9 am

It's that time of year again - Oxford Cycling is hosting its annual "No Guts No Glory" Double Decker Road Ride on April 25, 2009 sponsored by Gastroenterology Associates and Endoscopy Center of North Mississippi. The ride begins 90 minutes after the start of the annual 10k run for those who want to participate in both events.

This year we will have 10, 24, 50 and 66 mile loops that meander through the rolling hill country of Lafayette County visiting Taylor, a nearby artists' community. The two longer routes will also ride by Enid lake. These new routes will be fully supported with pre-ride bike maintenance, rest stops where you can top off with mid-ride snacks, and rolling sag support for any mechanical issues or tired riders. Our sponsors also provide pre-ride breakfast and post-ride pizza to replace spent calories. The short route will start with a brief safety review and have experienced cyclists riding as the lead and sweep.

Don't forget that the ride coincides with Oxford's Double Decker Festival (DDF). DDF takes over the Downtown Oxford Square with pedestrian traffic, locals peddling their arts and crafts, elite and down-home restaurants offering their signature dishes, and bands playing all day. There is even a corner for younger kids to have fun. Find more info about DDF at http://www.oxfordcvb.com

The proceeds from this year's ride will be going to Bike-Walk Mississippi and two local no-kill shelters that operate on a Spartan-like budgets helping animals find homes -- Friends of Pete (dog rescue network) and 9 Lives Cat Rescue.

Registration

Register on-line or get mail-in registration information at RacesOnline.

On-site registration and check-in opens at 7:30 am at the start location. All riders must fillout and sign a USA Cycling Event Release Form.

Early packet pickup: Save time on Saturday morning by stopping by 509 College Hill Road (Kate & Jason's house) Friday evening between 5 & 7pm to sign the waiver, pickup your swag and cue sheets, and have glass of wine or lemonade.

Fees: $30 Early Registration (before April 17th - $35 thereafter), $10 discount for students, $30 discount for police officers riding police bicycles

Some great swag (male or female fit coolmax t-shirt, pint glass, water bottle, Sam’s Town playing cards, RoadID coupon, Oxford Cycling grocery bag) is available while supplies last. Pre-register soon to reserve yours.

Start Finish Location

10, 24, 50 & 66 Miles

The routes will be well marked, and cue sheets will be available at registration. The 10 mile route will be lead and followed by experienced cyclists.

50 Mile Route:

View Larger Map

66 Mile Route:

View Larger Map

You can use these routes more interactively by right clicking and saving the .kml file locally - 24 mile, 50 mile, or 66 mile - and opening it with Google Earth.

Please note: Support for the last leg of the 66 route closes at 1pm - riders arriving at the turn after that point will be encouraged to join the 50 mile route.

Sponsors

• Gastroenterology Associates and Endoscopy Center of North Mississippi - Title Sponsor
• Monin Gourmet Flavorings - Water Bottle Sponsor
• Oxford Convention & Visitor's Bureau - Cost Reimbursement Grant
• C & M Builders - Premiere Sponsor
• Caldwell Insurance Agency - Premiere Sponsor
• Pampered Paws Animal Hospital - Premiere Sponsor
• Sam's Town Hotel & Casino - Tunica - Premiere Sponsor
• Active Oxford - Platinum Sponsor
• Caine's Auto Body - Platinum Sponsor
• Oxford Bicycle Company - Platinum Sponsor
• Papa John's Pizza - Platinum Sponsor
• Road ID - Platinum Sponsor
• Snap Fitness - Platinum Sponosr
• 9 Lives Cat Rescue - Volunteer Sponsor
• Bike Walk Mississippi - Volunteer Sponsor
• Friends of Pete - Volunteer Sponsor
• Mississippi Psychological Association - Volunteer Sponsor
• Oxford Cycling - Host & Volunteer Sponsor

Gastroenterology Associates and Endoscopy Center of North Mississippi

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In the meantime, Chris started lap 1 not knowing when I'd be back. Because of a misunderstanding of the race start instructions, Chris entered the woods 2nd to last of the 50+ racers. The only person behind him was an 11 year old boy! After riding in a slow conga line and having to wait in line to walk up several low hills, he finally got free of traffic and blazed through the last few miles of the lap. I was still driving when Chris got to the start/finish, so he went back out for a 2nd lap. I finally got there and took the next 2 laps back-to-back to give him a rest.

The rest of the day went almost eerily smoothly after the morning's drama. We made quick transitions and had zero mechanical difficulties for the rest of day. We ended up 3rd overall for all teams ahead of all cat 2 teams (2 & 3 person), the single cat 1 duo team, and all but 2 of the 3 man cat 1 teams. We were a lap up on most of those teams but opted out of a final lap that would have started at 8:50 p.m. We still had a good gap on them after forgoing the last lap. I had 6 laps (63 miles) and Chris grunted out 7 (73.5 miles).

It was nice to do well, but I still MUCH prefer the 3 man team format!

Daniel

The ride started at 7am in downtown Greenwood. We crossed the bridge and rode north, down Grand Ave. Grand Avenue is like N. Lamar on steroids. Many residents were out to watch us ride by. We kept riding north thru Money, Mississippi, past the store where Emmett Till started the Civil Rights Movement with a whistle. We rode thru miles and miles of cotton, soybean, and cornfields. A highlight of the ride was the rest stop at the Methodist Church at mile 24. They had a spread of homemade cookies, pimento cheese sandwiches, crackers and dip, all in an enclosed screened in building at the back of the church. Many were taking pictures with their cell phones. Some of the roads were rough and there was a tough headwind heading back into down, but it was a fun well organized ride.

Kate Kellum, Jason Finch, and Jason Waller completed their first metric century. Congratulations!

Tour de Bodock is 2 weeks away.

As it turned out, we had a little under 100 racers representing their teams as far east as Georgia, as far north as St. Louis, MO and everywhere in between! The Saturday race at Plein Air had a festival atmosphere with entire Family's enjoying live bands, live radio feed from 93.7, a moon bounce for all the kids to play on, great food from Emeliegh's, just to name a few events that added to the excitement of the race!! Campbell, the devloper of Plein Air, was very pleased with the overall event and was at every sprint finish line cheering. I wouldn't be surprised if I see him out their racing next year!

Sunday's race on Ole Miss campus started out with a deluge of rain when we were setting up for the race, but subsided once the races started. The course was fast with riders attacking off the front in almost every race.

For those of you who missed the event should be kicking yourselves. I am sure all the volunteers are dog tired, but feel like their efforts were worth it. I think Oxford Cycling put on a great event promoting the future of cycling within our community and beyond.

Chris

I did the Arkansas TT Sunday. The course goes east on Highway 70 from Galloway. It is very flat but is asphalt over concrete slabs, so some stretches are pretty rough with bumps at the every junction. Some portions had been repaved so I was hoping for a good time. Saturday there was little wind. Well, Sunday was a cross headwind at 4-9mph at 7:00 am!

In short - Galloway got me again. I was doing ok into a big head wind, turned at 20km inside 30 minutes and got going sort of downwind, downhill in my 54x12. After about 2 km hit a small bump and my Deda One bars are loose from the handlebars. I barely keep the bike upright. I find a way to drape the loose parts out of the way and continue on my cow horns – after another 6 km of struggling I realize I can still shift and get out of the huge 12 and into the 13. So, at least I broke an hour - 59:28. That won the Master’s 60+. The fast time for the day was 57:03

I suspect the clamp was cracked from a bad hit I took in the WV record run last Wednesday.

Rich

• God I hope I get it - from A Chorus Line
• Little Red Corvette - Prince
• Do A Deer - from A Sound of Music
• And to bring you home strong...
• Delirious - Prince

JMiz

I did the Mississippi Senior Games bike races. The 60-64 age group had a good turnout of around 15 riders. We started in a combined group of all male riders 50 to 70 years old.

The first event is the 20km and 40km race. It is a 10km out and back hilly and rough course. The field contends a sprint at 20km and then continues to complete the 40 km. By 10km we were down to 4 riders in the front group. A broken front derailleur made that 3 riders by the sprint. Louis Tonglet went for the gold in a hard sprint but I held him off for the 20km win. After the U-turn, Louis was gassed and it was just me and David, a rider from Pro Bikes in Jackson. In the 40km sprint David lead it out but may have started too early and I won again.

There are three TT’s 10km. 5km and 1 mile downhill. These are held on the same rough hilly roads as the RR. You start out with a 1 mile uphill. I was the fast time overall with my 10km, 5km and downhill 1 mile times of 15:33, 7:52, and 2:04.

5 golds, pizza and Gatorade, a t-shirt and pedometer – all for 20 dollars.

I can recommend these games to anyone over 50 and encourage you to try out any of the state Senior Games. The attitude is very supportive and friendly.

Rich

I was lined up pretty near the front, maybe 20 or so back. The start was pretty hectic, but things sorted out during the big opening climb. I got slotted in to a pretty fast moving group that I had to drop out of when my rear tire started to get soft. I was able to air it up quickly with a BigAir, and the Stan's goo sealed the hole. I caught back up to C. Young after he had trouble with chain suck, and we rode together off and on through the rest of the race. I lost count of how many folks I saw working on bikes or changing flats. Chris and I had both decided to put on the burliest tires that we had--definitely a good decision. Easy rolling racy tires were NOT helpful in those conditions. We also both burned through a set of front brake pads because of the constant mud and grit.

Chris was still having shifting troubles and told my "bye" several times only to catch back up after sorting things out again. I finally caught my 2nd or 3rd wind and sped up for the last section of trail. I'd been holding some energy in reserve knowing that the last parts should be much faster than the rough boulder strewn trail we'd been riding. I caught and passed 5 or 6 people during what seemed like an endless 14 miles of the Bad Branch trail. I finished in 6:07, putting me in something like 22nd place. I have no idea how many folks started the race--Bruce Robinson said that he saw about 100 unclaimed race packets at the registration desk after the race started. Those 100 folks may have been much wiser than those of us who chose to race!

Hopefully some other Oxford and Memphis folks will chime in with their perspectives.

Daniel

all i can say was that i'm glad to have done the ride and that the final section was so much fun it almost made up for all the troubles of the first two.

for me those troubles included several crashes on slick rocks, getting speared by a tree when i unwisely rode through a root ball hole, two flats, the second requiring inserting a tube in my tubeless set up and fighting with a cross threaded valve stem to do it and a pedal that had no tension so i could not stay clipped in.

I dunno where i finished as i left soon after i showered, some minutes after daniel at any rate.

ian - still digging mud out of nooks and crannies

Once I get to the entrance of the single-track, everything seems to come to a halt as I encounter a long train of “riders” pushing and carrying their bikes over mud buttered boulders. This particular section of trail is listed as advanced under normal conditions, but it is way above that designation given all the mud on everything. Try walking on a marble floor after you’ve sprayed it with Pam. There are several spectacular crashes along this section. One guy almost knocked himself unconscious after trying to ride on a mud-covered slab of granite. He just sat on the side of the trail and drooled for a while.

After an eternity of slogging through the mud, I look down at my computer and realize it has taken me two and a half hours to travel 12 miles. I’m ready to quit by this point.

The trail improves after checkpoint #2 and the field is much more spread out, so there are fewer traffic jams. I pass a few more riders along this section, but there is still plenty of mud in places. In fact, the trail is little more then a mud trench in places and a ditch of standing water in others.

When I make the first creek crossing, I encounter a group of 15 riders coming down a dirt road. They missed a turn and were doubling back to find the course marker. We ride along together for several minutes until someone spots a white ribbon off in the woods. I don’t know why they used white ribbon because it was hard to spot at some of the sections and the white lime arrows on the trail were virtually washed away in all the rain. I found the remnants of one of the lime markers pointing up a Forest Service road and traveled about two miles up the side of a mountain before a Ranger along the road turned me back down the mountain. This cost me about 30 minutes.

Once I get going again, I catch small groups of riders here and there and play leapfrog with another group. I somehow make Checkpoint 3 with about an hour cushion. The last section (Red Trail) is bone dry and really fast, but I’m getting tired by this time and just want to finish.

I think it took me a little over seven hours to finish, but I’m not exactly sure. I just went to my car when it was over and didn’t bother getting a final time.

Road Race- The Saturday morning road race was 52 miles over rolling terrain with an uphill finish. At the start I notice two large teams that will control the race, tiger racing(baton rouge) and Smith & Nephew(memphis). A few breaks are attempted but never the right combination of riders. I give it a go at mile 23 towing the eventual overall winner of the race from Tiger racing and some other kid. A few miles down the road a few more join us, but none form smith and nephew, which spells disaster for my brekaway. A few more miles tick away when a massive pile-up happens near the front. There must have been 25 riders affected by the wreck. I was right behind the crash and decide to steer for the ditch to the right instead of tangling with those unfortunate ones who were moaning and graoning. I dismount, hop over a downed rider who is lying in the ditch and TRY and re-mount my stead cyclocross style. My rear tires slips out from under me and I go down. I am trying to be quick about this b/c the peloton is speeding away at full steam and I realize I will have to chase hard to catch back on. A group of 4 of us work together and close the gap and finally catch back on. A few minutes later, I see Marty catching back on with a rear wheel that resembles a potato chip. There are a few surges near the end of the race, but it calms down at the base of the hill at 5km to go. I am sitting in 5th place or so, waiting for the uphill sprint where I was planning on starting at the 200m mark. Well, someone beat me to the punch and went at 500m out. This forced the sprint to start really early. I ended up in 10th place with a strong Marty, The Beaver, Downs passing me taking an incredible 6th place finish with a busted wheel that turned out to be rubbing his brake pad!

TT- The time trial started at 5pm with my time slated for 6pm. I warmed up with my new aero helmet, new Mercury TT bike and 85mm full carbon clincher wheelset. On my warmup ride, I could tell that I might have a good day as the bike seemed fast!

I line up and start my race of truth realizing this is the important stage and will determine the race results for the overall. I feel pretty relaxed and I am pounding a pretty good gear. I catch my 30 second man and minute man by mile 2.5, which is always a good sign. I end up with an 8:55 over the 4 miles. Talking with a few folks after the TT, I didnt hear anyone breaking the 9 minute mark. I am realizing that I might have turned in a good performance.

Criterium- We show up the the crit on sunday morning and start talking to one of the smith & nephew racers. He informs me that I am sitting high on the GC and I am a marked man. I walk over to the race results from the TT and realize I am 3rd on the gc with seconds seperating the top 5 spots. I realize I need to have a good race to keep my third place as the guy in 4th palce is 5 seconds behind me. Oh by the way, he is the guy who placed 2nd at rouge roubaix and 3rd in the road race. To throw a wrinkle into the race they have time bonuses for the top 4 finishers in the crit and a "hot spot" time bonus(prime of sorts). Well, the guy in 4th wins the hot spot sprint and comes in 2nd in the crit. He ended up passing me in the GC by 4 seconds. I finish in 7th place in the crit with a 4th place overall GC.

We did a "Le Mans" running start over about 250 yards of a rocky BMX track. I got behind a good many folks on the run, so I had some passing to do once we hit the woods. After about 30 minutes I got past some of the slower folks and got into a rhythm that I would hold the rest of the race. I ended up doing 6 laps for 60 miles in 6:05:09.

There were 85 solo riders. 16 folks did not finish, and I had the 27th fastest time--the 26 ahead of me includes 3 pro women, of which one finished 7 laps. The winner was a pro named "Fuzzy" Mylne who did 8 laps on a singlespeed!

It's hard to get excited over a "front of midpack" finish, but it was fun to see the pros out on the course. Two of the pros caught up to me while I was going downhill at a pretty reckless pace--I was tucked down with no brakes, flying. I let them by after a quick left turn and they were gone within 60 seconds or so. This was 5 hours into the race, and they were going ALL OUT.

Whatever my placing was, I had a great time. I accomplished my main goal, which was to ride consistently for 6 hours with no big drop in pace due to bonks or cramping. The day went by quickly except for the last 30 minutes of the last lap. I was very ready to be off my bike by that point.

My wife Ashley went with me and got to see that I'm only a crazy bike nut when compared to normal people. Compared to the folks that come out for this type of event, I actually measure up as close to sane.

Daniel

After 30 miles or so of pavement, we entered the first gravel section with a full head of steam. The gravel was loose and there was plenty of sand to cause you and your neighbor to fishtail and at times wonder how either of you are still upright. It was kinda tricky and important that you pick the right line to take.

Basically, I avoided the areas of the road that had bike tire grooves formed from the "A" race....this basically meant that the road was soft. I was constantly going back and forth over the center of the road finding the best line, although this was dangerous as well, b/c the crown in the road had loose gravel piled up. This went on for nearly 10 miles at ~25mph. At the end of this first gravel section was the first feed, where Karen was waiting for me with a bottle.

The group that exited this portion contained ~30 riders or so. Realizing the race was to be won by someone from this group, we sat up a bit to rest from what seemed like a beating Mike Tyson gave to Robbin Givens. When you are riding a road bike on the gravel roads, you tend to feel quite a bit more of the vibrations than a standard mtn bike.

We pick up the pace as a few of us start a rotation to start closing down the gap of the leading trio. Their lead was up to 3 minutes at one point, but we succesfully nailed them down to ~30 seconds, as we were within eye sight of them as we approached the 2nd section of gravel.

Unlike the first section, it had two very steep hills that were 1km and 2km climbs in length with a few short steep downhills. The leading group starts to shatter as the first climb sends the non-climbers in reverse. I am caught out a little bit, but have the leaders(~10) within 15-20 seconds or so and planned on catching back on when the pavement started at the top of the 2nd climb/feed zone.

2/3's of the way up the second climb, I hear metal sheer and my pedals make a quick effortless revolution. "F%#k"!!!! Without having to look down, I knew my chain had snapped! My race was over at the end of the second gravel section 66 miles in.

Luckily the wheel truck was right behind us and he gave me a ride to the top, where I find Karen waiting to give me a feed, but instead gave me a ride back to the hotel.

We make it to the hotel, where I take a quick shower, then head to the finish line. We make it in time to see the finale of the race I had just left. I felt a real disappointment as I watched the same guys and girls I was mixing it up with, finish with a tired and battered look about themselves.

Oh well, I guess there is always next year!!

--Karen has some interesting stories to write about from her perspective of the race.......

the last gravel section had the steepest climbs and i was worried about them but got over fine with one or two others, on the descent i heard bang and my front tire blew, i fixed it and got going again, only to hear the same bang from the rear tire. i had just donated my second cartridge to another guy and so that was the end of my race.i managed 83 miles and enjoyed it very much.

we started with a little over 30 guys with good representation from local squads,
10 memphis velo,
6 pedlar,
4 outdoors/los locos,
1 disco oxford,
and some stragglers including some masters cat1 types in the form of johnny mac from marx bensdorf and some dude from jackson tn.

We started pretty slow with everyone trying to warm up. on the thrid time up the hill, john accelerated after my pull and one velo, the jackson guy, and the los locos guy took off. At this point it was up to the pedlar guys to chase with the stragglers. typical of cat 4/5 racing the pedlar guys would go to front and sit there without upping the pace or the velo guys would actually block. the stragglers managed to force the pace whenever possible with the result of a group of 8 of us getting away in a chase group, 3 velo, 3 pedlar, me and an outdoors.

Which left me and the pedlars to do anything, i figured itwas futile so sat in for the sprint. Last time up the hill one pedlar went and we let him get about 100 meters. i sat on the velo train and sprinted past the pedlar guys and the velo guys and came in behind the outdoors guy for 6th or 5th. Turns out Johhny Mac flatted at the bottom of the last climb and i have not seen any formal results to see if he finished or not yet. I know there was not a wheel truck.

Now i had 45 minutes to wait for the A race. the temperature was dropping and was now about 33 down from the scorching 39 that the B race enjoyed. i changed to a dry jersey, hat, and new dry gloves. and milled about waiting and wondering why there were so few riders getting ready for the A race, after all there was a field limit of 100 and i should be able to easily hide in a group that size for a few laps.

turns out only 8 showed up. it started to rain/ice we were meant to do 10 laps. this sucked. Clark jumped from the gun, we strung out and did the first lap in the rain faster than any previous lap from the B race, i think about 13 minutes. at the end of the first lap Russ Griffin jumped, boomer went after him. My hands stopped working and i could not feel anything so i'd shift gears and feel the change in my legs but had no sensation in my fingers. this made it fun to brake too. the warm car was beckoning so i heeded it's siren call and quit. as did clark and one other guy which left 5 of them out there, including Johnny Mac with worsening weather. I heard that Russ stayed away for the rest of the race. Hard man, that Russ.

photos here: http://photos.roadcx.net/2009/0228_MB_trainingrace/index.html

20 K Time Trial- Held on a flat out and back course with a fairly steady head/crosswind going out. I finished with a time of ~31:20 or so. The second place finisher came in with a time of 30:48. So, I am assuming I place between 3rd-5th, but I never saw the actual results.

Crit- After a few hours of rest, we shoved off for a lengthy 25 minute, plus 5 lap race. The course had 6 corners and was actually quite technical for a 1/2 mile course. It started out kinda quick with multiple attacks right from the get go. After the initial attacks, the front group formed consisting of 6 riders including myself, a lone rider and 4 guys on the same team. The team rode a smart race since they won the race, but that was their only podium placing. My hat is off to them for actually using team tactics to win the race. They would send a rider off as soon as the previous one would get caught, then look at me and the other lone rider to chase. The other lone rider wasnt interested in first place, so it was me left to do the chasing. I shut down most of the breaks, but had to watch the winning break go as I was a little gassed at the time of the attack. I tried to chase him down when I recovered, but it was too late. Heading into the finishing straight, I jumped at 300 meters, but the lone rider came around me at 25 meters to go. I finished in 3rd place.

All in all, it was a fun day of racing and a great way to start the season for Discover Oxford.

Chris

We had a good turnout and a great ride. It was head wind all the way out and mostly tail wind back. As has often been the case, the ride turned racy at the Harmontown climb. It was cloudy but not cold all ride.

Last names approximate

About 45 mile route – Alexis Stobbe, Tim Akers, Bo Regan

Full route – Nathan Murray, Marty Downs, Ian Jones, Chris Mogridge, Richard McNeer, Matthew Hall, Rich Raspet

We finished the ride with an over 19 mph average.