Through The Lens:

hopathon, originally uploaded by erictwright.

while this wasn’t news, and i don’t really have a great deal of fun taking these type of feature pictures-the amount of cuteness involved just made me cringe. 4 col. lede art on A1

I know you all have been waited with bated breath for my Wheels O’Fire Time Trial report or not, but even still-here it is) Well we got up early on Sunday and I noticed that although the wind has stopped howling and we didn’t have any precipitation it was still cold, chill you to the marrow and extremities might fall off kind of cold. Well I may be exaggerating just a smidge but we were in the middle of Georgia and it shouldn’t be 25 degrees in March.

Well that morning Carmine broke the news to me, he said he wasn’t going to ride the Time Trial; doubtless his excuse was something along the lines of his fancy titanium bike not handling the cold well or maybe not being so young and oblivious to the weather. Athena and Scot also canceled, I am having trouble remembering their excuses something about injured ailments or not wanting to embarrass the rest of us with the fancy aero wheels or something then again it might have been the fact that the mercury was hibernating in the base of the thermometer.


I still had one more chance, so before Josh had a chance to consult with the rest of the slackers I got his grudging assurance that he was going to ride the TT. I may have led him to believe that weather was balmy and neglected to tell him that n one else was going.
So, we loaded up the bikes and made our way to Callaway Gardens. I was assured that it was typically a beautiful resort area but the winter had left it a very stark place. We rolled up to the lot and went to sign in. I was a bit taken back by all of the rather serious competitors at the start tent. It was rather different from the day before where I was passing Blue hairs on hybrids or touring bikes. I felt under gunned as I saw people with aero teardrop helmets, deep dish $3000 wheel sets, Disc Wheels, Felt DAs with bar end shifter and Cervélo TT bikes. We found out only 15 people were signed up as other folks were sitting in place spinning on their trainers Josh and I tried to warm up as quickly as possibly with the last amount of effort. We didn’t have a map of the course, we told that the course was pretty much closed off and the major turns were manned. I also heard a joking reference to an 11% grade hill but I thought it was a joke (alas it was not)

I rolled up to the start, some lovely ladies pinned my number on and they told me they had a start in 3 minutes. I figured it was now or never so I decided to go ahead and go. They gave me a countdown and some guys kind of held me up as I got clipped in and then on their count off I went. Then it got stupid. I had turned on the garmin, but forgot to start it; I remembered this just as I left the chute. Luckily I didn’t try and turn it on then because 30 yards after the start we had a hard right turn, so after straightening all of that out and getting my watch/gps going I took off.
While not a very fast cyclist I feel that I had a tiny advantage over your average road cyclist, and that was the sprint triathlon training. Ta Da pretty complicated hunh. I knew I had a pretty short distance about 10 miles and I wasn’t trying to attack anyone or tuck in and hang on someone’s wheel. I just had to as John Daly would day “Grip It and Rip It” I tucked into the aero bars and pushed it as hard as I could aiming for about 30 minutes. I quickly realized that I was not as warm as I thought I was and it took me a few minutes to get that first burn in my quads evened out and have everything get nice and painful. Not in your face pain but that nagging-” I sure hope I don’t have to do this all day” type of pain. I tried to keep my heart rate above 160 the entire time and mostly keep it pegged just below 170bpm. I my math was correct I was confident that this should work out.
As I alluded to earlier the fill was a reality and it wasn’t a short sprinters hill but a nice little twisty number. Then the dreaded turn around. I wish I would have known about that one before because I had to dive off of my aero bars to grab a big handful of brake. I think if I would have known about it and not been trying to settle into a hard gear after the hill and had a clean line I could have kept it clean but it was the most technical bit of the course. All of the racers took off at 5-minute intervals and at the bottom of the hill I saw Josh. I would be interested to see mile splits because I was sure he was gaining on me.
After the hill I had to dig deep because we still had quite a bit of flat and false flat distance left to go. The scenery was great several nice lakes and a pretty closed course, which let me dive around some fun corners. About 2 miles out I saw a big dome ahead, which was near the start tent. Alas I didn’t realize we were 2 miles out because I was breathing heavily and had mucus, snot and slobber plastered on my face and top tube like I was a rabid dog. I decided to go all the way right then, and we summarily turned away for another big loop. That last bit was a struggle and I constantly had to push to get my heart rate up again as my brain tried to tell me I didn’t have anything left.
In that last loop I swear I head Josh’s freewheel behind me, but I was unsteady on the aero bars and didn’t risk looking back. Once I saw the real finish a few hundred yards ahead I found my kick and powered it home. It was good enough for a 4th place finish at 33:00. I wished I would have been under thirty minutes and with better training I bet I would be, but I am just glad to not have crashed out or embarrassed myself. I heard Josh coming in behind me moments after I got in, but they said he finished 6th at 33.49. Here comes the worst part the winner finished in 28.16- lickety split I tell you.

Now to find another race.

Irish Black and Tan, originally uploaded by erictwright.

Guinness and Smithwicks-in honor of St. Patrick’s day. None of that vile Bud Light with Green food coloring for me.

Stay Behind the Yellow Tape!, originally uploaded by erictwright.

we had a media area at a mock wreck. a MOCK accident scene. We have better access at the real thing- talk about access issues

Well I don’t know how many other folks experience the same thing, but it seems like Fridays always bring out the oddest, most hectic and often scariest days around the newsroom. Yesterday I got a call while coming back from an assignment telling me to turn around get on the interstate as quickly as I could and to call back then.
From the crackling radio in the background and the urgency in the voice over the phone I figured it was something serious.

Once I was 10-84(ha I am loving my ten codes) I called and heard that there was a suspected plane crash near Steele. I eventually tracked down the crash and found the location on the top of Chandler Mountain. We had a ton of fog-al I had heard was a confirmed aircraft down. As I pulled up to the scene I heard the sound of a Chinook Helicopter and all of a sudden it was directly above me turning tightly. Well I made the rather simple correlation that we had a military crash on our hands.

I was held back a little ways by police officers on the bluff and I couldn’t see any part of the wreckage and just had to get reports from people that could see over the edge what was going on. I got a call from a reporter saying that I might have a ride in a helicopter from the local sheriff. On cue I heard the helicopter come in and take a look around then land just behind me.

STEELE - Two pilots are dead after a two-seat training plane crashed Friday in heavy fog into the side of Chandler Mountain.

The T-34C Turbo Mentor, based at Whiting Field in Milton, Fla., just outside Fort Walton Beach, crashed just before 2 p.m. while the pilots were conducting routine flight training, said Lori Aprilliano, a spokeswoman for the Naval Air Station at Whiting Field.

GT Story

After they investigated the scene for a while they came and got me and we had a couple of passes over the crash site. IT was rather difficult to see as the place had virtually disintegrated. Because of another helicopter near the ridge we landed in a pasture at the floor of the valley next to the ridge where the reporter picked me up. It was hilarious to see all the TV cameras swing over to video us coming in to land me hopping out and running away from the helicopter. Then we had to drive back up to the top of the mountain and talk our way back to my car.

Thats me in the back seat

It was a mess. It was an enormous, epic, awesome, snowy, windy, cold, lonesome, tiresome, exciting adventure.
On Friday I picked up Josh in Jacksonville and we attached the second tray to the car rack so we could carry both bikes with ease. We made excellent time to Georgia after a brief though successful trip to Wig’s Wheels in Anniston where I picked up a new set of bibs and wool socks.

Carmine, Susan, Scott and Athena had already ventured down to packet pickup and picked up my shirt, wristband and info. No goody bags like we were promised Oh well I don’t need any more clutter.

Then Susan and Athena made us a great dinner of Whole Wheat Tortellini, a great salad, garlic bread and some decadent brownies. To tell you the truth I was a touch worried about the whole-wheat pasta as I have had some misadventures with its ilk before but it was excellent and a great fuel for our looming ride.

We all went off to prep our bikes and lay out our clothes. I got to work mounting my new bright yellow Michelin Pro2 race tires. (I was sent the wrong color by the company I ordered them from and they are in fact hideous-but who cares) The tires were to replace the Continental UltraGatorskins I have been training on all winter. I like both sets and the Gatorskins were tough as nails and never flatted. However I wasn’t very comfortable with their lack of grip on descents and they were rather heavy.
The Pro2 race tires are great fast and grippy.

So after we had everything dialed in we called it a night. I didn’t sleep well. We went to bed early, + adjusting for the time zone change and early start- I tossed and turned for a few hours before getting up around 5ish and starting the pre ride routine which was all hinky b/c of my lack of coffee (doh) but I had a Jones energy drink to help start me up.

Well Carmine got up we talked about the chill outside and eventually everyone got up and we decked out. I decided to chamois crème up the new bibs and try out the new socks. Always a little risky on a long ride-but they were super comfortable and both performed admirably. We all put on our warmest gear with some us sporting a half dozen layers.

We loaded up the velocipedes and made it to the High School where we really took account of how cold it was. It was actually freezing and rather windy. We sat down to a nice little breakfast of baked goods I had an enormous chocolate chip cookie-guilt free, banana, bagel and an orange. It started blowing a little snow outside. I was not too worried it was supposed to warm up. Athena and Scot were planning on doing one of the shorter routes and were now letting Josh who signed up the day of talk them down to shorter and shorter routes. Josh initially planned on doing the 101 but got the point of only committing to the 25. Susan had not brought her bike (a wise decision if you ask me because of the weather) Carmine and I was still planning on riding. Then the driving snow began-blizzard conditions. Horizontal snow and huge flakes of it.

I started hearing some noise about it not being safe and I could tell people were starting to bail. Most people were bailing-like everyone. I was a little bit ticked. The mass start was cancelled. The organizers told us we could start whenever we wanted. We walked out and looked at the snow, my entire group said they weren’t going to ride. Not going to ride at all. I started getting indignant. I figured if I drove all the way here, paid my money to ride paid for gas, food, hotel all that I was gonna ride. I went out to the car put on my helmet, shoes and assembled my bike.

My friends came out to see what I was doing. As they were shivering I told them I didn’t want to be contrary and I didn’t expect them to ride and I apologized for not sticking with the group but that I was going to do the ride-just some of it. I think they thought I was crazy. I probably was. So I packed my jersey pockets full of food, wiped the snow off my saddle clipped and let it rip. It was bone chillingly cold. I heard about people with frozen bottles and icicles on their bikes. I took off and passed tons of people shivering spinning low gears on the flats.
That seemed silly to me. I turned it up I needed to get my furnace going-I attacked hills and turned up the pace. I did however remember that I left a part of the rack unassembled and tried to call the crew to ask them to adjust it. I called in the middle of “heartbreak hill” I didn’t get an answer-it turns out they tried to call back but I didn’t hear. They feared the worst and came looking for me. They say me in the mid 30s after I was doing just fine. The ride was surreal. Very few people turned out and the snow was amazing. I had trouble with my drive train in a few spots. On one epic hill I couldn’t get into my 2 largest cogs so I had to stand up the whole way-but I survived.

I made one miscalculation about the weather. My non-cycling full-fingered gloves got very wet in the snow and my hands went numb. I developed an ingenious solution. I rode with one hand on the bar top, one glove in my mouth and the gloveless hand jammed up under my vest, jacket, jersey and base layer pressed against my bare chest. I did that back and forth till I got feeling back. I kept telling myself as long as I could feel the pain of the cold and see that it was red and not blue I wouldn’t bail.

I had to make a decision pretty early on to either go the 101 miles or go the short route. Luckily by that time I was already sweating and despite the burning in my legs I went for the whole shootin’ match.

The rest stops were great but I packed gels to eat and after a frozen 4 pack of fig newtons stopped me up at the first rest stop I decided to stick to my gels. The snow stopped eventually after sending down pellets and flakes for quite some time. The wind however never stopped. I stopped at an aid station about 55 miles in had some peanuts took a leak and ditched the knee warmers which I had pulled down when I started climbing early on. I got some crazy looks-but who cares I’m already riding a bike wearing spandex out in the middle of a blizzard

The toughest part of the second half was the lack of other riders and no drafting help. We had 35 mph winds and they get pretty rough when you can’t tuck in behind a strong pull. Hey I would have even taken a pull from Athena with the tiny little draft she gives Also the no company-no conversation-lots of self talk-and self talk on a 6-hour ride get pretty old.

My favorite part of the ride was seeing the while group the Toyota pull up beside me telling me that I had gone too far and missed the turn into the finish. Apparently I had just put my head down and kept turning the cranks. I didn’t see the High School. I cruised in and all of my crew was there to help me off the bike, peel of my gear and take me inside to the warmth of the cafeteria. I tried to eat but I wasn’t too interested in food as I was burning up and tired. Thanks guys for putting up with my stubbornness and supporting me in riding the full 101. It turns out of the 600 people that preregistered for the ride only 10 were foolhardy enough to do the century in the cold and snow.

Wheels of Fire my eye, try wheels of Ice.

Ok sorry for the length of the post. I’ll write later about the TT on Sunday.

chocolate truffles, originally uploaded by erictwright.

Martha and June’s in Downtown Gadsden.

I resisted tasting but snuck in a photo.

I can’t say the same for a co-worker . . . ahem . . . you know who you are.

It was quite the adventure, I’ll write some about it later, but here are some photos for now.

waiting for a call back-killing time, originally uploaded by erictwright.

self portraits are fun-wheeeeeeeeee