Kayakalon

This past weekend was the 2008 Race for the River Kayakalon in Washington NC. Since I just happen to have a future sister with a house down the road from this event and a future, past, and present brother that is all about triathlon, I signed up to race on a relay team. I was joined by father Puryear and several of the Ritters for this event, so we ended up with three teams total. If you are wondering what exactly a kayakalon is, it is just a triathlon but instead of swimming you kayak.

The day started bright and early so we would have enough time to load up the kayaks, eat some breakfast, and get to the race with time to set up. My team, the Lanky Lady Legs, had already decided to wear green for our team colors, which was a perfect opportunity to show off my new jersey that I got last week. My team was made up of E.A.'s mother Ann kayaking 1.5 miles, myself biking 15 miles, and ending with E.A.'s sister Cori running 3.2 miles. The other teams were E.A. (kayak) and Ethan (bike+run) on one team with the other team consisting of E.A.'s dad Bull (kayak), our dad (bike), and friend of the Ritter's Lauren (run).

The Group.

Once the kayaks were launched and the race had started, the Puryears headed over to the transition area to set up our bikes. We found some spots to rack the bikes and Ethan and I took a quick jog around the parking lot to stretch the legs. After a short wait, the kayakers started to show up so we could head out on the bike. E.A. was the first to arrive which sent Ethan on his way, followed shortly by the other paddlers just a few minutes after. I was the last of our group to leave and one of the last few cyclists in the race to get started. Fortunately, this meant that all of the cyclists that were anywhere close to me in the race were slower than me, so it wasn't that difficult to catch and pass them. My main goal for the race was to keep up with Ethan, which I knew would be difficult since he has been training for months while I have done nothing. Being in Eastern NC, the course was perfectly flat and very fast. I tried to keep my pace in the 22-23 mph range but dipped down into the upper teens during some of the windy stretches. I was able to pass Dad about 3.5 miles in and thought I would open up a really big gap on him, but after the turn around spot I saw that he was only about a mile behind me. I did a good job of pacing myself and maintaining a good steady pace that I thought would challenge Ethan's time, even though he had the advantage of aero bars and I just rode in the drops. Once I arrived back at the transition area I realized that our bright and early start may have been a little too early for some since my runner was asleep in the grass. After waking up and taking the team bracelet from me, my part was done. I ended up finishing the ~15.5 mile course in 42:30 or so for an average speed of 21.4 mph. Although I didn't quite keep up with Ethan I wasn't too far behind, he finished in 41 minutes. Dad came in a little while longer with a time of 56 minutes and a 16+mph average, much faster than his normal rides. This was a super fun event and I am already ready to go for next year, or maybe another similar event this year. Hopefully we can get another good group together for the 2009 race. An extra big thanks to the Ritters for hosting us this weekend and to E.A. for the photos.

Ethan.

Me.


Dad.


Me lecturing Cori on how to be prepared...

And then crying by myself in the corner.


The Puryears.

Tour of California

I am currently living it up out West with one of my biggest blog groupies, spur. He just happens to live about a mile away from the race course for the Tour of California's Prolouge, close enough that we woke up yesterday to the smell of fresh EPO. Since we were so close and I happened to be here we decided that we should go check out what was going on. It was a really good time. We got there and walked around the team areas for a little while checking out the bikes outside the team buses and getting a couple of glimpses of some riders. It was fun to see the set ups for these top level teams (Slipstream, Astana, High Road [formerly T-Mobile], ect) and get a glimpse of the flashiness that comes with the biggest joke in the sport (Rock Racing).

Steve's Next Bike.

Before the real race got started, there was a charity race where some local celebrities got to ride the race course. The most notable of these was Mike Sinyard, founder of Specialized, who rode the course on a hydraulically powered tricycle. His ride was far from fast, but it was definately interesting. Once the celebrities were out of the way the real race started up. We hung out around the team areas a little longer to watch some of the guys warm up and see some of the more notable riders.

Sinyard (in the red and white) with his water powered trike

George Hincappie Before the Race

The Slipstream Guys Warming Up
(from left to right: Tommy Danielson, podium finisher Tyler Farrar, and Steven Cozza)

After that we got a spot on the railing near the start line to catch some of the guys taking off. After seeing a few of those we decided to head towards the finish before the big name guys got there. We did a quick walk through of the area with all of the booths set up to get some swag and chat up a couple of world champs at the specialized booth. Spur's blog groupie partner, Ethan P., will be glad to know that we got him one of the autographed world champion posters featuring a couple of triathletes (Ironman champ Chris McCormack and Xterra champ Conrad Stoltz) as well as XC mountain biker Christoph Sauser and all around endurance athlete Rebecca Rusch. Once we got through hanging out with those guys we headed towards the oval to watch the big names coming through. We got there just in time to see Tom Boonen fly past followed shortly thereafter by big Jens Voight and brief leader Bradley Wiggens. We eventually made it to the inside of the oval to get away from some of the people and get a better view. We ended up getting a great view of the final riders so everybody got to see there favorites: Steve got to see his boy Levi, Melissa saw Paulo Bettini Tiny, and whoever my favorite was probably there as well. Overall, it was a ton of fun and hopefully I can make it to another race sometime in the future.

Levi Coming Through

A Note to Ethan P.

Ethan P,

Thank you for your concern over the state of this blog. It is true that before this post there was a two month drought in my posting. Part of this is due to me not really riding that much. Dreary weather, a couple of minor colds, and general laziness over the past couple of months have kept me inside on the weekends instead of on the bike. When I have gone on rides recently, it hasn't been very interesting. I doubt that you really want to hear about the 10 mile mountain bike ride at Harris lake where nothing particularly exciting happened or the half and hour I spent on the trainer. Another reason for the post drought is that I am really getting into NCSU basketball. Those guys have shown me just how long of a drought you can go on. I used to think that six or maybe seven minutes of game time without scoring was all that was possible at that level of play, but this team has come together and broken the ten minute mark. What an inspiration.

Anyways to answer your question, this blog is not dead. I have at least a couple of entries left that will stem from my fast approaching trip out west for Tour de Cali, an Old La Honda time trial to take on your family record, hanging out with frequent commenter Spur, and other fun that will certainly be had. After that, who knows. The existence of this blog is at least partially dependent on you making me do interesting things with my bikes. As long as you are able to talk me into some mountain trips, races, or other two wheeled adventures then I will write on here to inform the rest of my two readers about what we did. So you should really be asking this question to yourself, not me. Let me know what you decide.

Your beloved blog author,
Andrew P.

The Perfect Holiday Bike

I haven't been riding the mountain bike as much as would like to recently but I have come to the realization that it is perfect for this time of year. It is no secret that the cooler weather makes a lot of people trade in their skinny road tires for some knobbies but the 1x1 goes further than most bikes when it comes to celebrating the season. Here are a few things that make it perfect for this time of year.

Halloween - It is pretty obvious how my mountain bike relates to Halloween. Much like the traditional Halloween pumpkin, Mikey has a lot of orange. I also dress up in a costume when I go out riding, usually in assorted pieces of spandex and tight fitting clothes. The only time you ever see someone else dressed like this is on Oct. 31. On a night dedicated to frightening others, Mikey and I excel. Seeing 215 lbs of awkwardness rounding a corner on a ninja turtle bike like mine will frighten a lot more people than some cheap mask.

Christmas - Mikey's other featured color is green. No color symbolizes Christmas better than green. Green is everywhere around Christmas time in the form of trees, wreaths, garland, and tacky sweaters. While these are traditional symbols of Christmas, the most common sign of green around the holidays is the flow of green from your wallet to the sweatshop lucky enough to have this years must-have trash. This bike was also my first big purchase after graduation which is a constant reminder of the real reason for the season, capitalism.

Thanksgiving - While it is widely accepted that steel is real, it is not light. Neither or Americans at Thanksgiving (or any other time). Also, with daylights savings time over the bikes spend pretty much every weekday perfecting another one of Thanksgiving's past times, laying around and doing nothing. While weekend warriors everywhere head inside until the spring and start packing on the winter weight, Mikey is relaxing by letting that lube dry up and the tires deflate.

New Years - Since I first started riding it has been a new bike for each new year. Maybe Mikey will be the first to make it a full year without exploding. While everyone else is counting down for the ball to drop, I am counting down the days until bearings seize, spokes break, and frames crack. Maybe next year I will get a 29er to break.

Disco Ride Report

It has been a week and a half since the 2007 Discover Anson ride but I haven't written anything because I have been really busy being lazy and procrastinating, making it hard to find time to write. Maddie and I stopped by Greensboro to pick up Ethan (and whatever his bike is named) on Friday night and headed for Wadesboro to meet up with the parents. Shue also decided at dinner on Friday night to ride with us , leaving him ~15 hours to train and prepare. The ride started in downtown Ansonville and the weather was pretty cold at the start, somewhere in the mid to upper 40's if I remember correctly. Fortunately, I picked up some leg warmers on the way out of town Friday night. There was a good turnout with about 50 riders this year, up from around 20 last year.

Rolling Out From The Start.

The ride was almost all on nice quiet country roads and traffic was never really a problem. Some of the motorists we did see were so surprised to see cyclists that they gave way more room than necessary to pass. Several cars that were coming from the opposite direction ran off of the road trying to give us space, which seems really unnecessary but is a welcome break from the oblivious soccer moms in house cars that you see around here. The ride also had a lot of nice scenery, especially if you like farmland. The leaves on a few of the trees were changing colors some and at times you could find some nice views of things like Morrow Mountain. The roads were a lot of fun with some nice rolling hills and fun curves on some of the descents.

Cruising Along.

After the first few miles, riders started to get strung out and we rode with just our four person group. We rode at a nice comfortable pace which left us toward the back of the ride. I enjoyed the slower pace because it gave us time to hang out and carry on some conversations. There were a few times during the ride where Ethan and I would have a sprint or race up a climb which helped to keep things exciting. There were also some points when Shue and/or Dad would get ahead of us a little ways and we got to chase at a nice fast pace.

Dad Attacking Shue.

There were a few things on this ride that caught me off guard. Ethan and I were chasing Dad after he got a head start leaving the first aid station when we saw a new motocross track that had been built. I have never heard of this place but apparently Ansonville is now a hotspot on the motocross scene. We were even fortunate enough to ride by during a race. Another unexpected site on the ride was the exotic wildlife. We were passing some farmland not too long after seeing the race track when we saw a donkey in a pasture to the right and some sort of ostrich-like bird on the left. The bird actually ran along beside us for a little while which was fun to see, but the donkey was much more boring (Fun Fact: I beleive that the bird and the house beside it belong to Spur's childhood friend, Bruce Shankle).

The Other Bikers

We rolled back into Ansonville in the early afternoon and there was a big crowd waiting to see us finish. I think some of them may have also watched the parade that started shortly after our arrival. The ride was a ton of fun and a great time. Many thanks to the folks that organized it and I was very impressed with how well done it was, especially for a county that doesn't even have a bike shop. I hope to make it back next year, maybe with a step up to the 70 mile option.

Ethan and Dad with an Equestrian in Pursuit.

Action Shot of Dad.

Dad and I.

Mom and I After the Ride.

Maddie Gets a Makeover

Last week during the trip to the mountains, I noticed that the stock bar tape on Maddie was a little loose and would occasionally slide around exposing the bare aluminum bars. This was a convenient excuse to add a little more color to the bike instead of the boring black that came stock. When I saw that Speedgoat was having a sale on trainers last week, I decided to take advantage of the savings and get some new tape while the shipping was free. I had a hard time deciding which color to pick, with my favorites being white and pink. I thought that the white would go well with the frame and compliment the white cages well. On the other hand, I do seem to like ugly bikes and putting pink tape on a bike with red accents definitely fits the bill. I ended up getting the white despite the undeniable fact that pink bike parts are awesome. The UPS man showed up today with my order so Madeline is now all dolled up with her new look.



I haven't really ridden the trainer much but it seems to be a quality item. I may end up getting some kind of mat to help dampen some of the vibrations so I don't disturb the neighbors.

I went on a ride with Mikey last week and came to a pretty scary realization. I couldn't be happier with my current bikes. I like them so much that I don't think that I really need another bike. In fact, I could get rid of the Ziggurat and never miss it. Both of my main bikes, Michaelangelo and Madeline, are really sweet rides and a ton of fun. I used to be able to spend hours dreaming over my next bike but why bother anymore. Even when I came up with this weeks bad idea that I will never follow through with, trying a cross race, I couldn't come close to justifying a new cross bike. The 1x1 will take 700c wheels with tons of room to spare so why not just throw some drops on that. Sure it will have to be a singlespeed but that isn't really a problem. Hopefully I will be able to talk myself into a custom frame or something sometime down the road. For now, I will just ride what I have.

Disco Anson in 1.5 weeks. If you are riding, bring your A game. Maddie and I will be arriving in style for the 50 mile ride. Sorry Ethan, no mountains on this ride so it will be ruled by the king of the valleys. Unfortunately, I have no idea who or what that is.

Heading for the Hills

Ethan and I headed up towards Boone this weekend to do some mountain riding. He found this route and we decided that it would be a good ride for us since the distance was reasonable and it had some nice climbs. The first ten miles or so had a good amount of traffic but after that things died down and the route proved to be very enjoyable. There were three tough climbs and one more that was a little more gradual. Before this ride, my confidence on the bike was at an all time high. I have been riding singlespeed in the dirt for a couple of months, which automatically makes me better that people with gears, a strong showing when Ethan came to town, and being able to blow past the retirees at Umstead have fooled me into thinking that I am a pretty good climber despite my large climbing-unfriendly size (according to the BMI, my 6'-5" 215lb frame is 5 pounds overweight). Shortly after we hit the first climb on the way up Hwy 194, it was clear that my ability to conquer the Triangle area molehills means nothing for the seemingly never ending mountains that we were going to be riding. The ride up 194 was a nice long sustained climb that I was determined to do without stopping for a rest. I was able to make it to the top and prove to everyone that I am not just a man, but a man's man. We stopped at the top of this climb to catch our breath and down some gels before continuing.

Ethan at the bottom of Hwy. 194

Once we felt rested up we continued the ride through Banner Elk and started our ascent of Beech Mountain, the signature climb of the day. Beech Mountain is best known by cyclists as one of the Lance Armstrong's favorite climbs for training during his cancer comeback. On paper, the climb seems very similar to Old La Honda which I was able to do without much trouble at the beginning of the summer. Beech Mountain is approximately 1400 vertical feet of climbing over about 3.5 miles over compared to Old La Honda which is about 1300 feet over 3.4 miles or so. I was able to ascend Old La Honda in May when I didn't even have a road bike so I figured that now that I have been a roadie for almost a month I would be able to make this Mountain my Beech. I have never been more wrong in my life. Beech Mountain killed me. I had to stop several times on the way to rest and catch my breath. There were times when I could barely find the power to turn the pedals over despite being in my lowest gear and out of the saddle. I think that this is due to a couple of things; wearing myself out climbing 194 and the steeper gearing of the standard double crankset compared to the triple on the bike I rode in California. I also put a lot of the blame on Bush.

Ethan Along the Side of Beech Mtn.

One thing that I really enjoyed during this climb were the friendly motorists. Several cars passed me during the ascent and gave some shouts of encouragement as I limped to the top. I have had plenty of rednecks shout at me before but this was the first time anyone ever yelled something positive. Once I got to the top I regrouped with Ethan, who took off on his own on the way up, and we decided that a nice long rest with some lunch was in order. One of the reasons I think I struggled more than he did on the climb is the ~50lb difference in body weight. He already had the top of the mountain scouted out when I arrived and suggested that I eat a pizza when I arrived so he could maintain his advantage. We stopped at Brick Oven Pizzeria which was right at the top of the climb and split an awesome pizza. It would have been really good at any time but after that climb it tasted like it had been sent down from the heavens and really hit the spot. The staff at the restaurant was super friendly and didn't mind that we brought our bikes inside and walked around in our socks. Thanks guys.

Maddie at the Top of Beech Mtn.

After our mountain top feed session, we continued the ride with the descent of Beech Mountain. Earlier in the day the temperatures were perfect, but it was nearly 4:00 by the time we left the pizzeria and it had cooled down enough that we needed arm warmers. Once down the mountain we headed through Banner Elk and over to Hickory Nut Gap Road. This road is the gradual climb that I mentioned earlier and ended up being one of the more enjoyable stretches of the ride. It had some nice scenery and a decent bit of elevation change, but it was spread out enough that it didn't kill you on the way up. After this road, we headed past Linville and started the last climb of the day. It was another tough one that was about two miles long and some fairly steep grades. It was nothing like Beech Mtn. but provided a real challenge this late in the ride. We crested this climb at the entrance to Grandfather Mountain, which towers above all of the surrounding landscape. Once past this hill we finished the ride with a nice long stroll down Hwy. 221. This road was really pretty and had a lot of cool things like waterfalls and interesting rock formations by the side of the road. I would have liked to have stopped more for some photos but we were in a bit of a race against the clock to get back to the car before dark. Fortunately, this stretch of road was almost all descending or flat and we were able to outrun some of the cars behind us during the descents. We rolled back into Blowing Rock with only about half an hour of daylight left and a little over 60 miles for the day. Neither of us have the technology to track our climbing totals but I can believe that it was 6000 ft. like the cue sheet suggests.

In Front of Grandfather Mountian

The ride ended up being a ton of fun and I am excited about a return trip sometime in the future. It was a tough ride with some brutal sections but well worth the trip. I am looking forward to training some more and going back to dominate (or at least ride without stopping to rest) these mountains in the future. A lot of thanks go out to the guys at cyclecarolina.com for the route and to Brick Oven Pizzeria in Beech Mountain for their hospitality. Here are some additional photos from the trip.

A nice view along Hickory Nut Gap Rd.


I smoked this guy up Hwy. 194.


Ethan enjoying some pizza.


The View from a Beech Mountain Switchback.


Ethan in Front of Grandfather Mountain.


Descending Beech Mountain.


Cruising Down a Nice Country Road.


Apparently I Need Longer Armwarmers


The Two of Us at the Continental Divide.


Trying My Best To Smile at the End.
(Also, today proved that the Speedy on my chest is meant sarcastically.)