Got a plan for this year? If you don’t, you need one. If you vowed to be better this year, you need to start planning. You need goals to move you along. You need a carrot to get you out of bed and ride on a morning when it’s 25 degrees out. You need incentive to lace up your Asics and do your weekly track workout when your body is…
I’m big on goals, big on cross-training as well. Occasionally, these dual objectives create conflict. For instance, come autumn, the goal-oriented runner in me gets excited about the Second Empire Fall Grand Prix Series. The series consists of eight races, starting with this Sunday’s Magnificent Mile in downtown Raleigh and including five 5Ks, an 8K, and a 10-miler. I like the series in part because of the race variety, in…
“I … I just didn’t have anything more to give,” I confided to my cycling psychologist on our ride this morning. “I was empty.” Allen and I ride one morning a week at Umstead. It’s typically a mildly competitive ride where we save just enough air to chat about bikes (lot’s of debate about whether to go the 29er route), rides (mountain centuries that Allen does and I talk about),…
Resolve to be more active in 2011 by checking out one of these three events this weekend. Mountains Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to get the juices flowing the second week of January than on a hike, a mountain hike. A 9.8-mile mountain hike that gains 2,000 feet of total elevation, flirts with an elevation of one mile, takes in frozen waterfalls and promises great winter views…
Get religion at a Fat Tire Festival, howl at the coast. It’s all happening this weekend. Piedmont Saturday, we salute the Fat Tire. If you’re already familiar with the Church of the Fat Tire, we need only say that Saturday is something of our high holy day here in the Triangle. If you’re not already among the faithful, the 5th Annual TORC Fat Tire Festival is a great way to…
Problem: Most mountain bike trails are located away from residential areas, making them difficult for carless kids to get to. Solution: Build mountain bike trails closer to where kids live so they can ride to the trailhead. Granted, that would seem to fall into the “No ‘duh” category. But because mountain bike trails take up some territory, making urban trails happen isn’t as easy as it sounds. Postage stamp-size urban…
I’m back to remind you that Saturday is National Trails Day, a day when we celebrate the more than 200,000 miles of trail that help us escape the oppressive monotony of day-to-day existence and recoup our souls. OK, maybe that’s a little strong. But trails do play a vital role in our physical and mental well being. So in honor of National Trails Day, pay a visit to your local…
I haven’t counted how many racers from the Triangle were in this past weekend’s Burn 24 Hour Challenge mountain bike race at Dark Mountain near Wilkesboro, but I couldn’t walk from our pit to the start/finish without running into someone from hereabouts. These are a few of the stories I picked up along the way. Chapel Hill’s Steve Rogers may be the most sought-after teammate in the Triangle. He’s a…
OK, it’s no “Race Across The Sky,” but hey, it’s our first venture into film. Check out GGNC Productions short on “Meltdown at Harris Lake: The Movie.” For more on the Meltdown, check out Sunday’s post on the 6-hour endurance mountain bike race, the third in TORC’s four-race winter series.
Scenes from Saturday’s six-hour Meltdown at Harris Lake endurance mountain bike race at Harris Lake County Park. A rush from the mush Recent snows, rain and cold weather (which keeps the trail from drying) have conspired to keep most mountain bike trails closed for the last month or so. That there even was a race Saturday was the doing of Amy Burke and her crew at Harris Lake. Race Director…