Jennifer Dilworth Hynes — mtbchk

After a lackluster Clemson race on Sunday (report coming soon), I’ve been off the bike for a few days, mostly due to weather.  This has allowed me to get some much-needed maintenance done on the SS.

I rode Monday at Beatty, two laps, recovery/messing around/casual/daydreaming/wedding-planning pace.  I rode the Titus.  I missed the SS.  David Thomson was there riding (no helmet).  Of course, I had no idea who he was, but it was pointed out to me later that he was the best all-time ACC basketball player ever.  I guess I’m not up on my basketball knowledge.

I got semi-motivated when I got home from riding Monday and started pulling the SS apart to change out the bottom bracket.  I got as far as pulling the cranks, realized it was 9:00 and I hadn’t showered after riding, nor had I had dinner.  So, that’s all I did.

Tuesday (yesterday), some friends at work took me out to lunch to my favorite place — the Tea Room in King’s Mountain.  It was their “Congrats” for the engagement.  That place is the epitome of southern belle-ness; housed in an old house with VERY good food and lots of old white-haired ladies.  Due to our big lunchtime hoopla, I didn’t do a lunch road ride, but I was planning on going to the Diva ride early to do a couple of laps at N. Meck and then meet up with everyone for the group ride at 6:15.  Well, I was tired, so I took a short nap in the parking lot of NM, then I talked to my mom about wedding plans, then I started to get ready to ride.  By the time I was ready, people were showing up for the ride and the sky was getting dark.  The bottom dropped out around 6:00, so there we stood, ready to go, in the pouring rain.  We waited for it to pass over, but it just kept coming down.  So, back into the Xterra goes the bike, changed clothes, and everyone went to Lupies for dinner.  I wasn’t very hungry, so I had mac-n-cheese and cornbread and water.  $2.01.  I’m cheap, I guess.

Tonight was supposed to be the first race of the local summer race series.  It got rained out.  So, I got re-motivated, removed the old crusty, creaky bottom bracket on the SS, installed a new one, put on a new chain and re-installed my cranks.  It’s like a new bike.  It’s a happy bike, can’t you tell?

So far this week, I’ve only ridden two laps at Beatty, and at a slow pace.  A total of 1:10 riding time in three days.  Very sad.  I don’t care WHAT I do, I’m riding tomorrow, whether it’s during lunch, after work on the Booty loop, or, if it’s dry enough, I’ll take the Misfit (SS) to Beatty again to run the new BB and chain and work out any bugs.

This week’s Cane Creek Series race is in Sanford.  Not my favorite race, but not terrible.  Racing-wise, my mind has been totally focused on the Burn 24 hour race.  I went through and tweaked my packing list and my fueling strategy.  I feel more prepared after doing that.  No more bad dreams, anyway.  I had lunch today with a guy at work who’s done several 24-hour road races and placed very well.  He went over some strategies and training for the month leading up to the race.  I don’t know if I can follow all of his suggestions, (I’m not that structured), but a lot of what he said made sense and I’m at least TRYING to do it.  I’m less concerned about my physical ability to ride for 24 hours and more concerned with my mental fortitude.