The C Town shop rides have had great turnout(10 – 15 riders) even with the hot summer. Why? The Tuesday night ride is at 6:30pm so the sun is fading which really has helped quite a bit. The Saturday ride starts at 8:00am which is early enough to beat the heat of the day. So there is no excuse why someone can’t come out and enjoy the C Town shop rides! I will note the Tuesday night 22mile ride is jam packed with hill after hill so we tell folks to be prepared! I also suggest for any new rider that they come to our Saturday 18mile and/or 40+mile before they try the Tuesday ride. Both rides are no drop but we do like to keep a steady pace with only brief stops along the route. Hope to see ya out!!

Racing is fun, or at least it supposed to be . . .

Saturday’s race was mainly fun for me because of the pre-race banter and because of the C Town cookout afterwards. The actual race itself was brutal.

What was fun?
The pre-race banter- Jane was really working hard to stir up things between Trent and myself. I was working hard to stir up things between Jim Behning and Jane. And, C Town was large and in charge.
-Terry D and Rodney were responsible for setting up and laying out this incredibly tough course and were sporting gear.
- Kirt Murray and I were “captain” and set up tent and trailer, with Trent’s help.
- Jane, Jim Behning, the Peoples (Father and Son combo), yours truly, Trent and Steve Truitt were all racing.
- Post race brats and hot dogs were awesome.
- Watching the sprint to the line with Steve Truitt and ??unknown racer- it was literally neck and neck and sprint for 150 yards with Steve edging him out at the line. **As he said, “I can’t remember last time I’ve had a finish that close- me neither”
- Weather- unbeatable, best spring I can remember.
- Family being there, first race since Lily was born that my fam has been able to attend.

What wasn’t fun?
- Well, for me it was just a brutal race- to start with, I am raced out and need a recovery week, went out a little too fast and died on the 2nd run lap.
- Trent had chills and had to drop out, we feed off each other- so not having him pushing me made it tough to go “all out” when crunch time came.
When he started his normal pre race “I don’t feel good”, I thought umm humm, but it was for real.
- Felt like a fool on the bike, came off several times in areas I would have normally rode.
- The course, normally I would have loved it- but as I was struggling- a tough course just makes it worse. No one will ever race the GIHP and not have a story to tell.

C Town Race Team accomplished 3 first place age group finishes I know of- if any other awards I missed- let me know.

SPECIAL THANKS:

TERRRY D, RODNEY AND KIRT MURRAY-

I’m sure all 3 would have rather been racing, but volunteered to make this a special race and special day at the shop.

I have never seen so many cars in the parking lot!!!

BT

Recap of Dirty Spokes 6/12 hour MTB race: Well, it was a mile stone for C-Town in terms of pure #’s, we had 14 racers, 5 tents and consummed 22 brats! 2 x 2nd place podiums with a 4 man 12 hour team (Tim W, Trent S, Jim B and BT) and 2 man father/son 6 hour (Shey and Jansen), plus 2 man 6 hr (Allen and Rodney) 6 hour solo (Terry D) 12 hour solo (Jerry) and 4 man/12 hour 4th place (Pete S, Jim Bailey, Noah and Matt Jones). Weather held off, course was lightning fast- Great work by Dirty Spokes and Congrats to all racers and especially C Town Race Team. If you are a local racer interested in joining a team, contact us- we are not looking for podiums, just people who love racing tri, road, mtb- anything that involves 2 wheels!

One in the books, bout all I really feel like saying about that. Nah, there were a few more things:

- Darn, the weather was awesome 48 degrees, almost needed gloves- won’t have too many more mornings like that

- Trent smoked me, 12:13 and Brent 12:47.

- Still 13 seconds faster than 6 weeks ago.

- I really struggled getting out of bed this am due to early mornings all week and crying baby. But, it always helps to have a partner- cause I knew I’d catch hell if I no-showed.

- Funniest thing is both of us, running seperately, had identical thoughts about the 2nd lap (1/2 mi) “I just don’t feel it today, I’m just going to do a 1 mile time trial vs. a 2 mile time trial”. Trent’s reason for going ahead and doing 2 mile was “If I quit (I was a few seconds behind him) and he keeps going, it will make me look bad”. My reason was I got to the 3rd lap and realized I was on pace to beat my time from 6 weeks ago.

- It is a good thing that Trent or I hadn’t said out loud “Let’s just do a 1 mile time trial- it’s all it would have taken.

- Body Fat % machine is jacked up, showed mine @ 26% and Trent @ 25%. Will have to read manual before bringing it back.

Workout really was difficult, but I’m glad we attempted and finished as it was good to know that even on a really “off” day (where you just don’t feel good) that I am making progress.

Lata

Tri the Parks first triathlon for the season, held at John Tanner State Park… Weather was terrible BUT the storms kindly stopped 1 hour prior to race start and didn’t begin again until ~1 hour after race finish, so I suppose that we should be grateful. Sandy and I completed our first triathlon EVER today Our friend Evie also completed her first triathlon today. I experienced my first episode of true terror in what was the swim leg, but alas, did not drown this time and was able to continue to my more comfortable bike and run legs. Funny how cornering on aerobars feels very comfortable when compared to the 18 minutes of breast-stroke that preceded it… Sandy was amazing and won her division! A good swim, some mountain-bike style excitement on the bike mount followed by a strong ride, and then completion of perhaps her first 5k this year. Once sharing the goal of “I will be happy if I can just finish,” I believe that we have bot h already devised plans to rid ourselves of those unwanted minutes. About six weeks to Tri The Parks at Newnan (but will it be sufficient time to overtrain?)…

One of my favorite lines from our instructor @ LA for the Wed. 5:45 am spin class. As much as I prefer being on a bike, work and family commitments mean that some of my workouts have to be early am. Join Pete, Trent, Russ, Todd and myself sometime- you won’t regret it.

With the wife looking for the stork any day now, evenings are out for me- so morning workouts must suffice. Monday 5 am for a swim and run with Sweet T. After 30 minutes of talking biz and wknd, we swam 500, hit the hot tub and skipped the run. Tuesday 5:15 for run and spin class, spin instructor didn’t show up- REALLY, so @ 6:15, I bailed and went to work. This is going on the calendar as a RECOVERY WEEK. BT

A good amount of riders came out to the shop to begin their rides today! The weather started off a tad bit chilly but by 11 the sun was shining bright and I’m sure the longer mile riders were shedding clothes appropriately. As for the shorter distance riders we did the usual Saturday morning shop route of 18 miles. Thanks for everyone who came out!!

Hey everyone,

Several of us from C Town’s race team are joining East Metro Tri Club for their Monday Night Speedwork Sessions @ Rockdale High School @ 5:45 pm. Last night was a tough workout with 10 hill repeats that were just lung busters. C- ya there.

C Town Bikes website launched today February 8! Check out the current bike specials, 35%-40% discount. Note the calendar of training rides and events. Online shopping for all sorts of items COMING SOON- apparel, accessories, equipment, nutrition, supplements and more!