Judgment Day - Results

So the results are in:
171 – Registered
123 – Started
63 – FINISHED


I figured the finishing numbers would be pretty low because of the heat but 1/2 is pretty ridiculous.

My Elemnt Bolt has a thermometer in it and records the temps during the ride.  You can see the average temps in that last column.

I went back and updated the spreadsheet I used to estimate the time it would take.

And here are a couple of pictures from the day.

Judgment Day - An Eternity Of Singletrack

"Judgment Day is where you challenge yourself to complete a certain number of trails (as laid out by the Organizers) within 24 hours."

I have always been really interested in this event and thought it would be a lot of fun.  Oh how wrong I was and I doubt I will ever do this again.  It was too damn hot.  Heat indexes were up over 110 for a large chunk of the day and it's really a miracle that I didn't hurt myself.  I ended up going through 3 gallons of water, almost a gallon of Gatorade, a gallon of sweet tea, and 32 oz of pickle juice.  After all of that I still came home 5lbs lighter (and that is after I ate a hamburger and fries at 11:30pm).

1. Rowlett Creek (North side) - we got started at RCP at about 5:20am.  It was humid but the sun wasn't up yet so we (my brother and I) had our lights on and were excited about the day.  Just over 5 miles of fast/flowy single track.
(5.14 total miles/ 33:36 ride time)

2. Sister Grove - we hit the trail at 6:49am.  The sun was coming up and we still felt good and were making good time without pushing too hard.  We were trying to pace ourselves for a long day.  Sister Grove has a little climbing but isn't too challenging.  I had a minor wipe out here but not damage done to me or the bike.
(11.88 total miles/ 1:26:20 ride time)

3. Erwin Park - 8:24am.  At this point, it's starting to dawn on us how long the day is going to be.  Erwin is a fast trail with some good climbs.  It's starting to get hot but the popsicle offered by the trail crew was the best popsicle EVER!
(20 total miles/ 2:27:12 ride time)

4. Isle Du Bois SP - 10:41am.  This is the trail that we were dreading.  IDB is ridiculously rocky with loose rocky climbing.  We only had to ride the A, B, and C loops but that was enough.  It was starting to get really hot, the heat index was already up around 110.  The trail beat us up and we were really glad to be done with it.
(24.19 total miles/ 3:13:35 ride time)

5. Johnson Branch SP - 12:31pm.  At this point, your going to notice a theme.  It was fucking hot!!!  JB is off Lake Ray Roberts on the other side of the lake from IDB so it's similar but not as much of a beating.  However, when we roll up the trail steward warns up about the biting flies on the trail.  GREAT!  We also spotting the first casualty of the heat.  We helped another rider that was having some serious heat issues.  I only got bit by 5 or 6 flies.  My bibs were starting to rub me the wrong way so I put on a fresh pair but unfortunately the damage was done.
(30.18 total miles/ 4:13:52 ride time)

6. Knob Hills - 2:43pm.  So HOT!  This trail is fast but a little rough in spots.  There are some short off camber climbs and bench cuts and a lot of really short steep climbs.  It's a lot of fun when you haven't already ridden 5 other trails.  The trail steward warned us it would be hot but we weren't expecting what we rode into.  A large portion of the outgoing trail is bordered by these 8-10 ft tall "weeds" and when your ride into them it's like riding into a furnace.  It was oppressive.  You just have to keep moving or I'm pretty sure you would just dry up and die.  I got my first taste of some heat exhaustion out there and almost threw up twice.  I was starting to cramp up.
(37.43 total miles/ 5:08:30 ride time)

7. Northshore - 4:49pm.  This trail has been on my radar all day long.  I kept telling myself if you can get past Northshore you are home free.  I knew it was going to be bad when I couldn't even get out of my truck without my hamstrings cramping up and fuck I barely got my socks and shoes on.  This was tough.  I hit a real low point here.  I was struggling to eat anything since the last trail and food or water was making me sick.  I kept the fluids going to but I couldn't get any food in me.  Northshore is fast and flowy but I wasn't moving fast at all.  I was creeping a long just trying to survive.  Every climb was torture, my HR would sky rocket with any exertion and my bibs felt like they were made of sandpaper.  It sucked and I was starting to cramp up.
(45.15 total miles/ 6:22:20 ride time)

8. LB Houston - 7:03pm.  It was still hot but the sun was starting to go down so at least we weren't in the direct sun anymore.  My legs cramped for about 5 minutes when I got out of my truck but calmed down with some walking and cursing.  LBH has ZERO climbing.  It's a really fast trail but it wasn't in great shape.  The trail stewart warned us not to go out without eye protecting saying "There are a lot of face slappers."  It was worse than that, there was debris everywhere.  I was convinced I was going to lose a tire out there.  I was still struggling with hydration and fueling and almost threw up again.  But when were got done the trail steward was making burgers and dogs for everyone at the trailhead.  I doubted I could eat it but I never pass up a burger.  I was able to eat it and it made me feel SO MUCH BETTER.  So for future events like this, I am just going to fuel with hamburgers.
(50.99 total miles/ 7:06:14 ride time)
* We ended up with a mile less distance that other riders even though our GPS track was identical.

9. Harry Moss - 8:43pm.  Cramped again when I got out of my truck but yet again some walking and cursing seemed to help.  We had our lights back on and ready to get this done.  I had never been to this trail before but at this point I just wanted to be done.  There were some short punchy climbs that you hard to get a good run at but no real climbing here.  The miles seemed to tick off so slowly and all I could focus on was the copous amounts of skin that my bibs were rubbing off my nether regions.  At least it was finally starting to cool off a little.
(55.42 total miles / 7:46:58 ride time)

10. Rowlett Creek (South side) - 10:11pm.  I was SO ready to be done.  I knew I was going to cramp as soon as I got out of the truck so I was sitting there preparing myself when I fucking cramped up.  This sucked so bad, my hamstings, hips, calves, lower back, and lower abs all cramped at the same time.  I couldn't get out of my truck to move or stretch.  I finally threw the door open and fell out of my truck.  Under other circumstances my brother would have laughed his ass off but he was having his own issues.  I finally got myself under control and we set out of finish this shit off.  We know RCP really well so we were able to knock it out without any issues except for a suicidal armadillo that wanted to take me out at the end of the trail.  I'm pretty sure if he had knocked me over I would still be lying there.  It was so nice to roll back up to the trailhead and check in with the organizer.  We were DONE!
(59.16 total miles / 8:14:47 ride time)
*  This was suppose to be 60 but we lost that damn mile at LBH.

So it was all done and I headed home. Of course, I had to stop to get a #RecoveryBurger.  Since it was 11:30pm at night my options were limited so Whataburger was my destination.  And yet again, I fucking cramped up when I got out of my truck.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy person flailing around and cussing in the parking lot but I was going to get my damn hamburger.

I was so exhausted when I climbed into bed at 12:30am but for some reason I was wide away at 3:45am. I laid there for a while staring at the ceiling and then decided to get up and write my recap.  So please excuse and grammar issues.

Running again, sort of...

So I bought some new Brooks Ghost 9s because I've started running again and my old Ghosts have over 400 miles on them.  I tried to start running at the beginning of the year and quickly started to push the distance and pace up.  As a result, my knees gave me a huge "FUCK YOU" and I stopped.

About a month ago, I was out walking the dog and he wanted to run so bad.  So I tried to run with him a little.  I had to take several walk breaks but it wasn't to bad.  I'm only running 2-3 miles 2-3 times a week and still take walk breaks here in there.  It's nice to be able to run a little bit again.   I have ZERO expectations and ZERO goals right now.  Just taking the dog out to get some exercise and for me to get a little cross training in.  Skittles gets so excited when he sees Karie or me pulling out our running shoes.

Knob Hills MTB Trail

So last Saturday I got a chance to get out to a trail that I haven't ridden in a quite a while.  It's probably been 6+ years since my last ride out there.  It was an out and back trail last time and now it's completely looped with about 12+ miles of single track.

One of the reasons I went out there was to check out the trail since it is part of Judgement Day.

Luckily most of the technical stuff is beyond what I will have to ride for Judgement Day.  However, there are 2 steep climbs that are included.  I feel on one of them and had to walk the other one.

Climb 1 - I should be able to make this.  I wasn't expecting the climb and didn't have enough momentum.

Climb 2 - I'll still probably walk this on race day because I'm going to be getting tired and I probably won't want to waste a bunch of energy trying to get over those steps while climbing

I feel pretty good about what I have to ride here and it shouldn't be a problem.  But it's going to be HOT here.  It's off Lake Grapevine and it will be humid.

There is only one trail left on the list I haven't ever ridden, Harry Moss, but I hear it's pretty easy.  And I haven't seen LB Houston or Johnson Branch in a while.  LB Houston is flat as a pancake so I might try to his JB this weekend if possible.

Trying to figure out Judgment Day

So on June 24th 2017 the local MTB club is putting on an event called Judgement Day.  It was originally scheduled to happen a couple weeks ago but it got rained out and moved.  Good news (or bad not sure yet) I can participate now.  

"Judgment Day is where you challenge yourself to complete a certain number of trails (as laid out by the Organizers) within 24 hours."

This year they have 9 trails selected with everyone riding the same trail to start and end the event.  

1. Rowlett Creek Preserve
2. Sister Grove Park
3. Erwin Park
4. Isle Du Bois State Park
5. Johnson Branch State Park
6. Knob Hill Trail
7. Northshore Trail
8. LB Houston Trail
9. Harry Moss Park Trail
10. Rowlett Creek Preserve

There are three categories:  Hard (60ish miles), Harsh (90ish miles), Hellish (SS 90ish miles)

I will be doing the "Hard" since it's the first time I do this event.  

So right now,  I am just trying to wrap my head around the logistics of this event.  Just driving from trail to trail is going to take about 5 hours (200+ miles).

So with a 5:30am start (the earliest they will let you start), taking drive time, 12 minutes to unload and load for each trail (guessing), and assuming a max of 60 minutes (most trails should be under 60) riding at each trail, I ended up with this:

With a grand total elapsed time:

Yep, that is hours.  

So my main concerns at this point:

Light!  

On July 24, sunrise = 6:35am and sunset = 8:32pm.  So I have a hour in the morning and 4-5 hours in the evening of riding in the dark.  

The Heat!

It's going to be hot so hydration is going to be HUGE! 

Eating!

What the hell am I going to eat?   This event is going to span breakfast, lunch, dinner.  My goal is to NOT puke.  The heat is going to make eating rough.  

Swamp Ass!

This kind of goes with the heat.  Sitting in soaked bike shorts for 18+ hours is going to do horrible things to my nether regions.  I do not own 10 pairs of MTB shorts so I can't change after every trail.  I'm going to have to put together a plan on how often I should change.  I probably need to buy 10 gallons of chamois butt'r for this event.

I have a lot of stuff to figure out in the next couple of weeks.

24 Hours in the Canyon, #FAIL

I "raced" the 12 hour geared solo event at the 24 Hours in The Canyon.  It's a really fun event that does a MTB and Road endurance race.  It takes place in Palo Duro Canyon which is gorgeous.  I didn't do any specific training for this race (and am 25lbs over race weight) so I had no illusions that I was going to make the whole 12 hours. I was just going to take it one lap at a time.

The 24 hour race starts at noon on Saturday, the 12 hour race starts at midnight, the 6 hour starts at 6am and they all finish at noon on Sunday.    The MTB course is about a 8 mile loop with 400+ feet climbing per lap.  Mostly pretty easy single track with a 1 mile technical section towards the end.

My brother and I got out to the canyon on Friday to do a pre-ride and get pit location setup.  It was fucking hot and there were biting flies everywhere.  Those biting flies can all burn in hell. 

We chilled out most of Satuday and went back into the canyon later in the afternoon on Saturday to get everything ready to and setup before our midnight start.  Several storms had run through the canyon and made the course nasty but it was still okay to ride.  As we are hanging out watching the race directors stop everyone and starts to yell "Seek Cover, large hail and high winds coming".  In the canyon you have no where to go.  Racing was stopped around 6:30ish.

Luckily the hail never hit the pit area but some of the rides out on the course got hit with some little hail.  However, we did get quite a bit of rain and the bikes coming off the trail were a fucking mess.

Once the storms cleared and the trail dried a little bit racing was resumed at 9pm.

So we started racing a midnight, the trail wasn't too bad.  Some of the corners were really slick and there were a couple mud holes but over all it wasn't too bad.  However, the storms left us with 100% humidity.  With the temps in the low 60s, the water just hung in the air and settling on everything.  Within 5 minutes of starting I was soaked to the bone and was cold.  Lap 1 was good, I was pacing myself within my limits and felt alright.  As I hit the technical section on Lap 2 my helmet light (my main light) just turned off, no low battery warning, nothing.  I had to ride out with only my bar mounted light.  It REALLY sucks to ride with just a bar light.  In the twisty technical shit, you want the light to be where you are looking.  So I got back to the pit after lap 2 and was completely frazzled.  I changed my battery on my light but since my batteries were not lasting the 3 hours like at home (yes, I tested both batteries at home the week before) I wouldn't be able to do more than 1 more lap.  I did the 3rd lap.  I had no clue if my battery would last another lap or not and was pretty pissed.  I knew I had a lap or two left in me but I didn't want to ride with just the bar light again so I sat down.  YOU NEVER SIT DOWN IN ENDURANCE RACES, at least I can't.  It was 3:15am and within a 5 minutes I was asleep. I was done.

I only made it 3+ hours, which is pretty fucking embarrassing.  I'm better than that, even at my current weight and fitness, I'm better than that.

I did have fun and absolutely love riding in the canyon but would like to do it more in the daylight.  I love this event, everyone is so friendly and it's just like a huge party all weekend.  The next time I go I will be in better shape and ready to kick ass.

The weekend wasn't a total fail, I got to take some selfies with plastic cows.

ADDENDUM:

I also had a awesome wardrobe malfunction with one of my jerseys that my brother thought was hilarious.  Fucking zipper broke.

My adventures with a jackfruit

After listening to some hype about the magical jackfruit, I started to search.  The grocery manager told me that he stocks a couple of them every week but they go fast.  After a couple of weeks I finally saw one of these massive beasts hanging out next to a lot of other very insecure fruit.  If you ever want to have vegans approach and talk to you, just carry a jackfruit around.  I was asked "are you a vegan" multiple times.  Anyone that knows me, knows them there is fight'n words.

Little did I know jackfruit is expensive, however, the guy running the check out had no clue what it should cost.  After discussing it we finally agreed on $4.99, which after some research is stupid cheap for this thing.  The all powerful google tells me that in Texas a jackfruit can go from $2-$4 a pound, this thing weighed 10 lbs.  So I got a deal.

So when I got home I watched some videos about how to open it up and get to the goodies.  Every video I watched warned of the latex in the fruit.  I didn't quite understand this until I opened it up.

When I finally had the time to open it up, I grabbed a sharp chefs knife and started cutting.  It was pretty easy to cut in half but I immediately saw the liquid latex coming out of the ALL the pulp in the fruit.  It was sticky and messy.  It didn't take long to get it all over my hands.  I eventually had to spray Goo Gone on my hands (which you're not suppose to do according to the label) to get that shit off my hands and knife.

The first thing I noticed when I opened up the fruit was the smell.  It was sickeningly sweet and very strong.  I knew at this point that if it tasted like it smelled it would be too much for me.  One of the fruit pods came out pretty easily and the entire family tasted it.  It's very dense and chewy.  I didn't hate it but it's not something I would crave either.  The kids and Karie said it was "okay" but not a favorite either.  At this point, I'm glad I only paid $5 bucks for it.

I continued to work on it and I must not know the trick because getting the fruit out is a pain in the ass.  After 30 minutes I had only a handful of the fruit out.  Karie thinks it wasn't completely ripe and that might explain why it was so chewy.  I eventually got enough of the fruit out to try to make pulled "pork" with it later and got the rest out of my kitchen.  It doesn't take long before everything smells like jack fruit.  UGH!

What I learned:
1.  It's expensive, but you get a shit load of fruit if you can get it out (glad I got this for $5)

2.  It's very smelly (this can be good or bad depending on whether like the smell).

3.  It's messy and hard to cut up.  The latex coming out of it gets everywhere and is difficult to clean up without some sort of solvent.

For me, it's just not worth the effort and cost.  I still haven't made the pulled "pork" with it and that might change my mind, but I doubt it.  So next time I'll just leave the jackfruit to the vegans.

Busy and sick...

I kept meaning to get a post written up but shit just keeps popping up.

Last week sucked.  To make a long story short, I ended up getting an emergency root canal through one of my crowns.  There was a significant infection in the roots, so the dentist cleaned it out and packed it with meds.  I am on antibiotics right now and go back in about a week for them to drill it all back out and finish off the root canal.  Fun shit!!!  And did I mention that antibiotics give me crazy ass nightmares.  So with that and the nasty cold that is rolling though the house I haven't been sleeping much.

I was feeling crappy yesterday but decided to get out and put the new tires on my gravel bike.  Working on my bikes always makes me feel better.  Something therapeutic about it.  I removed the 700x32 city tires and put some 700x35 cx tires.  Those city tires were HEAVY!  The new tires are nice and light weight and have some better tread.  I got into some mud with the city tires a couple weeks ago and almost killed myself.

Because of all the crap happening lately my routine is completely screwed and I think it's going to stay that way until the new year.  The big holidays are coming up.  The end of the year can get really busy with work (especially as we try to wrap up this massive development project for Shell) and with all the family obligations, I am just going to get on the bike when I can and enjoy the ride.  

Memories...

I finally got around to cleaning up the kiddo's binders.

With each kiddo I kept a blog while Karie was pregnant with them.  Samantha and Becca's are pretty extensive but poor Henry's isn't but we were just so busy that a lot of those extra things fell through the cracks.  Today I separated my one huge binder into 3 separate binders and will try to be better about keeping them up to date.

With that I am also going to try to be better about blogging more about some of the family stuff happening around here and not just about my bikes and rides and races.  I know the one or two people that follow this blog might not be interested in that shit so this is a warning that it's coming.  Sorry but some of that stuff helps me stay sane.  If you're getting copies of this blog and you don't want it let me know and I will take you off.  Don't worry I won't be offended.

I put copies of it into the kiddos binders and I feel like it might help my kids to understand I wasn't always the grumpy old man that I will be when I finally give them these binders.  :)  That at one point there dad was cool and jumped him MTBs off shit. :)

One of the first things I need to do is to updated a couple stories for Henry's binder.  His birth story never made it into his binder and I really want to make sure that gets in there.  

New frame, finally got to ride it.

So I finally was able to get out onto my new frame.  I got geared bike back on the 12th but didn't get a chance to ride it before I went out to Dayton for a friends wedding.  But last Thursday I was finally able to get out for a ride on it.

I charged up my lights and headed out to Frisco.  I'm still not ready to go back out to Erwin (if you want to know why read.  4 Hours of Erwin).

I had the trail to myself.  Once the sun goes down everyone goes home, not everyone enjoys night riding.  I trail was in good shape and the bike felt great.  The geometry of the frame felt a little different but was very smooth and fast.  I could tell it was a little lighter and rigid.  It was very responsive.  It was a great ride.  I'm sure if it has been a day ride there would have been some PRs set.

4 Hours of Erwin

When I signed up for this race, I had intended to ride my Cannondale (geared) bike.  I hadn't been on my single speed but a couple times since February and I am not really in SS race shape.  But since I broke the frame on my Cannondale I went decided to race on my SS with very low expectations.

Leading up to this race the weather forecast was troubling.  There was a call for ran the morning of the race.  It wasn't a huge deal because the trail needed some rain but if it got too much the trail would close.  The race director setup an alternate race route on the park roads and gravel roads surrounding the park so the race would happen on way or another.

Still now knowing whether we were racing on dirt or gravel, I decided to setup for dirt and bring my tools to change my gearing if they decide to run gravel.   Luckily, the trail ended up in pretty good shape for the race and the "cold" front that brought the rains dropped the temps into the mid-80s.

This was a 4 hour race and slightly different than some of the previous endurance races I have done.  This race ended at 4 hours.  Any lap completed after the 4 hour mark would not count in the standings.  That will be important later.

I got out to Erwin park around 3:45pm, checked in, and found a nice spot to setup my little pit area.  I got there early enough to snag a picnic table.

I ended up setup my SS with 32x21 gearing.  I would be slow and would be completely screwed on an downhill sections but it would be a lot more knee friendly.  What I didn't anticipate was the initial roll out would be on pavement and I would be immediately dropped by the entire field.  It was just me, a couple other single speeds and the fat bikes in the back.  By the time I got to the trail, some slower riders ended up in front of me and for a little while I had to play follow the leader but eventually worked my way around.

• Lap 1 - "why the fuck do I sign up for these races"
  I went out too fast and almost blew up (and threw up).  I was chasing another single speeder with the thought that if I pass him at least I won't be DFL.  Pretty stupid.
  Lap Time - 45:22
  Pit Time - 2:35
• Lap 2 - "everything hurts and I want to die"
  By this time I was hurting from Lap 1 and was in a bad place mentally.  I struggled with heart burn and almost threw up a couple times.  I really wanted off my fucking bike at this point but I was able to control my pace better and recover some.
  Lap Time - 58:23
  Pit Time - 6:48
• Lap 3 - "hey, I might actually finish this"
  I forced myself out for lap 3.  I kept telling myself there wasn't any good reason to quit other than being a pussy so I pushed out.  I had to put my lights on for this lap and the temps started to drop and as the sun went down dew started to form on the grass and roots.  The trail was getting a little slick.  On this lap, my triceps were on fire.  My rigid SS beats the shit out of you on rough courses and Erwin as a shit load (I mean a shitload) of roots.
  Lap Time - 1:01:31
  Pit Time - 3:09
• Lap 4 - "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."
  I knew I barely had enough time to get another lap in and my goal was three laps but I had to try.  I had used up my legs and my entire upper body was on fire so I was creeping along. I was all over the trail at this point, my control was shit.  A couple riders passed me and I would try to jump on their wheel and would get dropped within a couple minutes.  I just couldn't hold the pace I needed.  About a mile from the finish line I could hear them warning about the cut off and then could hear them counting down but I was too far out. I missed the cut off on my last lap by 2 minutes.  :(
  Lap Time - 1:04:16

So my official time was 3 laps in 2:53:39.  My Garmin time was 4:02:04.  I ended up 23rd overall and 3rd Single Speed.  The only did the overall SS winner so no podium today.

The group that put on this race (The Spinstry) are awesome.  The races are well run and always have free food after.  Not many MTB events have food or drinks available.  After the race I grabbed a burger and a mountain dew and watched the podium awards.  By the time I go how I was exhausted and really, really sore.  But pretty happy with my performance and cool t-shirt too.

I forgot to wipe my legs off before I came home and sat on the couch.  Oops.

UPDATE:

The official results were released and they included my 4th lap.  WOOHOO!

I moved up from 23rd to 22nd overall. 

12 Hours of Erwin Park, uh only 4 for me.

Of course, as the race day gets closer everyone has been watching the rain chances.  Can you tell what day the race is on?

The good news about this is that the trail can really use a little bit of rain.  But if we get too much it's going to be a mess and the race would be canceled.

Not anymore!  The race directors have put together a new race route that includes the paved loop inside the park and the gravel roads around it.

If it comes to this, I am not sure what gearing I would need to put on my SS.  And would they allow me to use my gravel bike for this race instead of my SS MTB?  That might actually be a lot of fun. The rain is suppose to come in early Saturday morning so we should know by the afternoon what will be happening. 

Cannondale said "Yes!"

I finally received a call from BikePlus and Cannondale has accepted my warranty request on my frame.  The warranty guy (evidently there is only one) at Cannondale was on vacation last week and that is the reason for the ridiculously long wait time.

Unfortunately, my Cannondale will not be ready for this weekends race.  I will still be on my single speed, my knee is already aching in joyous anticipation!

The frame will probably get to the bike shop early next week and I should have it back by next weekend.  Just in time for me to head out of town for the weekend.  Oh well, I'll ride it when I get back.

When you do a warranty replacement you never really know what you are going to get.  Of course you will get the equivalent or better. But you never know what color it might be.  I was lucky on my last frame because Trek called me and asked what custom colors I would like on my frame.  My twin brother wasn't so luck with his last replacement frame, he got a stark white frame with red accents.

Unfortunately they don't have any of the solid matte black carbon frames like I had previously.  The replacement will be the Cannondale team colors, black, while, and green.  I am really hoping I will get an upgrade to a 2015 F-Si frame (pictured below).  But a replacement with this color scheme would be okay too. Cannondale has some ugly as frames and I am keeping my fingers crossed one of those doesn't show up.

 Since it's a new frame it's like I'm getting a brand new bike!

BIKE! BIKE! BIKE!

Still no word on my broken frame

I dropped off my Cannondale on the 27th of August and still don't have a response from Cannondale about the warranty.  The guys at BikePlus submitted the warranty request on the 29th and expected a response within 72 hour but nothing.  It's really frustrating to be down a bike and having to do all my MTB rides on my SS right now.  My knee is hold up okay but I would be more ideal to work back onto my SS slowly.

I finally sent a note over to the organizer of the race I am doing Saturday to move me over to the SS group since it is very unlikely I will get my geared bike back.

I'm worried about this race but at this point there isn't much I can do.  I'll do what I can do.  The forecast isn't ideal either, there is a pretty high chance of rain on Saturday morning   If the trail gets hit hard they could cancel the race but it will probably just make it slick and messy for the race.  Which will be fun.