American Classic Hurricane

Pictured above you will see a picture of the wheels that are going to help roll us 3,700 miles!!! The American Classic Hurricanes have been designed by the legendary Bill Shook. Thanks to him and Ellen we are sure that we have one of, if not the strongest road wheels on the market. Here are a few bullet points on why we choose this wheel set.

• 32 hole, 3 cross spoke lacing makes these wheels strong enough for training, racing, cyclo-cross and of course touring. (On a side note, I have rode these through the gnarly trails of Bent Creek and had no problems what so ever.) The strength of the wheels is a very important aspect when we are riding with panniers. (a.k.a. The big bags that go on the rear rack of a bicycle.)
• Even though the extra spokes are added for strength, at 1600 grams these wheels make the perfect balance or rotational weight for climbing and flying on the flats.
• The third and most important aspect of these wheels are the decals. The colors match both the logos of Hawley and Crossover Athletics!!!

DEVO

This past weekend, I went up to Dallas, NC to ride with Dave to get some riding done in the hill country. It was a good looonnnggg ride that took us through some pretty good climbs and declines. It was cool to see different sites, ride with different people and get use to being on the bike for a few hours.
One thing we all knew preparing for this trip was that we needed to get in better bike shape. As for me, I needed to get my legs stronger and Dave it meant he had to lose a few pounds, which i must say to date he's almost lost 50 pounds! In biking it seems that we always go for the lighter stuff. We buy the more expensive bikes because they are lighter. We go for the lighter/faster stuff and most of the time don't think twice about paying more for it! Jesus tells us to do that same thing with our lives. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to get rid of everything in our lives that keeps us from achieving what God wants for us. We have to get rid of those things that are keeping us back. Imagine if we were christians that were aggressive to find ways to be "lighter" in our faith. We were finding ways that would make us "lighter" so we could go faster. I know God has a lot for our lives if we follow Him. I can't tell you exactly what it all is but I know it would be worth it. Acknowledge the area(s) in your life that need to be weightless and get rid of it.

Be lighter.

Our Schedule!

Here's our glorious schedule!

Day 1 - San Francisco, CA - Folsom, CA 105 Miles

Day 2- Folsom, CA- Carson City, CA 120 Miles

Day 3- Carson City- Fallon, NV 65 miles

Day 4 Fallon, NV - Austin, NV 105 miles

Day 5 Austin, NV-Eureka, NV 65 miles

Day 6- REST

Day 7- Eureka, NV- Majors Junction , NV- 100 miles

Day 8- Majors Junction, NV- Milford Utah 120 miles

Day 9- Milford Utah - Panguitch, UT 110 miles

Day 10- Panguitch, UT - Boulder UT 90 miles

Day 11 - Boulder , UT - Hanksville, UT 75 miles

Day 12 - Hanksville, UT - Blanding UT 90 miles

Day 13- Blanding, UT - Stoner , CO 90 miles

Day 14 - Stoner, CO - Ridgeway, CO 90 miles

Day 15 - Rideway, CO - Gunnison, CO, 90 miles

Day 16- REST

Day 17- Gunnison, CO - Cotopaxi, CO- 90 miles

Day 18- Cotopaxi, CO - Pueblo, CO- 80 miles

Day 19- Pueblo, CO - Tribune, KS- 159 miles

Day 20- Tribune, KS - Rush Center, KS- 112 miles

Day 21 Rush Center, KS- Newton, KS- 135 miles

Day 22 - Rest

Day 23- Newton, KS- Chanute, KS - 139 miles

Day 24- Chanute, KS - Walnut Grove, KS- 139 miles

Day 25 - Walnut Grove, KS - Summerville, MIssouri 115 miles

Day 26 - Summerville, MZ - Bismark, MZ 90 miles

Day 27 - Bismark, MZ - Goreville, IL 130 miles

Day 28 - Rest

Day 29 - Goreville, IL - Beech Grove, KY 125 miles

Day 30 - Beech Grove, KY - Howardstown, KY 125 miles

Day 31 - Howardstown, KY - Berea, KY - 115 miles

Day 32 - Berea, KY - Hindman, KY - 110 miles

Day 33 - Hindman, KY- Rosedale, KY 110 miles

Day 34 - Rosedale, KY - Radford, VA - 140 miles

Day 35 - REST

Day 36 - Radford, VA - Vesuvius, VA 130 miles

Day 37 - Vesuvius, VA - Charlottesville, VA 70 miles

Day 38 - Charlottesville, VA - mechanicsville, VA 125 miles

Day 39- Mchanicsville, VA - Yorktown, VA 90 miles!!!!

Day 40- CELEBRATE!

102 miles!

With our trip coming up pretty fast we knew we had to start getting our long rides in. Dave and Tony had previously ridden 100 miles but I had not. We started at 5:30 from Lexington High School and started on our trip. It wasn't too long before daylight broke and we picked up the pace a little bit. We were pretty steady at 18 mph and had an average in the first 50 at about 17.5-18. But we have all heard the saying, " it doesn't matter how well you start but how well you finish." The last part of the ride was brutal! I did not eat enough during the route and the last 20 miles were pure torture to say the least. Not only was I out of energy but the wind decided to start blowing as well which made it that much more miserable. It was good to complete our first century ride. Thanks to Hammer Nutrition we shouldn't be short on food on our trip so I will make sure i'm scarfing down some food while we ride. This upcoming weekend Tony will be in the mountains running a marathon and Dave and I are going to hit some small hill country and complete our 2nd century in 8 days! Should make sure a fun ride.

Jesse

Sweet Weather and my Four Legged Children

Last Saturday Dave, Jesse and I went for a 70 mile ride. The weather was perfect for the ride. It started off being 68 degrees but ended at 103 degrees with the heat index. The ride went really well and we thought we had done a good bit of climbing until we got to the end. With the new Sigma Rox 9.0 Computers we can gauge every bit of our data. It will literally calculate everything bit of information you can think of. We rode a total of 70 miles, we went up hill for 17.58 miles, that sounds like a lot but we only climbed 2,918 feet. That was a little bit disheartening since the second day of our XC ride we have to climb 8,000 feet. But we do have some upcoming weekends planned to ride in the mountains.

Yesterday myself (Tony a.k.a Teenwolf), Went to ride with the Hoffencrew at FATS in North Augusta. The trails were in great condition which made the ride totally awesome...except for the fact that Kelly snapped her rear derailleur off. Which I must say takes some skills and righteous riding to accomplish.

Picture Above: Kyle is finally back to smiling after the Flyer's got dominated in the Stanley Cup.

Picture Above: Kenny and Eric finishing up the Brown Wave Loop. Kenny asked for his photo to be smugged so people couldn't identify him on the street, and Eric is just creeping like he always does.

Picture Below: This is Layla and Kylie, (left to right). They were just hanging around trying to figure out how they can get to their treats with out us knowing.

Use your SWEET spot!

Bible Text: 1 Samuel 17: 38-50

This is the common bible story of David and Goliath. We read about how David triumphed over the giant Goliath but it was because David knew what he had to do.

Sometimes we can feel intimidated doing certain things. Sometimes we may feel like we are inadequate. Think about how David felt standing in front of this giant named Goliath with just a sling. David was motivated because he knew this giant was not going to insult the armies of the living God.

As David prepared to fight, his leader and King, Saul dressed him in his armor.

Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.

David refused the armor. The armor wasn't his and he knew in order to fight and win against this giant he needed one thing, his sling. He knew his limitations, what he could do and what he needed to do it with. David knew his sweet spot.

When you prepare to do something for God...

Peoples opinions can't determine your decision.
Trust your sweet spot while obeying God's direction.


Principle: We know our sweet spot. You know what you do best.
Do what you do best.

Jesse's Longest ride! So Far...

This past Saturday Jesse and I headed out for what would be Jesse's longest ride up to date. We were joined by one other rider named Scott, (a.k.a Bean Pole on a bike). We headed out into the county of Gilbert and turned right towards Batesburg-Leesville. This two named town is known for their pride and joy, Shealy's BBQ. Most of you know that being from Virginia there is only one way to cook BBQ, and that's the Pierces Pitt BBQ way. But I must say Shealy's is probably the closest I'll find with in a 6 hour radius. After we went through the "metropolis" of Batesburg-Leesville we headed to Moneta. Moneta has two things, a drive in movie theatre and peaches...LOTS of peaches. After about 30 miles of riding we decided to head back towards Lexington. We stayed on farm roads the way back and got a pretty good speed workout in from sprinting away from dogs. By the end of the ride we had hit the 65 mile marker or just over 100km for you Canadians reading.

P.S. Notice the rockin' Limar helmets. Thanks to Mike at Pronet we will be sporting these carbon fiber reinforced helmets across the country in style! Also, check out the front beak on the helmets. It is great for head butting mountain lions, bears, or kangaroos if need be.