Life is a test, and only a test.

Well, I am a slacker when it comes to blogging. I will show up to ride, party, or work but when it comes to sitting at my computer to update a blog I just suck. However, I am going to try to get better at taking a few moments a day to let you all know what's happening with the Yazoo Crew. I just got back from ORAM or Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell. A mountain bike "race" if you want to call it that. For me this time it was more of a mountain bike "test" in which the mountain test my bike and my will to keep pushing myself to the next adventure. I have learned the hard way over the last three months that life WILL test you. In this thing we call life you are sometimes forced to take on crap that you never wanted to take on and other times we take on an unthinkable task just to see what you've got inside of you. I have been taking on both lately and although I prefer to pick and choose my battles that's just not the way it works. I have been going though some pain lately so I figured what the hell, why not take on a little more and after about 9 beers the prior weekend I decided to "race" my trusty cyclocross bike at one of the South's most brutal races. It does help that the Yazoo Crew came out in force with the support one needs desperately when making a commitment to such a stupid idea as racing a single speed cross check for 67 miles in the mountains but that's what we're all about. It goes back to our motto "we didn't come to win but we might". I figured since I have not done any training and my longest rides have been to the bar on the other side of town "why not race the cross bike?" My thoughts were that it would either be my way to victory or my final demise. It turns out that it was neither. The cross check treated me well for most of the ride and it really didn't hurt me till Curtis Creek. The only gear I could pull together in a few day prior to the race was a 34x20 which I will admit was a little stout for such an event and lack of preparation. It didn't help that I partied like an eighties hair band for three night's in a row prior to the event and had 3 hours of sleep the night before but agian this was a moutain bike "test". What did the weekend tell me.

1. I live in the moment and like to have fun with my friends. So much that I am willing to sacrifice what may happen to me the following day.

2. Riding a cross bike at ORAM is a bad idea.

3. Stanahands makes great whiskey.

4. I have some great friends and made a lot more by showing up to a killer race, I mean test.

Word.

Jut Rut