O'Dea Diary: To Georgia, Michigan & Florida

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The racing for us really ended in September with both Eddie and I taking the solo wins at the 12 hours of Dauset, a Gone Riding event in Jackson, Georgia. After that, we spent October chillin' with friends, going to beer festivals, riding for short instead of long hours, and getting some work done. October really picked up with business for Eddie, and with school for me. The month ended with a fantastic mountain bike trip at R-Ranch in the Mountains of Dahlonega, Georgia.

Eddie rented a cabin to celebrate my 31st birthday and our one-year anniversary. We got married in Dahlonega in October 2006, so it was a great place to go celebrate! R-Ranch is known to be a landmark on the Six-Gap-Century route, and has a lot of acreage with cabins, camping, and trails. The trails are all on private land, so you must be a resident to ride...and these really are some of the best trails we've ridden in Georgia! It had everything...doubletrack, tight singletrack, steep ups and downs, swooping trails, rocks, and tons of roots. Our cabin was on a private lake, so the dogs had a blast, too. We didn't bring the road bikes this time, but there are miles and miles of gorgeous road riding right out of the place.

In November, we started our strength training plan, i.e. gettin' huge in the gym. The plan is an accumulation of advice from racer friends and books. It started out with four days per week in the gym with very little riding. I haven't been in the gym since 2003, so this has been interesting. Normally we do our strength work on the bike during the winter and spring, but we thought we'd give this a try.

My goals are to push a taller gear on my singlespeed next year with the same effort; Eddie's goal is to rip legs off. But, it is a good experiment as Eddie needs to understand the pros and cons of strength training on the bike and in the gym versus just on the bike, for those racers he coaches, too. I present an interesting challenge to him as a coaching client because I only ride and race singlespeed off road. And, I don't like riding on the road very much.

To read the complete diary entry, click here.