Our race season is about to kick off.  We’ll have quite a presence at the  North Georgia Adventure Race on 16 and 17 January, with three teams there to race.

• TeamHalfwayThere.com/RottenCheeseburgers Team (Michelle, Todd and Victor)
• ImONPoint.org -Odyssey Adventure Racing team (Shane, Mark and Jen)
• WRR1/ImONPoint.org (Eddie and two friends of his).

Thanks to Anthony, I have been training my butt off.  So, no excuses from a fitness perspective.  In preparation for this race, remembering the CP0 race from 2 years ago, and drawing on lessons learned from Michelle’s recent diet, here are some changes I made.

• Picked up a Rohloff hub.  It is an internally geared 14 speed set up.  I have battled derailleur issues, shifting problems and chain suck too many times.  Broken drivetrains can take a team out of contention for a podium finish, or entirely out of a race.  This hub should eliminate the majority of those issues.  I have been looking at them since 2008, and after talking with teammate Mark Lattanzi (he’s had one for a few years) and watching him remain unaffected by deep mud and chainsuck at Nationals this year, I am sold.
• Lake cycling shoes.  Some mx140s are on the way.  Jeremy swears by the Specialized Defrosters, but I cannot locate any in the bigger sizes.  The Lake’s have a great reputation, and I found them in my size. I tried the Pearl Izumi Amfib MTB shoe covers at the diet, and they were shredded within the first 20 minutes.  These shoes should be much more durable, and with thick socks I hope to stay relatively warm and dry.
• A warmer set of gloves!  On singletrack, my hands stay warm.  But once we hit those road sections, I end up with ice blocks on the ends of my arms.  Spokes, Etc is holding a pair of Pearl Izumi Barrier gloves for me.  Waterproof and insulated will be the ticket, especially when it is really cold, wet and miserable.

From an “I know better” perspective, these are some significant changes to make, especially this close to a race.  The wheel isn’t even built yet, and I will have all of a few hours with both the bike and shoes pre-race.  Additionally, I’m still wrapping up the patch job on the canoe.  North Georgia, here we come!

See you outside,

Shane