Journal

Wanna do some leg work in the off season?

We know, we know..you want to eat all the food at all the holiday gatherings on your calendar for the rest of the year, but you also want to be in fighting shape when it's time for

Epic Reflections

I wanted to try to say something about the race as a whole, but as one might expect, the Epic is just a little too much to try to wrangle into a reasonable amount of words. Even this short series of r...

2022 Delta Epic Stories

So, I thought about this....instead of a "ride" report (I surely didn't race it..26hrs), I am going to go w/ a "LESSONS learned from a first time "solo" rider...but a relay finisher in 2020 and a DNF

The Art of the Recovery Ride

Of all the types of training rides one can do, the recovery ride may be the toughest one of all! In honor of its difficulty to master, let’s go with the properly capitalized Recovery Ride.

Favorite Five Leg Workout for Cyclists

Last week we talked a bit about L2 rides being a great way to shed some fatigue and start building your winter base. The next thing you can think about layering on in the winter are some deep leg and

Everyone loves easy rides!

Ah, good ol’ Zone 2 riding. Base miles. It is our foundation...and not enough of us do it!

5 Points 21

“Nah, you are fine... I think it is a pretty fast course.”

Mud in The Mid South

I knew I was in for a long day when I made it to Stillwater an hour before race start and there were streams flowing through the streets. Before long, lightning had started as well, which caused a hal...

No Events? No problem!

Right now many of you are feeling disappointment and frustration around races and rides being canceled. Most of us haven’t seen a global event like this in our lifetime. I believe, however, that we ca...

Zones and Pretty Colors

This is my tattered version of power zones that I have been writing handwritten notes on for a few years. Finally decided to convert it to an updated version with threshold heart rate and RPE. Mash-up...

Easy Light Setup for Short Events

Riding at night is probably my most favorite thing to do on a bike. Your world is encapsulated in a bubble of light. Everything outside of that beam doesn’t even exist. Trails look different, you c...

Ordinary Epics partners with Methodist Rehab Center to gravel for a great cause

RMR will now offer four route options – 25, 45, and 62 mile road routes along with a 45 mile mixed surface/gravel ride. The ride will be well supported by Methodist Rehab employees at Halloween themed...

Mississippi Gravel Cup and Lauf Strengthen Partnership in 2020!

The fastest-growing discipline in cycling today is gravel. This new style of riding has introduced more adventurers to cycling with more gravel-specific bikes, gear and events debuting this year than

Out of your head and into TrainingPeaks

Here are the building blocks I copy/paste from the notes app on my phone. Feel free to use it as a starting point for your workout notes.

Double dose of Kanza

I completed DK200 for the first time in 2015 then again last year but when the team announced the larger version in 2018 dubbed

DK 2019 - Faith Shattered, Faith Restored

To give DK2019 the context it deserves, I have to go back to the beginning.

Dirty Kanza XL 2019 Journal

I’ll use this post as a dumping ground for random thoughts in the weeks leading up to the 2019 Dirty Kanza. I have completed the 200 mile of the event twice and am tackling the 350 mile “XL” version

A few months of Whoop

First thing is first. I am a data nerd and am an exhaustive researcher. I am also a fairly new cyclist compared to many of my peers. I don’t have the experience to ride, train, or fu

We’re Really Excited about this…

Deceptively Dirty Kanza

When I raced DK for the first time in 2015, I suffered a bad sidewall cut just 30 miles into the race that I had to nurse to the first support area to get fresh rubber. Ever since, I've had sort

One Woman's Vista 300

This is my first time to really do a write-up of any race. I'm not sure why, except I tend to lose so many pieces to the puzzle from my memory banks that I just go “oh well.” But, I've got my glass of...

Seeking Mojo at TransIowa v14

TIv14 Bike Setup

While I am collecting all of my thoughts into a full write-up on TransIowa, here is a bit of an expanded version of the bike setup post from a few days ago on Facebook. Stay tuned for more!

The Road to TransIowa v14

TransIowa is a 300+ self-supported mostly gravel race with a pretty aggressive time limit. Most people do not finish. Below are some of my daily thoughts as I get ready for this beast of a

Finding the Breaking Point

Over the past few years, I have sort of been building up to harder and harder bikepacking routes finishing Trans North Georgia twice and finishing really well at Stagecoach last year. Riding in

AZTR Pack List - Cockpit / Lighting / Backpack

Here is what my overall setup for the AZTR looked like with some details on cockpit, electronics and the Wingnut pack I used. Looking back it was a pretty dialed setup having no problems at all.

AZTR Pack List - Hygiene Kit

When talking to another cyclist about bikepacking multi-day routes one of the first questions that typically comes up is "How many extra sets of bibs do you take?" or "Where do you take a shower?". Fo...

AZTR Pack List - Fix Kit

When venturing into the backcountry, you stop measuring the distance from civilization in miles but rather days. Given the remote nature of the long routes some of us choose to undertake it beco

AZTR Pack List - Sleep Kit

For anyone that has gotten into long format racing understands the importance of having a very dialed kit. There are many factors to this including:

Winter Rehab Warmer

Over the past couple of years, I have become a big fan of mixing up a few scoops of

3 Nights in the Desert

In 2017 I have decided that I am going to focus on just a couple of big events and probably pepper in a few others for fun. The first big thing for this year is the

Car Smash to RPI

2016 had its highs and lows. If you read my recap of

Couple of weeks after Stagecoach

I am still riding pretty high on the stoke from

Massive Effort, Massive Reward - Stagecoach 2016

After racing

1 step back, 2 steps forward

Racing is done for 2015 so it is time to start building for 2016. Through this year I have been following plans that

TNGA 2015......sweet, sweet suffering

Pre-race - The Nerves

Rebecca's Private Idaho 2015

3 days, 2 nights......final TNGA test run

Prequel to First Solo Bikepacking Trip

Knocking the cobwebs off of this thing.....

Flashbacks.......2014 XC was a bust

MORCS #3 - Dust n Bones - Brookhaven, MS

MORCS #1 - Bonita Extreme - Meridian, MS

March 2014 Sonoma Trip - Annadel State Park - Day 2

March 2014 Sonoma Trip - Annadel State Park - Day 1

Tuff Guy 2014

Southern Cross 2014

Hello world.