Sitting in with Thomas "Crash" Brown

So the end of my season was not what I expected. After crashing while training at the velodrome just three days before leaving for collegiate track nationals, I quickly realized my season was over. This realization was confirmed by the Orthopaedist's recommendation for surgery. About ten days after the crash, in order for the swelling to go down, I went in for surgery. They essentially took a twelve centimeter titanium plate and fastened it to my collarbone using sever screws. I remember getting quite angry with the anesthesiologist because he didn't understand how you could ride a bike on a banked track, but this was while he was giving me the magic potion to put me to sleep.

After a week of my mother feeding me narcotics for the pain and laying in bed watching TV, I started to feel better. I then started physical therapy after ten days. Since then I've been going to my PT twice a week, and a week ago I got back on the bike, which was four weeks after surgery. So I am essentially better, though my strength is not there-- at least that's what my PT says...though I think it really wasn't there before.

Dirty Spokes 6 hour @ Conyers

It was another great weekend (10.11.2008) of mountain bike racing for Jafer at his hometown course, the Georgia International Horse Park, site of the inaugural (1996) Olympic mountain bike race. With 300 registered riders for the final race of the Dirty Spokes endurance series, a great race was guaranteed. He competed in the solo expert category for the 6 hour race as preparation for his final endurance race of the year, a solo 8 hour race on October 25th in Davidson, NC.

Jafer was fortunate to have the support of his girlfriend and many others that assisted with feeds throughout the race. He even visited the neutral support provided by Addictive Cycles, to have his chain lubed and seat readjusted after it titled on the trail. All in all, it was another smooth race, thanks to frequent feeds and of course good luck.

The trail was perfect for a roadie, as it had plenty of field riding and rolling power sections. Jafer even had a career best of posting the fastest lap time, something he had yet to accomplish. After completing 9 laps of the 8.3 mile circuit, in a time of 6 hours 6 minutes and 57 seconds, he cruised in for the win, nearly 7 minutes ahead of second place. For complete race results click here

Black Bear Rampage MTB Race

On Saturday the 27th of September, Jafer and one of his friends made the trek north to Ducktown, TN for the Black Bear Rampage, a 44 mile mountain bike race at the Ocoee Whitewater Center (site of the 96' Olympics). After setting up camp at the Thunder Rock campground, they quickly geared up to hit the trail when the first misfortune happened. Jafer was tightening his shoe straps and the plastic cinch piece broke rendering his left shoe useless.

Luckily, he had some weed-eater line in his Jeep and after a few creative attempts, found an appropriate solution to his dilemma; albeit a little Jafer rigged (he had to think outside of his usual arsenal of tools: super glue, jb weld, and tape) it held for the entire ride, a very good sign for the race. After the ride they scrambled to prepare dinner over the campfire. The menu consisted of hearty vension burritos, complete with onions, tomatoes, rice, and cheese. After a filling dinner they turned in for the night since the race was scheduled to start at 8:30 the next morning.

They awoke to a moderate temperature in the low 60s and promptly rekindled the fire to heat the pre-made pancake breakfast. Thankfully, the campground was about a mile from the start so after breakfast they packed the car and headed out. After changing, they headed to the start line where the disarray started. The line up consisted of someone saying, wave one (pro/semi-pro) to the line and then ten seconds later saying go, with no grouping of the riders into age groups. Jafer was in the second wave (expert) that started 30 seconds behind. He didn't know if he was racing against the entire expert field or if the field would be broken down into age groups, so he sprinted off the line leaving his field behind.

The first three miles of the race was on Tennessee highway 68, so he locked his fork out and caught up to the pro field in front and entered the single track in 4th place. For the next hour and a half he stayed in 3rd to 4th place, with only 5 riders in his leading group. Up to this point he had seen a bear run across the trail, two riders in front of him crash, one rider get a flat tire, and a trail marker that had fallen down causing his group to stop and argue about which way to turn.

At about the halfway point his group hit the first major climb which split the leading group even further. Jafer moved into second place overall (1st in his field) and tried to reel in the rider in front but wasn't able to make contact. For the next 22 miles, he maintained his lead over the riders behind him. At one point he had to stop and wait for the rider behind him to catch up to ask him for directions. To his dismay a chair stood in the trail which split into a Y, which meant Jafer had a 50/50 chance of going the right direction. Luckily, the other rider decided that they should go to the right which was the correct choice (Jafer was going to go left).

With less than ten miles remaining, Jafer switched it into high gear and tried to keep the pace steady to the finish. Since there were no neutral feeds at the 3 sag stations he was forced to push on without stopping to refill his bottles. He was able to carry one large bottle on his bike and a smaller bottle in his jersey pocket, which was just short of what he needed.

In the last half hour he ran out of water and steam, as he was on the verge of cramping, but he kept on to the finish. When he emerged out of the single track to the final one K climb to the finish, he was disheartened to see another rider sprint out of the trail about 15 seconds after him. Unbeknown to him, it was a rider in wave one and posed no threat but he was determined to hold his place to the line.

After 2 hours 55 minutes and 12 seconds he crossed the line for first place, 3 minutes and 7 seconds ahead of the second placed expert rider. It turned out to be a good weekend even though the race wasn't that organized and the entry fee was excessive. In short the trail made the race, not the organizers.

Dauset Trails 6 hr mtb race

On September 20th, 2008, Jafer completed his first solo 6 hour mountain bike race this season at Dauset Trails in Jackson, GA. After a few down weeks following nationals, he didn't know what to expect fitness wise. The longest ride he had done in the lead-up to the race was a 3 hour ride a couple weeks prior to the race.

However, the course was perfect for a 6 hour race, fast, smooth, and rolling with no major climbs. He faced a very determined competitor, Jeff Clayton, who dueled it out the entire race.

Jafer had faster pit stops every lap which allowed him to regain the lead for the beginning of every lap but he was always caught by Jeff, before the finish line. Some laps it would take only a few minutes, others took twenty minutes, but Jeff always resumed the pace setting responsibility.

After, basically sitting on Jeff's wheel for the majority of the race, Jafer didn't feel right trying to out sprint him at the finish, so he backed off a little bit on the final lap (he also didn't want to make it inside of the time cut, which meant he would have to ride another lap). After 7 grueling laps, Jafer finished in second place in a very tight race. He felt that the most sportsman like gesture he could make was to take second, since he was not able to ride away from Jeff and had to sit on his wheel. It was the most contested race he has ever completed on his mountain bike and even though he didn't take the win he was happy with the fight. If only Jafer had finished his cornbread breakfast he could have won.

Festival of Speed at Dick Lane (9/20/08)

The Kudzu duo of Joey and Oscar skin-suited up for Saturday’s Dick Lane Velodrome Festival of Speed, which was the final track event of the season. The pair was fresh off of a trip from collegiate track nationals held in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Even though they were tired from a long season of racing, the two were hoping to pull off an upset to end the year. Oscar’s right hand man and track speedster Thomas ‘Crash’ Brown, was at home riding the couch, hopped up on more meds (pain killers) than his bike collection, after breaking his collarbone a few weeks earlier. With one man down, the two Kudzu boys were wary to think about success against such strong teams as Team Type 1 and Jittery Joe’s; plus a number of strong out of town ‘trackies’ that made the drive to Atlanta for the final event of the season.

The night started with a few 5 lap scratch heats (5 lap race to the finish) which qualified riders into the night’s handicap finals and keirin finals. With both Kudzu riders in the same heat, getting one qualified for the later races was a must. Oscar went straight to work with an early attack to stretch the field and kept the pace high to deliver Joey the win.

Since Joey advanced to the finals, the game plan was to keep him high in the overall standings by winning as many points in the remaining races as possible. The next event was a 60 lap points race, with point sprints every 5 laps. Oscar spent time covering moves from the field and chasing down strong attacks from a Fiordifrutta rider. Meanwhile, Joey was able to grab enough points in the sprints to take second in the race behind multiple time masters national champ Kenny Williams.

The trend continued through the night, as Oscar kept the field together while Joey light up the sprints. Joey place second in the 20 lap scratch event behind masters world and elite national kilo champ Steve Hill. Next on the bill, was the fastest and scariest race known on the track, the keirin, an exciting race where about 10 riders are brought up to speed, paced behind a motorcycle, and dropped off at one and a half laps to go, for an all out sprint. Positioning is key in the keirin, a full contact event, and Joey showed his true colors as an all around bike racer by fighting off some good headbutts and pushes from the big Joe Eldridge of Team Type 1, to hold onto his spot and place third in the 40+ mph event.

The only slip up of the night from the Kudzu duo came in the miss-n-out (an elimination race where the last rider of every lap is out) when a few miscommunications under the roar of the large crowd saw Joey out early. Oscar renewed the team’s hope by beating two time Giro di Italia finisher Trent Wilson for second place behind Kenny Williams.

The final event, the madison (teams of two compete in a sort of ‘tag team’ points race, complete with tummy turning high speed hand slings to exchange riders) was the only thing stopping them from a nearly perfect night. The first exchange was bungled by trying not to crash in the chaos of 10 teams exchanging at once. Consequently, the two lost about half a lap on the hard charging Jittery Joe’s duo. After about 15 laps of crisp exchanges and full tilt riding, the Kudzu boys caught the front of the detonated race which was controlled by Jittery Joes.

Everyone else was a lap down on the two dominate teams of the night. After missing the first few sprints, the pressure was building as the sprints were close, none closer than the mid-race $500 ‘crowd prime’ where Jittery Joe’s pro Tim Henry narrowly edged out Oscar by the width of his front tire.

Joey and Oscar kept tough, holding on through the insanity to end up second in the race. After a dramatic finale and successful night of racing, Joey finished second overall in the omnium with Oscar close behind in fourth.

Collegiate track nationals (Colorado, Springs)

Bad luck can't keep the team's spirit down. Last Friday, during a training session at the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point (Atlanta), Georgia, Thomas Brown suffered a major setback for collegiate track nationals. Thomas and Oscar were practicing their pursuit efforts when the mishap occurred. Thomas was leading with Oscar on his wheel, when Thomas went up track and miscalculated Oscar's whereabouts. When Thomas came down track, he clipped Oscar's rear wheel, immediately slamming him to the apron. He sustained a broken collar bone (in 3 places) and multiple lacerations on his left side, thwarting his hopes and psyche for the next few weeks.
However, Oscar was able to turn the bad fortune around with an undaunted 4th place in the 3K pursuit with a time of 3:33.724, just shy of the winner's time of 3:30.381. Joey rode a stellar race placing 6th with a time of 3:34.938. Today was day one of the 3 day track event, so expect some more big results from the Team Kudzu riders. Thomas is preparing to undergo surgery next Tuesday at the Emory Sports Clinic in Atlanta.

The COX MS 150 bike ride is coming up!!!!!! 9/13-14/08

From the Cox website:
What is the Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride?

Formerly known as the Cox MS 150 Atlanta Challenge, the Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride is taking place on September 13-14, 2008. Endorsed by ardent cyclists and novices alike, the tour offers a two-day fundraising ride through the beautiful surrounding countryside of Callaway Gardens and Pine Mountain, Georgia, a short distance from Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport, with spectacular views and historic towns along the way. Georgia's Two-Day Cycling Tradition, Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride is a non-profit sporting event celebrating its 22nd year in the fight against multiple sclerosis benefiting the National MS Society–Georgia Chapter.

The ride is reaching new heights in an effort to better the lives of all Georgians living with MS. By joining hundreds of riders, participants will be making a profound difference in the lives of people living with MS who are served by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society-Georgia Chapter. The Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride is one of two rides hosted by the National MS Society-Georgia Chapter and together will raise more than $1.4 million for client programs and research in 2008. The Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride and its sister tour, the Bike MS: Georgia Power Savannah Ride held in the spring, are regarded by cycling enthusiasts as premier rides in Georgia with experienced management, well-coordinated routes, and special attention to riders' safety, comfort and enjoyment.

Proceeds from the tour will help support various programs that aid the 8,500 Georgians with MS and their families in all 159 counties of Georgia. The Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride also joins thousands of cyclists nationwide in raising $77 million in an effort to fund research and local client programs. By joining the movement and riding in the Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride, you have the power to create a world free of MS.