Briar Patch - TORC #1 2011 Race Series

First race of the TORC 2011 XC Series here in the Triangle was at Briar Chapel located south of Chapel Hill, NC. Great course, very flowy and then they mix in the rock garden sections with each lap being six miles. Racing in the Single Speed division we had three laps and it was going to be a tough day with some of the guys out there. I knew I had to pace myself with the heat being high 80's with 60% humidity at the 11am start time. They have a nice gravel road start that is around a mile to help spread everyone out before hitting the singletrack. I hit the woods in 6^th and it was a good pace that I knew I could hold the entire race. For the first and second lap it was fairly uneventful except having to stop in the middle of a rock garden since the guy in front of me came to a dead stop and left me nowhere to go. I started having a minor stomach issue about two miles into the last lap, so backed it off and popped some chews when I hit the doubletrack climb. Started picking the pace back up when with about two miles to go I catch my front tire in a rocky section going up hill and just eat it hard. Luckily the rocks I landed on were smooth and not jagged, but they were not forgiving at all. I got myself up and the guy behind me who couldn’t see it, but he heard the crash and all the profanity that went with it. I sat on a nice grassy clearing about ten feet away for about a minute to check myself over since my arm was throbbing and bleeding and couldn’t close my hand all the way. One of the other rocks gave me a nice kidney punch when I landed on it. I ended up finishing 9th in the Single Speed Division with a time of 1:51:53.  I must have laid there in the grass longer than I thought since it looks like I lost a good 7 minutes or so, oh well crashes happen. 


Rockin' The Twin Six Metal Kit



All in all, glad I finished the race without a DNF or last. It took two stitches to close my elbow up and hoping to be back on the bike within the next week when I get more range out of my arm.

Pig Butt

Well I started my morning at 9am prepping the butt for the rest of the day.  My choice of spices to rub onto the butt were salt, pepper, brown sugar, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder.  They were not put on in order and no measuring just straight eye balling it.  The butt hit the charcoal grill at 9:30 with some indirect heat for the next eight hours.  After about two hours  I took the mesquite wood chips that have been soaking and placed them on the coals.  During the eight hours the butt was getting flipped and rotated every two hours.  Also, made some coleslaw to go along with it for dinner.  For the coleslaw I use a bag of coleslaw mix and use the dressing recipe from this coleslaw recipe.  Pulled the butt off the grill after the eight hours and let it rest for about 30 minutes to let the juices redistribute throughout it.  Here is the vinegar based sauce that I use and nothing is better than eastern North Carolina barbeque sauce.  Then the fun began by pulling the butt apart and below is the finished product.