CCORS #2 and CCORS #3

So, work has been really busy and I have not found time to do a race report on CCORS #2.  Race #2 was located at The Bicycle Post in Greenville.  Having never raced there I didn't know exactly what to expect.  I knew by the location that it would probably be almost as rooty as the one at The Piranha Pit.  I was partially right that there were lots of roots, but the course was faster than The Pit.  They started us off on the edge of a field and only gave us 300 yards or so to sort ourselves out before hitting the singletrack.  I feel we could have started further around the field to get us spread out more.  When they start us in the Single Speed Class with the Sport Class it really bunches us up and it did.  I end up going into the woods middle of the pack and I guess some guys with gears do not like use momentum to get up the short hills, but would rather grind it out in a small gear.  Every hill we would come to I was catching the geared guys and having to slow my pace.  So, in my most friendly voice I would let them know that I was on a single speed and needed to get by since we were not racing each other.  I guess from the chain slapping their frame they couldn't hear me.  I had 2nd and 3rd in my sights until the guy in front of me decided to crash in the middle of the trail going downhill.  So, that brought us to a screeching halt.  I dismounted and ran around him and continued my hunt eventhough I couldn't see them anymore.  About a mile later I catch up to another guy with gears and he decides to wreck also, but must of known I was on a single speed since he chose the bottom of the hill to wreck.  So, I dismount again and run up the hill.  To make things worst, her i am at about 7 miles into the 1st lap and decide to go blazing through a turn and have to lock up my brakes and end up powersliding into a tree which knocked my rearwheel out of alignment.  So, again I get off the bike to fix this problem.  The 2nd lap was uneventful, but I was on a mission to still try and catch 3rd place.  Never saw him again until I crossed the finish line in 4th place.  After checking the results the following day, come to find out I was less than a minute behind 3rd place.  That is the crazy thing about racing, you never know how it will go. 

Yes, more sushi

Yesterday for lunch we went to a new sushi place here in Raleigh off of Western Blvd. called Sushi Nine, located next to the Bojangles.  Ummm, Bojangles, now that is the best place to get a biscuit.  Especially the Chicken Biscuit Combo w/ cheese, fires and sweet tea.  If you want to make the biscuit taste even better have them add bacon to it also, everyone knows that everything taste better with bacon.  Okay, now back to sushi.  Bojangles will do that to you everytime.  Bojangles is a good conversation starter with anyone from the South, and definitely a North Carolinian.  Alright, take three on sushi.  They just recently opened back in December 2010 They have for lunch the BOGO deal for all their sushi rolls.  The sushi is really good there and the rolls are not skimpy.  So go check'em out, you will not be disappointed.

Windy Road Ride and Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos

Did a road ride of 34 miles today and it was a windy
 one.  Lucky that I was riding in a group, so we could all take turns up front pulling each other through the head wind.  Our route started at the Methodist Church on Judd Parkway in Fuquay and took us on a loop that reached to Angier.  From there we looped around some back country roads past Harnett Central High School on over to 401.  Then took 401 down to Piney Grove Wilbon that ran us into 42 Hwy that got us back to the church.  We started in one group of about 18 riders.  One rider got a flat about 6.5 miles into the ride and then the tube blew again while trying to blow it up, so we split into 2 groups.  1 rider went back to get a car while 2 waited and the 2 groups took off about 3-4 minutes apart.  Other than that the ride was fine except for that head wind that no matter which direction we were riding it was in our faces.

 

Now on to the dinner I fixed tonight.  Nothing better after throwing down 34 miles then some homemade mexican food.  This is probably one of my favorite meals to make for the family.  First time I saw the Bang Bang Shrimp recipe from Bonefish Grill was in the Food Network Magazine we receive at home.  Before this I had had this numerous times at the restaurant.  When we make this at the house we do not put all the shrimp in the sauce since the kids think it is to spicy.  Now for the wife and I, we normally have the tacos with chopped tomato, chopped avocado and some shredded mexican cheese.  The kids like the shrimp with sour cream and cheese in the soft taco shells.

  

The Pit

Took the family today for lunch to The Pit in downtown Raleigh.  They have the best eastern north carolina barbecue in Raleigh and probably the best in North Carolina.  As you can see I had the double meat combo with chopped barbecue, fried chicken, cole slaw and baked beans.  Along with the barbecue being the best around the fried chicken is also.  The fried chicken has a nice light and crispy batter on the outside and the chicken is good and juicy on the inside.  The baked beans is my favorite side that I get there, and I believe I have tried them all.  On this trip I did not get the banana pudding, but I highly recommend it.  I know I have not gone into much detail on how good the food tastes.  That is because the food speaks for itself along with no matter what day of the week you show up for lunch.  There probably will be a wait, especially between 11:45am - 1:30pm, so get there as early as possible. 
The man behind these recipes is a man named Ed Mitchell and he is one hell of a pit master with tons of experience and you can read more about him here.  The Pit and Ed Mitchell have been featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Man v. Food and numerous interviews on television morning talk shows.

Sushi Pizza

Nikki's Restaurant Sushi Bar has the best sushi in Wilmington and some of the best I have ever eaten, and I have eaten at a lot of different sushi joints.  I have been eating there for at least 7 years now and remember when the only location they had at the time was the downtown location.  The best part about going to Nikki's is the fact that it is not just sushi.  They have different types of food from burgers, sandwiches, bento boxes, teriyaki dishes to lots of other food to choose from.  That is what makes it so unique.  If some people at your table don't care for sushi then there is plenty other stuff to choose from.  Lets move on to the best part.

The sushi pizza was only added in the last 4 months and it is awesome.  The first time I had it was back in December and since then I have gotten it with every meal.  I was down in Wilmington working for 6 days and 4 of those days I had Nikki's for lunch or dinner.  What was my go to item, oh yes the Sushi Pizza.  I do not know if they have it at the other 4 locations, but they do at the downtown location and that is all that I cared about on this trip.  It is not on the menu, but it is on the white board on the wall along with other speciality sushi rolls they have posted on it.

The Sushi Pizza has this great flavor combination that just explodes in your mouth.  It is a six inch tortilla shell (yes a tortilla shell), tempura rice on top of that, then spicy tuna, avocado, masago, green onion and sesame seeds to top it all off.  It is the perfect size to either split with someone or in my case have it all to myself.  It is proportional to eating a sushi roll, so depending on how much you want you could order a ginger salad or another roll.  To finish it all off, this is a great masterpiece that was created and I hope it is always on the menu.  If not then I will try to special order it and maybe protest outside the restaurant until it is brought back.

CCORS Race #1

The first race of the Coastal Carolina Off-Road Series (CCORS) is officially in the books.  Let me start off by saying that just because the race is down east and close to the coast doesn't mean it will be flat and fast.  The race took place in Havelock at the Piranha Pit on Cherry Point.  The course was a six mile loop that was very deceiving.  It was a great day for racing with the weather at sixty degrees and the start time of 2pm couldn't ask for better conditions.
I arrived about an hour before the race, got registered in the Single Speed Category and started prepping for the race.  Once I was finally dressed in the Twin Six Metal race kit it was time to warm-up the engine for the eighteen miles ahead of me.  Hooked up with a few guys from the Raleigh area and we rode about 2.5 miles of the course to get a feel for it since I had never been out there before.  It was time for the racer's meeting to go over the rules and a general overview of what to look forward to in the course.

We finally get the race underway and it starts on a dirt road for about a quarter mile that we are riding down to sort of get everyone spaced out which didn't happen once we hit the woods.  Just because some people think they are fast on the dirt road section doesn't transfer over well to the singletrack.  The first 3 miles of the course was fairly flat and fast.  Only thing slowing you down was the pinestraw that littered the ground which made taking the turns at times feel a little squirrelly.  Then we got to the backside of the course that was along the river.  This is where every momentum stopping root popped up at least every 10-20 yards or so it felt that way.  If the roots were not on the way down the short hills they were definitely on the way up the hills.  A few times it was like climbing stairs going up hill.  Some of the drops going downhill were a good foot and a half to two feet that went into a turn and yes there were skid marks going off the trail where someone went in hot on the turn and over shot it.  Once out of the rooty section it was fairly flat and then you popped out onto the dirtroad to ride the quarter mile up to the start/finish line and turn around to go back into woods.  It was a good place to get some energy gel into you and some liquid. 

I ended up coming across the finish line in 1:45:00 and grabbing the 3rd place finish in the single speed category.  Great race and a great course that was not boring and kept me on my toes.  Not to bad for the first race of the season since I have not been on the bike much in the last couple months because of the nasty weather we have been having.

Twin Six Race Team

Twin Six is an awesome company based out of Minneapolis, MN that makes the best jerseys and cycling inspired clothes in the world and I have the honor of racing for them this year.  This year's team kit looks like this.

I am looking forward to donning the Metal kit this year and do some representing here in North Carolina for them.  First race is next Sunday and looking forward to it.  I will be rocking last years colors since I had purchased one of them since they were so bad-ass, along with a couple more of their other jerseys.  You cna call me a Twin Six whore, I accept.  When they make good stuff why buy anywhere else.